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How Were You Exposed To Tamiya?

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Glad to see this thread resurrected!

My first exposure to Tamiya was in the early 80s, when my father and I happened across a hobby shop while on holiday in Cape Town. I remember us spending ages staring through the window, and I also recall being fascinated by this huge red buggy with wierd suspension, very purposeful-looking knobbly tyres and a real metal roof kept on with cable ties. I was very young and hadn't learned to read yet, so I didn't realise that I had just set eyes on an original Hotshot.

Fast-forward a few years, and my second exposure to Tamiya occurred in primary school in the late 80s, when one of the teachers had the idea of trying to organise a RC racing club. One day, all the kids in our year who had RC cars were allowed to bring them to school. As it turned out, all but one of them were toy-grade with 27MHz radios that seemed to use the entire band and constantly interfered with each other, so organised racing was not to be. However the one hobby-grade car that arrived was a Hornet that one of the kids had inherited from his older brother. I remember being awestruck by its size, the sight of its huge 540 motor, and the fact that it could drive faster than most of us could run. It didn't matter that the wing was missing, the paint was flaking, or that the front tyres were worn to the point of splitting. This was the coolest car ever!

Fast-forward again to the early 90s, where an improvement in family finances meant that hobby-grade RC was no longer beyond reach. At the time we lived very close to the field used by a local RC glider club, so as a reward for helping repaint our house, my father bought me a Phoenix II RC glider trainer (the old-school balsa and spruce one you built yourself, not the modern plastic RTF thing that goes by the same name). I built it, learned to fly it, and then had a visit from a cousin who was in town on holiday. He had a Hornet, and we had the idea of seeing if his Hornet could launch my glider if we tied a long piece of string between the two models and drove the Hornet down a long field. It didn't work too well - the Hornet was a bit too light - but this rekindled my interest in land-based RC.

However it was only in 1996, when I finished school and started work, that I bought my first Tamiya. Touring car racing was fast becoming popular, so my first Tamiya was a FF01 with the Tom's EXIV bodyshell. I fitted it with a Trinity Midnight 27t stock motor, ballraces and turnbuckles, and campaigned it quite successfully against the other FF01s and TA02s driven by my clubmates. This was soon joined by a DF01 Manta Ray, which arrived in a poor state after having been driven over by a 1:1 truck, but was eventually restored and raced with moderate success.

Thus started a gradual shift in my hobby focus from RC gliders to cars, which was completed a few years ago when I traded my last glider airframe for a DF02 Rising Storm. And earlier this year, things went full circle with the arrival in my collection of the car that started it all - the Hotshot - given to me by my wife for my birthday. I still admire its wierd suspension, purposeful-looking knobbly tyres and real metal roof held on with cable ties!

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Beaties, back in the day I think it was called Taylor and Mckenna?

I started as most with Airfix kits of WW2 aircraft and tanks, then when we moved to Milton Keynes around '79 I was exposed to a real toyshop with all the amazing Tamiya Kits and the Tamiya catalog. As soon as I saw the Wild Willy in that first Catalog and the videos in the shop window I was hooked.

James.

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When I was a young boy I had been exposed to Nikko TV commercials and was the first time I did see a Nikko Turbo Panther so I decided I want it. Then a friend of mine bought a Nikko Aero Tuned (also known as Nikko Venus), that was an aerodynamic version of the Turbo Panther. Saving money I bought my first r/c model and it was a great time. After one year I meet a new schoolmate in my classroom. He was rich and speaking about r/c models he said that he owned a Tamiya Boomerang. I never heard before about Tamiya.

This guy was a bad guy and he did bring at school a rear damper and a rear wheel with tire. They were so huge in front of my 1/14 Turbo Panter. And that damper! With oil inside!!! The next days he did bring the 540 silver can. That was really really huge in front of my 280 motor. This guy did like to win easy.

We was graphic designer students so he did drawn me the Boomerang on my school diary, then he started to tell how he destroyed the car driving it like a crazy against the walls an similar stories. I was suffering for this. He was a bad guy. The last one was that his dog did bite the car destroying the body and then he swapped to Super Sabre one.

This was enough for me. I decided to understand what this Boomerang was and for the first time in my life I did enter in a hobby shop where I saw it for the first time. There were many Tamiya models but I remember I wanted the Boomerang. It was very expensive, just for rich guys like my bad schoolmate but I decided to save money to buy it. After six month of saving I bought my first Tamiya. A Boomerang.

The rest is history.


Max

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I got bought a quick drive thunder shot when i was 9 and stupidly sold it when i was about 15, wish i still had it.

