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Does the re-release experience spark nostalgia for you?

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When you purchase a re-release of a kit you had in your youth, does it bring with it feelings of nostalgia? I ask this as there have been occasions where I have read accounts that it didn't. Something about the re-release just didn't feel the same. I have no such issues but I'm inclined to believe that some people are just in a different place now and a kit just doesn't evoke the same feelings it once did.

Tonight I bought a Grasshopper 2 re-release. I held off as the more basic Tamiyas aren't quite as entertaining to me nowadays. The past two days I've watched my daughter finally getting a grip on handling the Hornet (slowed down a great bit at that) I permanently loaned her. It bought back memories of the joys even the simplest Tamiyas can bring.

When I went off to college, my parents felt the need to throw several of my RC cars in the trash. I'll never know why as I hadn't abandoned the hobby. One of them was a Grasshopper 2 Super G. I plan on recreating a runner Super G out of a GH2 re-re kit. Fortunately, I still have the shocks form my original  which will make it somehow all the more sweeter. Furthermore, I got my original Super G as a birthday present (and because of good grades as well). My birthday is coming up in February so the timing is near perfect. Lets just say...I'm feeling nostalgic (while my daughter creates her first Tamiya memories).  

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I feel a sense of nostalgia even though I never owned most of the kits I have now. I feel it over the senses I get from the feel of buying something that is purely for enjoyment purposes (rather than mortgage/ petrol in the car to drive to work etc etc) and then spending an evening tinkering. I used to build countless airfix kits when I was younger and im reliving those days in the mid to late 80s surrounded by pots of paint and tubes of glue after school.

Except its after work and much later in the evening.

And I ache more. And feel tired all the time.

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In answer to the title question - yes absolutely. As a kid my parents bought me my first RC which was a RTR but then I saved for the rest. As a result they were either cheap like a Nikko Venus III, or were secondhand. Even building a Plasma Edge II a few years ago brought back fond memories, and that was my first new kit build.

Being able to buy the cars I wanted back then and build them is fantastic. Luckily it makes money for Tamiya so they'll keep doing it.

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Purchasing re-release kits does definitely spark nostalgia in me, although also in my case I've never owned one when I was a kid.

My first hobby grade RC was second hand, which took away the building/box art/nice-blister-layout part, even though as a kid it didn't really matter: it was there, it was mine and it was mighty, and that's all I cared about.

Up until that second hand rc came, the fact of not owning one certainly didn't prevent me from fantasising and drooling in front of the hobby shop window whenever I had the occasion, so now whenever I get to build a re-re the enjoyment is somehow boosted with a sense of accomplishment and the finished model feels "familiar" right away, maybe also because of all the times I dreamt about it through my childhood!

Come to think of it, if I may elaborate, my whole take on RC is pretty much nostalgia-based. If on a general level I can appreciate anything rc oriented, whenit comes to my interest it's exclusively about re-res and/or vintage. I love how much character the old animal-based Tamiyas have and everything around it: box art, peculiarities, how they drive, how they get to be so naive and bold at the same time. But most of all, I love the feelings they evoke, which I might as well summarize as pure 80's magic.

I don't think I'd ever buy a "modern" buggy, I'm sure they are awesome in terms of performance, durability and more, but they lack all the personality and character that I seek in a car. I'm a lot into bashing and jumps so a Traxxas could probably suit my needs way more than a re-re Tamiya, but I'd rather be careful with a gorgeous Hornet or spend an entire night repairing it after a crazy session rather than outperforming it with a great rc I don't feel nothing for. But that's just me.

One last thing that quite seals the deal about nostalgia for me is that I got around to fixing the aforementioned second hand rc that was my first hobby grade: it sat in a garage for 22 years, unattended but not forgotten and now, a grown man one ocean and a continent away, I run it almost everyday. But that's another story, that I would actually love to share whenever I find the time to lay it down properly.

Thuth is, for whoever sees it this way, we live in golden times: we can get all the fun of yesterday at an affordable price and with some improvements of today. Long life to all the re-res and may Tamiya re-issue more and more!

 

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No, but I do find that when you're:

Sitting with your friends cause y'all remincise
About the days growing up and the first person you kiss
And as I think back makes me wonder how
The smell from a grill could spark up nostalgia 

Does that count?

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23 minutes ago, jonboy1 said:

The smell from a grill could spark up nostalgia 

Well, that song certainly sparks up nostalgia ;). Nostalgia is probably the main reason I run vintage and re-re cars almost exclusively. They're exceptions, but not many at this point. I also lean more to seeing them running visually unmodified in boxart so they seem more like the old guidebooks "come alive" to me. Oddly, unless its a kit like the aforementioned GH2 I ordered, simply "doing my RC thing" in general, isn't all that nostalgic. Since I never really quit the hobby and only rarely stray from Tamiya and/or vintage designs, there's nothing to come back to. Its always been there.  

