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Blackfoot re-release #58633

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31 minutes ago, Mr Big said:

To me, this is what these models are all about, yes they look great on the shelf, but the real value of them is to enjoy them with friends and family in my opinion whether or not it's got a ford badge on ;-)

I get people having this perspective about it.  And I share that enjoyment of it 'in the now' too.  Making good memories with my own son like I had with my own dad for a time growing up.  But for me there's also the enjoyment of owning something that looks and feels exactly the same as what you held in your hand as an 8-year old, at a good time in your life.  It may be that not everyone experiences this the same way, but for me when I see, touch, hold one of these personally meaningful models it's like a key that mentally transports me back to that time, in a way that just thinking about it can't do.  Who knows why it makes such a big difference but for me at least it just does.  And the problem there is that it doesn't work nearly as well if something is only close to the same as what I had back then.  My 8-year-old brain's memories didn't work in abstractions.  The margin of deviation capable of triggering the effect is pretty narrow.

Now adding to that, specifically here, the main and most personally important and memorable model I build with my dad, owned and thoroughly enjoyed as a kid was... the Blackfoot.  We followed all the directions building it, and made it box art, and I loved that thing.  I didn't know it at the time but these ended up being some of my last good memories with my father in the traditional sense of a parent and child.  A couple years later he left our family to run away with an exotic dancer and dabble in illicit pharmaceuticals.  Things got so bad with he and my mom and us, and she put lots of fears in my and my brother's head about how our dad was doing drugs and would break into our house and hurt us, etc.  It was nonsense, and really cruel of her in retrospect... but I ended up being estranged from both my parents starting in high school and lasting up until well into my 20's.  Then, of course, whatever reconcilliation came along, the nature of those relationships was much different.  By that time, when I left home and left behind my family and everything at the time I couldn't care less about the R/C stuff I loved so much as an 8yo.  I told my mom to throw it all away, and she did.

After that I forgot all about this stuff for many years until after my dad passed away a few years ago.  It was a really difficult time for me, for that and other reasons, and it took a long time and a lot of effort to recover.  In the process of doing that the memories of some of the good times with my dad, many of which were spent immersed in this hobby, came back... I don't know if they were blocked or suppressed or just so abandoned and un-recalled that they couldn't be accessed without some kind of targeting fix on where to dig for them in the grey matter somewhere.  It was then that I started getting back into this stuff as part of the healing process, and found TC and rediscovered not only the memories of loving this stuff then, but a love for it again and filled a hollow void I'd had in my life without knowing it for many years.  The meaning and connection and personal importance of this stuff extended also to my own son, who was maybe 1 year old at the time, and a desire to pass it down to him as he grows up.

The truth is that after my father's funeral in 2011 I've never been back to visit his grave.  For me there's nothing special about a slab of marble crowded amongst hundreds of other slabs of marble.  I connect with and remember my dad every time I work on / look at / run / think about my beloved Tamiyas (aka childhood memory unlocking keys).  I have and enjoy some contemporary runners.  They're great fun!  But they do nothing to bring me back to my past.  It's probably a lot different for people who've had their childhood R/C stuff all these years without interruption, or people who didn't abruptly lose everything comforting about being a child in a loving (or at least coherent) family right after the final few happy/naiive years many of the best memories of which involved R/C stuff.

So the dream of a re-release of the Blackfoot was something I'd imagined and hoped for more than a little these past years, especially after the re-release of the Monster Beetle.  I am not an excessively optimistic person, so I didn't expect the best possible experience of the Blackfoot 2016 when I heard it was finally happening.  In fact, I predicted it would be just about exactly what it turned out being.  But the visceral disappointment at what I can only surmise to be a massive difference in the sense of the special significance of this reissue is a gut punch nonetheless.  When I look at it all I see is laziness and disregard for heritage, their own and ours.  It makes me feel like whatever soul animated Tamiya to go above and beyond and pump out so many classic, unique creations has finally flamed out and it's now being run like every other company by a bunch of MBAs who don't feel a deep personal connection to the products they produce.

So - the tl;dr version is I can and do enjoy Tamiyas how you describe, too.  But it's also the centerpiece of a little museum dedicated to my own life.  And those two things, although related, are distinct.  It would be perfectly possible for anyone to only connect with one or the other.  I do both.  And the side that I feel most deeply feels really let down.

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53 minutes ago, mongoose1983 said:

Think I'm going to find me some old Blackfoot body to go RED :)

I've got a couple of rough vintage Blackfoot bodies I don't need (or want) if you want me to chuck them down your way.  Let me know!  Also have literally TONS of misc ORV chassis parts, gears, etc, etc... it looks like a Blackfoot zombie apocalypse.

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1 hour ago, beefmuffin said:

I've got a couple of rough vintage Blackfoot bodies I don't need (or want) if you want me to chuck them down your way.  Let me know!  Also have literally TONS of misc ORV chassis parts, gears, etc, etc... it looks like a Blackfoot zombie apocalypse.

I have a bodyless ORV chassis here, and just got the Blackfoot tires for it, so if that is possible, it would be better than good. I will send a PM your way Ben. Thank you.

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1 minute ago, mongoose1983 said:

I have a bodyless ORV chassis here, and just got the Blackfoot tires for it, so if that is possible, it would be better than good. I will send a PM your way Ben. Thank you.

Sweet!  Just let me know any other parts you also need - I am almost guaranteed to have one in one condition or another...

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Here's my two cents on the Blackfoot rerelease.... I think it's great! It's a model that's eluded me over the years, and I'll happily buy. A friend of mine had one when we were kids and it was a lot of fun (if a bit fragile in the gearbox).

