Your first Tamiya kit build?

[Tamiya1/10]

I would've thought for most of us would be some static kit. Over gluing every parts and paint everywhere but where you wanted it, on the model. For tamiya would be 1/35 military tank. Cars, bike, planes were never big on my list.

[TamiyaDan]

would of been a super champ for me.

[taliesin]

TT-01 for R/C models.

Hard to say for static kits, it seems like so long ago. I was really into military stuff as a kid, so it could have been anything I guess, but I remember Tamiya being extra cool, and way better than the cheezy dime-store brands. Most of the static kits ended their life right around the 4th of July with unfortunate "accidents" involving fireworks. Jeez, kids are stupid.

[steponit!]

My "last" Tamiya plastic kit was a 'Porsche 9 something something (I can't remember...man! Am I that old??!)' way back in 1980. My first rc kit was the 'Rough Rider' in 1982 and I still have it till today !!

[Novastar]

My first Tamiya kit would also have been static most likely a 1/72 or 1/48 scale WWII plane or armour kit. I still model Panzers but in 1/35 scale and am currently working on the mighty Sturmtiger. My first Tamiya RC would be the trusty Stadium Blitzer in the mid 90's (still running) as my first Tamiya owned was a second hand Avante previously.

[Origineelreclamebord]

TL-01 '97-er Subaru Impreza! I still have it, though I feel it needs to be restored a bit.

[bjr250]

Tamiya Fox. I got it for my birthday in 86. I still have it and it still gets run.

I also got a static motorbike kit for that same birthday but the Fox was built first. Before that I had had some static kits but they were from other brands.

[Tamiya Era]

Mine was: Tamiya Vanquish (58076)

It has been with me for 20 years....

So happy to have it still with me....

(It is fully upgraded with Hop-Up parts)

Cheers

[Neo Tamiya]

Built a few scale ww2 Tamiya plastic battle kits in my past....(when they were pocket money prices!)...but the RC kits were far too expensive for me to buy, or be bought for!.

My Tamiya rc cars back in the eighties were swapped/traded for...Last month or so i took a trip to Modelsport & bought myself a 'Lunchbox' kit & really enjoyed building/painting that one!!...great!

[MSM546]

My first kit was a 1:14 Scania R470 which i only got last month

[taliesin]

My first kit was a 1:14 Scania R470 which i only got last month

What a seriously cool way to start this hobby! I am very seriously considering one of these as they look like a fun build, and look great when finished.

[axemandavva]

Original Grasshopper, back when I was 12 or 13 I guess. What a Christmas that was.

[Leethal Driver]

Rere Lunchy

[Wez-li]

Had a 2nd hand Striker, but my first New Build was a Manta Ray, over 20 years ago now!

[ducatikid]

My first Tamiya RC car was the original Brat around 83/84. I rebuilt it last year and sold it this year. I'm restoring my original Hotshot which was my second RC car i ever got. Static kit was either the Honda RC30 or Yamaha 0W01.

[TA-Mark]

Why do parents feel the need to do this? Usually the stuff is up in the attic, it's not hurting anyone, sat in a corner minding its own business!? I'm still peeved (as you can perhaps tell) from when my dad in his ultimate wisdom decided to throw out my brand new nib original Nike Air Jordan 5 trainers. I am still gutted to this day although he denies he did it or he certainly cannot remember doing it anyway. Luckily my Tamiya's never saw the same fate

I know what you mean. My dad threw out a 4 foot long balsa/fibreglass RC yacht hull I built when I was about 12. It cost me a few months of weekend lawn mowing to pay for the materials alone, not to mention the many hours it took to build it. He of course denies tossing it in the trash. He also threw out my surfboard, go-kart and billy cart at the same time. Lucky my Mum was looking after my smaller toys (Huge matchbox car collection, huge technic Lego collection, childhood RC toys) and had them all packed away for when I settled somewhere and had a place to store them myself.

[Team Rawlings]

Series one Sandscorcher was my first, late 70's, So loved that car.

Thank you Mr Tamiya for allowing me to relive those days.

[Mad Ax]

My first Tamiya NIB would have been one of the juniors. I vaguely recall getting a black buggy to build when quite young - if it was Tamiya then it would have been a Hornet, but I don't remember for sure what brand it was. I had a few of those when I was younger. I remember buying a Super Astute Jr during a trip into town (I was a country boy and never got into town much) and building it at home with a friend, so that probably counts as my first genuine Tamiya build.

