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What is the #1 thing you hate about Tamiya?

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I really dislike issues with parts availability - even for currently in production kits it can be hard to get bits, even pre-pandemic and Brexit it was a challenge.

I get that Tamiya has a massive back catalogue and can't produce all parts forever - but there are perfectly good race cars sat on shelves that racers won't run as they can't get parts for if they break them without going on some kind of epic internet mission, probably having to pay over the odds, then waiting for an age for delivery.

Parts support is withdrawn too quickly as well - look at the DN01, they did a run of kits recently. But can you get the bits your most likely to break of you run it? Unlikely.

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6 minutes ago, moffman said:

Oh I'm the opposite now! I used to order all over from stella models in Japan to tamico in Germany and others but that all stopped when boris had a wonderful idea  (where is he now) but as a stroke of luck a very local rc shop opened pretty much the same time as I was getting hammered for import tax and duty when my items arrived in the UK and the likes of tamico stopped taking my orders under a certain amount of value:( so now I'm just loyal to my LHS and he's been super reliable!

That’s excellent.  Honestly even if I ordered online, I prefer to source from my local hobby stores to help support local business.  

But most of my local stores do not carry Tamiya and mostly RTR stuff which I have no interest unless MiniZ.. which they don’t carry either.  :lol:  So I just go where there is product ready to ship.. usually out of the country.

 

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29 minutes ago, BuggyGuy said:

I really dislike issues with parts availability - even for currently in production kits it can be hard to get bits, even pre-pandemic and Brexit it was a challenge.

I get that Tamiya has a massive back catalogue and can't produce all parts forever - but there are perfectly good race cars sat on shelves that racers won't run as they can't get parts for if they break them without going on some kind of epic internet mission, probably having to pay over the odds, then waiting for an age for delivery.

Parts support is withdrawn too quickly as well - look at the DN01, they did a run of kits recently. But can you get the bits your most likely to break of you run it? Unlikely.

I literally saw this video yesterday! 

 

 

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2 hours ago, RC Perspective said:

Since it's already been brought back from the dead,

I hate the fact that a Third Gen Camaro (82-92)body was never offered. The 1987 IROC Concept would have been cool.

-RC Perspective

(The other stuff I can live with LOL)

Tamiya don't seem to have an interest in most American stuff (possibly because of their home market) apart from the odd semi truck kit or pick up (usually without licensing).

You can get a drag style 3g camaro body I think from one of the aftermarket companies, But with what Kyosho are doing lately (and to a lesser extent, US based Losi, Traxxas), A 3g comaro might be on the cards in the future.

So yeah since I'mmentioning... lack of licensing, that's a bug bear of mine, and as I think Mokei mentioned once, generic repopped Tamiya wheels instead of the correct ones for the car.

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16 minutes ago, Sprocket said:

Parts availability! So much opportunity to bring in the profit, yet nope.

I can only assume there's more money in endlessly knocking out TT01/02 and M05/06 + a few others - which I can kinda get as they are mass market hobby grade kits. 

I looked a while ago at having some new front arms made for a Predator kit by the long defunct Tenth Technology - I made a CAD drawing and sent it to a few mold makers and it works out at about £1500 - £2000 for your first arm, but gets down to less that £1 per unit once you've made a thousand, and it drops to pennies if you can get the volume high enough. But there's probably less than 10 of those cars being run regularly at race meetings globally - and you need to be producing a lot of different bits before anyone would even consider putting something that rare back on a track even for old times sake. I guess the same would be true for the DB and TRF buggies

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4 minutes ago, berman said:

Tamiya don't seem to have an interest in most American stuff (possibly because of their home market) apart from the odd semi truck kit or pick up (usually without licensing).

You can get a drag style 3g camaro body I think from one of the aftermarket companies, But with what Kyosho are doing lately (and to a lesser extent, US based Losi, Traxxas), A 3g comaro might be on the cards in the future.

So yeah since I'mmentioning... lack of licensing, that's a bug bear of mine, and as I think Mokei mentioned once, generic repopped Tamiya wheels instead of the correct ones for the car.

While there are some 3rd gen bodies out there, IMO they are terrible looking and nowhere near fitting a Tamiya chassis. Been there, tried that. They really are terrible looking.

Having a 1:1 Third gen, nowhere even close LOL. If Tamiya did do one, it would be so much better looking.

Tamiya has done Ford F350, Mustang, GT, Bronco, A few old hot rod bodies and the Chevy S10. Sure they don't do a lot of American stuff, but the only Chevy is an S10, and not available.