Sure, we all wanted to see the Ford badges return, but on the plus side, this satisfies collectors who've spent a fortune preserving their original 1980's pieces. When it gets right down to it, this hobby is about modeling and after checking out the skills some of you guys possess, adding those beautifully 3d printed logos should be a breeze. I'm sure a proper grill will come along third party and it may not be perfect, but there are chrome paints that look pretty good. As a fan of hard body kits ( I despise cutting lexan) this is a welcome challenge, lets just hope the extra body holes found on the BF3 have been filled.

The way I see it, Tamiya gave us not just the Blackfoot kit, but one containing three of the main upgrades of the 80's (metal dogbones, esc, and oil shocks) all that's missing are ball bearings.

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@beefmuffin - great post about why this model in particular is so special to you.  I know how hard it can be to open up on these things, so well done.  My memories of this model also date back to building it with my Dad as a kid (it was my second model after the Hornet, but the first build I remember in detail).  My Dad passed away a couple of months ago, so seeing this re-re now is also poignant for me as it brings back a lot of those first RC memories.

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On 5/14/2016 at 11:34 PM, beefmuffin said:

We all need to beg @Pintopower to produce one - or at least a piece that can be put over the front of the grill or something.

This is his Shapeways page: http://www.shapeways.com/shops/ampro

Hey! How do you know I am doing that! You are always beating me to the punch! 

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2 minutes ago, Pintopower said:

Hey! How do you know I am doing that! You are always beating me to the punch! 

Well, there's that thing where I owned your app-enabled security DVR via its 5 year old firmware's shellshock vulnerability and most days I make popcorn and secretly watch you working.  Or I don't do that.  Definitely not.  :ph34r:

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11 hours ago, 73robb said:

@beefmuffin - great post about why this model in particular is so special to you.  I know how hard it can be to open up on these things, so well done.  My memories of this model also date back to building it with my Dad as a kid (it was my second model after the Hornet, but the first build I remember in detail).  My Dad passed away a couple of months ago, so seeing this re-re now is also poignant for me as it brings back a lot of those first RC memories.

 

This is the reason the driver in my Blackfoot has and never will be repainted.  Dad didn't want to spend the money on paint just to do the drivers face so he just painted it white lol.  Dad passed away last July at age 69 due to  alzheimer's, every time I look at the badly painted driver it reminds me of my dad and makes me smile

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Well my story isn't quite as deep as these, my dad memory associated with the Blackfoot is more 'how much? No chance, you can have a Tandy one instead' ha haaa. Which I'll also never forget everytime I look at a Blackfoot ;) On the upside, I got the Tandy 4x4 Off Roader which I ended up loving to bits and to this day is still my favorite car. Dad's and hobbies, aren't they just the best!

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I recently purchased this off a local buy and sell to keep me busy until I can get my hands on a 2016 Blackfoot

image_zpsk9vjegpr.jpeg

image_zps1zeecffm.jpeg

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38 minutes ago, 4ferraras said:

I don't know if anyone has posted this yet. I just found it today....

im wondering about the MB skid plate under the tranny. I like the oil filled shocks though! Hopefully it doesn't have the same issues as the MB re-re....

http://rctruckstop.com/2016/05/12/vintage-tamiya-blackfoot-returns-for-2016-re-release/

 

I'm going to venture a guess and say the BF is going to be 99.9% like the MB...  The only difference being the black shocks instead of yellow...

Terry

 

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On 15/05/2016 at 9:46 PM, beefmuffin said:

And further to the point, why don't we see some major advances in Truck-a-saurus technology?  They should be unimaginably lethal by now.

Putting the Blackfoot to one side! Those original monster trucks look so much better than the things they have today (bodies that have big floppy ears and tails so they look like animals) what's that all about and I seen a picture of one that had a cape on looked like batman! REALLY:rolleyes:!

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On 15/05/2016 at 10:19 AM, mongoose1983 said:

 

 

Who doesn't want a Blackfoot now? ;):D

Me.

The antenna isn't fully extended, the grille isn't painted and there is no battery installed. 

And she is married, Erich :lol:

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More expensive than the MB at £135? BITD the MB was more expensive due to the oil filled dampers.  This BF must have some hidden upgrades that we don't know about yet :ph34r:

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4 hours ago, 73robb said:

More expensive than the MB at £135? BITD the MB was more expensive due to the oil filled dampers.  This BF must have some hidden upgrades that we don't know about yet :ph34r:

Maybe it has a diff that lasts more than two packs?

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So because Tamiya take their own sweet time to bring the new BF on the market, I decided to get an old one.:D

IMG_1716.JPG

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On 10/06/2016 at 2:46 PM, 73robb said:

More expensive than the MB at £135? BITD the MB was more expensive due to the oil filled dampers.  This BF must have some hidden upgrades that we don't know about yet :ph34r:

No, it's the plummeting pound, that's all.

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15 minutes ago, theshopkeeper said:

No, it's the plummeting pound, that's all.

The pound plummeted in 2008 and has yo-yo'd from 'very weak' to just 'weak' ever since (I work internationally so I watch it like a hawk), its just our lovely government that is trying to convince us that its a recent referendum thing ;) 

My reasoning for the price hike...hmmm...they priced the MB too low and are correcting themselves. The MB did seem super cheap for what it was/is.

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Eeeeew I just talked politics on our forum, sorry about that, somebody shoot me!

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10 minutes ago, mheald said:

Eeeeew I just talked politics on our forum, sorry about that, somebody shoot me!

your punishment is to find us a shrubbery......

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2 minutes ago, Darat76 said:

your punishment is to find us a shrubbery......

NI!

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