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I bought a 2nd hand Sandrover from a friend of mine somewhere in the 80's. It still had a 380 motor and the open gearbox. I changed it to a 540 motor and made a cap to seal the gearbox. It ran ok but we only found out how fast it was when a guy from the local hobbyshop asked us to drive in a demo and gave us a new NiCd instead. I guess that was the first exposure. I cannot remember where the Sandrover ever went but soon after the demo i did buy a brandnew Hornet which we hopped with front and rear dampers You-G and the stabiliser kit. After year eventually the interest died, mainly due to the MSC being totally worn out and was gaving probs. There was no local store anymore so parts were very hard to come buy.

It is only 2 years ago when i discovered the Hornet in my parents attic that i decided to have a look if it could be saved (for my son, i though then :rolleyes:) only to find out that RC cars are hotter than ever before and so i restored it and rolled back into the hobby.

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It all started around the late eighties where the playground craze was Tamiya RCCs, playtime was a chorus of whistling 540s and ankles where put at risk from Lunchboxes, Monster Beetles, Boomers and Sabres at full chat. Then lessons where spent surrounded by the same, plugged into every available wall socket charging the battery packs in time for the next onslaught/playtime.



Alas though I would not be able to join in with the fun as the outlay for even a base Tamiya car was too much and the nearest I ever got was a Nikko Aero Turbo which I adored. I can remember saving my pocket money for what seemed an eternity then going down to my local model shop and purchasing it, only to realise I had forgotten to allow for batteries and a charger!!! Mum helped me out there though ;)



In fact I didn't get my first Tamiya until I was 18, when a sudden urge to get a "proper RCC" found me back in the same model shop almost a decade later, purchasing a Super Hornet!



And the rest is history, my current stable comprises of



1. Super Hornet Restored/Runner


2. Clod Buster in bits


3. Novafox Re-re


4. Escort Cosworth TA01 Runner



I am hoping this may change come Christmas day though ;)

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A series of events exposed me to the wonderful world of Tamiya when I was around 12 years old.

  • Observed a Clod Buster, Bruiser and Sand Scorcher owned by a neighbour at various stages of being run and tested
  • Shortly after found an issue of Radio Control Car Action on the newsstands
  • Following this and as my friends and I became more independent and explored the world, found a Hobby Shop in the downtown (we went every lunch hour to gaze at all the Tamiya)

I was immediately fascinated with the world of Radio Control. I would obsess over the R/C Guide Books I was able to purchase or convince my folks I had to have.

The rest, they say, is history !

A few friends and I got our first kits shortly after, mine being the Hornet for which I had to save allowances and birthday money to purchase.

I'll never forget that day at the Hobby Shop.

Sadly I no longer have that original Hornet but did in a moment of "nostalgia" find and purchase an dorginal NIB Hornet to keep and stare at - I've a re release to build for the running memories :rolleyes: .

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I got into Tamiya RC, and rc in general, very recently. So I'm a NEWBIE in more ways than one.

Not too long ago before I joined here I was helping a mate clean out some old stuff and he handed me a few boxes full of parts I didn't recognize, he said they were for Tamiya RC cars.

A search on Ebay and other sites, like the great TC, started me on the hunt to find out what the parts were, and what cars these parts went with .. and well, the bug bit me. :)

A pile of kits and cars later and I can't see this hobby stopping anytime soon. ;)

.

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Neighborhood kid had an Avante and Clod Buster as well as a few other choice models. Seeing him drive the Clod straight into a pond and watching it float was awesome! Looking back, his parents must have been loaded, it didn't register in junior high how expensive this stuff really was. Then a good friend of mine got a Kyosho Pegasus and Big Brute. I was stuck with endless Nikkos until mom got me a Traxxas Bullet. Still wanted that Avante though, and I still don't have it, but I've got others to keep me satisfied for now.

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I was around 7 years old (1980) my first exposure to Tamiya when my brother purchased a 58002 Porsche 935. He purchased it while away with the Royal Australian Navy, during his tour of Asia. When he arrived home from tour I always remember he kept it in his top wardrobe and the occasional time when i did get a look at it i was amazed by the rubber tires and Martini decals thinking they looked so realistic. My folks use to drink Martinis back then so the association to this brand was very familiar..... He never had the time to build it. I did not see that kit again. Shame. To this day, those memories have maintained my high level of interest in anything Tamiya. My first own Tamiya RC would be around 1985 with the Hornet, after seeing other kids play with them down the street....

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I worked for a guy that did shoe repair as his main business but also specialized in anything that was popular in the town. Whether it was skateboards, BMX bikes or rollerskating. One day I roll up to the shop and his sons are across the street in the dirt lot running a sand scorcher. I was immediately hooked and begged and pleaded my parents to buy me something. Near my 13th birthday my mom comes to pick me up from school and there on the floorboard of the car was a ready built frog. I was in absolute heaven. I ran through several bevel gears before figuring out they needed to be shimmed tight. I ended up building many cars for the kids in town. One Christmas I built five black foots on an assembly line. Around 1987 I got more enthused with modifying my mustang than playing with toy cars and took a break from the hobby. In '91 my ex wife bought me a Kyosho HOR motorcycle but it wasn't until '94 when I bought a pan car that I really got back into the hobby. Once I found out how to use eBay my pocketbook was cooked

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RC in general, I think my first ever car was a Nkko, some white/green/red car. I was pretty keen on the

for a while too, but maybe that was just when I had figured I was priced out of the Tamiya market...

