Why Do We Buy Tamiya?

[Badboy]

This is a topic in swedish site rsb.se

Tamiya is not big in sweden, use to during 80's-90's but now it's almost

gone...

So one guy asked" Why do you buy Tamiya?"

So I ask you guys Why do you buy Tamiya?

My answer was and is for the joy, good looking and nostalgic matters.

Badboy

[sgt.barnes]

This is a topic in swedish site rsb.se

Tamiya is not big in sweden, use to during 80's-90's but now it's almost

gone...

So one guy asked" Why do you buy Tamiya?"

So I ask you guys Why do you buy Tamiya?

My answer was and is for the joy, good looking and nostalgic matters.

Badboy

Because we are nuts ! Being nuts is neat !

[Wile E.Coyote]

I started a vintage collection since 3 months. The aim is to have all the cars I wished to have when I was 11 years old, then an 100 % nostalgic collection.

Why Tamiya, because the shop in my town was selling only Tamiya.

I am very sensitive to trade name. For guitars it is Gibson, for Bicycle it is specialized, or Trek, and for RC, tamiya is the only one. I admit that Kyosho, and Asso have very nice vintage, but with these trade I do not have this unexplainable feeling to went back 17 years before when I built my first Tamiya kit.

[Origineelreclamebord]

Because Tamiya was the manufacturer of my first real* RC car, and the manufacturer that I saw all the pictures of in a dutch hobby catalog. It was my dream to get a car of tamiya - now I have 10-12 of them

Tamiya simply isn't the cheapest manufacturer... You often need hopups to get it running properly (bearings, oil shocks etc) - but they are often reliable and simple to assemble - They have the name, like a Merc, Rolls Royce or the new BMW Mini...

*real=non-toy car; chassis construction that was made for opening up and closing for maintainance, has interchangeable seperate electronics, spare parts and hop-ups.

[Spetz83]

I didn't know what I was buying at the time (complete noob)

And my decision was based on the shell... and as it happened both cars (first was electric, then I went to nitro) turned out to be Tamiya

Now though... I wish they had been something else

I think in reality Tamiya is too expensive for a very basic car

[taliesin]

simplicity, quality, good looks, plus the fact that i can build / customize / repair it.

mostly though, i feel like a kid on christmas morning every time i get a new model, or buy an older one that i've only ever read about but never seen.

this site just feeds my addiction though and since becoming a member i've bought over two dozen tamiyas. i'm pretty lukewarm on any other brand, but i do own a few. i just wouldn't grab them 1st on the way out of a burning house.

[28yoKid]

Nostalgia for me. And also the fact that the models are largely iconic. I like the way that they need some work to get them to perform at the top level.

I can't see the fun in buying something that does 50 mph out of the box and will never need upgrading...! I love the way my models evolve.

[terry.sc]

Don't ask me, the biggest numbers in my collection are Kyosho

[highflyer]

For me it goes back to the Blackfoot, my first real R/C.. Same goes for my real car, my first was a '87 Camaro IROC-Z 5.7L then a '89 Firebird Formula 350 (5.7L), '89 Dodge Daytona Shelby, '92 Mazda MX6 Turbo and so on. The only car I own now is a '92 Camaro H.E. Z28 that I had since NEW, see the trend? Eventhough I have owned different models from Kyosho, Losi, AE and Yokomo (and I loved all the non-tamiya models I had/have), my first was a Tamiya though. This is strange looking back now, it might be something in my brain ? You know, this thing for R/C and real cars for me.

I now wonder how things would be if I started with a Kyosho and a '87 Mustang GT 5.0???

[redzone]

why? scale realism is second to none..

[Cinnamon]

Good question !! First of all : YES , beeing a Tamiya nut in Sweden is hard , annoying and frustrating to say the least !!

Why Tamiya ? Well, I turned 53 this November and I started to build static models in the early 60:s. At that time it was Revell Airfix Monogram and moore and that was OK I thought for some years.Then I got my hand on Tamiya F1 car and I understood how BAD those other brands were . Now many ,many years later I KNOW that my expectations on a Tamiya product always will be met at a 100 % rate and that does it for me. I know that there are other brands out there that are "almost " up there with Tamiya nowadays but Mr T:s products are something in a class of its own.

