I personally think people will never be happy with what they buy weather it be a tamiya tt02 or a teaxxas xmaxx. Its a hobby guys if your not smiling whilst your bashing/racing etc your in the wrong hobby. Who cares if one rc is better than another buy what makes you happy😀
I'm happy with what I buy. I do lots of research and talking on forums before I buy anything. The two RCs I own, I love. I'm not sure who you're talking about, maybe fanboys or people with too much money who buy everything new on the market ? The last time I bought an RC I didn't like, I returned it. And the brands I buy from have excellent warranty service, so when something broke, I got a new part, no fuss.
I lived in Japan for 25 years and in that time I saw only one Traxxas. It was in a beat up box on the bottom shelf and never moved. This was my local hobby shop (TamTam), they know me and I asked about it once. The dude’s answer……”parts availability”. Never saw Team Associated. HPI had a descent footprint and until they fell on hard times, parts were plenty. The issues here are inverted there. If I needed a Tamiya part, I just went to TamTam and ordered it. They would call Tamiya while I was there and give me a work order that told me exactly when to come back and pick up the part. They would call me if it came in early. I spent many years buying used and/or broken cars (Tamiya, HPI, Team Yokomo and Kyosho), fixing, upgrading and reselling rc cars. I built many new kits as well and I have worked on too many cars to count. Tamiya was always the easiest to deal with because I was there and I speak Japanese. One last thing. Here in America it is rather easy to find a place for really fast and rather large rc to be run at. In Japan it is not the same at all. Tokyo is jam packed and as property is expensive, nobody can really justify having huge tracks. “Champ Advisor” stores have a few tracks around the country, but they are only off road. That’s why drift is so popular with rc fans there. Rc drift tracks can be done on much smaller scale and can be found in malls. There having the biggest and fastest is not what Tamiya shoots for.
Great post Eric, I have been to Japan 13+ times on business and worked for a Japanese company for many years. It was always difficult to get the Japanese to focus on EU and US market needs vs the local domestic market. As you say, the needs of RC fans in Japan is different so that was always a challenge as some products just didn't make sense outside Japan. The funny thing is that global sales were always bigger than Japanese sales, so you would think it would take more attention but it never did. I see the same with Tamiya.
I have two Japanese friends who own Traxxas, one has over 20 different vehicles. Hobby shops are few and far between and don't deal with non-Japanese models for the most part. Everyone uses the internet. TamTam is famous in the area as long as you want Tamiya/Kyosho and hard to find paints, etc.
@@garybeckwith9045 TamTam is also known for their customer service. They never had a problem ordering one off parts trees for me. When I moved away in 2019 I had over 70 cars. Some were running, some were projects and others were rare that I had trouble sourcing parts for. In my part of Kanagawa as well as Tokyo, hobby stores are plenty, especially the 2nd hand stores. I also helped some American friends from the bases who couldn’t speak Japanese so well, by translating their requests at TamTam. An employee of TamTam asked me to help once and it sort of became a thing and it was no problem for me. At Champ, they always had Losi and a Team Associated here and there, but parts were an issue there as well. A lot of it had to do with the yen rate being so bad for so long. The boat and plane stores had rc cars and trucks as well and there were times when I could find discontinued things, but generally I only went when I was doing something custom. Out past Yokota Air Base there are quite a few places as well.
At its heart, Tamiya has been and remains a plastic model company. Its first RC car arose out of an opportunity to do something else with the Porsche body they'd licensed. I don't think they've really changed. There was a period when they were producing competitive RC such as their TRF onroad line and a handful of competitive 4wd buggies, but now I think they've gone back to their roots. They'll sell you a very pretty and appealing plastic model that you can control remotely. I love my TT02 for the fact that it will have parts support for a long time, and it's cheap parking lot fun. Almost everything else they make today is a display kit that you can run a bit.
"Almost everything else they make today is a display kit that you can run a bit." Cannot agree with you more on this.- buy body shell, chassis as a free gift.
That's exactly how i see Tamiyas. They're scale models that you can drive. If you wanna drive one fast, then there's parts. I love em cause they're virtually indestructible. Owned more Tamiyas than i can remember.
I agree with this list, but Tamiya has us with nostalgia, plain and simple. I’m hooked on the stuff I couldn’t get as a kid, and now I’m obsessed with collecting it all. They are basically toy grade out the box and I have to upgrade even though I basically don’t run them.
I wouldn’t go as far as to say Tamiya’s “Toy Grade” because remember they have buggies and on road cars that were very competitive and they still have some buggies that are still competitive. As far as bashers? I don’t think Tamiya had any bashers but we also have to remember that even “Bashers” had to start someplace and that someplace was with models like the “Blackfoot”,”Clodbuster”,”Monster Beetle”,”Bruiser”. When I mention those a lot of people will say,”but those aren’t bashers”. But they were bashers back then. They may not have been jumping 3 stories up in the air but that was “Bashing” back then.🤷🏻♂️💯👍
Who hates Tamiya?? It's my favourite brand. Build a Tamiya Kit is one of the best experiences in the hobby I have my UDR and TRX4 but I still buying Tamiya kits because I love it
The bearing issue doesn't bother me. I'm from the old school where no cars except the top racing models came with bearings so I'm ok with buying bearings if I need to, what bothers me more than anything is how much Tamiya cars cost for what they are. Who wants to pay $400, $500, $600 for a car you can't even run hard and I'm not talking about sending it 20ft in the air, I've broken cars just running them thru the grass or taking a simple jump. The only bulletproof model Tamiya has is the Clodbuster and TXT series and you'd think Tamiya would've beefed up their cars by now after all these years
I think all of those points are valid. The kits haven't really changed in the 30 years since I got my first, to last Christmas when my son got his first. All that seems to have changed, is they've got more expensive, as you said. However, I would say that most people who buy Tamiya kits buy them because they're Tamiya kits, despite them not being the strongest, best performing cars!! It's a way of life, not a best car out there thing. I love them, and nothing will change that. 😎👍🏻
Yes, I agree. It's like manufacturers now are assuming all cars are to be raced on pristine specialist tracks and not taken to the local park for a bit of fun.
@@tomellingham8627 And furthermore, what's with the omission of big front bumpers? They started that ridiculous trend way back in the late 80s! The classic Associated RC10 had a big front bumper and a protective gear cover. The Associated B6.1DL has NO bumper or gear cover! Ridiculous!
@@perfectsplit5515 There's also the name. B61 DL or whatever it's called. What I do like about the Tamiya's is they are an Event. Even if it's an m05 RA it's also a 2CV rally, or something tangible, not a silly number. Maybe it's because the b6.23, whatever, is a proper racing machine than a building and brand bonding experience, it doesn't warrant a proper name? Or a bumper, or a gear cover? (although to be fair, aren't the gears located inboard now) But even so, the rc10 was a proper race buggy too, at least that had a proper name, a gear cover, and a bumper, like you say, and didn't look like a ridiculous cyborg ant. Talking of names, there's another racing buggy called the Schumacher Cougar Laydown. That's ridiculous. What's that - a middle aged woman on a lilo? It needs a proper name like ... Vanessa's lunchbox.
@@tomellingham8627 Even with inboard gears, you still need a gear cover. The body shell is not sufficient protection. It has openings for the suspension arms. I have had sand particles lodged in my large mating spur gear in my B6.1DL. It was extremely hard to obtain the motor plate for the optional standup transmission that allows a gear cover.
No excuses for bearings. I buy in bulk and they are cheap. Tamiya could add them for less than a cup of coffee to all kits. Also frustrating when they put Half bearings in a kit and leave two brass bushings! All being said Tamiya connects to many people with memories as the price point means they are usually a first RC.
