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What Tamiya kit/car have you have NOT regretted purchasing?

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On a cheeky twist to Mechanic AH post:P...which Tamiya(or other brand) kit you have not regretted?

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The Grasshopper, Hornet, DT-01, DT-02, Hotshot, Thundershot, Manta Ray, Baja King, Rising Storm, Neo Scorcher, Konghead, Farm King, M-03, M-04, M-05, M-06, M-07, M-08, F103, F104, TL-01, TL-01LA, TT-01, TA-02, TT-02, FF-01, FF-02, FF-03, TB-03, Aqroshot, Blackfoot Extreme, Wild Dagger, MF-01X and CC-01, some of which I liked so much that I bought multiple versions.

The ones I liked enough to duplicate were the TL-01 (I have a track one dressed as a Honda NSX and a trail one dressed as a Range Rover Evoque), the TT-01 (I have a track one dressed as a Mercedes SLS AMG GT3, a drift one dressed as a Nissan Sylvia S15 and a rally one dressed as a Mitsubishi Evo 6), the M-03 (a track one dressed as a Mini Cooper, a trail one dressed as a Fiat 500 and an autocross one dressed as a teapot), the Grasshopper (I have two limited colour ones - green and black), the Hornet (an ordinary re-re and a Jun Watanabe edition), the DT-01 (a Mad Bull and a Rookie Rabbit), the DT-02 (a Sand Viper and a Desert Gator) and the F103 (a stock one, a hopped-up one, a 15th Anniversary one and a 6-wheeled 40th Anniversary one).

Others I would like to duplicate include the MF-01X (I have a Jimini set up for trail use, I'd like a Beetle or Escort set up for rally) and perhaps the DT-03 (I have an Aqroshot, I am considering a buggy version). And there are also plenty of new models I might like to add, once I have researched them fully  to make sure I won't regret anything about them either.

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XV01.  I had always wanted a rally car but never owned one.  I looked at the TT02, as everyone does, and others like the DF03RA but decided it had to be an XV01.  I'm sure plenty of people are happy with their TT02 rally cars but after also owning a couple of TT02s I can now say that I made the absolute correct decision.  It has a few quirks and annoyances but it drives exactly how I want it to.  If I ever sell it I'm either about to be homeless or Tamiya have just released an XV02 that is even better.

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TRF102. Its been brilliant out of the box and hasn't required any hopups to be competitive.

Exotek RS7 (carbon chassis conversion for TA07). While not technically a car, it cost about the same as a TT02 and completely transformed the TA07.

Top Force. The perfect blend of vintage looks with modern performance. Probably my favourite buggy when looking at the build, durability and how it drives,

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I don't regret most of my cars but for me the thundershot has to be my best value and most loved. It has grown with me over 30 years and adapted over time with hotter motors, newer ESC's and now LiPo. It is easily and cheaply adaptable and continues to provide performance to match far more exotic and expensive machinery.

 

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I suppose the tamiyas I own now are the ones I don't regret......

Hornet - first car owned

Rising fighter - a nicely simplified version of the hornet

Thundershot chassis - best all rounder that encapsulates the retro looks and performance

Farm king - bonkers tractor wheelies

Cc-02 - I've really warmed to this update to the cc-01, Tamiya creating a chassis with their unique idiosyncrasies, as always!

G6-01/g6-01tr - tamiyas best modern release since the dt-02, great build, rugged and a great runner.

Hope they release a g8-01!

 

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Since title says car my answer is original Bruiser.

But my best Tamiya purchase is a Yamaha 40 EX yacht. It's much more pleasurable to run than a land vehicle, also very relaxing. Weeks of fun with 4x AA batteries (not included).

As for other brand; Kyosho Surfer. The must fun I ever had in my life.

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Three buggies I never regret buying is the avante/avante black special/egress!.......very expensive but IMO just simply the best rc buggies ever made followed very closely by the turbo optima (definitely gives the avante trio a good run for their money) never get sick of looking at all of them!

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All of them. Even the cars that I ended up selling where fun to research and build.

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CC-01 comes to mind. It's absolutely dead now, worn down to nothing, but it has earned my respect, and I'm considering replacing it with another one. One of the most fun vehicles I've ever had, both to run and to tinker with.

My two WR-02 vehicles, Wild Willy 2 and Honda City Turbo, also deserve a mention for the same reasons. I'm actually on my third WW2, after wearing one completely out, and selling another one when I moved across country. The one I have now is just nicely worn-in, and serves me well.

