What quality makes a kit "special"?

[OrangeSport 0]

I have been driving my Grasshopper more than any other kit recently, and loving every minute of it. I was thinking about that this evening (whilst driving it) and wondering why..

It is not the best buggy I have on a technical basis. The Hornet is basically a Grasshopper GTI (with better suspension and more power), the Holiday Buggy is more sophisticated in every way and handles better (even if it is a bottom-dragger), the Rising Fighter is a modern Grasshopper really (with more pawer, better suspension and wheels and a better battery box cover) and Land Cruiser is just in a different league in terms of design and detail. But the Grasshopper is my favorite.

I think it is down to two things. One is the looks; the Grasshopper is one of the best looking buggies ever. The other, I think, is what draws a lot of us to this hobby as we "mature". Memories. I remember my first ever drive of my original Grasshopper in the 80s. It was my first Tamiya kit. Before that I had Mardaves, and this was the first Tamiya which looked like it could be a competitive racer. And it was! I raced this more than the Apache I had before, or the Hornet which replaced it (although I remember my standard Hornet lined up with a couple of others, blitzing everything else off the start line up to the first bend like it was yesterday). It is also responsible for my buggy driving style to this day. You were never going to get smooth and stable with the 'Hopper, and I still revert to my default "tail-out / throttle nailed / opposite lock applied" nearly thirty years later. To be honest, I actually prefer the Grasshopper's handling to the Hornet's.

And I think that's it really. The memories are what makes it "special" for me.

So, what is your favorite / most special / most used kit, and why? Is it for its technical ability, or for more emotional reasons?

[karooha MB 0]

Good topic.

Yes, I have particular memories that keep me smiling, especially when I crack out my Monster Beetles.

When I was about 7 or 8, around 1983, 84, my uncle bought a 1:1 Baja Beetle built on a 1303s. The body was cut back, it was stripped out and ran a 1776cc Twin Carb lump with BIG offroad tyres.

He had it painted in an orange, with a fat stripe down the centre of its length, number plate to number plate. It was a beast, and at that age I was awestruck. The sound, the size, that fact that it went offroad on Salisbury Plain, the sheer spectacle of it was overwhelming and I think my Unc was quite pleased when I asked him to take me acorss the plains EVERY DAY!

So, when I was about 13 or 14 I had saved up enough money to buy a 2nd hand Monster Beetle from a friend that had "grown out of it". Funny eh, how we do that, then grow right back into it again!

Obviosly the very first thing I did was to paint the body, very crudely, with whatever orange paint I could find, and it was definitely not model paint, then added the stripe.

It was stock, and was broken quite quickly as it was my first ever RC car. It took such a hammering. I was an avid "fixer" of things, and I kept it running for ages, a good quantity of gaffa tape, superglue, cable ties, wire, and the like were all used to bind up the snapped off bits and bobs. It acquired a lean even when going straight, it crabbed slightly as I had bent the steering arms into alsorts of shapes, the tyres were worn, the shell slowly became several parts, and the batteries got worse and worse as we didn't have a clue about the way to look after them.

It was such a Battle Wagon that I cherished it until the day it ran no more. wish I could remember what I did with it.

What I loved about it was the big soft tyres that made it bounch on landing, the wheelies it pulled on a fresh pack, the "go anywhere" styling, the rear wheel drive tail out driving, but most of all it was the fact that I had a Baja Bug that looked just like my Uncles real one. I never got to see both together as Unc had sold the 1:1 way before I got the MB, but I remember his face when I showed him my beaten up Version, inspired by the most awesome car I had ever seen (at the time).

Every time I get my MB's out I remember, it does make me smile. Although neither of my runners are anything like the "Basher" I had as a kid they both make me feel 14 again, which then makes me feel 7 again, and I am all of a sudden blasting across Salisbury Plain in the funkiest Bug in the world, with my Uncle Greg. Smile time.

Happy days indeed.

So there you go, my attachment to the Monster Beetle is long standing, it is neither the best offroader, the best speed machine, the best design (that diff sucks) nor is it resistant to any rough treatment. everything that could break did, and continues to do so even with my fairly restrained driving styles, but it is such a joy inducing little peach that I think out of all my cars, had, have, and will have, I will always have a M<onster Beetle or two to take me back there again.

This has of course lead to Sand Scorcher Fever, but that'll wait for another day.

Thanks for the topic, it'll be great to hear all your stories..............

[OrangeSport 0]

Fantastic story - thanks. It's great the way those memories can be triggered...

[mongoose1983 3335]

So, what is your favorite / most special / most used kit, and why? Is it for its technical ability, or for more emotional reasons?