01 - 1:01 - Bearings 02 - 2:30 - Parts availability 03 - 3:16 - Number of units available on release 04 - 4:24 - Tamiya not bringing out desirable rereleases 05 - 5:54 - Cost 06 - 7:09 - When they bring out a rerelease, they're not fixing any of the weaknesses or issues that were actually in the design from when it was first released 07 - 8:02 - Cost of hopup parts 08 - 9:17 - How fragile the kits are 09 - 10:00 - Lazy special editions 10 - 10:46 - Not listening to their customers Bonus -11:40 - No lipo batteries, they only do a few brushless choices and they don't do any kind of aggressive, take out, bashy kind of cars
Love Tamiya.. that is all 😁😁😁 Ok, so there could be better kits and manufactuers out there but i take the rough with the smooth. Bring on more Tamiya kits, bearing/parts or not.... 😉😀
If someone wants to destroy rc cars on a skatepark, go get a Arrma. If you want to race or have awesome fun at low cost, get a tamiya. Me and my friends have expensive cars but at the end of the day we find it more fun racing tamiya tt-02.
@@bb-ballistics1706 I also think it teaches valuable life skills, I hated the idea of painting/sanding/taping but Tamiya and their toy cars have made me enjoy that stuff.
Anlther thing: there aren‘t seem any competitive cars from Tamyia in case you would like to go racing on a track. Buggys mostly can‘t compete at all. I know there‘s touring cars and races for rookies, where you need tamyia chassis to drive there. So you‘d have a competition within the brand. What i like the most about Tamyia is that some series have really detailed cars, for example the rally cars. They move like rally cars. Also the buggys you can use more on the outdoors. Unlike competitive buggy nowadays (like xrax, tlr, ream assosiated) where you have to choose between carpet or „dirt“ setup (but dirt mostly means hard compact ground). You can do slight bashing at a beach or somewhere in the woods with a talyia and really enjoy how they behave. Here in switzerland we have a few dedicated stores, f.e. For XRay. I can get all spare and option Parts there, available all The time. Once you have the car the parts are high precision and all Alloy/carbon. These parts are even less expensive than tamyia or kyosho parts. Ators that sell Tanyia mostly also sell trains, planes, toys and a huge variety on hobby and toy grade stuff. So it‘s hard to find parts right away. You order and wait. Dedicated competitive shops have another approach. Mostly one brand, the owner is a experienced racer. Even all the tools (setup, measuring tools etc. are available. You buy once and you can go. Something breaks, i drive there and i know it‘s there, all the time. I have the tamyia xv-02 since a month. I live it! I love the scalyness, and the build was so relaxing right until the end. Plastic steering broke immediattly, so i had to order a off brand alloy spare part since tamyia didn‘t produce it yet. My next car will be a xray touring 1/8 or rally car or a buggy 1/10. can‘t decide yet
I restored a trash DynaBlaster for driving, not for the shelf. It is a nightmare. 3D printed parts from Austria, parts from England and Spain, from different shops in Germany. Only to make this thing ready to rock.
I feel that one of the reasons why they have not re re'd the Falcon is due to issue 6 and 8 also. They were super fragile new and mine ended up being plastic welded together for the most part until it became unrepairable and i'm hearing others say the same about theirs time and time again. If they were to fix the issues would it still be a Falcon? or would it lose the thing that made a Falcon a Falcon. 😁
My problems with Tamiya are mainly Cost/Durability and Reliability. The prices for some of their kits (not talking about specialist kits like their Lorry/Tractor units, Tanks and certain Re-Re's) could easily get you something much more modern/ better performing/Durable/Reliable and better parts support. That said I do enjoy building a Tamiya no matter what it is and I think apart from having a big following of people who had/wanted years ago, it's very much the fact that they are one of the few manufacturers that still do kits that aren't designed for out and out racing/competition they are still going strong and won't be going away anytime soon.
I think you nailed every point. Another thing that turns me off, not Tamiya fault, but some of the fanboys refuse to acknowledge these things. That it's all great in Tamiya. Be objective, they aren't keeping up with the time on many points. They can keep their legacy vehicles but also need willing to innovative, at least keep up with the times
1. No ball bearings: Yeah, these days not putting ball bearings in the kits is a real bummer (especially with kits like the Dynahead or the Quadtrax)! For me personally it's the same with the outdated screws they put in their kits! But to be honest, not every company gives full ball bearings in their kits. For my MST CFX I had to order a few which were just bushings in the kit. 2. Parts availability: Really? Well, to this day I still found every part that I needed. At least for any contemporary kit. And I am even getting parts for my classics, but admittedly that is sometimes a question of patience. 3. Kit availability and Re-Re's: Well, you cannot blame Tamiya for having missed an issue of a kit! There are plenty of platforms where you can get information about releases. And if you wait too long it's your own fault! I've been there and done that, and I cannot blame Tamiya for that! And there are people out there, who are completely crazy about Tamiya kits. They even praised the new Avante ... which tells a lot about their mindset. Back in the late 90s and early 2000s there was one bidder on eBay who completely "killed" any Tamiya related auction. No other people could get their hands on Tamiya kits or spares when he kept an eye on it (an auction with a rim and tire set for the old Hilux 4x4 went for far over 200 bucks in 1999 or 2000). 4. No desired Re-Releases: Well, that depends on what you are waiting for. But you already pointed it out. And they released a lot of the "holy grails" (XR311, SRB's, Bruiser - even with improvements!- Monster Beetle / Blackfoot / Subaru Brat, ...). OK, I fear we will never see Re-Re's of the King-Cab-Line or the whole TA-01/02-Line (which they really exhausted, and you still get spares!). Somebody should make a list of Tamiya Re-Re's to have some reliable numbers. 5. Cost: That's a valuable point. And keeping in mind that chinese companies are pushing everywhere in the market with kits or RTR's that are becoming constantly better, this should raise some concern. But on the other hand, I only buy kits when they are offered with a special price. But yes, Tamiya is quite pricey for not being as competetive with the performance of most of their cars compared to contenders on the market. 6. Not fixing issues in Re-Re's: Yes maybe. I can only tell two instances where they did. The Bruiser I mentioned above: Better axles, better transmission (and left the long steering rod disregarded). The second was the ball diff for the SRB-line models. But to be honest, that came as a hop up part and was never part of the Re-Release itself. 7. Cost of Hop Up parts: That's why I sometimes buy parts from Yeah Racing, 3Racing or GPM for the one or other Tamiya Kit. And I get those parts not only in blue! "Blue is better" was LRP! 8. "Breakability": That's maybe something to bicker about. We had cars that we bashed with and we had no real issues. The Wild Dagger-Line for example or the Midnight Pumkin (ran mine with a Reedy Pink Dot, CVA-Shocks and full ball bearings ... a blast!). But ... Polystyrene-bodies do break when abused. That's a surprise? Not for me. Some drivers put burdens on their RC's that I cannot understand. Would you ever try to run over an obstacle three feet high with full speed with your real car? No? But many people do this to their RC's when approaching curbstones for example. I strongly believe that any RC should be run in an environment according to it's scale. When you think and act otherwise ... and you got an issue ... I give you a tissue! 9. Lazyness: Tamiya's main issue in my eyes is not being innovative as they were in their heydays. The "One-Chassis-and-1001-Body"-Practice is what you meant with lazy. On the other hand it's just economics! Sad but true. 10. Not listening to the customers: You've got to be precise: They're not listening to customers outside of Japan! Maybe in the U.S. its different, but I guess Tamiya won't listen to modelers in Europe. Ok, sorry for the long text. And when I wrote "you" several times, I did not mean RCKicks, I just used that word as in general. I started my Tamiya career in the late eighties with a Bruiser. A time, where Tamiya seemed to be quite innovative (King Cab, Astute, Porsche 959, ...). But these days have long gone. At least for RC cars. Products like the CR01, the TXT1 and the CC02 were half hearted attempts to jump on trends but came too late and were totally overengineered. And I was really disappointed, especially about the CC02. Don't get me wrong. I have a lot of Tamiya models. I love my Tamiya models. But I do not jump on every new kit they release.
