What is it about Tamiya?

[novicelad]

Hi All

I am sure that this question has been asked before?

But what is it about Tamiya? I keep looking at other brands and models that are far superior to Tamiya in terms of speed and durability.

But I always want Tamiya I look at them and think there is just something about it, maybe its because I enjoy them breaking so I can fix them. Or that I enjoy building from scratch? Just don't know.

My son has an FTX carnage its as tough as old boots and handles well but I don't look at it the same as I do with my Tamiya cars its really odd.

Anyone else feel like this? 

[Prescient]

'Beauty in Scale'

 

Simple as that. Other brands offer the performance but Tamiya does scale and variety of bodies better than any other. 

[Jason1145]

Yep the scale look of it all, and Cross compatabilty - that's also what does it for me, I love buying a part that can be used in two more different cars - but it gets expensive when it's an alloy bling part.

Oh, and the cheap second values of the most common models means it's easier to buy rollers for spares as it's not wallet busting..... £30-40 for a TL01 or M03 etc -  (I'm looking at you Traxxas.... £100-130 for a beat up second hand 4 x 4 Slash  indeed! - ok it cost more in the first place... but still)

And the plethora of Tamiya bits out there..... I don't think anyone makes more RC models than Tamiya?

[Gruntfuggly]

Tamiya has soul. Kyosho also has it too, but not as much.

[richard.tufty]

You hit the main point for me - the building from a kit. I actually enjoy building and tinkering more than running most of the time.

There is also a huge nostalgia factor for me and I imagine many others here - Tamiya were the main brand we had as kids 30 years ago and we can now afford all the models we never had!

[Klausen]

Spot on, nostalgia and building the kits we wanted, but couldn’t afford as kids.

[Phil5556]

45 minutes ago, richard.tufty said:

 

There is also a huge nostalgia factor for me and I imagine many others here - Tamiya were the main brand we had as kids 30 years ago and we can now afford all the models we never had!

This.

I've just spent far too much money on a Top Force because it's what I had as a kid.

[TwistedxSlayer]

I read on here a while ago something along the lines of..

 

Tamiya make RC Models.

 

Others make RC cars and vehicles.

 

Its the quality and the joy of building, they may not be perfect out of the box for running I.e ball bearings and what not, but to build and sit on a shelf, they are perfect.

[Phil5556]

2 minutes ago, TwistedxSlayer said:

sit on a shelf

 nah, they're not for sitting on a shelf 

[Losi XXT-CR]

2 hours ago, Prescient said:

'Beauty in Scale'

 

Simple as that. Other brands offer the performance but Tamiya does scale and variety of bodies better than any other. 

Not all Tamiya’s are scale more than others though. 

 

A Blitzer Beetle, Sand Viper or most of the TT-02 cars aren’t anymore scale than many other offerings from lots of other manufacturers. 

[Mad Ax]

It's the quirkiness.

I love Tamiya touring cars.  Not for their performance - the TRF range are world-class but their club-level cars are outclassed, but for their looks.  Proper detailed shells and good-looking wheels.  My only complaint is some of the shells are too narrow.  S15 Coppermix Sylvia, I'm looking at you.  Box art shows beautiful deep-dish drift wheels; finished kit has shopping-car offset.  But Tamiya have always had this attention to detail in their shells that makes other competitors look like jelly moulds.

I love Tamiya buggies.  They don't perform as well as competitors, but changes to Tamiya pricing mean they're now in a better market position (when they're not being marked up to oblivion).  They all have that peculiar quirk that makes them very Tamiya, and nothing else seems to have that.  Yet the quirk never destroys the experience: somehow it's all part of it.

I love Tamiya Monster Trucks.  The ORV-chassis trucks had that typical Tamiya quirkiness but they had presence too; the Clod and TXT-1 had it in bucketfuls.  There's nothing like a full-size Clod or TXT to turn heads in a way that even big Traxxas trucks can't seem to manage.

No, they don't compete on performance, or durability, which is a shame; Tamiya completely missed the short-course boat and royally missed the drifting point; yet still they exist, in most aspects of RC cars, as a real and genuine presence that we all come back to, again and again.

To make my point, I'd happily buy Traxxas if I want something big, fast and indestructible for open-field bashing.  I'd happily buy Losi or Schumacher if I was going touring car racing; MST or Yokomo for drifting; Associated for buggies; Axial for scale off-road.  Yet for anything else, it's got to be Tamiya.  Nothing else excites in the same way.  I know I can get better performance for a lower price but I guess I feel any other brand is a one-time purchase; I'll buy it, use it, and it'll stay that way forever.  Whereas every Tamiya purchase is a potential project, even if I only intend to build it and shelf it.

I guess I can't fully explain it, either

As a friend of mine likes to put it, when talking about the buggy racing era of the 80s:

Every new Tamiya had a host of innovative new features, let down by a fatal flaw.  When there were no other options available, people modified their way around the flaws.  That was part of the fun.

Then they brought out the Top Force and re-wrote the rule book, proving that they could really do it when they put the right team together.

[Juggular]

I'd say it's two things. 

1]  We got used to the way Tamiya does.  It's like getting used to the way George Lucas does Star Wars.  Nostalgia too, but our brains got trained in the way Tamiya does things. Tamiya's ways are familiar to us.

