What Models Define Rc For You?

[justinn 0]

Just been thinking about all the models I've had over the years and the ones I always wanted but could never afford... To me, these are the Iconic Tamiyas. Each has a reason why it's on my list, not necessarily because it's a good performer, nice design, super fast, packed with features etc, there's just something that makes it stand out for me. Here's my Top 12 Iconic Tamiyas...

1. Tamiya Avante - This was always the holy grail for me when I was a kid. Mostly cos I liked its looks... the metallic blue was just awesome!
   
2. Lunch Box - My first ever real RC car. Bought it from a model shop in Leicester just before xmas in 87. Had to wait 3 weeks before I could open it and build it on Christmas day.
   
3. Monster Beetle - I always wanted a Beetle in real life, kinda still do, so I could pimp it up and make a real version of the monster beetle.
   
4. Hornet - A beloved beginners car for many. Simple design and great looks. Easy to build and maintain. It was a toss up between this and the lunchbox for my first proper RC.
   
5. Audi A4 STW - My first 4wd RC Car. Went like stink!
   
6. Wild Willy - A really cool & fun car! Everyone should have one.
   
7. Rising Storm - The car that got me back into RC yet again. Built like a brick outhouse, and looks fantastic.
   
8. Wild One - One of the most stunning buggies Tamiya have ever produces imo.
   
9. Hotshot - It was always a toss up for me between the hotshot or the avante at the top of my wish list in the 90s.
   
10. Any TT01 based car - Such a versatile chassis and withstands a ton of abuse!
    
11. Durga - This is high up on my wishlist at the moment. I love its sleek looks and it defines modern Tamiyas for me.
    

What are the iconic models for you?

Cheers

Justin

[dan12 1]

Durga for modern tamiya and wild will or lunch box for fun. I like the Mad bull also because of the price mainly and the strenth, the closest iv got to that is my fighter buggy, also dt01.

[justinn 0]

Durga for modern tamiya and wild will or lunch box for fun. I like the Mad bull also because of the price mainly and the strenth, the closest iv got to that is my fighter buggy, also dt01.

Yes the lunchbox is definitely an Iconic Tamiya, if only for its sheer "Bounciness" on those kit shocks!

[merckx 1]

Frog

Hornet

Fox

Grasshopper

Hotshot

Sand Scorcher

Super Champ

Blackfoot

Clodbuster

in no particular order, but stand out to me as markers of important trends and classesfor tamiya.

[Tamiya1/10 382]

Back in the early 90's... the 3spd Mountaineer and the King Tiger. Cannot affort either one and had to settle for the Leopard and the Pajero XC in around 98. Still have the Pajero after several repaints, though a shelve queen now, but was and still considered to me the best all round model.

The Mounty with it metal chassis and 3spd and the King with the revolving turret and gun flash both were so close to the real thing.

[Origineelreclamebord 45]

Dyna Storm But I think some people might have guessed that Awesome car, overcomplicated gearbox perhaps, but solid, typical Tamiya engineering, stunning looks (something Tamiya can sometimes do like no other brand can ever come close to), loads of fun to drive, and to hop up with vintage or modern parts too!

The CLOD BUSTER! I never had one - I now don't need one currently either I think, as I have a modified TLT-1 now that fits my needs for a Monster Truck - but it just has a legendary status - The chassis type is still in production after more than 20 years, and it's looks are simply iconic! And lets face it, Monster Trucks usually give a 'Wow!' response from kids

The TL01 also has a soft spot in my heart as it was my first 'proper' RC car (mainly because it wasn't toy grade - and it was a Tamiya) - which I luckily still have. It's not the best of chassis, but it stood up to my abuse at a younger age, and it got me into the hobby. It's not a car that defines RC cars in general though.

What does though is the TA01/02/DF01. It's not just a tourer, also a rally car, and a Buggy. Parts are all easily interchangeable between the cars (if you're sick of the touring car, just bolt on the long suspension), some nice hopups to make it perform more competitively - I doubt it was very competitive in fully hopped up spec, but what is sure is that the simple tourer could be hopped up to about the highest spec Tamiya offered at the time - It's superb out of the box though, very tough and reliable, fun to build, drive and do maintainance on... It's one of the most versatile chassis Tamiya ever made - and funny enough this car too is still in production today!