As for Tamiya, it all goes back to the late 80's, probably 88 at the earliest, and visiting my older cousins in New Zealand - they had a couple of Hornets,Grasshopper, and no doubt some other cars I don't recall. I think there was a blue Kyosho there somewhere too. But the Hornet stood out most of all - I think they had a couple of them. I didn't have any siblings so I pretty much looked up to my older cousins more than any other kids, and anything they were into I wanted - though their family had quite a bit more $ than ours which didn't help!

Have a handful of very vivid memories of watching them play around with the cars in NZ, I might've been about 4yo at the earliest. Recall one Hornet being taken out for a run after a heavy rain, only to vanish into a puddle on the sidewalk ( turned out to be more than just a puddle).

Dates are hazy, but after getting a hold of some magazines, and a Tamiya guide book, I pleaded with my parents for a long while, and eventually scored a Madcap one Christmas - even better as one of my older cousins was staying with us in Perth for that xmas.

As far as the scene in Perth at the time - I didn't know any other kids in school that owned a Tamiya. I would've been inside a solid % of homes in my suburb as a kid, and not a poor suburb at all, but I was the only one that had a Tamiya. I still got a ton of play out of mine, but not the same as it would've been if friends had similar cars to race with.

I remember my dad taking me out to a local dirt track (which I saw a few months back is still in use), and an on-road track that was run outside of a shop, mostly nitro cars though. I think there were mostly older kids at both so I didn't really venture back.

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For me finding tamiya was due to being taken to cheadle model rc car club around 1984/5 by my dad, seeing those cars race round that church hall had me hooked but their was a slight problem ... I didn't own an rc car.

My dad promised to take me to the local model shop to look at some (The model shop in Stockport) they had a small portable tv on the counter playing the latest Tamiya promotional videos , I really was excited about owning one of these amazing models.

I left that model shop with a awful feeling I'd never own a Tamiya, my dad said they were just too expensive.

Anyhow a few weeks later my dad said would I mind a secound hand one ..... Errrrr not at all, several viewings later and again my hopes were dashed as I was told they were still above my parents budget even though all the kit was included.

I tried one last time to bag myself a Tamiya and said I wouldn't mind if it was a joint christmas and birthday present, my dad said he would keep looking but warned he couldn't promise anything.

In the 80s my dad almost always worked 7 days a week but would sometimes pop home for lunch and it was one weekend in oct/nov that he wandered past me playing outside on my bike with a large battered cardboard box, I could just make out what looked like an rc car size body poking out the top.

I raced into the house to the sight of a rather battered Subaru brat sitting on the table. I could not believe my ears when he asked if I'd like a quick go befoure my mum got back from the shops ..... I ran that Subaru straight into the nearest wall ! It was then packed away for christmas morning, or so I thought.

Over the next few weeks I would occasionally be woken up by a very strong strange smell emitting from our kitchen, I would sneak half way down the stair case and do my best to see what was going on in there but all I'd get was the back of my dad's head.

Christmas Day arrived and as always no presents till after breakfast, when I finally got to my last present I though I'd better look surprised in front of my mum or she would know I knew about it.

Well surprised I was! There was only a brat body in the box ? But digging deeper there was a fantastic looking white and green Frog. My dad always did his best to make our childhood the best and that's how I remember it. I eventually traded the frog for a hotshot with a lad from secondary school and god sold it on in my early teens.

I'm now lucky enough to own several nib re-res of the Tamiya cars I always wanted and have also bought my 4 year old daughter her own hornet.

Chris

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I was about 11-12 maybe, and was playing football in a park/school playing field behind my house, and that's when I heard it

I strange whining sound

like zipping I ran down the field to the tennis courts and that's when I saw it ..... The Avante .... that's when I was first introduced to Tamiya and I will never forget it

it was like love at first site1

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Beatties Model store in Cardiff city centre South Wales (UK). Loads of built models on display and Tamiya promotional videos playing. It was a young boys dream. And if I remember correctly there was also the option of the kits being built for you at a substantial extra cost. Could have been the first version of rtr.

I nagged my parents for a Tamiya Black Foot for one Christmas but ended up with a Marui Big Bearpprobably because it was cheaper lol. The Tamiya catalogues, one of which I still have, cost me £1.75 and I used to spend hours drooling over the lovely photos.