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Lunch Box, my first Tamiya. I ran it forever (like decades) with virtually no issues. Certainly kept me hooked on Tamiya.

ORV monsters. I have quite a few. They have just right amount of control vs wildness for me. They're vintage but still haul the mail. Nothing from Tamiya really replaced the feeling they give me (although I'm finding the old Kyosho Car Crushers to be a nice counterpoint), not the King Cab (still a great truck in its own way) and definitely not the WT01.

Clod Buster/Bullhead. Nothing is quite like an old Clod bounding all over the place. I've got modded ones but always keep a stocker on hand for the 80's bouncy goodness. It still seems huge to me and nothing beats the sound of those big tires rolling over the rough stuff.

Hot Shot series buggies. My favorite 4wd Tamiya buggies. They are antiquated in many respects but have always been reasonably tough in my experience. Mine haven't suffered the cracked plastics that my DF01s eventually get. They have a certain heft to them that makes them seem almost deliberate in their movements It doesn't hurt that they all look great too. I have an original HS, a beater/go anywhere HS with SS suspension, a Big Wig and the Super Boomerhotshoterang on the runner shelf ATM and will probably piece together a Super Shot again too. I'd probably consider T-Shot buggies too but that's too many buggy families to field with complete spares.

Vanquish/Avante/Egress. My Vanquish was my first step into the big leagues BITD. I was very proud of it. I love building that chassis style and it borders on art for me.

Fox. Probably my favorite 2wd Tamiya. Its not totally blown out of the water by old RC10s but looks better than one in my eyes. I found it a huge leap over the bouncy Frog (no pun intended) and it was quick even in stock form. It was the fastest car on my street BITD. Nobody out-drag raced the mighty Fox.

FAV/Wild One. I love how they look the last of Tamiya's really scale buggies to a degree. They perform well for what they are and are planted with low COG. Nothing really looks like them.

TXT-1. Wow, was this thing amazing when I got it BITD. Those scale looking axles and beautiful alloy chassis plus cantilever suspension added up to such greatness for me. Paired with 550 motors and 14.4v, it was unstoppable.

Super Champ/Fighting Buggy. Tamiya can put goofy "fight" names in front of what they want but to me its still the Super Champ, re-re or not. The SC's weight never lets you forget you're piloting something akin to an aluminum ingot. I wouldn't want to take one in the ankle at full tilt, lol. It steers like a super tanker with the light front end, heavy rear end and no diff, but I don't care. The trick oil bottle and floating monoshock actually keeps the rear tires planted (all that weight doesn't hurt either!). The normal SRBs always seemed bouncy, antiquated and somehow slow (well, they are, and that's part of their charm not a dig against them) but the SC just seems to move quicker, with planted authority. 

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Wow fantastic replies gentlemen keep them coming! very interesting reading!

I used to have a Clod and that thing was so reliable, there's something to be said about reliability.

In fact i tend to come back to durable kits with decent handling, they earn my respect and become favorites.

 

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I have a lot of regrets for many things, but Tamiya cars are not on that list.

I don't regret:

  • TT02B Neo Scorcher
  • Hornet
  • Frog
  • Comical Hornet
  • Comical Frog
  • M07
  • M07R
  • GF6-01 King Yellow
  • Mini Lunchbox
  • Fighting Buggy (due soon; pre-ordered)

The only regets I have are selling my original Super Champ and Hornet back in the 90's, last century.

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I guess I don't regret buying any of the ones I still have, or I wouldn't have them any more, but there's a lot more to it than that.  There are some special cases that should get a mention:

WR02C - people might be surprised by this, given how I complain about my Midnight Pumpkin experience so much, but this was a very different story for me.  I'd taken a trip with a friend to his LHS and I decided I couldn't leave without buying anything.  But bizarrely, nothing took my fancy apart from the Honda City Turbo re-release.  I hadn't planned on getting one, I had no interest in wheelie cars and I didn't like that it was out of scale with the rest of my stuff.  But I bought it anyway.  Maximum impulse purchase.  Once I got it home I had bigtime buyer's remorse, even considered putting it up for swaps, but then I started doing Iconic RC bashes and there was always a wheelie race.  I felt left out, so I decided to build it as a monster truck.  I used WW2 rear wheels all round (I already had a set from another project I'd never finished) and flipped the front arms for a longer wheelbase, added a very battered old Mini Cooper Racing body and called it a Wild Mini.  It's been a regular at Iconic wheelie races ever since and always comes out for a play at any bash or event that allows wheelie racing.

