Your first RC "moment"

[Rockcrusher 6]

For many of us in the RC hobby there is a "moment" where we become hooked on the hobby. Sometimes it happens in childhood and other times adulthood. The moment may be Tamiya related or even "toy-grade" RC based (though most here on Tamiyaclub would graduate to Tamiya in time). I grew up in the 80's and like any kid in the states during that time, the Tyco Turbo Hopper commercials on TV certainly caught my attention. The tipping point was a trip to the the hobby shop. Like many shops in those days, a shelf high above and behind the counter was lined up with mostly Tamiya kits. It was the Monster Beetle that reeled me fully in to RC, specifically Tamiya. There was nothing like it. It utterly capitvated my young mind. Even the name was cool. So what was your moment?

[speedy_w_beans 4272]

I had played with a few toy grade RCs when I was kid, but nothing serious. When I went to college a friend of mine had a Monster Beetle and it was unlike anything I had ever seen and experienced before. That planted a pretty strong seed in me about 25 years ago. Every five years I'd get an RC magazine and look through it, but wouldn't take any action to get started. I was really attracted to the Gravel Hound when it came out; I was so close to getting it. When my son turned 11 two and a half years ago, that seemed like the right time to try a kit. I thought the DF03 Dark Impact was really cool and a step up from the DF02 Gravel Hound, so I ordered a combo from Tower Hobbies and gave it to him for his birthday. We worked on it together and then learned how to drive it together; I broke more front shock towers and hinge pin mounts than he did, that's for sure. I became hooked after I ordered the second buggy, a DB01 Durga. Now a fair number of modern off-road and on-road cars have come to our house. I enjoy building and modifying; my son enjoys tinkering and driving. We probably have about ~16 built cars between us at the moment and several NIBs stashed away for winter builds, both Tamiya and non-Tamiya models.

-Paul

[MadInventor 3884]

Building my hotshot myslef at age 11/12. After that I can't remember not owning a tamiya or kyosho RC for the last 28 years. Had a grasshopper before which I built myself but thought it a bit naff and wanted 4wd. Had a sand rover before that for a few years, but it was the hotshot that got me hooked. Just picking one up now floods the memories back from owning it as a kid and thinking how great it was.

[charlie787b 8]

I remember a lad bringing a tamiya book/mag into school before christmas one year,all those pic's raised an eyebrow and there was talk of who might get what for christmas.

A bit of time went by,i dropped hints to my parents of what might be the ideal presant and at the last minute found myself in beaties with mum,i chose the lunchbox deal and had no regrets whatso ever

Remember building it with dad,i think both of us was a bit keen as we plugged the battery in without the transmitter being turned on,man that thing shot across the livingroom floor and nearly climbed the far wall haha

Nothing broke and after that a few other tamiya's came and went then one day they all disapear'd and i had a mrs and child...nearly 20 years later ive gone bonkers and have another 6 (cars not kids...phew!)

[bromvw 744]

I think my 'moment' was seeing a friends Sand Scorcher driving around their garden when i was 10 years old . Thinking back they were rich spoiled brats who had all the expensive tready toys -but at the time they were my mates lol . There was no way my parents could afford to buy me one and the following year we emigrated to Zambia were my dad worked in the copper mining industry until he passed away . Fast forward to seeing the re re scorcher in Model Zone . I HAD to have one . However i held off . Then the Buggy Champ arrived . BOOM . From then on i was hooked and after a 30 year gap i'am reliving my youth .

[Grastens 2795]

Mine was a double issue of Radio Control Car Action I received from my uncle when I was 11 or 12. I still have that issue somewhere... It talked about the hot new products of 2005, and despite having no experience with hobby-grade RC cars I remember drooling over the Tamiya TB-02 one of the writers built for an article about RC on a budget.

With my love of the Gran Turismo series of video games, I fell in love immediately with Tamiya's scale-realistic products and cars that I saw in both their catalogue and my video games, like the various Skyline GT-R racers and the GT-One. The latter eventually became my very first RC car, and since then the hobby has become a part of my life.

[isthisnametaken 8]

Wow... i remember the Turbo Hopper! I had one, that thing ate up AA batteries like nobody's business!

For me it was seeing my friend's Hornet...I still remember how it sounded when he drove it around.

[Sayer 742]

Yellow Radio Shack ford Cobra. That's the first one I can remember - but since it couldn't even handle carpet, it wasn't until the Tyco Aero Hopper that I started thinking R/Cs were worthwhile toys.