Tamiya is a big brand name and they likely get 'a million' messages from hobbists a year. I think they only listen to inputs from the biggest dealers abroad, like Tamya of USA and the Tamiya importer of Germany. Things into this is also they are pretty conservative and reserved (Japanese people), not jump onto new ideas quicly, but wants to use a lot of time to think aboutpossible new stuff and changes. Also the fact they are so large and well known, 'we hear some are not happy with these details, but we sell so many of it anyway, so why should we bother to change?' I'm mostly into their 1/14 trucks. As of 2022 they use the same base chassis setup and technial solutions as their first model from 1993, King Hauler. There are some 'bugs' that easily could been imporved, but there is absolutely no chance they will even think about changes. 'What is done is done. We got no major competition in our price bracekt, sell all we can manufacture, so why bother with changes?' The newest Mercedes and scania trucks have more outside details than typically for older odels, but this I think have only happened due to massive pressure from the major Euroean dealer of Germany, through many years before it finally happened:) anyway, I'm generally happy with the Tamoya models, just modify and get parts from others when I wish to do improvements
Some interesting points. With regard to re-releases, Tamiya has issued far too many already in my opinion. Design NEW products for the latest and future generations of RC fans, not keep looking to the past. In any other hobby, if you want something old or classic you have to search for a used example. With regard to prices, you can buy a Grasshopper II Black Edition kit in Modelsport for under 100 GBP. But on the other hand, by the time you have bought all the electronics that seems expensive compared with some of the RTR products from other manufacturers that are far more modern in design and perform much better as well. Quite a few manufacturers have seen great success with scale realistic crawlers. As Tamiya virtually invented scale realistic RC I feel as if they are being left behind. Another area is smaller scale RC vehicles. Kyosho has made a huge success of the Mini-Z at 1:27/24 scale and we see lots of other products such as the Axial SCX24, ROC Hobby at 1:18 scale, etc. All Tamiya seems to have are the cartoonish Mini 4WD products. I think that if Tamiya doesn't start to innovate, they will face a difficult future as competition is only increasing and you can't survive on nostalgia forever.
Tamiya are a brand very close to my heart and adore them despite all the niggles you mentioned. However, I own so many brands of RC and they have there niggles. I love my Traxxas cars which are quite expensive and they have had inherent issues for years that Traxxas don't address 🤷♂️.
As others said, Tamiya is a plastic model company before an RC company, that's why their bodies are more scale-like while their chassis are less bashable. They may be behind the times with the lack of bearings, oil-filled shocks and hex nuts. As for parts availability and listening to customers, it may be a regional thing. Note in South East Asia Tamiya is pretty much all there is; even Kyosho may not be immediately available in any random hobby store and like HPI has to be specially imported. I've noticed the way they repack for the US and EU and maybe UK markets are very different in terms of ESCs packed in as well as model choices offered. As for re-re abuse, hehe, molds ain't cheap and since they're licensed models they will stretch those re-releases as much as they can... they don't have the advantage of Shenzhen RC companies that don't pay licensing fees and can undercut other RC companies (although as RTR they tend to be getting expensive as well, even for clone brands).
Lockdown got me and a couple of mates back into this hobby, and we were keen to get a kit or two, build them and have a little play. Even went back to the old BMX track we used in the late 80's, early 90's. We went with newer kits rather than any old classics, just so parts would be available if/when we broke them and ended up with TT-02B's as there's not much else on offer from Tamiya that is 'new'. Personally I became quite frustrated with the kit having bling'd it to the max and not really enjoying the driving experience - it was just very bland, and while it had loads of power in a brushless set up it wasn't always possible to put that power down easily. We also discovered even with relatively new kits parts weren't always available. I gave up on Tamiya as a cars that I want to drive and instead have them as kits that I build, as I do like the build process. So like everyone else I've gone down the bland, brushless stadium truck route because that's the most fun, less likely to break and when I do break stuff parts are available. While it's nice to relive some of the old kits and build them, it's a shame Tamiya doesn't have any new kits that I would want to drive, with the exception maybe of TD2. Everything is just meh, compared to other brands. Having said that I built a Frog because I never had one as a kit and that thing is a blast to drive. I thought it was going to be similar to a Hornet, but it's way better than that. My wish would be for Tamiya to release a 1:8th buggy kit that had a similar driving experience to a Frog. 1:10 just seems way too small for brushless setups and I'd love something that had a bit of grunt that could take a bit of a bashing, but also came in kit from. Just call it something ridiculous like 'Mega Frog' and it would sell. Or do a bigger version of the Falcon, that could really drive well, that would work too.
Ive only been to 2 race meets. Tub screw mount points broken and the pinion gear split in half. New Tub & Rebuilt the car, went to race meet 2.. tub front screw mounts again after just 1 lap and a very light bump on the barrier. TT01E
The main issue for me is the greed that has crept into the Hobby. The Ebay marked has become a very unfriendly place. I would like to see Tamiya get on top of this and make more things available so the Ebay crowd has no leverage to create stupid prices
This is the same in every hobby now unfortunately. You can get anything you want off ebay. Provided you're willing to cough up two to three times the original retail price.
This works something that Games Workshop did for their latest 10th edition starter set for Warhammer 40k. The 9th edition was a very limited release which were sold within seconds of release only to end up on Ebay for 4 x the RRP. For 10th, when the initial run was sold out, they started taking backorders for the next run at RRP so no one got stiffed by resellers if they were willing to wait. I'm not trying to say GW are a good company, they'll suck you dry given a chance but what they did for 10th would work for some of these new releases for Tamiya.
tamiya is like marmite love it or hate it i personally love the brand been buying and building on and off since early 80s with the original clod and only ever run it stock no issues price is like everything buy if you can afford it but for me the build experience alone is worth the price the market is flooded with cheap off brand builds but as you say all the negatives follow on for any company its all subjective i dont think i will ever stop building tamiya and my only negative i agree with is the lack of popular models not hitting the market quick enough
I’m getting back into the hobby / racing . Started years ago with a Frog ,Blackfoot and monster Beetle .got out started with gasoline race boats ( had 5 of them ) then I got a team Associated SC10 2wd and 4wd. Quit for 12 years and now I’m back in again sold everything except tools . On Long Island New York there isn’t any dirt tracks anymore But there is an on road club ! I got the itch again out of boredom so I got a TT02 GT40 kit ! OMG I’ve spent a fortune on aftermarket parts . Carbon fiber , titanium , aluminum ( I think I bought stocks and bonds in YEAH RACING HA ) Just today I bought a brushless system . If My wife finds out I’m a dead man ! Tamiya makes a fair product but very expensive to up grade and you need spares of a lot of stuff . You commented about buying the parts trees . I personally think it’s the cheapest parts you can buy . If I were to get aluminum lower A arms and bent them it would be like $40 for a set . I use the stock plastic $9 a set. Plus when they break it won’t mess up my other expensive parts . I only wish Tamiya would include longer threads on the shock balls . They strip the plastic A arms even if your careful . On order I’m getting longer titanium ones , And I agree with you BALL BEARINGS in every kit . I ordered Fat Eddie bearings before buying the kit . May be Someday I’ll get the Ceramic ones .
Hi Gavin, this is a great list and you're breaking open doors for me. I don't really hate Tamiya. Tamiya's just Tamiya for over 40 years. My most annoying moments are: - Waiting for a nice ReRe and getting just a new version of the Clod Buster or the Tyrrell 6-wheeler every two years. Shouldn't the Falcon come out last year? - Not everyone has the finger on the pulse like you and gets informed so quick. So yes it's annoying not to get one of those limeted editions. I mean I got the SCX24 Betty one year after it was sold out. So why they don't ask the re-sellers first and wait for the community reactions before setting the production numbers? - But the one thing which makes me really angry are these sloppy moldet driver figures. Tamiya is one of the best plastic display model manufactors in the world. Their airplanes and tanks are awesome and high detailed. But the RC driver figures are a nightmare, look like they were made in the 50s, the parts fit together as bad as if they were made by Matchbox and need lots of work to get them nice. This really hasn't to be.
I think Tamiya and Kyosho are more less in the same boat. Hard to find parts, availability, etc. Tamiya are smart to add hi-wear parts as a weak points so the end user is forced to use hop up parts.
I love my tamiya me, but I don't like that most kits come with philips style screws.... In my opinion they make a kit look cheap hex bolts all round look so much smarter. And another thing I do not like is incorrect stance of certain cars they've re released.. Forcing the owner to go down a modding process. Bearings are a must if this is the only thing they improve in the coming years.
