ansleyMember since:28-May-2009

My Tamiya History and Information on my Collection!

I started with Tamiya Products in 1986, I bought a Hornet! I added bearings then converted it with a lowering kit and parma stock car body to run as an indoor carpet racer and did quite well! I wasn't into RC for about 20 years, I have 3 kids now. I dug out the Hornet and my kids love it. I now have a TA05 Ferrari 430, a Double Blaze (dagger), and a Baja King. I also have a Mini Cooper (M03) ...the older mini, Love the kits! New is another Wild Dagger, hopped up with Traxxas EVX-2 ESC, aluminum parts, T-Maxx shocks, twin Titan motors, and a new body. The latest addition is a super cool M03-M04 custom-made 4WD VW bug and a Levant(brushless XB RTR) which is awesome. I've been very busy, since last fall ('10), I've purchased several more models. I hope to get some photos up soon. I bought a brand new CC-01 VW Toureag, built it, and put a cheap Porsche body on it. I upgraded to bearings all around, with alloy and bearing steering as well. Fun to drive. I also bought another CC-10 Pajero XB on eBay for a song! It is the short wheelbase, but all stock. I might try to upgrade it and turn it into a Jeep. I also now have a Holiday Buggy I bought for my son, recently finished it. It is a very nice buggy, upgraded shocks, ball bearings, and motor. Fun to drive! On top of that, picked up THREE TB-01 cars after liking the chassis on the Levant. I have a Mitsu Lancer Evo that is almost complete, didn't come with some parts. Built it and ordered a new body and put some wheels on it from the 2nd kit, a Subaru. Right now that one is waiting for new tires and ESC. Subaru body is on the Lancer since the body isn't done yet. Also bought a Raybrig 2000 NSX(TB01) on eBay. Very nice, not too heavy as some have complained. Only 80g or so heavier than my TA05. My latest purchase is a very new(used) M05 Datsun 280Z, the body is new and not finished. I have a very cool HPI Porsche body on it that came with it. It has many upgrades, got a good deal on it. I've driven it and I like it! I found a place here in Bangkok (where I live) that will paint/decal bodies dirt cheap, only about $10 plus paint cost! That is amazing, will drop off 4 or so bodies to be done. Plus I bought 3 short course trucks recently. VERY FUN! I think I'm hooked on them, I think Tamiya should release one! Wow, almost forgot, picked up a Blitzer Beetle for a song, it is in great condition too. Took it out, and what a great stadium truck, now one of my fav off-roaders too! Here's a current list of all of my RC cars/trucks (May '11) I just recently purchased two more M05 chassis! When I tested my new M05 with the Porsche body it was very vast with a simple 540J motor and 20T pinion. I just got another lightly tuned motor and a speed passion brushless setup. I Will probably put one in an M05 and the other in my TA05. More updates with photos on these new cars in the future. One new M05 is a mini with the same body pictured here on my M03. It has ball bearings and no other upgrades, except I just put on standard CVA mini oil-filled shocks. The 2nd Chassis is on its way, it's an M05 pro chassis already built but never run, LOVE eBay! (July 2011) Ok, I have some updates on my collection of Tamiya's. It's now Feb. 2013, I have moved to the UK, however, while in Thailand got my Datsun 280ZX body painted for the MO5 and the Mitsu Lancer body for the TB01 as well! They look incredible. I have a few new purchases, included in the list below. I really want to get more photos of all of my cars into the showroom.


-- Updated May 2014 --

A few words on my radio equipment and servos. I have 4 less expensive 2.4G radio transmitters, two nicer models LCD displays, and tunable options with 10 car memory, two of the cheaper FlySky type transmitters. I have about 6-7 receivers for use with these on some of the nicer models below. I bought those all new. Many of my other transmitters/receivers/servos were bought in a bulk lot on eBay. I went through them all and fitted them to my cars, and ditched the really old or bad ones. Some of the cars are using pretty old radios but they work ok. Ditto for the servos. I do have a nice Airtronics radio set that came with one of the TA-04s I purchased used. I have at least two other decent AM radios with multi-car and LCD displays. Overall nothing fancy, but I do have quite a few for all of these vehicles. Using factory radios for quite a few as well. I don't compete in races so I don't have any super high-performance servos or electronics except some nice Brushless systems I purchased. I actually have four more Speed Passion systems on the way!


-- UPDATE - Nov 2014 --

I'm building an M03/M04 dual motor chassis, will probably put a Mini Cooper body on it. These are very cool, I already own one, see my showroom. Once complete it will be for sale, look for it!


-- UPDATE Dec 2018 --

I sorta put this Hobby on hold for the last 3-4 years. I do have some new purchases, when I get a chance I'll start updating my page again, I have lots of Tamiya's not on this page, see list below, and I have some other new kits and purchases. I did attempt racing some Short Course Trucks briefly in 2016 with my son, however, due to the time involved we only went a couple of times. They do have a nice group near me, but it pretty much all day every Sunday from April to October and we don't have that kind of time. I've taken out of a few of my models, but none in the last 2 years. Also, I now live out in the country with no paved driveway so my on-road cars have been sitting. I will get out to some nice paved locations this new year I hope. I plan on going through my collections, finishing my upgrades on my non-Tamiya short course trucks, and getting more info up on my collection and new acquisitions. Still really love this website, hence I updated my subscription this year!