[Percymon 2184]

I don't remember any form of RC vehicle in my childhood despite many many hours ogling all the tamiyas in the basement section of my LHS. Took me until my son was eight before I bought my first tamiya , but I've made up my lost childhood time in the last two years !!

[pizzachaude 130]

My first RC car was a Nikko Turbo Panther. My neighbor had a Turbo Hopper, both are 1/16 scale and performance in straight line was similar but I ruled in the curbs cause the Panther had a diff!! I then graduated to a Nikko Thunderbolt, which is the same as the Nikko Rhinno. Things all changed when a friend of my neighbor brought a Tamiya Madcap! I had never seen anything like it! And then I got hooked on Radio control Car Action (I will never forgive myself for getting rid of all those vintage issues...). I then got my first real car, a Kyosho Ultima 2. My best buddy at the time bought a Kyosho Raider Pro, and we had a blast.

Fast forward 20 years later, I bought a Kyosho Lazer ZX5 to get back to the hobby, but I quickly realized I was hooked on all the vintage cars I wanted back when I was a kid. So I got a very used Ultima 2 and restored it to perfection, and it cost a ridiculous amount of money! I then bought my first Tamiya, a Hornet, And then a Blackfoot, and then a Monster Beetle, and then...... Holy! Do I now have 25 cars!!

[GregM 1109]

My first overall moment with "remote controlled" vehicles must have been with LEGO in the '80s. I can remember having had some battery powered LEGO car with a cable remote that was only able to go forward and rearward without functional steering. Later then came some toy R/Cs that had cable remotes, too.

The first Tamiyas I encountered were the Hornet and the Monster Beetle in the mid '90s. What kind of beasts, I thought. I was very impressed when I learned that they had to be built and painted from a kit, that they were expensive, huge & heavy, consumed a whole NiCD battery pack within less than 10 minutes and could go about 30 km/h. "Be careful not to hurt other people with them" I was told, when I had the opportunity to drive the cars (they were not mine). Just imagine how cool that sounded to me. Another thing I remember from back then was how many times the Beetle was not driveable due to something was broken (mostly gearbox related, I think). My brother and me had tons of fun letting the two cars skid on an iced lake while being on holiday in Denmark. We glued metal pins to their tires.

Today, the old Monster Beetle has become my brother's own car, and I got back into the R/C hobby last year by treating myself a re-release Hornet. Numerous other Tamiyas followed since then. I blame joining Tamiyaclub for that!

[Rockcrusher 6]

The diversity here is interesting. Some of us were relatively recently "hooked". Othesr point back to various eras such as the early SRB time period to the heyday of the mid/late 80's and even the early 90's.

[scoobybooster 248]

I remember my first try with my beloved AYK Super Trail Baja Bison i got for christmas at the age of 10.The car was build by my uncle as i was too small and unexperienced to get the car together by myself nicely. The first running attempts resulted in a roll-over that cost me the 2 lights on the roof damaged.From that moment on i ran that thing more careful;-)

[JeepnMike 150]

Fun thread! For me it started going to the LHS what seemed like almost daily when I was a kid driving the store owners nuts oogling at the Tamiya kits on the top shelf (Frog, Grasshopper, Hornet, FAV, etc.). FINALLY getting a Frog for Xmas in around 1983 I want to say. Then building it with my dad... It felt like freaking FOREVER getting that thing together and painted pretty before I ever got to drive it... LOL

[jeekelemental 528]

With tamiya it was love at first time when, leafing a old Tamiya guide book, I saw the "Toys They Are Not" page, it was the mid 80's, unfortunately I could buy my first car only in the 90's.

[Skottoman 306]

First moment - Sand Scorcher. 1983.

Then I discovered girls... Time went by...

Next moment - TG10 Mini 2004.

Continues to this day...

Cheers,

Skottoman

[Kevin_Mc 411]

i've always loved things like Lego, Mecano, Scalextric, model cars, toy cars and RC cars. I had toy RC cars growing up and for my 12th Birthday i asked for a Tamiya Focus WRC (as i'm a big Ford, McRae and rallying fan) which had just been launched earlier that year (1999). I built it up with my Granda' and used it every time i could go out with it, then one day a small part broke, i can't remember what now, and it was put away in the cupboard.

I then developed an interest in girls, drinking, learning to drive etc. and fell away from it.

In 2007, after 2 years with my girlfriend, i decided that i could re-ignite my interest in RC and rebuild my TL-01. It was stripped down and cleaned but i was offered a new job and didn't have the time for RC due to work/Uni commitments I then lost my job in 2010 and suddenly had time on my hands which allowed me to rebuild the TL-01. I bought another off eBay intending to strip it for parts but it arrived in full working order so i decided i would keep both of them and since then i have become addicted to Tamiyas.

