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Why is there no love for the Terra Scorcher?

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Good Morning, just as the title reads, why is there no love for the Terra Scorcher? My brother had one, I think it's a great model to cap off Tamiya's bathtub series of 4wd cars that started with the Hot Shot. I was hoping there would be a rere, but there's none in site. On the forum here we are usually discussing Hot Shots and Boomerangs. Maybe it's because the Terra came out right when Tamiya's was getting into the Avante series of cars. Maybe it was the cost, I don't know , it's just one that'd I'd like to add to my dream collection, right next to the Super Hotshot that I still haven't purchased!

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Good question, I would definitely buy one. I picked up a Tamiya Fire Dragon re-release a few years ago, but would have preferred a Terra Scorcher any day of the week. While IMO, the Dragon has one of the strangest looking bodies, it does drive really well. I can see the desire for a Terra Scorcher, but there is no doubt the Avante series stole some of its popularity. Maybe we will see a TS re-released sometime in the near future.

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I'm hoping that they bring it out as a re-release, although I don't know what the chances are of that actually happening in reality. I would really like one to bridge the gap in my fleet between my Hotshot and Mantaray.

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There dont seem to be too many of them around.

I love mine, only just managed to find a bumper for it. Ive not run it yet though.

Mine has egress wheels, schumacher tyres and an old 17x2 in it.

SNhz2GP.jpg

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I have 4 of them, 3 re-shelled as the other buggies in the series. I have my original Thundershot restored. See below, I still have one upstairs while I work out what to do with it.

20190105_125438

Oh and they look gorgeous in red.

 

20190105_120220

 

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They command decent money on eBay and I believe you will see a re-re of one of this series either this or next year as the Thunder Shot has been done, so has the Fire Dragon. So suspect you will see either the Terra or the Thunder Dragon soon.

Same for the boomerand / Hot Shot series. we are likely to see one of those soon. Super Sabre or HS2 possibly?

 

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I might guess (and purely from an outsider's perspective - but isn't that what is asked?) that the Terra Scorcher was not particularly distinctive. This did not help its case, given that it was the last of a lineage of 4WD buggies. Considering that this lineup covered monoshock-bearing types and spaceship-styled examples that were at least controversial, the Terra Scorcher almost seems plain.

A damper at each corner, and a body that, while attractive, seems generic (mostly compared to its predecessors!) - I have no doubt the Terra Scorcher could be the best-performing of its family, but to this casual observer there was not much character. We think of the Boomerang and its monoshock, or the Thundershot and its sci-fi silhouette, or the Fire Dragon and its quirky manga ties, to say nothing of the sharp-edged Thunder Dragon or even the relentlessly-angular Super Sabre... Even the Hotshot II has the reputation (if not the parts) of its original Hotshot forebear, if it is to be included.

But the Terra Scorcher? I am willing to hazard that the buggies before it were either so well-loved or outrageous that the Terra Scorcher never caught on in a big way, with styling and mechanics that were too inoffensive or generic to polarize, and arriving too late to be compared favourably to the earlier controversial offerings. Obviously, there is love for it here on TamiyaClub, but looking at a Terra Scorcher does not appear to yield the same strong emotional reaction as a Boomerang or Thunder Dragon.

And as I keep reiterating, this is not to say the Terra Scorcher is not a fabulous buggy in its own right. It seems more capable and competent than the others, and should be if it is the beneficiary of the lessons learned with the other buggies. The shape has also aged fairly well. But if it does appear that it is underappreciated, this is my best guess.

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In my opinion, the cab-forward design was ahead of its time.  

If I (digitally) move the cab backward an inch, it suits 80's sensibility better.  After Hotshot, Avante, Boomerang, this would have been yet another "traditional" layout for Tamiya.  But the 80's customers might not have been for the cab-forward design.    

IDecx6q.jpg

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As well as being the pinnacle of this chassis type i think the styling paved the way for the later 4wd buggies. As mentioned, maybe people werent ready for the cab forward design.

