What is the #1 thing you hate about Tamiya?

[Ann3x 222]

TC is a very positive site, filled with wonderful stories of people restoring and saving lost & sorry models, people enjoying their spare time etc etc. I'd like to change the mood a little and hear what you all hate about Tamiya. Anything really, little or big. What annoys you about your hobby / obsession with these models?

Mine is easy - Press nuts (I just built 3 restored Astutes and the sight of them now enrages me spectacularly. There is muttering and swearing on sight. They are the devil.).

What really annoys the rest of you?

[Buggyjam 144]

21 minutes ago, Ann3x said:

TC is a very positive site, filled with wonderful stories of people restoring and saving lost & sorry models, people enjoying their spare time etc etc. I'd like to change the mood a little and hear what you all hate about Tamiya. Anything really, little or big. What annoys you about your hobby / obsession with these models?

Mine is easy - Press nuts (I just built 3 restored Astutes and the sight of them now enrages me spectacularly. There is muttering and swearing on sight. They are the devil.).

What really annoys the rest of you?

Self tappers. Makes me feel like I'm building something that is meant to last a short time, or building a wooden chicken shed  :-). My faith was restored with the clod, nuts and bolts :-)

[svenb 4729]

Plastic bearing bushes thingies👎

[Frog Jumper 4652]

I hate that its sucked my savings account dry...

Terry

 

[Macinnis 226]

Lack of lipo support. They insist on trying to make LiFe happen and it's not going to. 

[tamiya_1971 773]

Buying a tree of parts for one part and having 10 of the same trees less that one part. If it breaks that often, offer an upgraded part!

[TenzoR 66]

I wished they just switch to hex screws. I have the JIS drivers but still prefer hex.

[Theibault 1537]

Lack of parts support outside Japan and not using hex screws (other than TRF). Actually, I take those two back. My number one gripe is lack of a 959/Celica re re.

[MAD RACER 571]

Cheesy alloy pinions in all kits.

They turn to razor blade teeth in no time destroying your spur gear with it.

[Munchbox 100]

Build quality and hardiness don't seem to be issues for me. I run my cars hard which is why they suffer from breakages. Overall I've very much enjoyed my experience with Tamiya.

I guess my #1 gripe with Tamiya is the lack of newer models. It would be great to have a current gen monster truck, SCT or stadium truck. It seems like the offerings they have for these, while still available, are still an old chassis design that doesn't run well beside current gen trucks.

Of course I'm new to the whole rc hobby so that may be why I feel this way. I am looking outside of Tamiya (HPI) for my next model and frankly I wouldn't be if Tamiya offered something more performance oriented in this form of model.

[gordb 136]

As my wife would say: hate is a strong word

While I am 100% in agreement with many of the comments above (curse you nylon bushings, buttery pinions, and impossible to find locally spare parts and paints), if I could only change one thing, it would be to return to the diversity and personality of the first 50 - particularly the offroaders. I know that car design is converging on the "optimal" design for things - but optimal is boring. I love what they did with the CR-01 (though they would have been ever better with fewer body variants, hard bodies across the board, and a theme/animal/etc), and the upcoming Konghead looks appropriately insane. But other than those, I'm really struggling to think of a model outside the first 50 that has it's own personality (the way the Hotshot, Frog, Hornet, Bruiser, Wild One, etc did).

Probably a hefty dose of rose coloured nostalgia in there - but I long for more new releases that aren't just another realistic polycarbonate shell on a generic chassis.

[berman 5319]

I thought the heavy dump truck was diverse and had the personality of the older models, although maybe the first 100. The konghead will do the same.

I hate that Tamiya discontinued the polycarbonate brush pottles. I don't how much you did or didn't sell, they are a much needed item, if you are going to rerelease anything, rerelease those.

[guitarman 64]

I don't like the decals not being die cut.

They could include steel bearings instead of the nasty nylon ones they must know

they are not very good.

 

[Buggyjam 144]

1 hour ago, guitarman said:

I don't like the decals not being die cut.