Now i have my own place i can have them out on display too so that keeps the interest alive and is a topic on conversation for any .

[Wooders28 4723]

Got given a toy martini porsche,1 wheel drive and dog slow,Even at 6-7 yrs old it wasnt fast enough and broke the rear spoiler kicking it to go faster!

Playing with it in a car park,and a tamiya Hornet flew past!

The other kid gave me a go of the Hornet and that was me hooked!!

Got hold of a Tamiya Frog,started racing on a makeshift track down Rotten row in Southport.

10 years of racing,and a compliment of ultimas and optimas later i got a 1275GT mini and spent my time on money keep that running and chasing women!!

[XV Pilot 1936]

My interest in Tamiya RC cars was sparked by one of the "rich kids" bringing his Hornet to school one day, but my interest in the RC scene as a whole started the day I experienced the sight (and sound) of a full-composite F3B glider on a speed run. We think a brushless RC car is fast? F3B gliders make them look pedestrian by comparison. (In fact, under the right conditions, F3B gliders even make turbine-powered RC jets look pedestrian by comparison!)

[OldSchoolRunner 116]

For many of us in the RC hobby there is a "moment" where we become hooked on the hobby. Sometimes it happens in childhood and other times adulthood. The moment may be Tamiya related or even "toy-grade" RC based (though most here on Tamiyaclub would graduate to Tamiya in time). I grew up in the 80's and like any kid in the states during that time, the Tyco Turbo Hopper commercials on TV certainly caught my attention. The tipping point was a trip to the the hobby shop. Like many shops in those days, a shelf high above and behind the counter was lined up with mostly Tamiya kits. It was the Monster Beetle that reeled me fully in to RC, specifically Tamiya. There was nothing like it. It utterly capitvated my young mind. Even the name was cool. So what was your moment?

Mine was exactly the same! The models lined up on the shelf et etc. Then at the front of Leisure World they had the video playing the promotional ads from Tamiya! Man how I can remember being glued to that little TV in the hobby shop! I was hooked at that point!

OSR

[AndyjcClod 389]

Mine was seeing my friends cars zip around and promised I could have one for my birthday.

I went into a model shop and picked a Tamiya Falcon.

I spent all evening in my bedroom building it myself. After 26 odd years and about 40 different models it is still one of my favourite ever handling and fun models!

Current favs are my Sand Scorcher and my Slash.

I wish Tamiya would catch up with Traxxas on the brushless and Lipo models soon! Although I think a Sand Scorcher doing 60+ mph would just be a lethal weapon!

[-=Jeff=- 57]

My first fully functional RC cars was a Radio Shack Lancia Stratos:

Then I got a Radio Shack Lamborghini Racer:

That was late 70s early 80s

in 86 I got my first 'Hobby Grade' RC.. Monogram Thunder (which I still own)

in 87 I bought a Clodbuster (with the Bowtie Grille) kept that until the mid 90s and sold it

in 2012, I bought a Dualhunter for my son and I to build then bought myself a BFX from eBay, I think I am more into it then my son.

now my daughter wants her own and the Monogram is a bit too fast for her.

[markbt73 5316]

I had that same Lamborghini! One wheel drive, and wouldn't track staight no matter how much you fiddled with the trim. But I loved it.

My first RC "moment", however, actually came from an airplane. My dad and I had built and flown a couple of control-line planes, and then we went to a local field to watch the RC airplane guys fly. A scale Corsair went overhead, and I said "i want one of THOSE." My dad suggested I start with cars before trying a plane, and, well, I just sort of stuck with cars. Still want to try a plane someday, though.

[bromvw 744]

I had that same Lamborghini! One wheel drive, and wouldn't track staight no matter how much you fiddled with the trim. But I loved it.

My first RC "moment", however, actually came from an airplane. My dad and I had built and flown a couple of control-line planes, and then we went to a local field to watch the RC airplane guys fly. A scale Corsair went overhead, and I said "i want one of THOSE." My dad suggested I start with cars before trying a plane, and, well, I just sort of stuck with cars. Still want to try a plane someday, though.

If you think rc cars can be expensive wait till you get into planes . Wallet will be constantly empty .

[XV Pilot 1936]

Interesting - I found the opposite to be true. I was into RC planes when limited by a schoolboy budget, and moved into RC cars when I got a proper job.

I suppose a lot depends on what sort of planes you are talking about - a 2-channel slope soarer can be built for next-to-nothing, but a scale jet powered by a gas turbine would certainly empty your pockets fast!