The only thing I remember that have disapointed me to a level is the really crappy instruction for the MFU sets

So I guess I will be buying Tamiyas for some years to come ! At 53 its the most saticfying thing you can do with or without your clothes on

[Novastar]

I buy Tamiya because they make the type of R/C car that I like, they are basic, fun, have brilliant instruction manuals, are easy to upgrade, look great, are simple to work on and can be driven at 110% without worrying about replacing expensive parts (although vintage can be expensive). My first entry level car was a Tamiya Avante and even though it was thoroughly thrashed before I bought it it did make an impression on me. And well theres no such thing as a Kyosho Clod Buster, only Tamiya could have created such a monster especially in 1987 which has withstood the ultimate test that is time itself. There are tonnes of Tamiya re-release kits because people like them so much and want to relive earlier times of their life or buy them just to get into the best R/C brand. And with a great forum like this those who dont experience Tamiya dont know what they are missing

[monster_beetle]

Well, however I am not made in the period that Tamiya made there sand scorchers etc. I just love Tamiya's vintage models, they are just goof looking (scale realism). And not that standard stuff you see from most manufacturers. Same goes up for lots of the models they have nowaday. Also the possibility to modify to your very own wishes. And the brilliant instructions are part of it. Tamiya just has that special feeling.

[Jonny Retro]

I used to be quite in to plastic aeroplane kits & the like when I was young - at first it was Airfix & Revell kits, then Matchbox (superior quality IMO), but then I discovered my first Tamiya "kit" around 1981 ...

It was a pretty mundane item - 1/35 scale sand bags (still available as item #35025, but sadly with different box art I think), but I was seriously impressed - first with the box - glossy white with the red & blue stars, with distinctive slightly stylized but realistic artwork. The sand bags themselves were very crisply moulded with brilliant detail, and weren't all the same - there were several different slight variations, which helped with the realism no end.

Lets just say I was already more than slightly disposed towards Tamiya when it came to RC cars, but I suppose if I hadn’t have been, peer pressure would have come in to play. Just as Beatties has a place in the hearts of people in some parts of the country, round here if you wanted an RC car, you went to Model Junction in Bury St. Edmunds – you could have got one elsewhere, but you weren’t badword if you couldn’t show that red carrier bag with the black printing on it.

Kids with more well-to-do parents had the more expensive cars – Super Champs at first, then Hotshots, whereas us “poorer” kids “made do” with cheaper 2WD buggies, such as the Hornet. Buying a different brand set you apart – and not in a good way – the kid with the RC10 (which was superior in use) was denigrated as a posh badword.

For me then, while I do have other makes, there are several reasons to put Tamiya first:

the boxes;

the superior detail – it doesn’t get any more realistic than hard-bodied Tamiya cars – I actually enjoy spending a lot of time on the detail painting;

the distinctive smell of the tyres;

the excellent manuals;

the enjoyment of putting together something that feels well engineered, rather than just an alloy plate with bits screwed on;

… and probably a lot more.

Slightly off topic, but how does everyone pronounce Tamiya?

From what I know (a little Japanese at school, studying up origins of American English pronunciations for my BA & MA Modern English Language dissertations, Kurosawa films, Shogun & Anime), there are no long sounds in Japanese pronunciation, so it should be three syllables, pretty clipped, with the middle “I” being abbreviated, almost to inaudibility to Western ears – so Tam (slight pause or, more correctly, glottal stop) ya.

“Correct” English gives equal weight to all syllables, so “Tam (short) e ya”, and current American English gives greater weight and elongation to the second syllable – “Ta MEE ya”.

If you watch the DVD of 80’s Tamiya promos that’s going around, you’ll hear the change from English pronunciation to American English – linguists get quite excited about this sort of thing, which shows they (we) really ought to get out more

[Mr. ED]

I don't buy Tamiya

My first was a boomerang, followed by a kyosho, and since then, no more tamiya's for me.

Sure I get tempted with the re-re of the boomerang, and a wild-one or superchamp looks way cool for vintage racing and modding.

But if I have to move away from the compettion grade stuff, I'd rather get something a little more obscure, like a yankee electra, SG or a nichimo.

I will give 2 thums up for the newer tamiya stuff though; I had crazy fun with a borrowed hot-motered tamtech gear not long ago, and my... durability sure has improoved for Tamiya also.

Maybe the future will hold a tamiya again, but not an oldie. For now I stick with the occasional part for scrap building, bodies and wheels

[Singapore_959]

Don't ask me, the biggest numbers in my collection are Kyosho

Silence!