They could include steel bearings instead of the nasty nylon ones they must know

they are not very good.

 

+1 on the bushes. There's no excuse for that. I can see wood screws on the re res as that what they designed them with, but wood screws and plastic bushes have no place on their modern releases. They belong on toys. Bearings would cost, what £5 to add to the packet cost?

[Granddad Stinky 975]

The sloppiness in suspension joints, especially in the DT03 and DT02 front suspension arm mounts. No wonder GPM are often sold out.

[TwistedxSlayer 1354]

1 hour ago, Granddad Stinky said:

The sloppiness in suspension joints, especially in the DT03 and DT02 front suspension arm mounts. No wonder GPM are often sold out.

That sloppiness is engineered for the fun factor!

[speedy_w_beans 4287]

Most of the issues mentioned above are resolved in the mid-tier kits -- DN/DB/TA/TB/CR/TXT chassis.

• ABS plastics --> glass or carbon reinforced nylon plastics
• Self-tapping screws --> machine screws
• Press nuts --> nylon locking nuts
• Plastic bushings --> ball bearings
• Stick pack batteries --> rectangular LiPo trays in the newest releases
• Sloppy suspensions --> much tighter tolerances w/ better overall geometries for camber/caster/toe/ride height/roll centers/etc.

The DT/DF/M/TT/CW/WR/WT/GF chassis usually get the more interesting bodies, while the chassis mentioned above get upgraded mechanical features.

My #1 gripe with Tamiya is my local hobby store doesn't stock the brand very well.  That's mostly due to the demographic they serve -- aircraft/heli/drone hobbyists, surface vehicle racers, some model railroading, and some arts/crafts.

[Country Mike 120]

play in bearings and joints

expensive prices

[Jason1145 4689]

Nothing, I love everything about Tamiya

(Except all the above points made... and they haven't invented an invisible cloak to cover our collections, to hide from the other halfs stare).

[taffer 959]

I would like them to offer a special order system for parts of any car that I want to order (I wouldn't mind a long lead time for delivery as long as I knew the parts were coming)

this would hopefully allow ordering parts in different colours or chrome plating

in effect similar to shapeways but understandable slower

[ThunderDragonCy 9265]

Lack of bearings really is rubbish.  

Random non-standard wheel sizes and front bearings on 2wd wheels instead of 12mm hex just seems wilfully perverse when there are fully embraced industry standard sizes. 

Pinions I am a little more relaxed about. They work fine for silver cans so having to buy steel if you upgrade the motor doesn't seem like a bad thing to me.

The biggest failing for me as a fan is the lack of imagination and variation in bodies and types. ReRes are massive because people like us who were psyched on the iconic buggies and trucks of the 80s and 90s buy the cars we couldn't afford as kids. Easy money for tamiya and good business, but where are the modern icons to excite today's kids? Most kids who have mucked about with my cars or got their own love the mad bull or lunchbox, both of which have bodies designed in the 80s. Awesome looking no doubt, but where is the new look or modern spin?

[Klausen 1248]

I hate the time waiting for an announced rerelease, till it actually hit the shelves.

But yes die cut decals and bearings in all kits, would be nice too. Guess it shouldn't ad much to the price of a kit.

[Prescient 675]

I hate that kits will hang around for ages and ages in stock (sometimes years after production ends) with seemingly no demand at all. Then for example; like the Blackfoot III or Nova Fox, they go in a firesale at a silly cheap price, global stock dries up then suddenly prices shoot up once stock is all gone. 

I appreciate it is supply and demand but Tamiya kits are highly sensitive to significant price fluctuations on discontinuation. More so than other collectables like Transformers, Star Wars, Animé etc in my experience.

I am not talking about vintage kits as they are valued on a different basis but modern and re-release kits and parts.

[iluvmud 812]

I hate that they never offer a buy one get three free offer......

[Vrooom666 31]

I hate badly designed suspesion. (DT-01,  lunchbox, etc)   

Hard shell bodies...   why?  

 

but in general tamiya chassis and drivetrain are pretty tough.