Some of the opinions are a bit unfair regarding re-releases, the only reason I ”rediscovered” this fantastic hobby was thhat Tamiya and Kyosho did put out previous releases, there were a long period where all cars looked the same and had no carachter at all. Now we can almost get all the cars we wanted as youngsters, so we should be happy and greatful we get this opportunity again 😊 great episode Gavin 😊👍
#8 - The ABS plastic for EVERYTHING is really the reason for this. An engineered, reinforced type of plastic wouldn't be difficult to accomplish, especially today, and costs wouldn't substantially increase the prices. The upshot of their plastics is that they at least do a good job with the molding, with few issues with fitment.
Isnt that the case only for the Re-Res? The newer models are extremely sturdy, still havent had a failure on my XV01, even though that thing went into a curb at 60-70kmh and the only thing that broke was the servo CRACKING open; nothing was bent or loose after that.
It's Japan in general, take Honda for example , in 50 plus years they have never ever listened to riders and that's why it's love/hate there, letting models run unchaged for decades with only a new "bright new bold grafix " model now and then when thousands of people are complaining of the same problem for years. Just seems they're too far up their own behinds to listen to the rest of the world and make any kind of change like it's an "honour" thing .
No different than their plastic models. Tamiya has ALWAYS done what they wanted and don't listen to their customer base. Bottom line, if Mr Tamiya likes (or liked it) then it got made. If he had no interest then you'll never see it.
I'm a big Tamiya fan too. When I got a tt02 drift spec chassis I thought I'd finally got a real RC racing car. I was wrong. It wasn't until I acquired and started racing a Schumacher Atom at the local GT12 club I realised how inefficient and toy-like the Tamiya machines really are. Okay, a GT12 has a very specific job to do. You can't give them a shake down at the local empty car park - which makes them more competitive and fun, cos your development is limited to race days - but they are so much more balanced, stable and resilient than the average Tamiya kit. The tt02 is designed to look satisfying, and solid, and keep us occupied by buying bags if shiny spares and "hop-ups", and done well, they look beautiful. But they are an engineering bodge, in my opinion. I used to work in marketing, and have watched closely how Japanese brands - like Tamiya, Seiko, and others operate. We are often clouded by the Western business model thinking that everything is designed to make profit, but that's not necessarily how Japanese brand management thinks. Yes, ultimately, the business had to make a profit, but more often the goal is long-term brand strategy. RC is only one part of this huge multi-faceted modeling brand. By limiting production of certain models you're sacrificing short-medium term profit for the longer term noble objective of brand mystique. Tamiya's RC division fo this exceptionally well. This is partly why supply is often erratic. As unfrasable as it may sound, suppliers and Tamiya kit builders may one day wake up to the reality Grasshopper kit production simply fizzles out without warning, for example. I hope it doesnt happen, but we can imagine how that could only increase the desirability and cult status of the Grasshopper brand.
Traxxas, affordable fun right out of the box. You dont have to go far for parts and they have excellent support. If i were recommending a start up kit for someone new to the hobby i would say Traxxas. Now, do i like Tamiya, yes they have some awesome kits starting with Wild Willys jeep . I would really like to build one, but for the money i would rather buy a Traxxas.
Traxxas is good for a beginner for sure. My first true rc was a rustler, the one with the mechanical servo speed potentiometer thing. After a year or two i really wanted a team losi or associated stadium truck though. I swapped all my turnbuckles and stuff to adjustable arms and did all sorts of motor changes but a rustler just never really comoares to a xxxt or a t3. The monster trucks were to expensive for 13 year old me, but the tmaxx and savages looked dope.so did the terra crusher and the mad force.
I love Tamiya but i prefer Team Associated RC10.. I have a Tamiya Sand Scorcher 2007 (NIB), RC10DS Nascar Truck, RC10 Buggy, Losi 8ight 3.0 E (NIB), RC4WD Rascal, FG Marder 1:6, Carson SuperAttack 1:6, Traxxas Slash 4x4 (2x), Hobbyking Desertfox Modified, Blitz Tube Chassis RC4WD Z-C0028 and a Marui Toyota Landcruiser.
I think a lot of it just has to do with your age. If you grew up with Tamiya in the 80’s, they’ll always have a soft spot in your heart. Every time I build one, I’m a kid again. If you’re younger, you’ll just look at them as more rudimentary kits made with plastics that are more brittle than the new RTR performance stuff that’s out there.
Again! there is a reason your channel exist. 😊 I get that Tamiya culture evolve on nostalgia. My take on Tamiya, I believe Tamiya is a culture for the nostalgic group. If Tamiya ever change its core perception, Tamiya will just become another waste product for a hobby that keep changing because of performance issues. There are lineups for that, however the point is, like you said about value, that is what they are protecting. The time and art value they put on to create the kit is much more precious than bashers demand. I think its more of a generational issue for Tamiya to get this hatred from. 😄 Even if Tamiya creates a basher lineup with quality parts, I don't think they will waste their time creating a masterpiece for a body that will just be trashed. I think it is not what Tamiya is all about. Tamiya wants each sold kit to be valued and not just a piece of plastic to be trashed thereafter.
cool video Gav. my ideas about basically all the points you covered: i think that i am the target customer for Tamiya in 2022. a 43 year old man who sits there and thinks "hey back in the day i always wanted a lunchbox, now i have the cash i'm gonna treat myself, oh wait i need the bearings, ok cool, love the unboxing, love the build, first drive (seemed faster when my neighbour had one??)...few packs later... BROKEN! cool now i have to source parts and fix it.... pure nostalgic fun!..... me again, "something faster and stronger would be cool????.... before you know it my first ARRMA and first Traxxas are here.... i think the points you mentioned are what makes Tamiya what it is and more importantly what it was and has been... horses for courses.... i totally agree that the ReRe logic leaves me scratching my head, but thats good marketing, keeps us all hooked! and thats what we want if we are honest.... buying smaller kits to keep us going until our dream ReRe's finally come out. low unit numbers make every car special. if everyone can get everything all the time the whole concept looses its value. To the HopUps: yeah, TTO2B Plasma Edge, mine is stupidly full of BlueBits... completely my one choice (or fault).... even the modern Bashers can/need to be hopped up... its always our choice.... probably triggered a few people with this but hey, thats what this topic is all about right? love the channel Gav. keep up the good work. greetz from Bavaria Germany.
Had the 959 and egress back in the day. Friend borrowed the 959 and never gave it back and the egress I gave to my brother when I joined the marine corp back 93. Miss those cars.
Cool vid. Around 2005-2007, when I was getting back into the hobby, I bought a DT-02 and a DF-03 for my boys. They both came with bearings included. Pretty sure my TRF-501 I bought a bit after that had bearings included as well, though many opted for more high performance bearings rather than kit ones. I'm not sure but I think a few years after that when Tamiya shut down TRF they announced to the world that they were not an RC company but a plastic model company that makes RC vehicles as part of their range. That could possibly be part of why they stopped providing bearings in their kits. Yeah, Japanese firms do highly value customers, but being the companies themselves have a strict internal hierarchy, they are very unlikely to listen to customers suggestions/demands. It's a cultural thing. Very little gets changed in any Japanese organization until something goes catastrophically wrong. I wish I was talking hooey.
Good video, and I agree, but Tamiya has traditionally been always like this, since I bought my first kit back in 1983. I think they were always geared a bit towards "novelty" and not necessarily "performance" basically. But I always wondered about their insistence on using their battery connecter, which was always terrible and a downright fire hazard when used with today's LiPo's I still see them on new releases from time to time
It might have to do with the Japanese culture, they are like Toyota, not the best performance or new tech but solid quality products. Not the most exiting to own. I spend a few minutes watching Traxxas videos and the performance is amazing, but I don’t feel the same joy as when I’m watching a tamiya.
I have always seen Tamiya as entry kits. They let you learn how to build and maintain a vehicle. TRF's are outside of this, but are very pricey. A buy them since they were to go to when I was a kid in the 80's and into the 90's. I fall on Traxxas for my daily beaters. I still have my fingers crossed for a Super Blackfoot. That was the first kit I saved up for and bought as a kid.
I guess my complaints would be the continued use of Philip head screws and the organization of the hardware bags. I swear I spend as much time hunting parts and hardware as I do building the kits.