Nostalgia.

They are 'happy'.

You know it's going to be fun.

The shop will have parts.

The simple, happy, nice look instruction book & box/art.

There is almost always a Tamiya related race/club you can join in your country.

[spice]

For me, growing up in the early 80s in Hong Kong, the hobby shops near me carried only Tamiya products, planes, cars, ships and of course RC cars. I used to sometimes get off the bus home from primary school to visit the hobby shops and spend like a hour there just looking "staring" at cars like Hornet, Hot Shot and only wished I had enough money to buy one. One Christmas to my complete surprise my dad had bought me an FAV with Futaba ATTACK controller and we spent a few days together during Christmas holiday in 1984 building it. I kept saying to my dad, how can this thing be any fast since it is so heavy. I had only had experience prior to this car with NIKKO cars which were **** since the Nikko Black Sand Rover like buggy I got the year before died the same day I got it. Anyway, the morning we finished building the FAV and charged the 7.2V humpback battery we took it down to the local car park and I was blown away just how fast it was and from that day onwards I was hooked. I spent the next 12 months saving up money for a Technigold motor and Grasshopper my first own purchase and it was a very proud moment for me and unforgettable till this day.

[Kenny G]

I buy Tamiyas becaue of the broad veriety. I love that you can still get an RC car that come in a beautifull box, and when you open it everything is nice and organized and is very visually appealing. And the "Made-IN-JAPAN" (or Phillipines) quality.

But the best part of all...it's a kit!!!!!!!!!!

I mean, I have (and had) a lot of HPI ad they are excellent quality, but compared to a Tamiya there is no comparison. I love that soon I will get to enjoy building cars with my son.

[markbt73]

They're the only company out there who hasn't abandoned those of us who like to build our own cars. They are loyal to the way I like to enjoy my hobby, so I am loyal to them. Back when Losi and HPI and Traxxas offered their vehicles (ALL their vehicles, not just one or two) as a box of bits, I bought kits from them. But they all left me behind for the "90MPH out of the box!!!", pre-painted, purple-anodized, no-real-interest-in-the-hobby market segment.

Yeah, they were my first RC love, so there's nostalgia there (witness all the re-re's on my shelf), but really, it's the simple fact that I like to assemble and run RC car kits, not open pretty boxes. This is also the reason I don't mind the newer boxes with photos on them, or the simple bunch-of-bags packaging. None of that detracts from the potential of those parts once they're all put together.

But rest assured, if for some unforseen reason the XB range became the only range, I'd drop them like a hot potato.

[Tamiya1/10]

Don't ask me, the biggest numbers in my collection are Kyosho

Is tar and feather for this moderator or walk the plank. It is forbidden to mention the K word in this part of the Forum.

What attracted me to buy Tamiya is the Box Art, clear and understandable instructions with good illustrations, the detailed hard body and some of the line ups resemble more of the 1:1 than RC at 1:10. That all adds up to the Tamiya touch.

[skip665]

But the best part of all...it's a kit!!!!!!!!!!

My first Tamiya was a QD Pumpkin and I was devastated as I wanted to build one. For me its the build that is the attraction - RTR holds no interest for me...

[4wdmt]

As previous members already posted. I buy Tamiya just for the fun of building one and the satisfaction you get when you have the finished model working. The instruction is just top notch.

Sometimes, when my last Tamiya build was many moons ago...I get the itch to build another new one. I really look for another Tamiya kit that I can build.

[matisse]

why?

nostalgia - yes

scale looks - yes

box art ( back in the day) - yes

but more than any of these, Tamiya seem to get what RC is about, on all levels. Plenty of companies have focussed on Racing, Plenty have focussed on fun, only Tamiya combined these with an attention to detail thta staggers belief, whilst all the time remembering that it is about the modeller and not the model.

why do i buy tamiya? one word - Fun.

[kaiser]

nostalgia, tamiya was also my first real r/c car, first few for that matter. then i got into racing losi cars.

what brought me back was the pure joy i get out of building tamiya cars. the manuals are fantastic and for me 90% of the fun is in the build.

also the same reason i love volkswagens is why i love tamiya, the cars have a "soul", or personality. that adds to the joy of building/restoring and running tamiya cars.

[Rabiedmushroom]

I like being able to build a car from scratch, it makes it more personally 'mine' than just buying something off the shelf.