I'll try to keep this short. For some reason the things I knew back in my childhood days have some strong effect on what I want to have and see, and even the music I listen to. I buy the shoes I saw my dad using back in the 70's, I still listen to KISS, the Bee Gees, and Bachman-Turner Overdrive, I have a feelin' for old Matchbox toys so I go back a lot and most the time I like to be surrounded by what I saw back then. I am curious about this, I guess some psychologist would be able to explain what's the reason for that? Anyway, back to the specific topic, I first saw a Tamiya RC car much later in the 80's. In my teens I was a huge fan of Monster Truck racing (I only saw the Rough Rider and Sand Scorcher on catalogs). My favorite Tamiya would be the Clod Buster. It was an immense monster truck that I longed for when it first arrived to the local hobby store. It was only a dream to me back then. Now I have one and I love it because of it's realism and performance. The Clod looks and performs so much like a mid 80's monster truck, specifically the 1986-87 Bear Foot. Anyway, while I use the Clod Buster every now and then, the kit I use more often is my custom 4x4 TA-02 Ford Bronco because of its performance. Can't go wrong with it. Runs fast, and it's very reliable on and off road.

Nice topic.

You all have a great week!

[SteelRat 46]

What a great topic, and karooha that is a fantastic story and in some respects echos my own. I've always loved baja bugs, they have that plucky underdog thing about them. If you think about what they are, they're an automotive "zero to hero"; something as tame and unassuming as a VW Beetle turned into a fire breathing off road monster.

Anyway my old Monster Beetle is more or less the one that I had back when I was about 17, and the one that I ragged, re painted, rolled, broke, and repaired, and the shell even as it stands at the moment still bares a fair few battle scars - the most obvious being the rear and rather crude wheel arches / mud guards that i made out of tin and then glued on with No More Nails. Now the only things on it that are left from the old one are the body shell and the ladder chassis, as everything else comes from a King Blackfoot (I hate that frog gearbox with a passion), but I think because that shell is battered worn and still has the old RCMC stickers on the windows that I got from a magazine back in 1988, it still has the same character and soul of the original car, even if most of the bits have been upgraded or changed.

One slight annoyance that I've always had, because I feel people are missing the point when they talk about what car is "the best". It doesn't matter how it runs, how it handles, how fast it goes, how high / far it'll jump that matters or makes a car "good". It's how it makes you feel when you run it. If you run it, and you grin like a pillock until the battery dies, it's done its job. Like Oranges Grasshopper, and Karoohas Monster Beetle, my MB isn't the fastest, best handling car and I'd certainly never jump it, but every time I see it on the shelf, it's got that "g'waaaan take me for a spin, you know you want to" air about it, and i'm never disappointed when I do.

[OrangeSport 0]

Good stories - thanks.

I wondered if it was just me; it seems not!

[Henk4Focus 0]

There I was, must have been about 9 or 10 years old and I remember seeing the Monster Beetle and Midnight Pumpkin in the window at Jix hobbies Pretoria. They were still in the centre of Mid City Pretoria back then. I still haven't landed MB for my collection but that little Black F100 stuck in my mind forever and today I'm the proud owner of 3 Midnight Pumpkins one which was driven to near death. Well the chassis at least. Everytime I run my first one with the Pumpkin decals and that strange whiny gearbox, I smile from ear to ear. I never had the fortune of owing anything Tamiya growing up but the Pumpkin and MB stuck with me through the years as something special. The MB just because, as every normal South African boy growing up I dreamed of owning a Baja Bug which I did eventually. It cured my addiction to wanting one and gave me an everlasting dislike in anything made by Volkswagen. For those who have seen the movie by Jamie Uys, The gods must be crazy, the Series 1 Landy in there called the anti-christ, well my Baja bug was the anti-christ to me.

So even now not even liking VEEDUBs no more, I would still like to have a Monster Beetle but my favourite will be the ride of mr. E.T Everett.

[IBIFTKH 1369]

Different things are special in different ways.

My first car was a Sand Rover, bought new and bashed almost to death. Now it's restored and spends most of its life sitting on the shelf but there's something really special, maybe a moment of childhood recaptured, in taking that basic old buggy for a gentle run. Same sort of thing for my SRBs too. I couldn't afford them when I was a kid but I bought both re-re's. I really enjoyed building both, real old-school magic, and really enjoy running them too. I don't run them hard, I just enjoy them for what they are and just love watching them, the way they move and react in such a 'scale' way - you just don't get that with a modern buggy (or it's going too fast to see!!). Pure nostalgia I suppose, but why not?