-- UPDATE Jan 2021 --

Well, it's been over 2 years since my last update, my R/C car hobby is still pretty much on hold. However, I did purchase a few more cars. I plan on building another Tamiya kit from scratch soon. About 2 years ago I purchased 2 First Try TT-02 partially assembled chassis in the hopes of getting into TT-02 racing, but I've been too busy and not sure the local group that was racing them still is. They are sitting in the boxes, I think I also bought 1 body to go with them. More recently, only 2 weeks ago, I purchased a Type 2 Volkswagen Bus with pre-painted red body! I'm really looking forward to building this M06 chassis kit. I have a custom VW beetle build, this one will look real next to the Beetle.


-- UPDATE May 2023 --

Still haven't run any RC cars for several years, but did build the VW Type 2 VW Bus, very nice. I haven't run it, I had some ESC issues, but never followed up. It's a great shelf unit though. I also bought a Gmade Jeep Crawler kit a couple of years ago, it's 90% assembled, very cool looking Jeep Crawler with some nice features. I really want o finish this up and run it.

Tamiya R/C car list
----------------------

Hornet (upgraded bearings, ESC)

Baja King (upgraded bearings)

Holiday Buggy (upgraded bearings, shocks, motor)

Holiday Buggy Red Edition (upgraded bearings, shocks, motor)

Blitzer Beetle (upgraded shocks, bearings, ESC)

Levant (brushless, very fast, handles great and well built)

Levant (Yes, 2nd Levant now...took out brushless, in my TA05. Have fast brushed motor/ESC, love the Levants)

Double Blaze (upgraded bearings, ESC)

Dagger (heavily modified!, bearings, aluminum suspension parts, shock tower, big shocks, dual Traxxas motors and Traxxas ESC, tires, see showroom...)

DB01 Baldre (eBay purchase, some nice extras, very nice chassis!)

CC01 VW Toureag (several upgrades, w/ Porsche Cayenne body)

CC01 XB Pajero (stock)

DF01 Mitsubishi Racing Lancer XB (has nice LED controller and lights)

TB01 Subaru WRX Rally (work in progress, some upgrades)

TB01 Mitsubishi Evolution Rally (new professionally painted body, some upgrades)

TB01 2000 Raybrig NSX (some upgrades)

TA03 Stock Audi body( bearings, Novak ESC, nice brushed motor)

TA04 Generic w/Black racing body(some hop-ups, fast!)

TA04 Generic w/generic racing body (many hop-ups, graphite parts, very fast!)

TA05 Ferrari F430,(now Tamiya brushless and fast! TRF shocks)

TB03 with two bodies, and an un-painted 3rd (many upgrades, too many to list right now!)

TB Evolution III chassis with very nice 2 tone painted body (TRF shocks, and hop-ups, stock motor)

M03 Mini Cooper (several upgrades, alum turnbuckles other suspension pieces, bearings, shocks, 540J ?motor)
M04 Mazda RX7 (mostly stock, only ran a couple of times, put new tires on it, it's ok but cool looking!)
(NOTE: The two cars above are now one! I have another M04/M03 Hybrid 4WD dual-motor custom
chassis like my VW Beetle below. See my showroom.)

M04L/M03 4WD VW Beetle (custom built twin motor with Traxxas ESC, see showroom!)

M05 Datsun 280ZX (with some good upgrades, w/Speed Passion brushless, w/ HPI Porsche 911 Martini body)

M05 Mini Cooper (only bearings and upgraded shocks)

M05 Pro Chassis Mini Cooper (several hop-ups, Lightly Tuned Motor, shocks, several alum pieces)

M05 Green Mini Cooper (my latest, custom green wheels, hop-ups: shocks, bearings)

NEW! Two TT02 first try chassis kits. Still sitting in the boxes.

NEW! M06 Volkswagen Type 2 Bus kit with a pre-painted red body! (Still in the box)


Non Tamiya R/C car list
---------------------------

Traxxas Slash 2WD Brushless (Many upgrades)

Traxxas Slash 2WD (built from scratch with spare parts)

Venom Gambler (new short course truck, upgraded bumper, and shocks, runs excellent with the mid-motor design!)

Sportwerks Raven ST Red (nice truck, very fast and well built, swapped shocks w/ Venom Gambler)

Sportwerks Raven ST Black (bought this one on eBay, was a roller, added ESC and receiver, runs great!)

Smartech Nitro 1/10 Speedy Tiger Buggy (my only nitro, fun and fast, lots of alum hop-ups)

Losi Mini-T (with several upgrades)

Xtreme Hobby XHC-100 4WD Porsche (1/10 scale on-road car, shaft driven, w/much alum. parts, nice car!)

Xtreme Hobby XHT-115 4WD Truck (1/16 with loads of great features)

CEN Racing ME16-TC 4WD Car (Onroad 4WD shaft driven short wheelbase(210mm) car...very nice!)

NEW! GMade GM55000 1/10 GS01 4WD Sawback Crawler (very nice crawler, I'm almost done assembling it, bought a crawler motor and have a receiver for it. Came with a blue pre-painted body)

I think that's all of them, if anyone has any questions then let me know!


Regards,

Ted