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I see some familiar stories here but for me, there's no nostalgia as such when building a re-re, because it's something I never did as a child.

Anecdote time:

My first RC was a Nikki Turbo Panther, which (as far as I was concerned) was the fastest RC buggy you could buy and nothing was better, until I saw a boy at secondary school with a Midnight Pumpkin.

My first hobby-grade was a Nissan King Cab, which came to me second-hand from my cousin.  My cousin was one of those kids who could destroy anything.  He wasn't even particularly brutish or careless, he just had a knack for breaking things.  Often within minutes of owning it.  It probably counts for a superhero skill, or something, he just needed an ageing mentor to teach him how to harness his powers for good against evil.

I digress.  He'd only had the King Cab a couple of years but what I got was barely worthy of being called a runner.  The tyres were paper thin, the suspension components had more play than a sunny day at Wimbledon and the body had gone into the bin long ago.  I was allowed some pocket money to buy a new truck body from the LHS, which I brush-painted red and black with a mix of PS and TS paint, half of which flaked off over the next few years.  So besides repairs (and there were many - it spent longer on the self waiting for parts on the slow boat from Japan than it did with a charged pack in it) I never did much in the way of building.

My next Tamiya was a Mud Blaster NIB.  I bought it with birthday money from the LHS.  It was the second-cheapest car they had (I remember the cheapest was a 2wd buggy of some sort, it had a GRP plate chassis and looked a bit rubbish, it was probably a Mardave Meteor).  I had promised myself I would get a buggy, because the King Cab rolled over too easily and was always breaking, but the cheapest Tamiya buggy was too expensive.  It was probably an Astute or Super Astute.  (I had a Super Astute Mini 4wd, and always lusted after the full size Super Astute on the shelf behind the counter, although realistically would have been too much car for a kid who just wanted to do donuts and jumps).

So I went with the Mud Blaster.  Foolishly I had thought newer = better, but that wasn't the case - the King Cab (which I'd traded for a CB radio) was a far superior truck (although, again, probably too much car for donuts and jumps).

From a family friend I later acquired a used HotShot (too used to repair - it never got beyond a box of bits) and a half-running Grasshopper with 540 motor, which I put together and ran into the ground.

My final 'childhood' RC actually came when I was 16, in that awkward stage between child and adult.  It was a Kyosho Sand Master II and it was bitterly disappointing.  More fragile than a faberge egg, it wouldn't run for more than 5 minutes without cracking an engine mount or stripping a pinion or spur.  I had expected that being Kyosho and nitro it would have been a step up from the Tamiyas I was used to, but it was no better.  Badly-fitting plastic bushings, a body that was hard to fit (especially with the engine running), an engine stop that wasn't accessible with the shell on, and an exhaust that sprayed oil all over the rear suspension...  Even the kit-included Futaba radio gear was disappointing - the transmitter felt cheap and looked ugly next to my Acoms.  I like my Txs to look like Txs, not gundam heads.

I digress.

When I got back into RC as an adult, I didn't immediately try to relive my youth with a Grasshopper.  I did eventually get around to building one (IIRC I've had two re-re Grasshoppers, one was bought for parts and most of it sold on, the other was used to start a project which I got bored with and shelved.  It's an itch I really should scratch one day).  And the Mud Blaster hasn't been re-re'd, so I can't relive that either.  However a few years ago I acquired a King Blackfoot chassis, and I fitted the polycarb body from my re-re Brat on it, painted red as per the original Mud Blaster.  I guess there was a little bit of nostalgia there, as there was when I was painting the hardbody parts (which first went on a CC01 and is now on a TA02T), but not enough.  I foolishly gave the KBF away to a friend in exchange for some work (he keeps promising to give it back to me but I haven't seen him in years).

However I recently acquired a Mud Blaster II, because it was cheap and I wanted the chassis parts.  The body on my current KBF runner is very tired, and the lexan MB2 body is a perfect replacement.  I am seriously considering making a "proper" Mud Blaster 2, or maybe a King Mud Blaster, with some custom vintage-style decals and paint scheme.  We'll see then if there's any nostalgia.

So, to make a very long and rambling story short and concise, no there's no real nostalgia for me.  More having the fun I wish I could have had back then.