I dont really remember it from back in the day, i think it came out after my RC fascination, but the design was love at first sight for me. I like the avante, and the vanquish, but the terra scorcher to my eyes is better looking as its still clinging onto the whole 80s vibe.

Best tamiya buggy ever imo. 

They obviously didnt sell too well as there not that common. How much more than a thundershot were they? Were all this series of cars available at the same time? Were they just too much more money considering the added benefit?

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Good input gang, I'm bummed I missed out on the Thundershot still! I really need to get a Boomer or Super Shot while I still can. The Super Astute is going to have to wait. I've never built a bathtub Tamiya before.

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There's some guy over on the re-re guessing thread who predicted the return of the Terra Scorcher in the forseeable future, with absolute certainty... oh no, wait, that was me. And I was just guessing wildly. So maybe no certainty after all, but still the same basic idea: Re-re has a timeline. 1986 and before is about to be completed with only Falcon missing, the nineties are just starting to happen, and somewhere inbetween, 87-90 should pop up, and very soon, too. 

As someone who got into RC and Tamiya in 1986, Terra Scorcher (1988) is one of my all-time favourites, and I know I'm not alone. Maybe it's just because that particular generation of RC enthusiasts is only now crossing into 40+ territory? 

By 'generation' I mean - The kids that didn't become lifelong RC enthusiasts, how long did they stay in the hobby for? 2-6 years, from around 10 to around 15 years old? I'd call that a generation, and I'd say there's at least three such 'generations' to be found within the time covered by the First 100 - the pre-boom era, the Frog-to-'87 boom era, and the kids that got in when boom turned into into one more established hobby... I think I belong to that last group, and I want a Terra Scorcher - and I believe "my generation" will have it's re-re day pretty soon. 

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The whole Thundershot chassis series is a bit unloved really. The body shells were very marmite - you either loved or hated them - which made them polarising where the trad buggy style of the hotshot series (super sabre excepted) is fairly universally liked. And i think a couple of other touched on it above - the Scorcher was a hopped up tub buggy at a time when tamiya people who were racing had an egress or had moved onto a Schumacher or Associated for racing. Personally i love them. I think the Scorcher looks great with the wrap around rear wing, and i am about the only person in history who loves the Thunder Dragon. I think the main reason they aren't as talked about on here is because the hotshot cars have been rereleased recently. The Thundershot and Fire Dragon reres were 15 years ago now. You simply can't easily buy them NIB like a hotshot, boomer, big wig or super hotshot. 

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49 minutes ago, ThunderDragonCy said:

The whole Thundershot chassis series is a bit unloved really. The body shells were very marmite - you either loved or hated them - which made them polarising where the trad buggy style of the hotshot series (super sabre excepted) is fairly universally liked. And i think a couple of other touched on it above - the Scorcher was a hopped up tub buggy at a time when tamiya people who were racing had an egress or had moved onto a Schumacher or Associated for racing. Personally i love them. I think the Scorcher looks great with the wrap around rear wing, and i am about the only person in history who loves the Thunder Dragon. I think the main reason they aren't as talked about on here is because the hotshot cars have been rereleased recently. The Thundershot and Fire Dragon reres were 15 years ago now. You simply can't easily buy them NIB like a hotshot, boomer, big wig or super hotshot. 

I like the thunder dragon. Specifically the ying yang decal. 

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I can't wait for another T-shot chassis rerelease. I was kinda bummed out to see the Manta Ray come back instead (not that its not cool too). I agree with the previous statement the the whole Thundershot line was undervalued. They great buggies. Unfortunately, it seems every variant past the original Thundershot got less attention when new. When the Avante series hit, it was the "new way forward". Too bad, as in some respects, the Terra Scorcher was better. I know MRC seemed to advertise the car alongside the Vanquish in most of its ads. If the Vanquish wasn't under the mystical Avante banner, it would be totally forgotten too.

It seems like there's 3 types of Tamiyas. 1. the iconic ones everybody loves i.e. Sand Scorcher, Hornet, Avante, etc. 2. the "ugly" or failed ones that everybody remembers i.e. Striker, Juggernaut 1, etc. and 3. the forgotten ones.