I've got back into the hobby after selling my Blackfoot and Monster Beatle in 1995. My first new kit was a ready to run Kyosho Mad Van, an absolute unit of a car. My first new tamiya kit was a Lunch Box for my son, followed up by a Thundershot for myself. Have to agree with the sentiment; Kyosho are learning from past mistakes in re-releases, Tamyia aren't - B5 part on the Thundershot for example. I'm hunting for a new bodyshell for the Thundershot after my son wrecked it on it's first day out - again the Kyosho polycarbonate is much thicker/toucher. I was eyeing up the Avante Special edition re-release, but honestly i'm now leaning towards the Kyosho Mid-Optima in terms of value, longevity and quality. Yes getting hold of Kyosho spares/hop-ups is a nightmare - but at least they are available. Interesting flip, as in the 90's Kyosho quality was behind Tamiya for a while (owned a Kyosho Bigboss which was a PITA to assemble).
The hobby is all about having fun , I have Tamiya cars that i been running since the early 90s , my OG grasshopper and my 1980's RC10 have given me actual decades of fun not by being the fastest or the biggest or even the best looking but by just being the 2 cars I absolutely adore and have fun just running them on old nimh packs in my back yard gets me more smiles than my Kraton 8s or any of my 1/5 scale stuff . Every RC car I have and the ones I no longer own have brought me a smile every time I used them , yes some more than others but remember that every RC car or truck has limitations so you have to treat them accordingly otherwise you will spend more time repairing than running .
My first rc was a Tamiya (tt01ed) and it was a bittersweet relationship. I was blown away for months on how cool all the mechanical parts looked and how well it drove until I bought my second rc (ae sc10), then I realized what I was missing. Nevertheless I loved that car and if I had to start all over again I'll buy it without doubt. Something I really hate about Tamiya is them using mod.6 gears... Look so similar to 48p gears until your trans is blown out and you don't know why (ask me how I know)
All valid points of frustration from fans and might push off new people.. Personally, I love the kits, they are so much fun to build and customize, and also love the variety they offer. I do agree they should be more robust considering modern day plastics. Hope Tamiya listen :)
I think 1/10th scale isn`t meant for bashing. Yes i know there are other brands out there which are more "bashable"than Tamiya, but in generall 1/10 is more prone to total carnage if you bash them . For me absolute nogo. Also bashing as such is not my thing.
I truly love and appreciate Tamiya. I remember when I begged and begged when I was little and got the Hornet for Christmas. I get it today they aren’t bashers but for some reason I get joy, and calmed nerves building them and also not being able to afford anything when I was a kid and growing up broke it’s a awesome feeling being able to hop up all the cars I have why back at this point in my life I like the researching and getting all those parts . Every Tamiya car I own has lipo and brushless .. Tamiya is the show piece and my hpi and Traxxas are my bashers
Point 11) Tamiya fan boys who think Tamiya are the be all and end all of RC - despite trying nothing else. Listen, don’t get me wrong, there are fantastic Legacy kits.. Hornet, Hotshot, Supershot etc. But just like the One Direction super fan needs to know - there’s some great Thrash Metal out there 🤘
I often find comparing rc manufactures is alot like comparing real car manufacturers, each brand has their fans and if you love a brand for what ever reason you tend to forgive them more and give them more leeway with things. I love Tamiya but they have really tested my patience at times, the td4 😂 for example. I do think Tamiya get a lot of unfair press as well these days and a lot of us have become spoilt by what brands like Traxxas and Arrma can offer, but those brands go out their way to make hardcore bashers , and Tamiya can’t take that sort of abuse. I remember when Traxxas made buggy’s forracing Etc and they were as frog ole as anything else out there. I hear lots of comments about Tamiya’s breaking easily , I have to think some times what are people doing with them ? Ive very rarely broken them even when I’ve been racing them and you expect to break more in a racing environment . Anyway just a couple of thoughts
In the eighties, I started with Tamiya then bought several kyosho. The first thing I noticed, was kyosho was crappy everything compared to Tamiya. I've never bought another ones since. Always stuck to the best and have really enjoyed them. I have bought some crawlers and they rock. Axial. However, compared to my bruiser, they are cheap looking and feeling. The bruiser out crawls it too. Ha ha ha
Just bought some spare parts for my Frog. They were still available after 30 years !!! To me that is amazing. I just put some bearings in it after running the bushes for 30 years. No problem at all but once you take it to the track things will break.
Only race track duoches hate Tamiya. People who like to buikd kits and run out in the real world love them. Ill put my bruiser from 84 up against any modern kit crawler. They set the standard and created the whole segment of the industry in the freakin 80s.
Wow I have been out of the R/C hobby for 10 yrs or so, im old school and I remember the premium you paid for a kit with bearings. Kinda sad to see them still using the same up sell tactics.
I think the big issue with Tamiya price wise is that cars like the DT01 and TT02B are great value, but the TD2 and TD4 the seem like a complete rip off, as they are getting close to the price of a Competition buggy.
As an avid lover, builder, driver of Tamiya Semi truck RCs i can attest that parts availability is something that they struggle with. Sometimes i have to go through ebay to find stuff and honestly that doenst help sometime. I also have an issue with options kinda the same stuff outside of that new Scania that just came out that i hope to get in a few months there arent a lot of choices for american trucks especially anything new. ALso the MFC's need to be updated as well.
I guess Tamiya leave plastic bushings in a lot of their kits because they are aware that a lot of their customers just build them and put then on a shelf and never use them. This also would have a negative effect on spares too. If more people regularly drove and therefore broke their cars, then the demand for spares would be greater, and probably the supply would be better too as a result.
I am a Tamiya fan and I was ready to internet rage on this bashing of Tamiya. (Nah. Not really.) All valid points. They affect each person different depending on they type of collector, builder, runner you are. Bearings are kinda annoying but I’ve just made it a habit to buy a set of fast eddys whenever I buy a kit. Parts is a true one though. I don’t do much in the vintage stuff because I buy them to build them. I absolutely run them all though and when you can’t get parts for something as common as a TT02, that gets frustrating. At least with that one you know a restock will come or there are other manufacturers that make those parts but still. The ReRes coming out exactly as they were in the 80s without improvement, I see both sides. I have a couple of Kyosho’s Legendary kits and the changes they made to make the classics were great. I can also appreciate that when I opened my Frog ReRe recently it was exactly as it was when I opened my very first RC kit, The Frog in 1987. That was cool too. The Kyosho I bought because it was a cool kit. The Frog I bought to relive childhood. So I appreciate both sides on this one. Overall great video with valid points from an obvious fan. 👍
Gavin touched on it in the video however their corporate communications to the western markets is non existent. If your a Tamiya fan in a Western Market how many times have you asked a retailer for info on new kits or part supply and all you hear back is “not sure, waiting to hear from the importer”. Some of their social media is ok but once again, seemingly no intent to ever translate to English. As for the eBay price gouging re-sellers not being Tamiya fault, I disagree. If Tamiya actually produced kits in sufficient numbers then there would be no market for resellers, at least when it comes to flipping new kits. I also wish that Tamiya would update their re-res in the same way that Kyosho do to allow them to easily run modern motors and batteries.
They're like the Nintendo of rc cars. Many people's first experience with RC cars was Tamiya. Nintendo consoles have the weakest hardware specs compared to peers but they sell a ton, just like Tamiya because their cars are easy to build, marketed towards kids (I was 10 when I got my Frog in the 80's), and people get nostalgic about them. So they have that distinct advantage and get away with the things you mention in the video. But here's reality. I never met anyone who owned a Tamiya who had his car stop working or much less fun because of a few plastic bearings in the gearbox. Most kids didn't care. And out of 10 of my classmates, 9 had Tamiya. 1 had Kyosho. Kyosho always felt like the dark side, and for the older kids and adults. What I see in the biz, out of 10 people who buy RC in any shape or form today, maybe 2 are enthusiasts. Most are buying for their child or tapping their inner child when older.