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For me it's all about nostalgia tamiya rc was my life when I was a teen and before! From my Ford ranger back in the early 80s (very early 80s 81 I think?) I ran that to death then all the way through till I started work and all my spare cash I spent on rc until I really grew up move away mortgage and family arrived then rc had to take a back seat for a fair few years running into decades:( but always in the background still always had subscriptions to rc car magazines and now in my senior years and a bit spare cash (definitely not a lot of spare cash) I'm able to spoil myself every now and then on a tamiya re-re kit to build and that's what I love the build I'm not really interested in racing anymore I feel it's to serious these days! Just the odd bash in the summer evening's (winter no chance) 

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As a kid, I really wanted an Avante. Problem was it was expensive at the time so my parents said badword NO! Now, cause of the re release, I fulfilled my childhood dream of having one. Good job Tamiya for re releasing these classics.

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Beyond the classic reclaiming of our youth the character point mentioned earlier is the key one. The evolution in design you see in the first 120 models is amazing, RC and tech were evolving at an incredible rate, risks were being taken and noting was seemingly off limits, it gives all of those cars from all companies something modern RCcars just don’t have. Don’t get me wrong, I’ve owned a fair few moderns buggies, and they are amazing, technologically better in pretty much every way, but because of this there is very little difference between them really, and that’s a shame.

i certainly think that more individual models and less random versions of the same cars might help, at the moment it’s either a Re-release, a pure bred racer or a metallic gold/rose/black edition of the same car, which to me is a bit dull.

Case in point: the DF-01 and the TT-02b ranges, each version of the DF-01 was different and had its own character, all the way up to the Race version the Top Force. The more modern TT-02b is basically 14 (?!) versions of the same 2 buggies, one of which is a redo of a DF-02, in a variety of gaudy finishes, it’s just not as creative as it used to be IMO.

 

 

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Definitely, Being able to build from new a kit I wanted as a younger me....stunning.

 

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1 hour ago, matisse said:

Beyond the classic reclaiming of our youth the character point mentioned earlier is the key one. The evolution in design you see in the first 120 models is amazing, RC and tech were evolving at an incredible rate, risks were being taken and noting was seemingly off limits, it gives all of those cars from all companies something modern RCcars just don’t have. Don’t get me wrong, I’ve owned a fair few moderns buggies, and they are amazing, technologically better in pretty much every way, but because of this there is very little difference between them really, and that’s a shame.

i certainly think that more individual models and less random versions of the same cars might help, at the moment it’s either a Re-release, a pure bred racer or a metallic gold/rose/black edition of the same car, which to me is a bit dull.

Case in point: the DF-01 and the TT-02b ranges, each version of the DF-01 was different and had its own character, all the way up to the Race version the Top Force. The more modern TT-02b is basically 14 (?!) versions of the same 2 buggies, one of which is a redo of a DF-02, in a variety of gaudy finishes, it’s just not as creative as it used to be IMO.

 

 

You have a good point! I don't get involved in the racing part of rc cars anymore but I do glance at it in the rc mags and the one thing that stands out is they all have the same looking platforms to the extent if it wasn't for racers holding them with the sponsors shirts on I wouldn't have any idea which was which? Technically they are brilliant and the materials they use probably has a lot to do with the success of them but gone are the days of racing a bigwig with a wild willy on ya tail (popping wheelies as it goes) and a lancia rally giving you a good run for ya money!...........fun days!

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Yeah, I have to agree with a lot of this. Tamiya was my life for a long time. I used to cut pictures out of R/C magazines and hang in my room. 

My first R/C was the 58065 Clod Buster in 1988. Complete with a Futaba Magnum Jr, 7.2v NiCad and a Pro-Tech (remember those) 702 charger. T

The one I always wanted but never got until 2014 (re-re) was the Mountaineer. 

I also had an original Super G, and a Super Blackfoot. 

I had a late 80's MRC/Tamiya mini catalog and because of it, I have (while most are sealed) a re-re Hotshot, Boomerang, BigWig, Bullhead, NovaFox, Top Force, Avante, Egress, Hornet,  Mountaineer, Blackfoot, Monster Beetle, Lunchbox/Midnight Pumpkin. So, yes re-re's do it for me. :wub:

The R/C cars today are some of the worst looking vehicles I have seen. 

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Yep, because it’s about what they represent. Like most here, as a young fella I was obsessed with RC and Tamiya being front and centre at that time left a lasting impression.

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I’ve just bought my first RC car since I had a Tamiya Boomerang back in the late 80’s.

i purchased a Kyosho Turbo Optima and have started collecting hop up parts from various online stores as I want to modify the car to make it more high performance and potentially see what I can get it to do. I’m still trying to get my head around the electronics as it’s changed so much since I was a kid.

