Why Is The Normal Colour Of Hop-ups Blue?

[WW-nut]

Yes it's a dumb question, but I have always wondered why most hop-ups are blue, rather than just plain metal or black?

And if anyone knows where did it all begin (first model)?

Cheers,

Nige

[slam_it_sideways]

My theory on this was that blue has always been a more popular colour ever since the delayed appearance of blue LEDs in electronics. We had green red yellow LEDs in things and we got used to it. Then came the blue explosion. Ever since blue has been immortalised in a way that it makes everything look new and leading edge tech. Call me crazy I know ive been obsessed with anything blue since.

[TWINSET]

Yes it's a dumb question, but I have always wondered why most hop-ups are blue, rather than just plain metal or black?

Always been a pet hate of mine

Why everything alu needs to be blue, purple, orange, green or red has always mystified my - If they got access to all those other colours, you'd have thought black woulda been easy

[Origineelreclamebord]

Blue is one of the colours in Tamiya's logo - could be a possible reason or something that may have had an effect on chosing a colour. Choosing any colour probably is to add something to the cosmetics of the car, and to make your car stand out from the other manufacturers' cars.

However I prefer blank metal and especially black, same colour as all chassis parts, so it doesn't catch the eye like on the F104 the turnbuckles on the steering or the turnbuckle arms for the DF03. An eye catching colour can look nice with the right paint job, but really restricts you to certain colours - one of the reasons I'd never buy blue alu parts from Tamiya unless I use blue in the paintjob.

[Cinnamon]

I got to admit : I´m a sucker for shiny stuff , like chrome , high gloss paints AND anodized aluminium . I tend to use it way too much but hey ,thats how I want it !! I have the GREATEST admiration for guys who does scale builds like f.ex the master himself Seth ( wyoming ) but as said: I want it shiny as a 100 $ who.....!

What bugs me is that Tamiya uses this blue / turquise colour and a lot of other manufacturers try to do the same colour and fale miss. which makes it look stupid. I have tried to max out my CR-01 with coloured alu. parts and used white and Tamiya-blue parts and now I find Integy parts that are done in a true blue shade that is really nice , but buying them would just look too weird.

( I have NO idea why I haven´t uploaded pics of that CR-01 yet ?? )

[Origineelreclamebord]

( I have NO idea why I haven´t uploaded pics of that CR-01 yet ?? )

...Because you have the feeling it's not blue enough to put on TC just yet?

Anyway, it's indeed a pity that other manufacturers try to replicate the blue, but the parts are in fact a different colour. It's also a pity to me that they don't offer red anodized parts at Tamiya as welll - a car with red anodizing on the right and blue on the left would look awesome (Tamiya-logo style)! Ah well, maybe we should be happy they don't make all their parts in bright pink - however, that pink acto motor does look really nice in the back of a Dyna Storm!

[Cinnamon]

...Because you have the feeling it's not blue enough to put on TC just yet?

Anyway, it's indeed a pity that other manufacturers try to replicate the blue, but the parts are in fact a different colour. It's also a pity to me that they don't offer red anodized parts at Tamiya as welll - a car with red anodizing on the right and blue on the left would look awesome (Tamiya-logo style)! Ah well, maybe we should be happy they don't make all their parts in bright pink - however, that pink acto motor does look really nice in the back of a Dyna Storm!

I think I have some 40-50 cars / chassies to upload ! I think I´m just lazy :S

I´m with you all the way with the red anodized idea , that would be GREAT. For my CR-01 I just recently bought purple c-blocks and spindles toghether with white axles . I allowed myself to go with the pueple stuff because of the purple trim on the Novak Goat brushless system.

Dang ! Now I guess I HAVE to upload some pics of it !!

[terry.sc]

Tamiyas hop ups are blue because that's their corporate colour for parts.

BITD alloy parts were just plain aluminium, then they started to anodise parts, which means you can then colour them as well. Black was used a fair bit, I have 2 mid 90s tourers full of black anodised parts. Of course black anodising makes it hard to spot the difference between the upgraded chassis and the standard plastic parts, so companies basically chose a colour and have stuck with it so all the parts match.

Unfortunately there's only so many colours to choose from.

Tamiya, Yokomo and Associated is blue

Kyosho is red (so no red parts from Tamiya!)

HPI and Schumacher is purple

Hot Bodies is black

Xray is silver or orange

Losi is bronze

Ansmann is green

[Bluefoot]

Kyosho is red (so no red parts from Tamiya!)

Tamiya did a red "Surikarn" version of the TB Evo III

[mymonsterbeetleisbroken]

Tamiya did a red "Surikarn" version of the TB Evo III

And a pink juggernaut chassis that claimed to be red

[Cinnamon]

Tamiya did a red "Surikarn" version of the TB Evo III

They also released parts in the "40000" range in a variety of colours : Green,Orange,Black + moore ? . this was as I recall mainly shock parts !

[lee172]

on the older chassis (TA-03 TRF series) the alu parts were purple/pink, then shortly after they released the same parts in blue...

i like coloured parts, on my Schumacher Mi2 there were purple alu parts, its more interesting than boring old silver..