I do love (& admire) your willingness to speak openly & honestly about all aspects of our hobby. For me Tamiya is like your favourite Auntie, a bit wacky & has some annoying foilbles but you still love her (& no matter what, she won't change her ways). As a racer, Tamiya has, it seems always produced R/C cars which were aimed at the more fun side of the market, cars which are perfectly capable running around in the street or your back garden, but the designs, materials used & specification out of the box means they fell short of being competitive at the race track.... even those which were obviously more aimed at the serious racer (Avante, Astute etc.) were not really up to the rigures of racing week -in, week out - there are exceptions with some of the more recent TRF cars/chassis kits, but on the whole it does feel like Tamiya are happy doing their own thing. On reviewing the TB-05 Pro touring car chassis kit for Racer Magazine (RIP :-( ) a few years back, it was interesting looking at the design & layout of the car which ultimately felt like someone had designed something just to be different for the sake of it & as a result the chassis flexed & 'tweeked' at will - not ideal for a competition car. I expect the car was aimed at the sort of mid-entry level but & trying to justify the price was hard, yes it was cheaper than a full blown competition chassis, but it was still expensive for what it was.... all that said, I do have a weird affection for it & I guess that's the 'Tamiya effect' :-D
All very good points. I had several tamiyas and liked them all,my favorite being the sand scorcher. I don't get the hate for tamiya. In my personal opinion,if it wasn't for tamiya then I don't think we would have the scale crawler scene. They were way ahead of the game for there time when they made the og hilux,blazing blazer with locking front hubs and even the bruiser with the 3 speed transmissions. They were all real trucks with interiors etc. As for rere's I do like them but I don't like how they rere several models in a bunch of different color combos as limited editions. I doubt I'll never see it but I would love to see tamiya do a rere of the og hilux or the blazing blazer. But don't make them limited editions this way it gives everyone who wants 1 the opportunity to get 1. But knowing tamiya if they did do a rere,they'll probably charge $1,000 for it 🙄.
I think it comes down to as what era of RC one grew up in. Some things you mentioned are liget. I always checked out kits before I perchused. Even before the internet. And a little common since helps.
Trying to find parts for the F150 with a tta02 chassis is a nightmare . After using the car a couple of times the steering knuckle sheered because of slight overdrive from the servo throw! Finding this part is so hard. What can I do?
Try asking in a Tamiya Facebook group, or use Tamiyabase to see if another kit uses the same part. Google the part number you need as you could find it listed under something else. Part number will be in the manual
@@RCKickschannel I already did my research before commenting. What I can find are very expensive considering that the plastic they are made of is extremely brittle ! Lots of tamiya parts available out there but not knowing much about these toy class rc cars finding out what parts are interchangeable is even harder.
To be fair if you leave a cheap ball bearing sitting on the shelf for a year it will suffer from dry grease and rough running, if they get wet they are ruined. A well greased plastic bearing/bushing will last the life of the model wet, dry, ignored and neglected the plastic bushing won't rust or seize. Plus ball bearings are not designed to take a thrust load and most cheap bearings are no better than the bushings and good bearings are still expensive.
Great list and agree with them all! Finding parts is a big issue. To me I can't find myself paying for a Tamiya kit when I have other options that come with brushless power, ball bearings, can handle bashing and just overall look more appealing. Tamiya seems like toy grade compared to the others. I love Tamiya and hope they are around forever but they are falling behind fast and if they don't change something who knows.
I never bought Tamiya kits until I got my first CCO1 wrangler jeep and it was really fast imho with the standard 540 motor, my previous kits were Associated RC10 and a couple of Schumacher Cougars, but mostly RC10s, then some crawlers of which I still have my G-Made Sawback leaf sprung jeep, I’ve turned it into a WW2 Willys jeep with 2 Hunter Dan figures who are the perfect scale for it, which reminds me i must get it out for a run, i sprayed everything army green, not just the body and fitted the obligatory rifle behind the windscreen lol 😝, i freaking love it 😍 lol 😝
I love Tamiya, but yeah, plastic bushings are always a waste of plastic. Have only found one upside to those: I ran an RC builders group at my school. I’d let the kids build with the plastic bushings because it didn’t matter if they got wet and required almost no maintenance. But most people want ball bearings. The hop-ups. Totally agree. Many hookups should just be standard in the kit. However I think if I were a kid in the hobby, I’d rather have a lower kit price than a bunch of blue aluminum parts in the kit. I typically spend more on hop-ups than I do on the kit. I always factor in hop-up prices when looking to buy a Tamiya kit, and when it comes out to more than double the original price, I start looking at other brands to see what they offer. I think if Tamiya released more MS kits, there’d be a market for them. That’s be a good solution.
I've been building Tamiya kits for 35 years , currently building an M08R and yes they are pricey and fragile compared with modern Chinese stuff , but I still love the detail and they can perform really well .
I think 90% of people who buy there buggies will build them. And poss straight on the shelf. Its the same as collecting airfix models. Ther buggies and cars look really good on the shelf. The trucks are strong enough and get raced by a few clubs same as there touring cars. My tamiya collection is 4 and all bough purley for there looks, for racing i use the buggies i had bitd. But if a tamiya catches my eye, dont need to remortgage the house, i’ll buy it.
So, imagine this: You spent a good $200-350 on an elaborate model kit, where you have to screw everything together, apply oil, paint the body, and apply decals. Then spend that extra $200 for the required parts to get it running (unless you have spare parts). This is why I haven't bought a Tamiya product.
As much as I have grown up with and love Tamiya kits , there is no way I could or world recommend them to anyone new to or returning to the hobby. You can get cheap Chinese RTR's now with brushless systems, battery, charger, radio gear, aluminum chassis, fully ball-raced, oil shocks, tough fast and handle well, for less then a bare-bones kit from Tamiya.
I have owned many Tamiyas over the years. I have always enjoy the build and looking at the finished model (except for body posts!!!!) . When it comes to bashing, hot motors and track performance I usually end up disappointed. Cheap materials, loads of play in the moving parts, half hearted engineering, low durability, and slow to accept new industry standards... Almost every model I have owned would not drive straight on the straight even with good servos. There is plenty to love and plenty to hate about those tamiya cars.
If you want to drive around in the garden, then you take a Tamiya. If you want to do seriously off-road driving you will take a Traxxas, Arrma or Team Corelly. I like Tamiya because i have a lot of good memories from it when I was young.
Still remember the first tamiya kit I built, great experience and their boxes and marketing makes you want to get one. Other point best static models no doubt
I have a selection of F1 cars and I remember then paying £250 for Nigel Mansells Ferrari when it first came out. I think in Tamiya defence they were the first to launch replica cars and other models. Their strength in my opinion at the time was the instructions showing you how easy you can build a quality car out of the box and race. The hop ups was subject to availability and again in my opinion gave a level playing race. Tamiya very rare change their models because they don’t upgrade their tooling on the moulds for the models. This is because it would cost far too much money and it’s easy selling the same deal because the markets still out there and their reputation still lives on. I agree with peoples frustration try shipping from Japan /uk with post, tax ,export duty that’s my bug bare.!! Thanks for sharing your quality content 👍
Thank you for doing this. Here are my 3 reasons. 1. Leaving out any of the really cool on-road cars of the early era (70's and very early 80's) from their re-releases. Where are the Countach, Porsche 936, Williams Renault F1, BMW F2, Can-Am Lola, Ford C100 and so on? If you can do XR311, there are no excuses Tamiya cannot re-release those kits. 2. The newly coming out real car scale models suck (buggies do not fall under this). Who needs more WRX's or Lance Evo's? Toyota 86 and Yaris? Are you serious? We do not need cars we can drive in real lives, we need cars we can only imagine to drive. To be fair, real cars these days (even the ones that are supposed to be exotic) suck anyway. I know the license pricing got out of control, but Tamiya should be able to do a whole lot better than what they are doing today. Lotus Europa was a pleasant surprise, but the build quality of the chassis just is terrible. 3. Their love of plastic and REALLY cheap materials. It got worse these days than the 80's and 90's when they started relying heavily on the cheap materials. The build quality of Lotus Europa on M06 is so horrible compared to the Renault Alpine A110 (M01 or M02?) I built in 90's. Yes, that was a CHEAP car, but also as bullet proof as a tank! The worst of all is the fact that the cheap materials do not translate into cheap prices!!!