My reason for getting back into RC is my 19 year old son died last year and it’s been a real struggle for me. Previously I really enjoyed my Boomerang and thought getting a new RC car to work on and enjoy might take my mind away from the sadness I feel, not a replacement but take me back to a happy place I once enjoyed.

I’m enjoying the tinkering and learning by what I read on the forums like this.

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Sorry to hear that man.

RC is indeed non only pleasurable but also downright therapeutic to many -if not all- of us, and who knows to which extent that positivity can go.

Enjoy your build, your Turbo Optima amd the time spent driving it, I'm sure you'll benefit from your choice to get back into the RC world.

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Thanks Ferruz,

I feel that excitement I had when I was a teenager, whilst I haven’t started the build as I’m collecting extra parts, tools etc I agree in that I believe it will be therapeutic too. 

Now I have to get back to reading on how to try and match a brushless motor, ESC and LiPo battery together?

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In my case I would say yes. 
 

I always remember my second RC car. The Tamiya M03 Mini Cooper.

back then when there was no internet and me as a youngster I had my parents to buy me the M03 after I had the DT01 Fighter Buggy for a year or two.

 

the main thing was, I upgraded the DT01 with a LRP GT 19T motor from the standard silvercan. And it was a blast.

while the M03 with the same motor wasnt to much happy about it as the stock tires created much more wheelspin and from time to time the internal gearing chewed up. So as Mentioned back then were there was no internet, and me moving away from the local hobby store, no availability to buy spares... very disappointed.

 

it was 20years later, that I bought a M03 again, now running brushless, of course I feel nostalgic when I look at it... always brings back memories from the time when there was no internet,as we know it today. :lol:

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Oh God yes! Not about building and running the same car but about being able to build the ones I never got to when I was young. My first car/Tamiya was the Holiday Buggy. I didn't particularly love it. I wanted a Sand Scorcher but it was far too expensive for me. I saved and saved and finally caved in and bought the Holiday Buggy. Problem was that I had to save some more to buy a radio. I was really lucky because about 4 months after buying the Holiday Buggy, it was my birthday and my parents bought me a radio. That car was a blast! I was envious of my brother and his Rough Rider but I had fun anyway. My next buggy was a Frog...well, Subaru Brat actually which I upgraded and upgraded until eventually it was a frog. So now that the re re's are out, I can drool over the buggies I never had or could afford. I haven't bought the re re Frog or the re re Holiday Buggy, I went for that first love, the Sand Scorcher, followed by the Avante and Egress and a couple of Wild Willies. Yes, it is nostalgic and it brings back the excitement of opening and building those kits again. Will I get a re reHoliday Buggy or re reFrog/Brat in the future. Holiday Buggy, no but the Frog I won't rule out. I do however have my eye on a rereHotshot!

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13 hours ago, Sukin said:

I’ve just bought my first RC car since I had a Tamiya Boomerang back in the late 80’s.

i purchased a Kyosho Turbo Optima and have started collecting hop up parts from various online stores as I want to modify the car to make it more high performance and potentially see what I can get it to do. I’m still trying to get my head around the electronics as it’s changed so much since I was a kid.

My reason for getting back into RC is my 19 year old son died last year and it’s been a real struggle for me. Previously I really enjoyed my Boomerang and thought getting a new RC car to work on and enjoy might take my mind away from the sadness I feel, not a replacement but take me back to a happy place I once enjoyed.

I’m enjoying the tinkering and learning by what I read on the forums like this.

Wow, that is really tragic and something that no one should have to deal with. This is a great community so don’t be afraid to ask any questions about anything. And RC is general is definitely very therapeutic so no doubt what your doing will help with that. Remember the good times and enjoy that awesome K car

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Thanks mtbkym01,

My son was 19, I miss him so much. We talked about getting a pair of RC car’s together but never quite made it...
 

I appreciate the generosity, reading through the various threads everyone seems so helpful on here. 

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Very much so for me. My Foxshot was never a new kit for me, and the closest I got was upgrades and modding it with new and second hand bits from Beatties in Croydon. I remember lusting after the Hotshot (Inspiration for the Foxshot), and the Hilux & Sand Scorcher.

I cannibalized my Foxshot of a steering ball for the Accelerator pedal of my Granada Scorpio in the early 90's, and kept the RC car in its crate, along with my original spare wheels, tyres, motors and other stuff in a fishing tackle box. I always looked at it, and though about getting it back on the 'road'. I even ordered a new set of Hotshot picot balls probably over 10 years ago, and never fitted them, only to find them in the spares/tool box when I started on the resurrection early last year.

