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Mokei Kagaku

A little love for Parma

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Just scanned an old Parma RC leaflet and thought I just might as well share.

I used to be a big fan of Parma and think it's sad that the company hasn't been able to keep up with the innovation and evolution of lexan RC car bodies, making their current offerings look just as crude, badly proportioned and undetailed as their bodies from 30+ years ago, including the ones from new molds. Just like Bolink, I doubt Parma will survive and there is unfortunately not much to miss, but Parma used to be good and I cherish the fond memories, and these scans are a reminder of that Parma was once one of the leaders of the business.

Scans are larger than they appear here. Click images to see them in full size!

64463254_10156020528707407_9018776081389 64836115_10156020528657407_5187445058973

65004728_10156020528637407_2702408970424 64861150_10156020528852407_8444382260622

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Funny you mention "crude, badly proportioned and undetailed". I was looking for runner bodies for my second clod last week and went to Parma's site. That clod body front grill is just awful. 

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Awesome, I've got one of those Parma Beetle shells in the garage! 

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I raced MRP 10's and Bolink 10's with the Porsche Group C and Schkee Bodies. Thanks for posting this :)

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I always loved what Parma offered.  I know their bodies were never as neat and tidy as Tamiya but they had some great options for buggies.  Not sure if the bodies are still as easy to get in the UK as they once were.  I think my LHS might even have stocked some Parma monster truck bodies back in the early 90s, I remember buying a new lexan shell for a (much) used King Cab chassis that I got from my cousin and it had the look and feel of Parma.

Thanks for sharing :)

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I miss those days. Nothing was computer-designed, everything needed some hand-fitting to work right, in some cases you actually had to bring your car into the shop and hold it up to the bodies to see if it would fit. And, with very few exceptions, the answer was "yes... sort of." You just had to get the right "Body Mount Kit" for your car (usually just really long body posts and maybe some L-brackets or something).

And you had to give them credit for proliferation. Parma (and Bolink and McAllister and MRP) were churning out new body styles every month, all sorts of cars, and there was surprisingly little overlap between what each manufacturer chose to make. The chances of your buddy showing up with the same body as you were very slim. And even if he did, because it took some effort to paint and trim and mount, they didn't look the same anyway. Unlike today's carbon-copy RTRs...

Sure, the detail wasn't great, but you could always tell what they were, and with a little effort put into the paint, they looked pretty good. And at only $20 each or so, if you got bored with your Hornet being a '65 Mustang, you could change it to a Baja Beetle with a little allowance money.

Calling them "crude" and "badly proportioned" is sort of missing the point and losing the perspective. There was a lot more "hobby" in hobby shops back then than there is now. And I think in general we're worse off for it.

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I do also like PARMA very much, had a lot of their bodies Back in the day...

RIMG3309.thumb.JPG.6c07a02a0037658a11735a4dd3795e3f.JPG

This is the 30th anniversary leaflet  1994

(Click on the Pic for better Resolution)

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1 hour ago, markbt73 said:

Calling them "crude" and "badly proportioned" is sort of missing the point and losing the perspective. There was a lot more "hobby" in hobby shops back then than there is now. And I think in general we're worse off for it.

Good point! Back in the day, you could easily spot the difference between the models of the people who had the patience, skill and taste to make the model look good and......well......the others. And now that anyone can have a well working and goodlooking RTR model, I admittedly miss the reward of having put effort and time into getting the knowledge and skill to be able to make the models stand out. Maybe a bit snobbish of me, but then so be it!

Also, there is a bit of nostalgia in the old bodies that Parma still offers and I have collected some of them, including some bought new in recent years. I especially love their bodies that originate from Jerobee with molds made around 50 years ago. Similarly, I keep buying copies of for instance old Bolink, SG, Mantua bodies, simply because the originals aren't around anymore. However, I don't see any excuse for Parma to keep on releasing bodies from brand new molds with details and proportions that were state of the art 30-40 years ago when almost every other manufacturer have bodies that are vastly superior in those respects.

As a collector of static model kits, I also collect "crude" old kits, but when I build a model, I want the best kit available of the subject of choice. I know some modelers really like to build kits from for instance old Airfix and Revell kits although much better kits of the same subjects are now available, simply because they like the idea that the old kits take a lot more patience and skill to make them look decent. Considering that even the best modern kits considered "easy" to build also take extremely much time and quite some skill to make them look good, I personally don't see the temptation in struggling with poor old kits instead. And even for the best modelers, vintage Airfix and Revell kits (and others) are a real struggle indeed. Similarly, I'd rather paint and run the good Tamiya Brat or Ford F100 body instead of the Parma Brat or F100 body. Still miss the Parma Chenowth Frog, Frog Jumper, Stinger and Sly One though!

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1 hour ago, a.w.k. said:

I do also like PARMA very much, had a lot of their bodies Back in the day...

This is the 30th anniversary leaflet  1994

(Click on the Pic for better Resolution)

Thanks for posting! Rather easy to see that the leaflet is from the "end of the neon era"! :D

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I have a couple of there motors as well from way back when.