#1 ...There is *licensing* Getting "brand" names for your kits costs (a lot) of money, sometimes too much to make back those costs some brands won't even give a license at all (because for example: they already have a deal with other model makers) #2 Sorry, supply and demand, if those buggies were popular, there would be a whole lot more apparently, Evo's, WRX's, etc, sell better than buggies #3 100% with you on that, and to think Tamiya was dabbling in FRP tech way back in the 80's already, FRP has long been surpassed by carbon fiber so the tech of FRP is at about the cost of what plastic injection molding was 30-40 years back, yet they still sell ABS kits for too much money
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I personally think people will never be happy with what they buy weather it be a tamiya tt02 or a teaxxas xmaxx. Its a hobby guys if your not smiling whilst your bashing/racing etc your in the wrong hobby. Who cares if one rc is better than another buy what makes you happy😀
Not true. I’ve always been a team associated fan, and I have never bought one vehicle from them that I was unhappy with, in any fashion.
I'm happy with what I buy.
I do lots of research and talking on forums before I buy anything.
The two RCs I own, I love.
I'm not sure who you're talking about, maybe fanboys or people with too much money who buy everything new on the market ?
The last time I bought an RC I didn't like, I returned it.
And the brands I buy from have excellent warranty service, so when something broke, I got a new part, no fuss.
I lived in Japan for 25 years and in that time I saw only one Traxxas. It was in a beat up box on the bottom shelf and never moved. This was my local hobby shop (TamTam), they know me and I asked about it once. The dude’s answer……”parts availability”. Never saw Team Associated. HPI had a descent footprint and until they fell on hard times, parts were plenty. The issues here are inverted there. If I needed a Tamiya part, I just went to TamTam and ordered it. They would call Tamiya while I was there and give me a work order that told me exactly when to come back and pick up the part. They would call me if it came in early. I spent many years buying used and/or broken cars (Tamiya, HPI, Team Yokomo and Kyosho), fixing, upgrading and reselling rc cars. I built many new kits as well and I have worked on too many cars to count. Tamiya was always the easiest to deal with because I was there and I speak Japanese. One last thing. Here in America it is rather easy to find a place for really fast and rather large rc to be run at. In Japan it is not the same at all. Tokyo is jam packed and as property is expensive, nobody can really justify having huge tracks. “Champ Advisor” stores have a few tracks around the country, but they are only off road. That’s why drift is so popular with rc fans there. Rc drift tracks can be done on much smaller scale and can be found in malls. There having the biggest and fastest is not what Tamiya shoots for.
Great post Eric, I have been to Japan 13+ times on business and worked for a Japanese company for many years. It was always difficult to get the Japanese to focus on EU and US market needs vs the local domestic market. As you say, the needs of RC fans in Japan is different so that was always a challenge as some products just didn't make sense outside Japan. The funny thing is that global sales were always bigger than Japanese sales, so you would think it would take more attention but it never did. I see the same with Tamiya.
I live in Japan and I can tell you that there's lots of Traxxas vehicles. Jogashima, Kanagawa.
@@garybeckwith9045 I am assuming that your area is influenced by the U.S. Naval presence.
I have two Japanese friends who own Traxxas, one has over 20 different vehicles. Hobby shops are few and far between and don't deal with non-Japanese models for the most part. Everyone uses the internet. TamTam is famous in the area as long as you want Tamiya/Kyosho and hard to find paints, etc.
@@garybeckwith9045 TamTam is also known for their customer service. They never had a problem ordering one off parts trees for me. When I moved away in 2019 I had over 70 cars. Some were running, some were projects and others were rare that I had trouble sourcing parts for. In my part of Kanagawa as well as Tokyo, hobby stores are plenty, especially the 2nd hand stores. I also helped some American friends from the bases who couldn’t speak Japanese so well, by translating their requests at TamTam. An employee of TamTam asked me to help once and it sort of became a thing and it was no problem for me. At Champ, they always had Losi and a Team Associated here and there, but parts were an issue there as well. A lot of it had to do with the yen rate being so bad for so long. The boat and plane stores had rc cars and trucks as well and there were times when I could find discontinued things, but generally I only went when I was doing something custom. Out past Yokota Air Base there are quite a few places as well.
At its heart, Tamiya has been and remains a plastic model company. Its first RC car arose out of an opportunity to do something else with the Porsche body they'd licensed. I don't think they've really changed. There was a period when they were producing competitive RC such as their TRF onroad line and a handful of competitive 4wd buggies, but now I think they've gone back to their roots. They'll sell you a very pretty and appealing plastic model that you can control remotely. I love my TT02 for the fact that it will have parts support for a long time, and it's cheap parking lot fun. Almost everything else they make today is a display kit that you can run a bit.
"Almost everything else they make today is a display kit that you can run a bit." Cannot agree with you more on this.- buy body shell, chassis as a free gift.
Thanks for this comment! Really helped open my eyes to the brand. I think I'm gonna spring for that XV-01 now 🙂
100% agree with your take on this, perfectly summed up.
IM NAMED AFTER A CAR?!
That's exactly how i see Tamiyas. They're scale models that you can drive. If you wanna drive one fast, then there's parts. I love em cause they're virtually indestructible. Owned more Tamiyas than i can remember.
I agree with this list, but Tamiya has us with nostalgia, plain and simple. I’m hooked on the stuff I couldn’t get as a kid, and now I’m obsessed with collecting it all.
They are basically toy grade out the box and I have to upgrade even though I basically don’t run them.
I wouldn’t go as far as to say Tamiya’s “Toy Grade” because remember they have buggies and on road cars that were very competitive and they still have some buggies that are still competitive. As far as bashers? I don’t think Tamiya had any bashers but we also have to remember that even “Bashers” had to start someplace and that someplace was with models like the “Blackfoot”,”Clodbuster”,”Monster Beetle”,”Bruiser”. When I mention those a lot of people will say,”but those aren’t bashers”. But they were bashers back then. They may not have been jumping 3 stories up in the air but that was “Bashing” back then.🤷🏻♂️💯👍
@@peteroman4297 Chinese toy grade is now better then Tamiya hobby grade...
I 100% agree. Nostalgia is a powerful marketing and sales tool and Tamiya has us late gen X/early Millennials by the balls.
@@Metla666 the plastic parts from Tamiya is by far better quality than the cheap chinese toy grade cars!
@@lurifax7382 Look up WL Toys and get back to me...
Who hates Tamiya??
It's my favourite brand.
Build a Tamiya Kit is one of the best experiences in the hobby
I have my UDR and TRX4 but I still buying Tamiya kits because I love it
The bearing issue doesn't bother me. I'm from the old school where no cars except the top racing models came with bearings so I'm ok with buying bearings if I need to, what bothers me more than anything is how much Tamiya cars cost for what they are. Who wants to pay $400, $500, $600 for a car you can't even run hard and I'm not talking about sending it 20ft in the air, I've broken cars just running them thru the grass or taking a simple jump. The only bulletproof model Tamiya has is the Clodbuster and TXT series and you'd think Tamiya would've beefed up their cars by now after all these years
Tt01e tt02 are amazing. Tamiya off road is horrible(slight of clod and g6-01)
then why are you DRIVING plastic toy model cars, its not an RC COMPANY, its for sitting behind glass, thats why it doenst DRIVE after youve build it
I think all of those points are valid. The kits haven't really changed in the 30 years since I got my first, to last Christmas when my son got his first. All that seems to have changed, is they've got more expensive, as you said.
However, I would say that most people who buy Tamiya kits buy them because they're Tamiya kits, despite them not being the strongest, best performing cars!! It's a way of life, not a best car out there thing.
I love them, and nothing will change that. 😎👍🏻
In quality time to money ratio, assuming you love to build the car, Tamiya are best. By far. If you disagree, please reply counter examples.
i dont like tamiyas. feel so cheap. If i want to build it alone, the i go definitelly for team associated.
To the credit of Tamiya, they apparently did not take on this new ridiculous trend of exposing the gear train and omitting a gear cover.
Yes, I agree. It's like manufacturers now are assuming all cars are to be raced on pristine specialist tracks and not taken to the local park for a bit of fun.
@@tomellingham8627 And furthermore, what's with the omission of big front bumpers? They started that ridiculous trend way back in the late 80s!