Remember the Road Wizard or Super Sabre or Hot Shot 2 or Terra Scorcher? Of course people do when you bring them up. They just don't get brought up. A big part may be sales numbers. If a lot of us didn't buy them when they were new, then a lot of us aren't going to be nostalgic about them now. It doesn't make them bad, just forgotten by the general Tamiyaclub population. Its bound to happen when you have a catalog of cars as huge a Tamiya. Look at the RC10 guys. They can talk about the RC10 and also the RC10 and....the RC10 and...

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I think the Terra Scorcher was the 'Rolls Royce' version of the Thundershot and came with ball bearings and some other upgrades as standard - consequently the kit was a lot more expensive so undoubtedly sold in smaller numbers.

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Great model...I have a runner with a Pink Actopower and it really flies on a 2s lipo. Lot's of love here.

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On 1/16/2019 at 8:48 AM, Tamiyabigstuff said:

I think the Terra Scorcher was the 'Rolls Royce' version of the Thundershot and came with ball bearings and some other upgrades as standard - consequently the kit was a lot more expensive so undoubtedly sold in smaller numbers.

I had a ThunderShot and EVERY Terra upgrade going, plus some of my own design as well. If you ask the other Thunder Series nutters on here @ThunderDragonCy & @taffer I bet back in the day they did to. The money wasent there to go buy the finished upgraded car, besides most of us fell in love with what we were working with.

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I had a Thunder Shot, my second car as a kid (the first being the traditional Hornet). Loved that thing. Sadly while I was out of the country it (and a lot of the rest of my things) was disposed of.

Would love to put one together again, I had the dual front shocks upgrade, bearings and a few other odds and ends done to mine.

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In fact only around 2004 when I got back into Tamiya RC did I consider the Thundershot again. A member from years ago (no longer around?) @mud4fun kept on going on about how this chassis was much better than the previous boomerang and hotshot, the looks never convinced me, BUT at that time there were plenty of projects around to get off that auction site, clean up, re-build and actually compare the chassis to the boomer projects I had running at the time.

Near overnight I changed my opinion because comparatively it was a joy to work on compared to the older buggies mentioned. The running experience following all this re-building confirmed it was a little better as well, the looks still took time to grab me. By the time the re-re thundershot appeared in the UK around December 2005, I was hooked.

I have had all the bodyshells over the years (and all the nib kits) but I still return to the Thundershot as my favourite, iconic mono shock, tamiya colours of red,white and blue, same sized wheels and tyres front and rear, classic yellow shocks...just great.

I would still buy any more re-re's as well! 

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I restored my brother's old Terra Scorcher for him this summer - a great thing to work on, and a lovely car to drive afterward

Screenshot 2019-10-01 at 20.20.39.jpg

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3 hours ago, taffer said:

A member from years ago (no longer around?) @mud4fun kept on going on about how this chassis was much better than the previous boomerang and hotshot,

Yeah mud4fun did love his Thundershot chassis. I liked reading about all the things he did with them. There was even some good arguments made that the T-shot was better than its replacement, the Manta Ray, in some respects. I think he and his family made some big life changes and wound up moving out to the country IIRC. He popped back in to say "hi" in 2013 or so.

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terra scorcher was my fave as a kid (it was 2nd hand like all my cars but ran a dyna tech) and is what got me back into older tamiya 

(thats a bit of a lie as the lunchbox was my absolute fave looking but never had one)

JJ

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here is the family

2019-10-06_06-23-56

Also the first full restore I did was to a Terra that I picked up locally. When I had it done the guy offered to buy it back from me..it was red and I really liked it so when I got round to doing my own it had to also be red. Its the only deliberately non box art buggy in my collection.

 

a

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Most inspiring image of a Terra Scorcher I've ever seen. Buggies are meant to be low to the ground. Wish there was a small front bumper option. That would make it look like a serious competition chassis.

img37496_03092012112526_1_1100_.jpg

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Im looking for ideas for my TS build, this looks mean ^. Im going to do this with mine.  Ill put some limmiters in the shocks to limmit their legth, Ill be using DF03 shocks on mine.

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