My first RC was a King Cab, but I got it second-hand from my cousin, who was famed for being a toy destroyer. It wasn't in good shape. All the tyres were bald as slicks and the suspension was sloppy. I didn't really understand it back then and never had the money to repair things properly, so it just kind of got patched up as and when it went wrong. I remember stripping the spined hex drives on the first day of my holiday and having to wait 6 weeks to get a new set delivered.

But what this thread is really about is my first NIB RC Tamiya build, right? Well, that was a Mud Blaster. I'm promised myself that I wouldn't buy another truck, because I was tired of flipping over the King Cab and wanted something that wouldn't go upside down all the time. But I was on a really tight budget, as set out by Mother Dearest (God only knows how I even talked her into buying me a new RC at all! I love you Mum!) The cheapest RC kit they had was a 2wd buggy, but it wasn't a Tamiya. It was probably a Mardave or something. I remember being thoroughly unimpressed when the shop owner got a new-built one down from the ceiling (this was back in the days when they had boats, massive balsa planes and gliders, cars and kites hanging from the shop ceiling to tangle with the heads of tall people). I looked it over, but I knew I would have been disappointed if I went for it.

So the next one up on the pricelist was the Mud Blaster. It was another truck, but the budget wouldn't run any higher, so in came Mother Dearest with the chequebook and out I went with my big box of bits, my little box of radio, and my small bag of batteries, charger and paints.

Like a typical numpty I bought the wrong paint - that, or didn't paint it right. In fact I'm pretty sure I didn't prime it first. I sprayed the shell red, but the paint took days to dry in my cold little "hobby shed" in the back garden. I even tried to paint all the body trim properly before I added the decals, but it never looked right. The paint on the driver figure never properly cured, and every time I touched him to reset his head position my fingers would get sticky.

I kept it for years, but it mysteriously disappeared when I came to fetch it after moving house - I guess it got snapped up at a car boot sale during the big craze of the late 90s. It wasn't in great condition by then, but it would have been a real nice resto project with Brat shells easily available now.

Sorry for the long post but reliving these happy memories is really helping to reduce my latent stress levels during this much-appreciated lunchbreak

[Percymon]

My son's DF-02 Rising Storm last Christmas, and still the only one i've built from the box. Rest have been restorations from the ebay junk yard !

[metroplex]

The rerelease Lunch Box was my first Tamiya kit to build (a year ago). It was a blast and since then I've built The Hornet, The Frog and restored a Monster Beetle. Pure Tamiya magic!

[Sayer]

My first Tamiya build was the 1:24 static Ford Sierra RS500 Texaco kit. Before this I mainly built AMT/Ertl, Monogram and Revell kits, mostly of US muscle cars.

First Tamiya RC built was the TA02 Ford Escort Cosworth WRC kit. It slowly turned into a short wheelbase DF01 with a Nikko Landshark body fitted. Eventually I bought another TA02 (HPI tub) chassis for the rally bodies.

That's pretty sexy.

[FLEXUS]

My first build.

easy my re release hotshot finished one week ago.

my first R/C was a nikko RTR followed by a second hand already built hornet in the mid eighties.

[mtbkym01]

Can't believe I missed this thread first time around......

My first Tamiya build was most likely a 1/24th? Scale F1 car, or a 1/32 Hornet Jr, had a few Static F1's and bikes back then, first RC build was my trusty Fox ( wow, that took a lot of saving, collecting cans etc) after attempting to be satisfied by my parents with a few "toy grade" RC's (4x4 Willy's jeep, Jet Hopper), which never scratched the itch. Ended up in the early 90's going 1/8th onroad racing with a Serpent Quattro and a PB Phoenix, then went motocross racing. Stumbled upon RC again a few years ago and am now caught hook, line and sinker. Just can't get enough of it, in all forms.

Great thread reading all the stories

[MadInventor]

My first build ws a grasshopper back in 1984/5. I used the radio gear from my sand rover. Sold it a few months later to a friend at school and bought a hotshot and some new futaba radio gear, but was still running the hotshot with the 6V battery from the sand rover. Eventually saved up for a 7.2V racing pack. Woohoo

Last new build was a Jagdpanther in autumn last year.

[30YrsL8r]

New Grasshopper II - I was a late starter