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What should Tamiya (RC) do/launch—if you worked for their development team?

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Tamiya has some interesting recent and new releases (i.e., QuadTrack, TC01, Blockhead Wild One, TD4, 4WD Saint Dragon, more TT02s, etc.) and it’s quite fascinating—how Tamiya can develop primarily for their market and still find large audiences around the world. If you worked for Tamiya’s RC division as one of the decision makers or lead designers/engineers, what kind of vehicle (or parts) would you want to develop or launch? And what would be the realistic price point?

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I'd want competition spec off road cars at various price points (Pro/r/TRF)

Annoyingly these cars existed but are no longer supported / produced. (TRF511/501 + TRF201/211).

I'd also want a replacement to the TA05 M-Four - but with a 540 sized motor.

Edit: A CC02 IFS conversion kit would be nice as well!

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A Tamiya Spares & Hop-Ups Division that keeps up to date with stock and distribution of parts for longer than about eight minutes after a kits initial release.

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I don't think they'll want me because everything will be Willy and Billy based..  :ph34r: :lol:

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1/5 scale versions of popular models!

Rough rider, FAV, sand scorcher

A better esc that is smaller and capable of upto 12t/unlimited brushed motors and lipo compatible

 

 

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15 minutes ago, Willy iine said:

I don't think they'll want me because everything will be Willy and Billy based..  :ph34r: :lol:

And 1 ltr Olive Drab rattle cans

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Might include a steel pinion in something...:ph34r:

*gasp... Blasphemy!*

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What am I trying to do? Make money or make Mrowka happy? What kind of time horizon are we looking at here?

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I want 4x4 Schwimmwagen

HtI4rph.jpg

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These VWs have portal gears. 

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Tamiya already made it. 

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They have static kits in 35th and 48th scale.  They know the exact dimension already. 

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If having a big plastic hull is too expensive, why not make it a Lexan tub?  

Interior of the 1:1 was like that too; a pan chassis sitting in a thin tub. (well, the pan is actually just wooden planks so your feet won't get wet) 

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And 3rd channel for raising and lowering the propeller. 

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Skinny tires are a must though.  

I have a feeling some other company will beat Tamiya to it. Like they did with Jeep.  (Below is a G.I. stealing a CC01)

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Or, Tamiya can be totally lazy and just re-package Fiat Abarth with M06 chassis. 

tHVe5mz.jpg

Knowing Tamiya, they'll just repackage it with M05 and wonder why people are not buying the famous RWD car on a FWD chassis... (sigh...)

Like how they made the cool body, but market it in the least attractive color.  

VcEagUW.jpg

A decade ago, a TC member, @_miga_ did a better job than Tamiya, in my opinion. (This was Tamiya's own 1/24th static plastic shell on a mini Z chassis) 

1I0OqGk.jpg

 

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More Builder's kits like Pro or R versions as mentioned. Then include hex screws as standard.

For example, Wild One R. Comes with better shocks, full ball bearings, more aluminum or carbon parts, ball diff or sealed gear diff, aluminum steering sets, aluminum turnbuckles, etc. Same goes for consumer kits like CC, DT, DF and re-re. Wouldn't be nicer to have a fully upgraded Wild One R, Grasshopper 2 R, DT-03 R, Super HS Pro, or CC-01/02 Pro?

Tamiya should be considerate enough to make these releases and make it a little more convenient for the consumers acquiring the parts as included instead of hunting them separately and making them into limited production.

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Lunchbox hard plastic body on CC-02 chassis, "steelie" wheels proper brass weights to keep center of gravity low.

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5 hours ago, taffer said:

1/5 scale versions of popular models!

Rough rider, FAV, sand scorcher

A better esc that is smaller and capable of upto 12t/unlimited brushed motors and lipo compatible

 

 

I have to second this idea as well.  Large scale models with molded plastic parts wouldn't have to set any speed records.  You can use dual silver can motors to provide enough scoot and mold platic cva's that are 1.5x larger to give realistic dampening effect when driving. Enough space for dual battery packs to provide super long run times and start a large scale adventure race league on walking paths.

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Tbh carry on as they are,  it’s evidently working as the company continues to realise new products and gain/maintain a vibrant following. 
 

this discussion will surely,  inevitably mirror any “what re-re do you want” discussion, just a wish list of the things we would personally like

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52 minutes ago, Nicadraus said:

More Builder's kits like Pro or R versions as mentioned. Then include hex screws as standard.

For example, Wild One R. Comes with better shocks, full ball bearings, more aluminum or carbon parts, ball diff or sealed gear diff, aluminum steering sets, aluminum turnbuckles, etc. Same goes for consumer kits like CC, DT, DF and re-re. Wouldn't be nicer to have a fully upgraded Wild One R, Grasshopper 2 R, DT-03 R, Super HS Pro, or CC-01/02 Pro?

Tamiya should be considerate enough to make these releases and make it a little more convenient for the consumers acquiring the parts as included instead of hunting them separately and making them in to limited production.

Q) why should a company be considerate of your needs in this way?  It would be nice for you, but what do they get out of it?

less hop ups sold? An oversupply of parts?

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A Tamiya TT-02 SSRR based on the KRv4 :P

And a Stadium Truck that is ahead of its time (multi clutch and other complicated stuff).