G6-01 - I wanted one when they were announced, not because I wanted 6x6 traction but because I figured I could have a lot of fun custom-building a 1:10 body and essentially getting some online kudos.  But they were a bit pricy and I had other stuff to buy, so I held off, until I found somebody selling a new-built example for less than discount price.  It sat around until I had time to cut up a 1:10 body for it, then it got its first run.  After that I was hooked.  I loved it so much that the body remained untouched until this year, when I finally gave it a coat of paint.  Even now I still wish I'd done it matt black because it no longer looks like that ropey truck that got so much garden time over the past couple of years.  Definitely worth more than just a gimmicky body project.

King Blackfoot - I have to agree with @Saito2, nothing else really fills the same niche.  I had a Mud Blaster in my childhood (my only childhood NIB), I loved it but it was very fragile, and I never got more than a few minutes runtime.  I bought my first KBF from here on a whim and gave it a mild resto-mod and a lexan Brat body, but I had some cashflow problems and I gave it to a friend in exchange for some work done, before I'd even driven it.  (Recently I got it back as a gift - boy did he have some fun with it.  Pretty much every part is broken!)  Well, I had to have another, so I bought a rolling chassis a few years back, and have loved it ever since.  It's had a variety of bodies and is long overdue for another, it's so much fun to bash around with the Super Stock BZ, the updated gearbox is streets ahead of the original ORV and there's plenty of scope for some workshop customisation (probably on the beater that I got back) to see if I can fix some of the flaws without killing the character.  I love these trucks!

Globe Liner - the wildcard in the group, this was one that I didn't even really intend to buy.  My trucking journey started out with a full-option MAN TGX, but I swapped out the MFU-01 for a more appropriate MFU-03.  Naturally I had a spare MFU-01, so instead of selling it to recoup some cash I decided to buy a US rig.  It was approaching Christmas, and my wife used accountant's logic on me to convince me to give her a lump some of money so she could buy herself a Christmas present and then I could buy myself something of the equivalent value.  So I bought a Glo...  Grand Hauler.  Because, why wouldn't I?

Fast-forward over a year and the Grand Hauler was still unbuilt in the bedroom.  Having watched others struggle to get theirs around our tight club layouts, I'd decided it was way too build to build as a tractor.  However, I still wanted a second rig, I had something else to drive / lend to friends on the layout - I just wanted a plain, basic, standard rig that would be built as per box and not give me any trouble, while I focussed on getting the MAN up to spec and doing something really special with the Grand Hauler.

So I found a Globe Liner for a good price.  It came together quickly, along with a pole trailer that I got from a friend's huge clearance haul, and despite a slight disaster with some masking tape residue on the fresh paintwork and a less slight disaster when I tried to remove it with thinners and went through to the primer, the finished truck actually looked really good.  There was something about the way it sat with the other trucks on the layout, standard and clean with a little bit of chrome, that made me fall in love with it.  It quickly became my favourite rig and I'll still get it out just to look at it or cruise it around the garage floor or practice my reverse turns on the patio.  It was the first rig to get converted with a Beier system and will get an overhaul next year once the weather is warm enough to airbrush the driver and interior.

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No regrets, 

Some are more enjoyable than others, so offered more, urm, life lessons and maintenance lesson, but 🤷‍♂️

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I didn't/don't have as many Tamiya kits in the past to present. But here are what I had and currently have with short explanations.

Brat (1985) - a hand me down kit from my brother. I loved it even if it always flipped on the hard corners and fish tailed a lot because there's no differential.

Frog (1987-1990) - converted the Brat into this. Changed a lot of parts which includes the differential gears, aluminum shocks, body, and wheel/tires. I loved it until the RC10s and the Ultimas passed my kit like it wasn't moving. Hahaha! But I still loved it though.

Astute (1990) - Finally a competitive 2wd buggy. I upgraded this with Tamiya gold shocks, custom made FRP upper deck and re-positioned the battery longitudinal (did this even before the SA came out).

FF-01 (1996) - No regrets. I love this. Still with me up to now and still gets upgrades from time to time even if she's just a shelf queen.

TA-04R (2004) - My first real 4wd touring car. My first belt driven car too. I really liked this. I handed it over to my son a year later when I bought an HPI Pro4.

