Childhood Tamiyas

[HunterZero]

Who still has their Tamiya cars from back in the day? What model was it? How did you get it? How much did you trash it, and how did you keep it on the road? Does it still have mods that you made as a child to keep it going to avoid having to go to the expense of buying parts? Did you restore it, or keep it as-is?

I still have my original Frog from Christmas 1987, with the original body shell painted by my mother. The problems I had with it were the steering horn breaking in crashes (superglue, or I used the straight horn on the S parts tree), and the front suspension buttons wearing out. I had my grandfather turn me a brass pair of front suspension buttons on his lathe, still have those too. I had the crunchy diff problem occasionally, this was fixed temporarily with vice grips and squeezing the gearbox plates together.

Tires were expensive, so I used to run it until the tires wore through completely and flew off the rims.

Hours of fun pulling it to pieces on the family room floor, cleaning and regreasing, and waiting for the quick charging timer to count down.

Eventually, it had to be retired because the front aluminium suspension parts wore out, and the front wheels wobbled all over the place. I could only drive it in a straight line in reverse!

I restored it as one of the first things I did when I rediscovered it in my cupboard. New alu parts, and new diff gears, and new front bumper support. Everything else is as it was.

- James

[kacper]

ive still got my fox which is at my parents house at the mo. my cousins used to race them in the eighties and gave me this one as a gift. im picking it up in a couple of weeks and im going to try and restore it to its former glory. could take some time but im determined to do it.

[HomerJHandley]

Still have my original falcon, and recently got my old 'toolbox' which is full of spares aquired over the years and during ebay buys.

it has 1 set of used gears (cant really see the damage, but hey, must have had a reason!), and numerous sets of dogbones and cups and some tyres, some so bald they are shiney.

i wouldnt sell it for anything, but does have some thorpe metal dogbones and cups, and new tyres/etc that have been bought early 2000 when i revisited it.

[mongoose1983]

Ahh. I had a Midnight Pumpkin. LOTS of great memories... but I sold it a couple of years ago. It was not heavily modified. I ran it a lot, but don't remember abusing it because it took me some sacrifices to buy it. I got it new from Hobbylandia (took me some time to decide between buying it or a Black Foot, which was a bit cheaper). I sold my TV set, my tent, and lots of other things. I remember raising the money for it took me more than one year, and I could only afford the kit. So, for months it was a static kit for me. Perhaps that is why I took good care of it. Well, except for the day my cousin handed me a split-fire 8.4 cell that busted the gearbox, and the body posts that I kept fixing and fixing over and over again, ha ha.

You all have a great Thursday!

EB

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[SteelRat]

Still have my Monster Beetle from Christmas '87 - and it's the one that's in my showroom. It has had quite a potted history!

I remember the build on Christmas afternoon and being finished off on Boxing Day. I remember being amazed that a "toy car" had oil filled dampers that had to be assembled more or less from scratch. I remember the terrible paint job I gave it. I remember doing doughnuts on a smooth concrete floor of a potato barn with a thin layer of dust on the floor. I remember taking pictures of it with my 1:1 car after I'd learned to drive. Then I remember slowly getting bored of it and it being stored in my parents loft. It was quite battered (as we all know stock MB's love being on their roof ), but still worked.

Forward to about 2001 when my then 10 year old nephew fancied a foray into RC, and naturally my parents fished out my old MB for him to try before they splashed out the cash on a kit for him. The trusty old MB still fired up, still took a load of abuse from him as well, before getting the familiar gearbox problems that plagues ORV cars. It was put away again, and he got a King Blackfoot the following christmas and an HPI Savage a couple of years after that.

Forward again to January last year where I was a member of a UK 1:1 Baja Bug forum, looking for info with a mind to starting a baja conversion project for a 1:1 Beetle. In the "Readers Rides" section (yes, really) was a post titled "Mini Me". One of the guys had been bought a Re re Hornet and a Blitzer Beetle shell for his birthday by his gf, and had made a 1/10 version of his 1:1 car. Straight away that got me thinking about my old MB and what had happened to it.