[JWeston 493]

Interesting question as you have an idea which ones are the iconic ones in general but the personally iconic ones for me are...

From back in the day:

1. Boomerang - first car back in 1986 and still have it.

2. Fox - first car I ever wanted

3. Super Shot - always wanted but couldn't afford

4. Bigwig - wanted, but again off limits due to price

5. Blackfoot - sweet monster truck and always admired it

6. Porsche 959 - looked so cool and was also on the unattainable list

Nowadays:

6. Hot Shot II - best looking buggy

7. Hot Shot - ground breaking

8. Wild One - lovely looking car but the driver body is a shocker

9. Hornet - smashing buggy. built a rere for my daughter and then bought another for myself

10. Blitzer Beetle - fab and fun

11. Subaru Brat - cracking looker and fun to drive and watch driven

12. Blazing Blazer - not sure why, but it's the coolest 3spd looker

[Percymon 2184]

As a newcomer to all this, i'd suggest the iconic RC cars of my childhood were the Grasshopper/Hornet/Frog , the Lunchbox, and a monster truck (my memory says I drooled over a Bigfoot in my local RC store, but maybe it was a Blackfot or a Clod). If you had deeper pockets then the Sand Scorcher type cars would also be there

So with those, buggies, vans and trucks are covered.

To me, on road cars, would not define RC, mainly because there are loads of cheap ones on the highstreet shelves every Xmas and those toys don;t compare to Tamiya and its rivals.

[SteelRat 46]

Oooh.. good topic.. my 2p: (in no particular order)

1: The Hornet - This always seemed to be the car that people almost associate with RC buggies and Tamiya, particularly non-RC'ers.

2: Lunchbox - No RC collection should be without one of these. A great big glowing glob of fun and laughs. On a stick.

3: Clodbuster - Infinite customisation possibilities, and one of the only RC cars that has a 3rd party industry almost, all of its own.

4: Axial AX10 - The "everyman" rock crawler. Relatively cheap, very well built, and pretty capable straight out of the box

5: Sand Scorcher - It's popularity speaks volumes. Instantly recogniseable everywhere, and awesome despite it's often criticised technical shortcomings.

6: Traxxas Slash - You've got to be really stupidly unbelievably brutal to break one of these (unless you have a 4x4 and you drive it on gravel for more than 20 seconds). And even if you ARE stupidly unbelievably brutal, it'll still come back for more before it breaks.

7: Monster Beetle - Like a Scorcher, just more so. And because it was the car that broke my hobby grade RC cherry!

[Meakz1973 36]

I'm always fascinated by the cars that other people love which hold no personal meaning to me. I do appreciate and respect everyone's different tastes, as everyone has their defining personal Tamiya moment!

I really think that without the Sand Scorcher I would never have been interested as a kid nor as an adult ( I'm an adult?) so for me the Sand Scorcher defines RC.

[justinn 0]

Fantastic responses Keep 'em coming. It's seeing which cars people define as Iconic. I recently started building a lunchbox re-re. It's been a very nostalgic build and this time I can make sure I do the things right that I messed up badly when I was 12 years old!

[cannondale1974 11]

IMO these two cars defined RC, the Grasshopper and RC10. I never had a Grasshopper but had the Hornet which you guys know is basically the same thing. Everybody and their brother had a Grasshopper and probably introduced more kids to RC than any other car. The RC10 defined racing and dominated for years. The first time I ran my RC10 I couldn't believe how fast it was, it was mind blowing for a 14ish year old kid

[TamiyaDan 8]

.

[JWeston 493]

I like this thread

I now want to say which I think are the Iconic Tamiyas (rather than my own personal icons).

1. Porsche 934 RSR - number 1, nuff said

2. XR311 - first Tamiya off-roader and got the ball rolling

3. Rough Rider - ground breaking

4. Sand Scorcher - grabbed everyone's attention. super bug, started a super bug!

5. Toyota 4x4 - first of the iconic 3 speeds

6. Wild Willy - first 'fun car' and still going today!

7. Subaru Brat - first outing for the very oconic ORV space frame chassis

8. Hot Shot - start of an era. nuff said.

9. Blackfoot - still going today in a new guise

10. Monster Beetle - very much loved re-use of the scorcher shell-ish

11. Clodbuster - another still going today in a new guise

12. Avante - only because everyone bangs on and on about it but I've never personally had the pleasure

All first 100. You need to look at the first 100 to appreciate what an amazing set they are.