A large portion of the Tamiya kits are sold here in America, and they really are missing out on a chunk of the market they sell to.

-RC Perspective

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Yeah I am aware of those other bodies you mentioned, plus the 'Daytona Thunder' was cool. But that amount of Americana in a well over 700 rc back catalogue (not including trucks tanks and special editions), imo is a little pitiful.

I haven't had a good look at the 3g rc body, but that doesn't suprise me. I have a 1:1 88-98 GMT400, in which jconcepts do a body of, which has so many imperfections and inconsistencies, I am struggling to buy one to do a rc version of my truck. It is based on a 'fibreglass monster truck' body, hence why.

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I hate it that Tamiya is a money trap. Releasing half-baked kits and slowly selling hop-up parts. I know it's a marketing strategy but many people are also willing to spend/pay on that extra cost for better parts included in the kits. Why can't they come up with "R" versions anymore? "R" kits are usually complete with most hop-up parts while retaining tub or FRP chassis. I hate plastic propeller shafts, I hate plastic bushings, I hate CVA shocks, I hate non-adjustable suspension parts.

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7 hours ago, RC Perspective said:

Sure they don't do a lot of American stuff, but the only Chevy is an S10, and not available.

They have done a Corvette C5-R (58272) as well. 

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Parts availability as most have said, and stupidly high kit prices in the U.K.!

At times, I struggle to get hop ups for the TT-02, and whilst importing is an option there’s some which are still tricky. For me though, the LHS’s that I have access too just aren’t interested in selling anything more than the basic kit.

On price, we’ll I regret buying my TRF420X on pre-order in the U.K., but I wanted to have it and support a U.K. seller. It just cost me over £100 more now that it’s readily available on Tamico. Lesson learned.

Luke

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9 hours ago, Willy iine said:

That’s excellent.  Honestly even if I ordered online, I prefer to source from my local hobby stores to help support local business.  

But most of my local stores do not carry Tamiya and mostly RTR stuff which I have no interest unless MiniZ.. which they don’t carry either.  :lol:  So I just go where there is product ready to ship.. usually out of the country.

 

I was in the exact same situation (apart from modelsport) my local hobby shop was in a town a few miles away but he mainly stocked model aircraft and the odd vehicle's he did have are of the rtr which like you I have no interest in so I could get servos and the odd electrical part etc but anything else was order only:mellow: and I can do that myself but now my regular shop is open (although he is closed because of illness at the moment but he's on the mend my pre orders hes fulfilling and because its family run I'm still managing to get them:D) is a bit of a God send👍

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11 hours ago, moffman said:

Oh I'm the opposite now! I used to order all over from stella models in Japan to tamico in Germany and others but that all stopped when boris had a wonderful idea  (where is he now) but as a stroke of luck a very local rc shop opened pretty much the same time as I was getting hammered for import tax and duty when my items arrived in the UK and the likes of tamico stopped taking my orders under a certain amount of value:( so now I'm just loyal to my LHS and he's been super reliable!

So, are these the sunlit uplands of which they spoke :rolleyes:?? 

In terms of the OP question, nothing; I think 'hate' is too strong a word to use in a conversation about toy cars

My biggest frustration is the use of short / lightweight / reversible lower arms on modern touring car chassis (other than the TT02/TT01). They're generally not compatible with 26mm wheels, so if you want to put a specific shell / 26mm wheel combo on anything later than a TA05, it doesn't really work. I would love it if kits were supplied with the short / lightweight / reversible arms for the racers and a set of alternative arms for the builders / modellers / casual drivers that are compatible with 26mm rims. That would be ace

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PRICES.

Definitely too high.
A Tamiya spare part costs more than a motorcycle spare parts.
It's a nonsense,

Max

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One thing Tamiya that I hate is their masking tape dispenser.. I must be doing something wrong.. more frequently than on occasion, the teeth on the dispenser don't bite into the tape to cut and just makes a long scratched up strip I can't use.. :wacko:

If I flip the tape inside the dispenser, then I can't quickly pull up the tape so it must be adhesive side out.. (?)

Hai, I'm Willy iine and I don't know how to use a tape dispenser.. :ph34r:

 

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16 hours ago, Willy iine said:

One thing Tamiya that I hate is their masking tape dispenser.. I must be doing something wrong.. more frequently than on occasion, the teeth on the dispenser don't bite into the tape to cut and just makes a long scratched up strip I can't use.. :wacko:

If I flip the tape inside the dispenser, then I can't quickly pull up the tape so it must be adhesive side out.. (?)