[casethejoint]

Kyosho is red (so no red parts from Tamiya!)

Hi-Lift shocks are anodised red. Actually, now I think about it, I've seen quite a few red parts from Tamiya. In general definitely a Kyosho colour though.

I'm sure there's a chemical/process reason you can't have any colour you want too.

[Blacque Jacque]

The only limitation is finding a dye with a suitably small molecule which can be absorbed into the surface pores of the aluminium before sealing.

[WW-nut]

Tamiyas hop ups are blue because that's their corporate colour for parts.

BITD alloy parts were just plain aluminium, then they started to anodise parts, which means you can then colour them as well. Black was used a fair bit, I have 2 mid 90s tourers full of black anodised parts. Of course black anodising makes it hard to spot the difference between the upgraded chassis and the standard plastic parts, so companies basically chose a colour and have stuck with it so all the parts match.

Unfortunately there's only so many colours to choose from.

Tamiya, Yokomo and Associated is blue

Kyosho is red (so no red parts from Tamiya!)

HPI and Schumacher is purple

Hot Bodies is black

Xray is silver or orange

Losi is bronze

Ansmann is green

Cheers Terry - I hadn't considered that each manufacturer would have their own hop-up colour. I'd rather them to be plain boring black, as surely their intention is to improve your cars performance than to just out-bling fellow competitors.

[Power Surge]

Why can't anybody here spell anodize?

[Cinnamon]

Why can't anybody here spell anodize?

Not that it matter that much , but didn´t I , twice ??

[OCD]

Love this topic! I've always loved Tamiya's quirks with their anodisation choices; Blue has quite apparently become the color associated with the TRF cars, but if you look at their limited series parts now days, a good chunk of it is offered in black. Then of course there is the a fore mentioned 40000 series green parts, the red Surikarn, and the purple/pinks of the TA03 series. I might also add the pink parts from the new Tamtech series, (pink has been around since the Frog) and don't forget the bizarre grey/green color of the TB Evo III cars!

Strangest one to me is the 53155 Low Friction touring car dampers; Nothing else has ever been this color. Kind of a pinkish red, but sometimes I've seen sets almost lean towards purple -- the color varies from set to set. Sometimes this is likely due to the hobby shop owner keeping them in sunlit windows and such, which causes them to fade, but other times I've noticed that the shocks are simply a different hue. I'd love to know why these particular parts got this color while nothing else did -- and why so much variation? I don't recall any other of Tamiya's anodised parts being varied like this?

Then of course there's these:

-S

[Tamiya1/10]

Tamiya likely did a study on the colors, color combinations, production, duability etc and likely blue turns out to be the best. To me, silver or black would just blend in with the metal and plastic parts that come with the kit. Other colors like red, green, yellow, purple, orange just don't look too tough. Just look around, how many things you see are in blue. Even this forum is in blue, blue ink, blue jeans. (We may have to ask Chris why the forum is blue.)

[HunterZero]

I really really like the blue...

I'm sure Tamiya did release a limited edition set of green anodised parts for the TB Evo III at one point.

- James

[terry.sc]

All the manufacturers like making special editions in different colours, for example Hot Bodies Surikarn edition Cyclone is blue instead of black.

Strangest one to me is the 53155 Low Friction touring car dampers; Nothing else has ever been this color. Kind of a pinkish red, but sometimes I've seen sets almost lean towards purple -- the color varies from set to set.

I'd love to know why these particular parts got this color while nothing else did -- and why so much variation? I don't recall any other of Tamiya's anodised parts being varied like this?

That's the problem with anodising, manufacturers only use a limited range of colours because those are the ones that are most consistent when processed. In theory you can dye anodised parts any colour you want, but a lot of them are very difficult to repeat. The parts are coloured by dropping then in a dye until they have dyed to the shade you want, just like dyeing fabric. Doing it at home you can keep on checking the shade until it's the colour you want, on a production line you need something that works the same every time, so you know exactly how long to leave the parts in the dye.

I would presume the pink shocks were supposed to be purple or red, but the dye didn't soak in.

[Cinnamon]

Strangest one to me is the 53155 Low Friction touring car dampers; Nothing else has ever been this color

I beg to differ ! I think there was TA-02 front universals in "pink" too. Also in the 40000 range. Not 100 on this one , but almost

[redzone]

and dont forget the clear shocks too

[OCD]

That's the problem with anodising, manufacturers only use a limited range of colours because those are the ones that are most consistent when processed.

I would presume the pink shocks were supposed to be purple or red, but the dye didn't soak in.

Which is why I'm surprised Tamiya went with the shade they did; Those dampers must be the most popular aluminum hop-up of the entire touring car range - I can only guess how many have been made over the course of the last fifteen plus years - and they're still producing them! So it begs the question: Why not switch over to the gold color when they launched the TA03? That color seems pretty consistent over the years! As pointed out earlier, it's hard to imagine Tamiya producing parts such great numbers without intense R&D regarding production tolerances.

Or maybe you're suggesting the big T made a mistake with their color choice, but then continued production as though the problem never occurred to them?

-S