New Tamiya Monster Beetle Black edition.

[moffman]

All valid points I've been reading and good honest opinions👍 can't disagree with any of them but I just love this hobby (and excellent forum) for what I get out of it which is a light hearted past time which when I'm in the middle of it wrenching or buying etc my worldly problems disappear and nothing else matters for that few hours or so😍, so I always look at new releases as a positive weather its comical or re-colours is all good to me although the comical models are not my thing🤔 my one critical rant is to be more reliable with the release dates🤯!!

[Badcrumble]

Just my tuppence but I think that the coloured versions are for the Japanese collector mindset more than anything.

The style of Tamiya drivers reflect that this is a Japanese oriented company above everything. 

To me, the comical buggies are more aimed at kids as their first RC - moving up from the smaller scale race track stuff - rather than middle aged enthusiasts. I like them though. 

[J@mes]

^This is a very good point, are Tamiya doing market research on a global and national level? I hear time & time again that the devoted western customers aren’t getting the product they really want!

[RushRebel]

if I understand correctly, this is  just a recolor of the 2015 MB. I can see the "first-thing-to-break" side mirrors, so I'll assume it's got the extra Scorcher body holes and no rear windscreen. Pass!

[Mokei Kagaku]

On ‎5‎/‎21‎/‎2019 at 8:38 PM, Juggular said:

What happened in 2012?  Over 120 models?  (I'm not keeping up with on-road, tanks, trucks)

Good question! I've tried to figure it out, but I'm not really able to conclude. What I could find which is a bit special for 2012, is:

Particularly many CW-01's were released (10, including 5 versions of the Unimog).

Many DT-02's: 8

Many otherwise identical cars were released both on the TT-01E and the cheaper TT-01ES chassis. However, of all releases in 2012, the percentage of TT-01 models were smaller than the percentage of TT-01 and TT-02 models in 2013. (which I think is valid comparison as the TT-02 was released in 2013 as the replacement for the TT-01).

I did a couple of diagrams to visualize 2012 in comparison to other years:

1st diagram: kits vs. "factory built" (XB, XBS and other non-kit models). Nothing special about 2012.

2nd diagram: number of different chassis types released in 2012 vs. 2011 and 2013. I had to group the chassis types (ie. TT-01E, ED, ES all as TT-01E and M06S, M06M, M06L all as M06) as it would otherwise be a lot more difficult to "read" the diagram.

3rd diagram: as the 2nd diagram, but in percentage instead of quantity, showing clearly the special contribution of the TT-01E, CW-01 and DT-02 in 2012).

[Mokei Kagaku]

On ‎5‎/‎21‎/‎2019 at 5:07 PM, S-PCS said:

 How many of those "new" releases shared the exact same platform? Might be interesting to adjust that chart for new platforms only. 

I've looked into that. Distinguishing between models on really new chassises and evolutions of existing chassises is a matter of definition thoough. For instance, somebody will consider the Boomerang as "new", whereas others will see it as just an evolution of the Hotshot. I have been very strict in my definitions in the charts below, so others would surely end up with a higher portion of "new" models.  Regardless of how it's done, it's clear that the ratio of really new models was higher back in the 70's and 80's, but the difference between the 90's, 00's and 10's

In Qty.:

In %:

[Mokei Kagaku]

When first at it, I did a couple of other diagrams to visualize a couple of characteristics of Tamiya's RC models:

 

[elevensixty]

 Hornet livery crossover project anyone? Insect Tamiya family theme here

[Busdriver]

On 5/21/2019 at 2:33 PM, markbt73 said:

And that goes for the 6x6 chassis as well, although they have yet to sell it with an acceptable body shell, as far as I'm concerned.

 

These better?

[Superluminal]

23 minutes ago, Busdriver said:

These better?

Infinitely

[Busdriver]

In fairness the chassis is quite good ecpecailly with tires like these

[A-Baum]

On 5/22/2019 at 8:54 AM, J@mes said:

^This is a very good point, are Tamiya doing market research on a global and national level? I hear time & time again that the devoted western customers aren’t getting the product they really want!

Is it because RC stuff is just not very popular here in the west and we are not a big enough market to have a say, at least in North America?  When I was growing up a lot of kids were into RC cars. Saturday mornings there'd be half a dozen of us driving cars, mostly Tamiya and Kyosho, and we all had 2 or 3 in the house.  I can't tell you the last time I saw a kid driving an RC car.  My son is 11 and none of his buddies have one.  They all play xbox/ps4 all day unfortunately.  There's no hobby shops near me, but when I was growing up I had 3 at my disposal.  If it weren't for us 80s RC car kids there'd likely be little to no market at all in the US for this stuff.  How would a kid even stumble onto these?  No commercials for them, catalogs aren't a thing anymore.  RC stuff is very obscure now here.     

[WhteRbt]

I have to admit that I don’t have a Monster Beetle yet. Shocking, I know. 😅

Red was never my favorite color and so this was not my favorite look. Now I have found the Black Edition by accident – now, this is a cool look! 😳

I am asking myself if I should just buy one of the last remaining sets of the Black Edition, even if it’s 50 bucks more than the regular version. As far as I have seen, it is discontinued and not available anymore, right?

There is no way to get the gray A-parts and the decal set as spares? Beside the red body, these seem to be the only differences?

[donfilippo]

47 minutes ago, WhteRbt said:

I have to admit that I don’t have a Monster Beetle yet. Shocking, I know. 😅

Red was never my favorite color and so this was not my favorite look. Now I have found the Black Edition by accident – now, this is a cool look! 😳

I am asking myself if I should just buy one of the last remaining sets of the Black Edition, even if it’s 50 bucks more than the regular version. As far as I have seen, it is discontinued and not available anymore, right?

There is no way to get the gray A-parts and the decal set as spares? Beside the red body, these seem to be the only differences?

I have just started my Black Edition Monster Beetle, as you just have to have one! 

[WhteRbt]

Thanks! 👍

I did it and purchased one of the last Black Editions in Germany. 😅