I rang my dad, who told me that yes they'd still got it, but it was in a right sorry old state, but I didn't mind because I fancied a project anyway. Researching ways of replacing stock parts with aftermarket ones to make the existing car more durable and handle better lead me to this very site. Fourteen months later, here I am. The only original parts that my MB now has are the body shell (with a slightly better paint job) and the ladder frame chassis - everything else has been replaced. Largely because it's powered by a 2S LiPo and EZRun 8.5T brushless motor.

It still spends a lot of it's time on its roof.

[Origineelreclamebord]

When does ones Childhood end?

My first proper RC car was a TL01 - I was ten or eleven around that time I think? I still remember that it was there in that toy store, between the toy RC cars... They had quit selling Tamiya etc. RC cars, apparently not profitable enough for a toy store... I decided to collect all my money, scramble a bit here and there and wait to complete the 150 euros I needed to get it He decided to give me the Acoms Techniplus with it for free, and my father bought me a battery and charger... That's how my addiction began! Excluding the staring in the RC section of the Conrad Catalogue we had at home of course

[kaiser]

i wish i still had my rc's from when i was a kid.

my first car was a wild one, followed by a hornet (a friend sold me the gear box and i boughts all the bits to finish it), then an optima mid....and the rest is history.

i sold off all my gear in the late 90's, only to get sucked back in on an impulse buy on ebay (df01 dirt thrasher).

[mansellpants]

My first car was a Midnight pumpkin in stock form, my mate had bought the Monster Beetle and i didn't want to copy him!. I still have it today, and after running it in the back garden my neighbour saw it and bought a Lunchbox which he got me to build. Then i was wanting a four wheel drive car so i bought a Thundershot, this was hopped up on the speed front with a technigold motor all of which i still have.

Colin.

[essexboyracer]

My first car was a Sonic Fighter, which was a current car at the time. I remember how excited I was that I'd be able to race it at my local buggy club. I ended up racing it for several years. During that time, the only extras which were bought for it were an additional battery, and a spirit 600 motor (kyosho?). It was also ballraced once the plastic bearings had worn so much that the wheels leant over at a worrying angle

Anyway, I still have it, and it's hammerite blue painted chassis. I've bought a replacement gearbox for it as on inspection, the old gears looked a bit knackered, but I think a piece has gone missing as I can't get the gearbox to play nicely anymore.

To be honest, it did me pretty well. I have several trophies I won with it for beating super sabres, falcons and the like. Cornering was always tricky, and involved slamming on the brake to get the rear end moving, where the Sonic Fighter scored was it was quick in a straight line, and could also pull away well out of corners.

Apart from replacement chassis from time to time (**** it had a weak front end) it was an extremely reliable car. Most of the issues I had with it were from modifying the 3 step speed controller (I modified it to be a 1 step), and the fact that the 3 step was not really suitible for several seasons racing. I seem to remember some of the resistor fell off from overheating.

Fond memories, and one day I'll turn it into a shelf queen (If the sonic fighter can be such a thing) , I'm in no rush though, looks like the spares are in low demand

Amusingly, my original buggy club (Springfield R/C) is now Mid Essex R/C Club (still the same guy that runs it), and I went there last week to try my hand at racing again. My Dark Impact went pretty well considering my Nicad batteries and stock motor as half the 4wd cars had broken before the final, I managed to claim 3rd on the last lap

[lee172]

My first RC was a Tamiya TA03F, it came with a Penzoil Nismo body but the shop switched it to an Alfa 155 body, i kept running it in the dust and the MSC didnt like it very much, it started making weird noises and i trashed it.

I do have it NIB now though

[bjr250]

I received a Fox for my birthday in 1986 (I think). I went halves with my parents.