I happened to win a genuine Mk1 Hotshot that needed a rear arm back in March last year, just after joining a couple of groups. That was a real bonus win. A real spark of nostalgia, and a childhood dream come true. Although, i have to say, I was quite surprised that the chassis tub wasn't sealed and semi water tight like the Fox chassis.

That prompted a flurry of expenditure on Etronix 4750Kv motors and ESC's for both vehicles, and 4 5000Mah Lipo's with 2 chargers after more research. Along with some NOS/NIB parts for both cars. I was enjoying running them again, and with my mate that I used to run with back in the 80s too!

Then an offer came up on a Facebook group for an Avante ReRe, Egress ReRe and Top Force 100th anniversary that I couldn’t pass up. I lusted after the Avante when it came out BACK IN 88. It was a WHOLE new level when it came out. I still remember holding one in Beatties all those years ago. It was engineering excellence to me. And I appreciated good engineering back then too.

The day I opened up the Egress box for the first time, and saw all the blister packs inside, it was a dream come true. Owning a NIB Tamiya kit. Something I never thought I would do back as a youth, or even up until a year ago.

I think one of the things that got me back into the Tamiya scene was turning 50.

The other was my mum getting diagnosed with Spinal bone cancer that wasn’t going to ever go away, unlike the small lump in her breast she found 2 days after my wedding 8 years ago.

I had had a few conversations with my mum a couple of years ago about the Foxshot, and she said she remembered me working on it as a kid. My parents wouldn’t spend money on a hobby of mine as a child, until I had shown enough interest in it by partially funding it myself. That was the same for my brother too. I wanted to do cycle racing, and ride the Tour De France as a kid. I got quite good, and eventually my parents did help me. Until I smashed my left knee training up a really steep hill, the route of the oldest continuous cycle race in the world, the Catford CC hill Climb.

I digress, I ride mountanbikes now, different story.

I kept my mum upto date with the rebuild of the Hotshot, and ran it round their garden. She loved it. And the Egress, wow she appreciated that.

My mum lost her battle, and passed in September last year after an 18 month fight, with me there nearly every day, and the wife back home. I think that is one of the reasons I was given the Bruiser as a Birthday present in November.

Now, THAT sparked some nostalgia I can tell you. Hilux 4WD, OH YAEH! I remembered watching the vids in Beatties as a kid, AND watching them on Youtube recently.

 

Yea, “The smell from a grill could spark up nostalgia”. Just like that tune.

Oh, and I also like to cruise around in the car I spent all day waxing, blasting my Alpine. Litteraly!!! And that lot is retro (ish) too!!!

Enjoy the pictures

1781404076_Waxed01.thumb.jpg.cb74a5beac5d4aa933095138ad3d7aec.jpg

 

814967733_WaterBeading04.thumb.jpg.81114e6484c92a8a0491b6d131b3fd71.jpg

 

1601187953_AlpineCDA9812.thumb.jpg.982afe2296949298a8c4f032aea1020f.jpg

 

1772840476_ShineyRedOne.thumb.jpg.c82c40bdf6960f611e138476e890cf4b.jpg

 

Yes, I am Odd, that does make 3 Rover 800's in those Pictures!!

And, i have another!

 

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18 hours ago, Sukin said:

My reason for getting back into RC is my 19 year old son died last year and it’s been a real struggle for me. Previously I really enjoyed my Boomerang and thought getting a new RC car to work on and enjoy might take my mind away from the sadness I feel, not a replacement but take me back to a happy place I once enjoyed.

I’m enjoying the tinkering and learning by what I read on the forums like this.

 

My heart goes out to you. I lost my mum 6 months ago, and the pain is stil lvery real. partly becuase i am caring for my Dad with Demetia bck in my childhood home.

I cannot comprehend the pain you must be in daily.

Stay strong, and remember them for the good times, and that they wouldn't want you to give up.

Talk to people to seek support. NEVER be afraid to talk. It helps to get emotions out there. Something us blokes have been to not to to, but MTFU for years.

In my opinion, it takes a real dose of guts and courage to talk about things. Dont enter the sprial of dispair and depression, and be very aware of it creeeping up on you.

Fight to stay out of it, for the ones you have lost.

 

i know it all sounds crass, but when said to me, it made a difference.

 

BTW, tears typing this.

 

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Hey FoxShot,

Thank you for the kind words, my son died 10 months ago today. I still struggle but I have good people around to help me and I’ve found a great Psychologist to help deal with the grief.

My sympathy’s to you too, it sounds like you have a lot on your plate as well. I hope you have family or friends who can help? It’s hard to deal with the loss of someone close to you.
 

Thank you for the advice too and take care.

Thanks again...

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