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Looking at those photos a little more closely, you can tell what car is underneath by the wheels on some of them. The '63 Corvette looks like it's on a Marui Hunter, and the Dodge Daytona and Pontiac GTO bodies look like an AYK (Buffalo, I think?). The Porsche 944, Dodge Charger, and Monte Carlo are on a Samurai, and the '36 Ford is on a Yokomo. And the '33 Ford wheels look suspiciously Hirobo-like... And obviously, the Tamiya ones are easy to spot.

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Some of my PARMA bodies

RIMG2736.JPG.7d3fafa816a4ec15b607590dcb60a52b.JPGRIMG2738.JPG.31db69c7b996c51048b059e3e3e287e9.JPGRIMG2831.JPG.83f151ed15159aa5d9150f7bb1da4601.JPGRIMG2833.JPG.7253472f656468b05e4794f8c4cd8720.JPGRIMG2988.JPG.d9a45d8b10bc96dffa9235dc2bf1728f.JPGRIMG3027.JPG.fc958de9c7c54d56fc5c8de3cd805402.JPGRIMG3056.JPG.bee5e4c2f71423b36ded686ac71d72cc.JPGRIMG3240.JPG.935ced879a566f6cef155ee4f488c8c0.JPGRIMG3305.JPG.bfe9319d079eb6917f087e0cc88f87f8.JPGRIMG3703.JPG.da45afeb09643b0cac461ecd882b073c.JPG

Can you tell what car is underneath?

🤔😉

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I still have my Frog Jumper body.  I had to stop using it since I added front shock towers to my Frog, and I refuse to cut it...

So I found a used one on FleaBhey and eventually I'll chop that one to fit...

Now if only I could find a Frog Chenowth body!

Terry

 

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Parma's location, North Royalton, Ohio, is about 10 miles away from where I grew up.  I don't mind if their products seem oddly shaped or lack detail; in fact, there are times when a Parma, RJ Speed (BoLink), or Protoform body is just what I want for a project -- $20, a blank canvas, have at it.  The lack of detail and lack of decals made these projects more involved.  Some of my past (and now gone) projects:

RJ Speed / BoLink NASCAR shell on a RJ Speed Sport 3.2:

IMG_0060.JPG

Parma Impala on a TT01:

IMG_0073.JPG

Pro-Line Beetle on a DT02:

IMG_0098.JPG

Parma Nomad on a RJ Speed Sport 3.2:

IMG_0260.JPG

After awhile I get tired of the same old Japanese and European cars Tamiya brings to market.  That's why I liked HPI, Parma, Pro-Line/Protoform, JConcepts, and RJ Speed/BoLink so much -- they brought additional variety to market.

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@a.w.k. I like your Parma set. 

Otherwise, I was also browsing an old Bolink catalog after buying some *bay parts from Lawrenceville GA. Couple things caught my eye the 10356 Fiesta Turbo and the dirt modified Corvette and hat Bolink made. Hopefully these companies can hang on, they've made it this far.

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2 hours ago, a.w.k. said:

@geniusanthony, Yeah, that 10356 Ford Fiesta XR2 Turbo got to be one of the most brutal shells Parma ever made

fiesta1.thumb.jpg.727cda14cb1be0b5a6b7d05f9e6f9c61.jpg

fiesta2.thumb.jpg.0065572bb0122ac931a899e54ff19561.jpg

 

Thanks for that, it is definitely good looking. 80's box flares were the best. 

I may have to spend some time finding one of those. Would be nice to find in M-chassis size also.

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My (well used) Parma Pontiac GTO, picked up from the bargain bin in my LHS back in the day and subsequently raced on a SWB Optima Mid. I cannot honestly recommend the combination as it handled incredibly badly due to the long overhangs and poor siting of the mountings.

Decent shell, though.

442071369_PontiacGTO500pREDUCED.jpg.bc39f97a515570519271f61cdb31d01a.jpg

I think this is a Parma shell, too. It has Parma labels on it and I probably wouldn't have added them if it wasn't. It's a Mercedes C9 and I was going to use it, but stopped racing before it got cut, so it has remained like this for about 25 years.

938599673_SauberMerc500pREDUCED.jpg.d1e63e7a741ee75375a5b169e30b67c9.jpg

Peugeot 405 T16. I think this was a Frewer shell, presumably based on the similar Kyosho version. This ran on a Kyosho LWB Mid chassis and handled really well.

1591034093_Peugeot405500pREDUCED.jpg.0ae8b49565b65b73d33c670c156ee747.jpg

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I think, IIRC, that a several of the Parma bodies were designed for buggy use, so a lot of the sports and sedan shells were molded to fit a stock buggy with very little modification other than removing the stock bumper and changing the mounting posts.

 

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On 11/2/2019 at 9:41 PM, cashrc said:

I think, IIRC, that a several of the Parma bodies were designed for buggy use, so a lot of the sports and sedan shells were molded to fit a stock buggy with very little modification other than removing the stock bumper and changing the mounting posts.

 

Yep. This was before touring cars, so it was all done on buggy chassis.

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