I used to run it around out the front of the house on the "grassed" area near the road and in the gravel driveway.

At a later stage some friends and I also made a bit of a track by using some walking tracks down by the creek where we would have informal races with whatever we had; Hornets, Frogs, Boomerangs and even Jet Hoppers.

When I was a kid it got run and run hard but never abused. The only thing that I broke or lost was some wheel nuts.

It got put away in the cupboard for most of high school and uni but in 2002 I got it back out and cleaned it up and it is still running. I have since broken all of the suspension arms at least once (the plastic is starting to crack around the mounting points) and these have been epoxied up.

The only mods that it has had are a Sport Tuned motor, rear tyres and bearings for the front wheels in 2003, in 2004 it got new radio gear an ESC and the anti sway bar, and this year it got a new drive train as the gears and drive shafts finally decided to wear out.

[Champ85]

My first proper RC car was a Super Champ that I got from my parents in 1984 for (I think) a good year of school grades. Rewards like that for good grades was not normal at all so please don't think I was a spoiled brat. I still remember that day very well. We were at a hobby shop called "606" which was named for the street number in Manchester, NH. They had lots of radio control stuff and many Tamiya kits high up behind the counter. I'd been reading all about hobby-grade kits for a while by then through R/C Modeler Magazine. I remember reading about the races through Gene Husting and looking at the ads for cars including the full page ad on the back cover of the magazine for the Tamiya Super Champ.

Anyway, I thought we were at the store to just look and browse. I could never afford the kit+radio+battery+charger all at once. After a while we left the shop and just as we all got back into the car to leave my dad said "I'll be right back" and my mom and I stayed in the car. I had no clue nor expectations that anything was going on. My parents were sly like that, or I was just naive. A short while later my dad walked out of the shop with the Super Champ box in his hands. I was incredulous. For my first car I expected to get the Grasshopper or Hornet, not the "expensive high-end" Super Champ! Then suddenly it dawned on me that my mom and dad didn't know I'd need a radio system. And a battery. And charger. When I meekly brought that up my parents said "yes, we know you need those things too." They said we'd pick those up at the local hobby shop in my home-town. Phew. And we did. And here I am, 26 years later, still buying Tamiya kits.

I still have that Super Champ today. I just rebuilt it last year after completely disassembling it, cleaning it, replacing worn ball bearings, and upgrading the electronics. It still has the original RS-540 motor (the brushes are well worn now) and only a few parts had been replaced over the years leading up to last year (rear axles, front arms, pinion). Remarkably tough vehicle.

I remember buying rear Rough Rider tyres in the box to try to save the spike tires when running on pavement. I literally wore those tires off the rims.

I also used to make metal bodies out of sheet aluminum that was on a giant roll (it was rather thick but easily bent and cut) and then purposely crashing the car and flipping it over to smash the body like a real car. I used to beat the **** out of it but it kept going and going. Probably because the chassis was aluminum - a Hornet or Frog would have broken in half by then.

Of course I treat my cars with a lot more respect now.

[highflyer]

I purchased my Blackfoot in 1987 from Hobby Horse (lhs in Brookfield, suburb of Milwaukee), my first cool RC and I still have it eventhough it is a project. Funny thing, I wanted a Brat like my friends but my LHS owner said the Blackfoot is new and alot of fun - end of story, I was sold. Anyway, I cut alot of lawns and shoveled snow to stay in my new found hobby.

Parts were NEVER a problem, there were six Hobby shops near the city of Milwaukee which were all within a 30 mile radius and all carried Tamiya parts and hop ups. Tamiya and Kyosho were the R/C of choice back then in our area.

When my friend got the Monster Beetle, I converted my BF to a MB as I preferred the look and got a Monster Beetle for Christmas in '88. I had fun racing/bashing with others back then, it was all about fun!