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When I think about the key positive aspects Tamiya RC, in my experience, I see the following:

  • Realistic, great-looking touring bodies
  • Scale-realistic buggy replicas (from the early era)
  • Space-age sci-fi / comic-book inspired buggies
  • Class-leading assembly instructions

3 of these they are still doing well and need no help with.  So if I was looking to revitalise part of the brand, it would be the realistic buggy sector.

I still think this is quite an important area for Tamiya.  They've already stated their lack of interest in making competition buggies, and they haven't made any moves to match the basher sector.  They can't compete with the top-end (Traxxas, Arrma) on speed or robustness and they are struggling to compete on a price-per-feature war with the cheaper bashers (FTX, Maverick etc).

But where I think they really could compete is with a range of realistic-looking modern buggies.  After all, the Wild One, Sand Scorcher, Rough Rider et al were considered modern buggies when the models were first released.  1:1 sand rail design has changed massively since those days and I think there's a market for something that looks and performs like the real thing.  I know other RC manufacturers are already doing this but with Tamiya's attention to detail, they could do it better.  Like any current Tamiya buggy, it doesn't have to handle 4S packs or high-KV brushless power.  That's not their market.  Just make it look enough like the real thing and give it decent suspension so we can bash it around a dirt track.

Then there's the follow-on cars that share parts.  So let's have a follow-up 4wd version.

With a different set of tubes, the same chassis and suspension could sit under a stadium truck body.  Not the pancake-style made famous by the Traxxas Slash, but something with similar proportions to the F150 Baja (maybe a little wider and with taller suspension to replicate modern trucks).  Depending on class, we could have front and rear motor versions, for more realistic handling.  (The XV-01T almost gives us a 4wd trophy truck, IMO it just needs to be a tiny tad wider and with longer suspension to really match the 1:1 trucks, and preferably swap out the tub chassis for something more tubular).

Then, once you've got a nice tubular buggy chassis and a nice tubular truck chassis, it's not hard to envisage solid axle versions for the rock bouncer market, using CC02 axles.  Not directly competing with the established names in that sector, but doing it Tamiya's own way.

That's what I'd do, anyway.  It's a multi-year plan to re-establish Tamiya as a market-leader for "scale vehicles suitable for radio control."

But I'm not employed by Tamiya R&D, and there's probably a really good reason for that.  It's because I'd do stuff like this ^

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3 hours ago, matisse said:

Q) why should a company be considerate of your needs in this way?  It would be nice for you, but what do they get out of it?

less hop ups sold? An oversupply of parts?

Because this is the way Xpress, AMX, AE, Kyosho, X-Ray, HPI, and many other brands do. That is why they have loyal customers too. 

If Tamiya does that, just imagine the amount of customers they can get and has a big possibility that they can draw the non-Tamiya users/buyers (who hate spending so much extra on hop ups and gets frustrated when the parts they're/we are looking for are either discontinued or limited) to finally consider them.

 

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48 minutes ago, Nicadraus said:

Because this is the way Xpress, AMX, AE, Kyosho, X-Ray, HPI, and many other brands do. That is why they have loyal customers too. 

If Tamiya does that, just imagine the amount of customers they can get and has a big possibility that they can draw the non-Tamiya users/buyers (who hate spending so much extra on hop ups and gets frustrated when the parts they're/we are looking for are either discontinued or limited) to finally consider them.

 

Do they really listen to to customers though Or do they exploit trends and create markets where there went any before? 
 

I would venture that all the brands your named occupy very different parts of the RC market and as such play to their own strengths, as Tamiya does.

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Don't think Tamiya should get into top flight racing. Was never really good at it? Their money is in main stream sales.

They need to get a good high quality, crawler and/or monster truck also a proper basher.

They will always keep churning out the mundane stuff for the easy money

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46 minutes ago, Gazzalene said:

Don't think Tamiya should get into top flight racing. Was never really good at it? Their money is in main stream sales.

They need to get a good high quality, crawler and/or monster truck also a proper basher.

They will always keep churning out the mundane stuff for the easy money

They've won a few world championships so I don't think we can say they're not very good at it...

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I think if they run TRF as a distinct “boutique “ brand they could be competitive at high level racing if they wanted to be. 
 

My wish list if I were on the board:

Lunchbox/Pumpkin II ( either a GF or solid axle version of those bodies . Same 1/12 scale wacky stunt machine, with a gorgeous classic body ) They could even do like they did with the BRAT re re and sell the kit with ABS and lexan bodies 

Ball Bearings in all the things 

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1 hour ago, Gazzalene said:

Don't think Tamiya should get into top flight racing. Was never really good at it? Their money is in main stream sales.

They need to get a good high quality, crawler and/or monster truck also a proper basher.

They will always keep churning out the mundane stuff for the easy money

Tamiya has won many championships before including worlds in case you don't know.

With regards the crawler, Tamiya needs to up their game. The CC-01/02 are nowhere near the standards of today's crawlers. Even the an all-stock MST CFX/CMX will outperform a modified CC-02.

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1 hour ago, Gazzalene said:

Don't think Tamiya should get into top flight racing. Was never really good at it? Their money is in main stream sales.

They need to get a good high quality, crawler and/or monster truck also a proper basher.

They will always keep churning out the mundane stuff for the easy money

Mundane by your standards perhaps, but it seems to work for them.

as for a proper basher, they are proper when used with the motors they are designed for. bashing isn't just about brushless 3S etc..

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