Hai, I'm Willy iine and I don't know how to use a tape dispenser.. :ph34r:

 

I just fold it back like this when I’m done. There’s even a convenient indent to pull it back from next time… 😉

41F9A495-386F-4E8B-A136-D3A33C9B208F.jpeg

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42 minutes ago, lukej said:

I just told it back like this when I’m done. There’s even a convenient indent to pull it back from next time… 😉

41F9A495-386F-4E8B-A136-D3A33C9B208F.jpeg

Thanks.   :D  I didn’t know that.  So this confirms the orientation is correct how I use it..

However, what do you think about the teeth?  Does yours cut the tape cleanly all the time?  Mine tends to slip when I pull the tape against the teeth to cut.. leaving me with a strip of unusable scratched up mangled mess .. :blink:

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13 minutes ago, Willy iine said:

Thanks.   :D  I didn’t know that.  So this confirms the orientation is correct how I use it..

However, what do you think about the teeth?  Does yours cut the tape cleanly all the time?  Mine tends to slip when I pull the tape against the teeth to cut.. leaving me with a strip of unusable scratched up mangled mess .. :blink:

It doesn’t, but I pull it up perpendicular to the teeth with a single firm action. This seems to give them something to bite into so perhaps that’s the route to take? I’m no expert here 😂

Luke

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22 minutes ago, lukej said:

It doesn’t, but I pull it up perpendicular to the teeth with a single firm action. This seems to give them something to bite into so perhaps that’s the route to take? I’m no expert here 😂

Luke

I’ll focus to pull up more against the teeth.

I tried all sorts of pulling methods, (yanked fast one time resulting in maybe 20cm of scratched up tape :ph34r:), but it works maybe 6-7 times out of 10..which is about as good as my personal score as a painter.  :lol:  Not failing, but average on a good day so I guess I can’t really complain.   

 

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On 8/8/2022 at 7:36 AM, Nicadraus said:

I hate it that Tamiya is a money trap. Releasing half-baked kits and slowly selling hop-up parts. I know it's a marketing strategy but many people are also willing to spend/pay on that extra cost for better parts included in the kits. Why can't they come up with "R" versions anymore? "R" kits are usually complete with most hop-up parts while retaining tub or FRP chassis. I hate plastic propeller shafts, I hate plastic bushings, I hate CVA shocks, I hate non-adjustable suspension parts.

Not only that, an equivalent kit from some other brands will have many of the "hop ups" that Tamiya will sell you for extra money, for a lower box price. 

Which brings me to the thing I hate about Tamiya (for us in the UK at least) is the extremely expensive hop up parts. I have to either pay though the nose or order from Asia. Kit price in the UK is actually OK but the hop ups are the killer. 

Having said that, I still like Tamiya for their "shake and bake" ease of building and their design. However to my "Pro" friend, he consider Tamiya as toys. 

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What is the deal with this semi-sorta scale crappacola? 

To give a few examples, the idea of a Subaru Brat is neat, but I've never heard of a 2wd Brat.

Tamiya lavished scale detail on the Sand Scorcher, someone obviously spent a lot of time studying the Baja Beetles of that era, but the rear suspension is nothing like any Baja I've ever seen. 

What's really odd is that Tamiya static models are legendary for fidelity to real thing. What gives?

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5 minutes ago, Mrowka said:

What is the deal with this semi-sorta scale crappacola? 

To give a few examples, the idea of a Subaru Brat is neat, but I've never heard of a 2wd Brat.

Tamiya lavished scale detail on the Sand Scorcher, someone obviously spent a lot of time studying the Baja Beetles of that era, but the rear suspension is nothing like any Baja I've ever seen. 

What's really odd is that Tamiya static models are legendary for fidelity to real thing. What gives?

 

Bi Rear drive All Terrain vehicle.. :lol:

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10 minutes ago, Mrowka said:

Thre were a few FWD Brats, but most were AWD.

Yeah, when I was a kid we thought the altered name would make sense for our RC's.. :lol: 

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3 hours ago, Mrowka said:

What's really odd is that Tamiya static models are legendary for fidelity to real thing. What gives?

Actually Tamiya is not the best in static models details, for cars and bikes Aoshima(IMHO) is even better. While for tanks, Dragon (and newer brands beats Tamiya). For planes, Hasegawa. 

That is not to say Tamiya is not good, far from it. What I do like about Tamiya (static) is their ease of building. They do think their build process out which makes building a Tamiya a joy. Other brands maybe better in accuracy, but sometimes they can be a pain to build. 

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