J

sorry - Grasshopper needs a shout so up my last list to 13.

[markbt73 5316]

As others have mentioned, Grasshopper, RC10, Clod Buster, but also, for me, any pan-car. I raced 1/10 on road and oval for years, so my image of "RC car" in my mind, if it isn't an RC10 or a Grasshopper, it's my 10L or a Bolink Invader or something like that.

[bugjammer 2]

I'm kind of sorry to say my iconic car isnt a Tamiya - despite my first few being Sand Scorchers and Sand Rovers.

My Iconic car is the mighty Mardave MiniStock, it introduced me to 'proper' racing - the same classes which I still do nearly 25 years later, it was cheap, handled well and just the best fun when you get 10 of them on a track

[BeetleLover 4]

I suppose the the ones with Radio Control

nah seriously, in my early teens and my era of RC it was probably defined and introduced by 2 models really, the grasshopper and the Hornet... There was always someone you knew who had one of these cars and from there you discovered the other models and specifically Tamiya.

James

[cannondale1974 11]

It would be interesting to see the sales data from Tamiya on each model, wonder how the ranking would go? My guess would be something like this:

Ranking for most models sold

-Grasshopper

-Frog

-Hornet

-Blackfoot

-Hot Shot

-Fox

etc. etc....

[al the mot man 0]

1 monster beetle. 2 Blackfoot. 3 wild willy 2. 4 clod buster. 5 bullhead. 6 juggernaut. 7 mammoth dump truck. 8 lunch box. 9 midnight pumpkin chrome. 10 twin detonator. 11 dual hunter. That's my ultimate collection, I fact that is my collection

[HunterZero 76]

Golden era cars, for sure. Anything from the 1986-1987 catalogue, really.

Hornet

Frog

Fox

Grasshopper

Falcon

Supershot

Bruiser

Wild One

Wild Willy

Porsche 959

Hotshot

Boomerang

Even some of the Racing Master cars, as they were quite different, but still cool to look at in the catalogue...

Porsche 956

Road Wizard

Toyota Toms 84C

While still iconic, I never really liked these cars...

Monster Beetle

Blackfoot

Subaru Brat

- James

[taliesin 260]

Frog

Hornet

Grasshopper

Hotshot

Sand Scorcher

Rough Rider/Buggy Champ [whichever name you came to know it as]

Clodbuster

Lunchbox

These are the iconic short list for me - Tamiya at least. It's like owning an MG or a VW Beetle - everybody you meet either owned one, wanted one, or knew somebody who did.

Otherwise, I think the RC10 is just iconic no matter how you slice it. Porsche 934 RSR - I agree 100% with J. Weston's assessment on that one. I would add the Rustler or Stampede to the list of icons just because nearly everybody in the world knows what it is and probably wanted/owned one at some point - or at least thrashed one that a friend had.

For the rest of the non-R/C addicted world, anything by Nikko is probably what comes to mind when you say R/C.

[Gruntfuggly 562]

RC = Sand Scorcher. Simples.

[justinn 0]

1 monster beetle. 2 Blackfoot. 3 wild willy 2. 4 clod buster. 5 bullhead. 6 juggernaut. 7 mammoth dump truck. 8 lunch box. 9 midnight pumpkin chrome. 10 twin detonator. 11 dual hunter. That's my ultimate collection, I fact that is my collection

Somebody likes their monster trucks me thinks? ;-) nice list!

I think I need to add the Sand Scorcher into my list. I've never had one, but I think it should be up there. They just look so darn cool!

[BangkokBulldog 151]

1) Lamborghini Cheetah ( My first RC car )

2) Sand Scorcher ( Was my dream RC car )

3) Grasshopper ( My 2nd RC car )

4) The Hornet

5) The Frog

So now I have the Rere Scorcher, The Hornet and The Frog.......will Tamiya every rerelease The Cheetah??????...I hope so!

[al the mot man 0]

Somebody likes their monster trucks me thinks? ;-) nice list!

I think I need to add the Sand Scorcher into my list. I've never had one, but I think it should be up there. They just look so darn cool!

I've wanted a sand scorcher for a while but my painting skills aren't up to the 2 tone that they need and would end up making a mess and spoiling a beautiful machine