2] Mad Ax touched on the quirkiness.  That got me thinking, the faults are lovable.  We make Tamiya truly ours by improving the faults.  If something is perfect, we leave it be.  As Mad Ax put it, "we buy it, use it, and it'll stay that way forever."  Tamiya kits still drive well.  But leave something to be desired.  We all like building things. We can improve things too.  And that makes us more attached to Tamiya kits.  It's like how teachers remember trouble kids.  In Tamiya's case, not too much trouble, manageable, improvable minor troubles.  

So I'd say, the "lovable faults we can fix," is what get us attached to Tamiya kits.  

[78Triumph]

Because RTR stuff like Traxxas puts out are boring and for people with short attention spans who don't want to build a kit.  As some stated above, Tamiya has soul. 

[Man1c M0nk3y]

For me as a complete newbie it was the starting price coupled with the pretty much complete build. I never wanted an RTR. That removes the fun for me. 

Yes it’s ultimately cost me more than an RTR but I have arguably better electrics now plus the knowledge and skill gained from building it myself. For me that’s value in itself. 

[martinjpayne]

I believe it's because they are shake-'n'-bake kits for the most part; simple to build, everything you need barring basic tools is included and they have easy to get hop-up parts.

I started RC in 1980 with a Rough Rider and through the eighties would buy the newest Tamiya buggy on a Friday after work, and race it at the club on Sunday morning! I could never do that with any other manufacturer, even Kyosho... though the Marui Hunter came close.

Okay, so maybe they weren't so competitive as the opposition and were look down on in some quarters, but I was out to have fun and improve driving my skills, not win nationals!!

[TurnipJF]

I started with Tamiya because of my mates' experiences. One has a fleet of Tamiyas, the other has a fleet of HPIs. The HPIs never win, break often and are difficult to get spares for. The Tamiyas don't always win but seldom come last either, hardly ever break, and spares are plentiful. Seemed an obvious choice really.

[Juggular]

3 hours ago, martinjpayne said:

simple to build

In the late 90's when Chinese companies were pumping out kits with 200 track links for a tank kit, Tamiya stayed with rubber band type.  As far as I know, Tamiya never got on the bandwagon of "500 parts per kit."  

What you said must be Tamiya's policy: "Simple to build."  

[Blista]

Wabi-sabi.

It is a concept derived from the Buddhist teaching of the three marks of existence (三法印 sanbōin), specifically impermanence (無常 mujō), suffering (苦 ku) and emptiness or absence of self-nature (空 kū).

I think Tamiya captures this.  There's always something extra I need to buy for each car, then my wallet suffers and becomes empty.

[Theibault]

It's the experience. "First in Quality Around the World" This translates into good quality plastics, excellent molds/parts, wonderful scale/quirky bodies, ease of assembly, eye catching box art, and generally well thought out designs. All this create a fantastic experience that no other company can provide. From browsing/buying, to building and finally running, the experience is usually very satisfying. It hooks you and keeps you coming back for more. We are humans and as humans, we make a great deal of our decisions based off emotion (nostalgia plays a huge role too for all of us today). Tamiya just makes you feel good, so we keep running back for more. 

TL;DR : We are just a bunch of plastic crack addicts.

[Juls1]

My first kit was a tamiya, the first RC car I ever drove was a tamiya. 

Then I bought a kyosho, it was a pile of junk, constantly broke essentially every run. As a teenager I couldn’t afford to keep it running and gave up.

after that I had a Hpi, it was good but not without it’s issues. Somehow I couldnt’t forgive it for its issues in the long run, although it was much loved. 

Tamiyas, just this think about being able to grind a bit here, cut that there, that constant ability to tweak the car to improve it is utterly satisfying. Much of the work bench time really improves the whole experience. 

I have a modest collection of about 30 or so RC vehicles. About 80% of it is tamiya.

now I bought a few vaterra cars, my first was the glamis fear, it is without any doubt my favorite, the handling, the way it flys. Just awesome bit of gear. So then I bought a twin hammers and ascender. Well they are both junk hahaha my heavily modded cc01 is so much more capable than the ascender. In the end I basically binned the ascender. And the twin hammers is just a master of nothing. 

For some reason I always feel like I can make a tamiya car my own, it’s somehow organic. Yet my traxxas cars seem to be inert.

[WillyChang]

38 minutes ago, Blista said:

Wabi-sabi.

It is a concept derived from the Buddhist teaching of the three marks of existence (三法印 sanbōin), specifically impermanence (無常 mujō), suffering (苦 ku) and emptiness or absence of self-nature (空 kū).

I think Tamiya captures this.  There's always something extra I need to buy for each car, then my wallet suffers and becomes empty.

Christ... that's a neat revelation!

Is also that why Buddhist monks never carry cash?? 

[StrokerBoy]

I grew up building normal static models.  Matchbox, Airfix, Revell, ERTL etc.  First time I did a Tamiya kit I was blown away by how perfectly everything was done in comparison - the quality of the packaging, instructions, moulding detail etc.  Took me years to afford one of their RC kits but the same was true, even if it was just a humble Pumpkin.  Second one was a Kyosho, which was like a (small) step backwards and less satisfying.

[paullyjay]

1 part nostalgia, 1 part durable basher, 1 part interesting and varied designs... I've had a few models from other manufacturers over the years, Kyosho, HPI and Losi to name a few, but for some reason I always go back to Tamiya - I think it's just as a few of you have mentioned above - it'a all about 'Soul'

[Biz73]

What's up with other companies not putting out kits in the under $200 range? Building the kit is a large part of the fun for me.

[TurnipJF]

Keeping the fun for themselves perhaps?