RC10 vs Blackfoot

[Saito2]

This is just a random observation I've made between Associated enthusiast and Tamiya enthusiast. Back in the day, the RC10 was THE buggy to have at the track, at least here in the States. Before the conversion truck craze hit, the Tamiya Blackfoot was THE truck to have at the track. The Blackfoot was easily the most popular, prolific RC truck of the 1980s. They were well loved. 

Flash forward to today's re-released version. The RC10 re-re was better than the original, but in many ways, was a pain to assemble at times (certainly a fun challenge, but made me appreciate Tamiya's ease of assembly). Bring up any of these issues with someone over at RC10talk, and you'll get something like "ha! you should be happy its not as bad as the old days, all that fitting and filing is just the way it goes with the RC10". They are correct in those assesments, but are totally accepting of the Chinese re-release's short comings.

The Blackfoot re-release seems not to have been given the pass that the RC10 has. Folks seem rather critical of it. I'm wondering why the RC10's flaws are over-looked while the Blackfoot's are focused on. Back in the old days, people seemed to accept both products as somewhat flawed out of the box and simply went about correcting them. They are both time capsules in a way. Not to ruffle any feathers, but perhaps we as Tamiya enthusiast expect more from a company that has put out some great products.

[moffman]

I think your spot on! It was a shame that Tamiya couldn't get (for whatever reason) the ford logo on the re-re but apart from that it was a wart's and all good re-issue, and on all the manufacturer re-re's Tamiya, kyosho etc I think really it's brilliant we have them again and long may it continue IMO!.I remember my first Tamiya RC (the ford ranger) and the many flaws it had the front suspension that disassembled itself the rear uj's that were made of the softest metal know to man that lasted about two weeks the shock's that looked good but served no purpose! I can go on but did we care back then?..........not one bit!

[markbt73]

Huh... my RC10 re-release practically built itself. It was actually sort of disappointing how not-difficult it was. I actually put it back in the box in favor of an old built-from-junk RC10 that's about four different colors of nylon parts.

As for the Blackfoot re-re, I probably would have one, except that I have a nice resto-mod original with all the shortcomings fixed, and I had just sold two others. I know how to make a Blackfoot behave itself, and I would consider those minor fixes to be the price of admission. My biggest complaint when I saw the re-re was the ugly "JC Whitney catalog" grille in place of the proper Ford eggcrate.

[Saito2]

While far better than the original, my re-re RC10 was no Tamiya in terms of assembly for me, but quality from kit to kit could be sporadic. Part of my problem was the buggy was incorrectly assembled by the first owner. I still had a variety of issues ranging from tight/binding hinge pins to bearings that wouldn't fit properly into the gearbox. But all and all, part of the experience. The Blackfoot suffers from all the shortcomings it did back in '86 but again, to me, part of the experience. The grill didn't bother me as much as others because it was a copy of the first Blackfoot I ever owned, the 1/32 Blackfoot JR. but I can certainly understand folks disdain for it considering how loved the original was.

[Theibault]

You are missing the point. There are no issues building a Blackfoot. It goes together like any other Tamiya kit. The old RC-10 required a bit of work fixing little tolerance issues and such during the build stage. Now when it comes to running them, some people had issues with how the BF ran. The RC-10's ran fantastic and still do, once built properly. These are two different things people complain about. I personally have always been pleased with my BFs, both original and re re, partly because I've rarely had issues with them. I also don't over power them (but I could if I wanted now thanks to MIP).

[Saito2]

I see what you're driving at. I suppose when the idea occurred to me I was thinking of the overall kit satisfaction from the building to the running. You a right that both kits pose issues at different stages, the RC10 during the build, the Blackfoot in actual use. Moffman hit the nail on the head when he spoke of how we were accepting of running/wear flaws back in the day but less so today. 

[Rb4276]

I remember i had an original rc10t and had lots of problems building it with proper fitting especially the front end. I took to my shop to help me. I was also only 16 or 17 so im sure that didnt help lol