[OldFrogga]

I still have my Frog which was bought new around late 84. My step father had bought it for us to use as a father/son type thing with a view to racing it but that never eventuated and it was only driven around 10 times before the gearbox became a problem, so my dad having no patience at all decided to give up on it and it was put in a cupboard and forgotten about by him..(but not me!) so anyway a couple years ago i was looking for some grease to use on my cousins nitro buggy and found it sitting there on a shelf in a cupboard with its controller and all our spares we had bought for it. Strangely it looked almost as we had left it except for the rear tires which had rotted to pieces..so i grabbed it and and brought it home with me and have started rebuilding it recently.

Its got a lot of cool hop-ups waiting to be fitted now which is stuff i have been collecting over the past few years but this is a pic i took a few weeks ago, previously it had been living on one of my shelves waiting for some attention but since my good friend recently bought an old Kyosho Optima my interest has peaked and its now all stations go on the rebuild! The aim is to not make it too pretty but to replace/rebuild anything that needs doing and fit every single hop-up i have collected to it..

Before rebuild!

Rebuild pics to come later if people are interested

[Ian_Gsi16V]

I've still got my Super Hornet from about 93 / 94? I smashed the back wheels back in the late 90's and couldn't get replacements anywhere. Once I got hooked up online I did some searching and came across some in an Austrailian Hobby Shop. Got them sent over and its back in one piece. Last used it about 2 years ago.

Still got and run my Toyota Pre-Runner from around the same era, had most of it replaced back when it was current model as running it in the street resulted in alot of damage. Currently running a Super Stock BZ and good for a bash

[Rizzo]

Great topic

I'm another one with a frog. I bought this one in the mid 80's for 50p! It was just a chassis that had been painted black (badly!), and no body or wheels.

I had a Hornet at the time (my first RC car, making this one my second) and thought the suspension design looked fantastic in comparison. I had no idea what it was though, but had the plan to restore it and race it as an upgrade to the Hornet. Sadly I didn't really have a clue where to start with that and it remained as just a pile of parts, until I came across it again about a year ago. I found out what it was ( a good place to start, right?! ) and got all the missing bits from ebay. Rather than strip the paint (more like tar) from the chassis, I sanded it down and sprayed it with automotive bumper spray- tough stuff that looks like black plastic

Perhaps like others have found, one can never be enough! So aswel as the Blitzer, I think I'll have to get hold of a Hornet again. The newer stuff just doen't do it for me.

Here it is just before I started:

And nearly finished, although I may be tempted to add a few hopups (please share your pics old Frogga!)

[OldFrogga]

Hi Rizzo!

Go here to check out my frog build thread http://www.tamiyaclub.com/forum/index.php?showtopic=57192

[Jim the wookie]

I still have my first, a hornet, totaled the body, bumper, wheels and several sets of tyres years and years ago so i guess i have the better part of a chassis. I have the bits to put it back together (all original release stuff) but some how can not bring myself too, weird huh? Guess i like it as a shrine to when my cars were allowed to be grubby and mistreated! Maybe i'll get to it next time i have a holiday.....................

jim

[Shanks]

I still have my 1st Tamiya its a Bigwig bought in 88 for me by my Mum being a single parent she had to do a "Lay away" where you pay a deposit then pay an amount weekly when you have paid in full you get the item, It was from Beaties model shop in Sheffield I have fond memories of traveling to Sheffield on the bus from Rotherham. I have recently done a partial restore on it so that I can run it again most of it is original & it will be the 1st entry into my showroom.

[MAD RACER]

Great topic guys.

Well my first car was not a Tamiya but a Mauri Galaxy. I got when i was 14 and ran it all the time and loved apart from eating idler gears and the MSC for breakfast.

Mine was the red roll cage version with the hot motor.

I sold it of to make way for my new 2nd hand Tamiya Brat which i turned into a Frog.

Funny i just got in the mail yesterday my new addition to my vintage family. Yep won the exact same red Galaxy of flea bay.

Brought back so many memmories.