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local model shop on Isle of Wight

think the smell in model shops is really a retro virus designed by Tamiya to get you addicted

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Beatties Model store in Cardiff city centre South Wales (UK). Loads of built models on display and Tamiya promotional videos playing. It was a young boys dream. And if I remember correctly there was also the option of the kits being built for you at a substantial extra cost. Could have been the first version of rtr.

I nagged my parents for a Tamiya Black Foot for one Christmas but ended up with a Marui Big Bearpprobably because it was cheaper lol. The Tamiya catalogues, one of which I still have, cost me £1.75 and I used to spend hours drooling over the lovely photos.

I remember trawling round there myself, as well another small shop nearby in an arcade. Got my nearly all my early RCs from the model shop in Abergavenny though. (I can remember when it was on the 1st floor above a pet shop). I remember going in looking a 2nd hand car to replace the aged sand rover and came out with a new grasshopper. A year later (1985) I went back and got a hotshot, I really wanted the Supershot, but couldn't quite afford it. Basically, it all went downhill from there ........ :)

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I remember trawling round there myself, as well another small shop nearby in an arcade. Got my nearly all my early RCs from the model shop in Abergavenny though. (I can remember when it was on the 1st floor above a pet shop). I remember going in looking a 2nd hand car to replace the aged sand rover and came out with a new grasshopper. A year later (1985) I went back and got a hotshot, I really wanted the Supershot, but couldn't quite afford it. Basically, it all went downhill from there ........ :)

Beatties in Cardiff was an awesome model shop. Where are you from my friend. Nice to know another Welsh TC member.

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Many many years ago, I was a kid on Vacation in Japan and a man (Mr. Tamiya) in a long over coat appeared before me in a hot and humid summer day and say in broken english....hey kid you want to see something? Before I can reply, he openned up his coat and there it was a NIB Static model of a Tiger Tank. Since that day onwards only Tamiya models will do. How did I know is was Mr. Tamiya? He handed me his business card. And I will be putting it up on ebay soon.

Actually In grade 6, our school had a elective program where one program is for model building and I recalled a class mate brought in his Hardly police bike and I thought that was the most detailed model I've ever seen and it was a Tamiya.

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From 7 years old until i was 10 I saved all my birthday money and christmas money up. I had watched my brother play with his Tamiya Fox since it was brand new and I all ways wanted an RC car that good. So when I turned 10, he drove me into the city one early evening to a hobby shop. I picked out an FF-01 Nissan Castrol Primera and handed over my life savings. He drove me home and stayed up all night building it. when I woke in the morning, the car was sitting on my bedroom floor built, painted and ready to go!

A couple weeks later he also bought a Tamiya M-01 mini cooper. We also had a Marui Galaxy and 2 Tamiya RC Newman 956 Porsche's. we would go down to our local track nearly every night and drive our front wheel drive RC cars lol. I still have both these cars in tact, working order sitting on my shelf, they are in pristine condition.

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I was always a fan of model making and I'd eventually make it a career for a few years but that's how it started. I used to go into Aberdeen at the weekend and we'd ALWAYS go to Brian Sheriffs, an excellent model shop just off George Street.. I always looked at the Tamiya tanks and the jeeps and the 1:35 figures, my brother who was 3 years older was looking at the RC.

I was 8 or 9 when My brother got his first RC Car.. the Rough Rider. I helped a little to make it, he let me make the wheels and put the tyres on. Once it was finished and we drove it outside I wanted one sooo bad!! The scale model maker in me helped me to choose and when I was 10 my parents got me the Lamborghini Cheetah. I was in love..this thing was amazing. Building it was a blast and my brother and dad got involved, the twisting suspension design was crazy and the detail on the body work and driver figure was superb. I did mine Black and gold and had a lot of fun bashing around with it. I drove it to destruction. Soon after my Brother got a Sand Scorcher and his friend got the Ford ranger. I kept to my military theme and got the first gen Wild Willy M38 .. god what fun, I used to take great joy in bouncing over my brother beetle ..

After that a few of my friends got cars... a Brat, a grasshopper and a frog. So I upped my game and got a Hornet. Truly was the best few summers ever. I may still have the Hornet somewhere... regardless the Hornet and the Wild Willy are on my Re-Re list :)

Brian Sheriffs closed down several years ago which is a shame... I actually ended up working in a Beeties for a couple of years in Aberdeen which of course sparked my RC fuse again but it took another 8 years to get bitten bad thanks to Dan Rowland and all the awesome guys at the Stonehaven RC club. Racing there got me involved with Dan helping to arrange the Union Square GP a few years back and that was amazing. I was the primary PIt contact for the drivers and it was a badword of an event, we even had the STIG from top gear driving around.

J

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An elective program related to model building on 6th grade? Man, that's awesome!!!

was near the end of the school year before summer holidays and the teachers had to keep us busy with out much preparation. one can do art, reading, sports...those were the yesteryears of childhood fun.

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