I enjoy my scalers too. To me at least, there's something quite special in driving a scale vehicle over, around or through what should be impossible obstacles.

Then there's the bashers, the ones my kids love to drive. Two Slashes and a tweaked Dirt Thrasher for their speed, toughness and 'Dad won't get miffed if I do something daft with it' - ness. Clod, Bullhead and especially the TXT-1 for their sheer size and awesomeness. And good old Wild Willy, in this case a WW2, for the purest big-silly-grin factor ever invented. Love 'em all.

Mentioning the Bullhead brought back a funny little memory. My middle daughter was driving it with me one afternoon. She was about six then, a tiny little imp. A group of lads spotted the truck and came over to watch. As they approached, she braked too heavily on a downhill slope and the Bullhead performed a full 360 degree forward roll. Completely unperturbed, she waited until it landed back on its wheels, mashed the throttle and pulled a huge wheelie - that's my girl

The lads were clapping and whooping, and then they realised who was driving - not the big ugly bald guy but the tiny little girl!! The looks on their faces - absolutely priceless!!

cheers,

Rob

[OrangeSport 0]

Ha, sounds like we are all big kids at heart then!

[karooha MB 0]

Awesome recollections, and it seems true, we all attach ourselves, or become attached, to certain models based on memories, moments, and feelings.

Said it before but I'll say it again, excellent topic, what a great read.

Thanks for sharing and sorry I waffled on a bit

[TamiyaDan 8]

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[kaiser 8]

i'm with orange sport on this one.

there's something about the hopper and it's clones that make me smile.

they are so much fun. my hopper was my second hobby grade rc car. the first was the wild one.

the wild one gave me alot of trouble, whereas the hopper never gave me any.

if i could only keep one rc out of my entire collection it would be a hopper with a silvercan.

[mongoose1983 3335]

every time i take my old blackfoot out i beat the heck out of it to the point i usually break apart whatever lexan body i've put on it.

its a crappy truck the CG is too high, if you don't have a thorp in the gearbox or upgraded the original hex drives to dogbones you won't get far.

you snap the steering knuckles like candy. the shocks are basically worthless, but its still fun to drive even after 25 years.

Yes, you're right. Still, you got to keep in mind there was no other RC model car quite like the Black Foot back in good old 1986. I think people rarelly questioned those issues back then as there was nothing to compare it with. I mean, the 1984 Marui 1:12 Big Bear and nothing else! The Black Foot had such an impact because it was the first and most outrageous piece of RC when it first hit the hobby stores. I remember years later when the stadium trucks appeared. They were horrible looking, but they were durable and their CG would keep their wheels right on the floor. Nowadays you can have all sorts of trucks, Traxxas Slash, etc, etc, but all this came to happen because of the Black Foot.

We rarely hear anything about this particular model, which, to my taste, should be one of the greatest ones ever made by Tamiya. Like, who come up with the idea and such. It would be nice if someday someone pays a good tribute to a model car that is no less in every way than the Sand Scorcher or the Avante.

You all have a great Wednesday!

[Henk4Focus 0]

We rarely hear anything about this particular model, which, to my taste, should be one of the greatest ones ever made by Tamiya. Like, who come up with the idea and such. It would be nice if someday someone pays a good tribute to a model car that is no less in every way than the Sand Scorcher or the Avante.

Agree fully Erich. The Blackfoot has survived the eighties, nineties and even now in new millennium it survives as the BFE. Not the same chassis no more but the general bodyshape is still with us. I have 2 KBF's and they are amongst my favs in my little collection. Wishing upon a star that I can land a original Blackfoot and the Super BF soon just to complete the line up.

[Kokuzu 5]

If I may add my special kits, than it is for those and for the following reasons:

1) Eidai Grip Porsche Carrera Turbo 2.1L in 1/8 scale static kit - because it reminds me of my dad converting it to an RC version.

2) The Toyota 4x4 3.speed - because it was my first ever RC model I bought. I built it boxart, modified it and used it up until each part of it diminished over the decades.

3) The 58001 Porsche - because it goes without words

4) The Renault R5 Turbo - because my wife loves France and I love my wife

5) The Grashopper (just lately) - because we will have a boy, and I found one for 15EUR and will restore it for him to become his first RC model.

I have been lucky to have found all of them - and I am looking forward to 'revive' the feelings when starting the resto job on them.

The "personal value" of the cars in my collection is a summary of:

1) Memories

2) Taste (scale look, design and type of vehicle)

3) Personal value, defined by a combination of:

• the level of technical details
  
• the rarity of the model
  
• the time I spent finding it
  
• the money I spent
  
• the time I invested restoring / modifying it.