Stopped RCing in 2007. Went to RC flight in 2014 (Helis). Resumed RC cars in 2018

CC-01 (1996) 2018 - Picked up my(late) dad's metal top Pajero from my parents' house. Rebuilt it, custom fit parts and upgraded almost everything in it. Do I regret it? No because of sentimental reasons and my daughter drives it now. 

FF-03 (2018) - Bought two second hand kits. One was used to run in a garage twice and the other (Pro) was only built for display. Both were practically new. I have fully upgraded both and love these pair.

XV-01 (2020) - I was hesitant at first. But after testing it, I love it! Needs no further explanation.

Some non-Tamiya kits I had/have:

HPI Pro4 (2005-2007)

LRP S10 (2019) 

MST CFX (2020)

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WT-01 was my second rc car that I bought, this is on of my favorite cars with some upgades high shock towers longer shocks, wheels tires, turnbuckles and alloy knuckless this car is is real tough,run it for almost 6 years now with a 3800kv  brushless motor and high speed gears and do a lot of grazy stuff and jumps with it and it almost nevers breaks.

Hotshot/ super hotshot, build mine to a super hotshot, I like the looks of it , and it supriced me how though it is,run it with a castle 5700 kv motor, run about 25 packs through it  whitout any breaks, and for me it drives great like it a lot.

Ta-03, this car was a surprice to my, bought the rere porsche ta-03 rs, I really liked the way it runs then bought a Ta-03F front motor, I like that car  more then the rs but both are really nice driving chassis and easy to build and mainten, and have no stupid flaws in them,bash with the cars a lot on tarmac with brushless motors without any problems. much better then the tt01 and tt02 and I think on the par with the xv-01 on driving but much easier to mainten and to work on.

cc-01, I do not run it a lot,but I like it enought to keep and run it sometimes in the woods, but I am not a crawler/trail running guy so that is why it is limited on run time.

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Come to think of it, I have only purchased one Tamiya kit brand new - A TT-02R.  I actually rarely buy new kits of any make, I prefer to restore old unwanted RCs or just build them from parts.  The more I think about it the crazier it sounds - I have well over 50 RC vehicles and could probably count on one hand the number of kits I bought new and built...this topic made me think.

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12 minutes ago, 87lc2 said:

Come to think of it, I have only purchased one Tamiya kit brand new - A TT-02R.  I actually rarely buy new kits of any make, I prefer to restore old unwanted RCs or just build them from parts.  The more I think about it the crazier it sounds - I have well over 50 RC vehicles and could probably count on one hand the number of kits I bought new and built...this topic made me think.

I'm the same, very few new purchases in last 30 years. Most of mine are 2nd hand and restored. Only new purchase of Tamiya in last 15 years has been my middle daughter's Terra Scorcher. Prior to that was my eldest daughters Mad Bull way back in 2005.

Both youngest daughters are expecting NIB Tamiyas for Xmas (DT02/DT03) so that will change things somewhat but really, given the sheer number of Tamiyas I've owned it is nothing.

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I love all my cars for sure, so I'll be specific with perhaps my most satisfying (overall) purchase:

 

Tamiya Wild One:

- entry-level cost

- Straight forward assembly

- Finished product looks very pleasing in just about any color/scheme

- No extra parts or hop-ups needed (but can be added to effect)

- solid performer, durable and always a joy to drive

FlyingWildOne.jpg

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6 hours ago, Killajb said:

I love all my cars for sure, so I'll be specific with perhaps my most satisfying (overall) purchase:

 

Tamiya Wild One:

- entry-level cost

- Straight forward assembly

- Finished product looks very pleasing in just about any color/scheme

- No extra parts or hop-ups needed (but can be added to effect)

- solid performer, durable and always a joy to drive

FlyingWildOne.jpg

That looks stunning :wub: Love the Kyosho wheels, I have a spare set to try and fit on my Grasshopper when I finally get round to it! Always had a soft spot for the Wild One too.

In the spirit of the thread I'd have to say my Blitzer Beetle. I don't have a massive collection and neither do I intend to. I bought the Blitzer as a typical lockdown purchase being fond of all things Volkswagen. I gave it a patina style paint job which I recreated on another Blitzer for a charity auction. That was a cool thing to get involved in so for that reason I'm now attached to the Blitzer despite playing with the idea of selling it as I find my Kysosho Beetle more fun :unsure: Think I need to get it running again and take it out for a blast lol

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