The classic Associated RC10 had a big front bumper and a protective gear cover.
The Associated B6.1DL has NO bumper or gear cover! Ridiculous!
@@perfectsplit5515 There's also the name. B61 DL or whatever it's called. What I do like about the Tamiya's is they are an Event. Even if it's an m05 RA it's also a 2CV rally, or something tangible, not a silly number.
Maybe it's because the b6.23, whatever, is a proper racing machine than a building and brand bonding experience, it doesn't warrant a proper name? Or a bumper, or a gear cover? (although to be fair, aren't the gears located inboard now)
But even so, the rc10 was a proper race buggy too, at least that had a proper name, a gear cover, and a bumper, like you say, and didn't look like a ridiculous cyborg ant.
Talking of names, there's another racing buggy called the Schumacher Cougar Laydown. That's ridiculous. What's that - a middle aged woman on a lilo?
It needs a proper name like ... Vanessa's lunchbox.
@@tomellingham8627 Even with inboard gears, you still need a gear cover. The body shell is not sufficient protection. It has openings for the suspension arms. I have had sand particles lodged in my large mating spur gear in my B6.1DL. It was extremely hard to obtain the motor plate for the optional standup transmission that allows a gear cover.
No excuses for bearings. I buy in bulk and they are cheap. Tamiya could add them for less than a cup of coffee to all kits. Also frustrating when they put Half bearings in a kit and leave two brass bushings! All being said Tamiya connects to many people with memories as the price point means they are usually a first RC.
Tamiya kits don't usually come with bearings? Mine was all bearings
@@lio1234234 There are a few kits that include ball bearings verses the plastic bearing and bronze bushings..
I love tamiya
01 - 1:01 - Bearings
02 - 2:30 - Parts availability
03 - 3:16 - Number of units available on release
04 - 4:24 - Tamiya not bringing out desirable rereleases
05 - 5:54 - Cost
06 - 7:09 - When they bring out a rerelease, they're not
fixing any of the weaknesses or issues that were actually in the design from when it was first released
07 - 8:02 - Cost of hopup parts
08 - 9:17 - How fragile the kits are
09 - 10:00 - Lazy special editions
10 - 10:46 - Not listening to their customers
Bonus -11:40 - No lipo batteries, they only do a few brushless choices and they don't do any kind of aggressive, take out, bashy kind of cars
Who doesn't like tamiya ?? I've never come across a RC guy or girl that's speaks badly of tamiya, it's just nostalgia.
Love Tamiya.. that is all 😁😁😁
Ok, so there could be better kits and manufactuers out there but i take the rough with the smooth. Bring on more Tamiya kits, bearing/parts or not.... 😉😀
If someone wants to destroy rc cars on a skatepark, go get a Arrma. If you want to race or have awesome fun at low cost, get a tamiya. Me and my friends have expensive cars but at the end of the day we find it more fun racing tamiya tt-02.
If you build it yourself you appreciate it more and has more value to you (especially if you do a custom paint job)
@@bb-ballistics1706 I also think it teaches valuable life skills, I hated the idea of painting/sanding/taping but Tamiya and their toy cars have made me enjoy that stuff.
I'm all about the kits so Tamiya will always be one of my favourite manufacturers.
years ago a group of us used to race "stock" TA-02. Lots of fun....
Anlther thing: there aren‘t seem any competitive cars from Tamyia in case you would like to go racing on a track. Buggys mostly can‘t compete at all.
I know there‘s touring cars and races for rookies, where you need tamyia chassis to drive there. So you‘d have a competition within the brand.
What i like the most about Tamyia is that some series have really detailed cars, for example the rally cars. They move like rally cars. Also the buggys you can use more on the outdoors. Unlike competitive buggy nowadays (like xrax, tlr, ream assosiated) where you have to choose between carpet or „dirt“ setup (but dirt mostly means hard compact ground). You can do slight bashing at a beach or somewhere in the woods with a talyia and really enjoy how they behave.
Here in switzerland we have a few dedicated stores, f.e. For XRay. I can get all spare and option Parts there, available all
The time. Once you have the car the parts are high precision and all Alloy/carbon. These parts are even less expensive than tamyia or kyosho parts. Ators that sell Tanyia mostly also sell trains, planes, toys and a huge variety on hobby and toy grade stuff. So it‘s hard to find parts right away. You order and wait.
Dedicated competitive shops have another approach. Mostly one brand, the owner is a experienced racer. Even all the tools (setup, measuring tools etc. are available. You buy once and you can go. Something breaks, i drive there and i know it‘s there, all the time. I have the tamyia xv-02 since a month. I live it! I love the scalyness, and the build was so relaxing right until the end. Plastic steering broke immediattly, so i had to order a off brand alloy spare part since tamyia didn‘t produce it yet.
My next car will be a xray touring 1/8 or rally car or a buggy 1/10. can‘t decide yet
I restored a trash DynaBlaster for driving, not for the shelf. It is a nightmare. 3D printed parts from Austria, parts from England and Spain, from different shops in Germany. Only to make this thing ready to rock.
If I want a pretty scale model I would get another Tamiya, if I want to drive it hard I will get another Arrma.
Really sums it up nicely. Wish Tamiya would watch this. But as we know the real problem is no. 10 ☺️
I feel that one of the reasons why they have not re re'd the Falcon is due to issue 6 and 8 also. They were super fragile new and mine ended up being plastic welded together for the most part until it became unrepairable and i'm hearing others say the same about theirs time and time again. If they were to fix the issues would it still be a Falcon? or would it lose the thing that made a Falcon a Falcon. 😁
Yes! A re re Falcon would NEED subframe bracing - on both ends.
My problems with Tamiya are mainly Cost/Durability and Reliability. The prices for some of their kits (not talking about specialist kits like their Lorry/Tractor units, Tanks and certain Re-Re's) could easily get you something much more modern/ better performing/Durable/Reliable and better parts support.
That said I do enjoy building a Tamiya no matter what it is and I think apart from having a big following of people who had/wanted years ago, it's very much the fact that they are one of the few manufacturers that still do kits that aren't designed for out and out racing/competition they are still going strong and won't be going away anytime soon.
I think you nailed every point. Another thing that turns me off, not Tamiya fault, but some of the fanboys refuse to acknowledge these things. That it's all great in Tamiya. Be objective, they aren't keeping up with the time on many points. They can keep their legacy vehicles but also need willing to innovative, at least keep up with the times
1. No ball bearings: Yeah, these days not putting ball bearings in the kits is a real bummer (especially with kits like the Dynahead or the Quadtrax)! For me personally it's the same with the outdated screws they put in their kits! But to be honest, not every company gives full ball bearings in their kits. For my MST CFX I had to order a few which were just bushings in the kit.
2. Parts availability: Really? Well, to this day I still found every part that I needed. At least for any contemporary kit. And I am even getting parts for my classics, but admittedly that is sometimes a question of patience.
3. Kit availability and Re-Re's: Well, you cannot blame Tamiya for having missed an issue of a kit! There are plenty of platforms where you can get information about releases. And if you wait too long it's your own fault! I've been there and done that, and I cannot blame Tamiya for that! And there are people out there, who are completely crazy about Tamiya kits. They even praised the new Avante ... which tells a lot about their mindset. Back in the late 90s and early 2000s there was one bidder on eBay who completely "killed" any Tamiya related auction. No other people could get their hands on Tamiya kits or spares when he kept an eye on it (an auction with a rim and tire set for the old Hilux 4x4 went for far over 200 bucks in 1999 or 2000).
4. No desired Re-Releases: Well, that depends on what you are waiting for. But you already pointed it out. And they released a lot of the "holy grails" (XR311, SRB's, Bruiser - even with improvements!- Monster Beetle / Blackfoot / Subaru Brat, ...). OK, I fear we will never see Re-Re's of the King-Cab-Line or the whole TA-01/02-Line (which they really exhausted, and you still get spares!). Somebody should make a list of Tamiya Re-Re's to have some reliable numbers.
5. Cost: That's a valuable point. And keeping in mind that chinese companies are pushing everywhere in the market with kits or RTR's that are becoming constantly better, this should raise some concern. But on the other hand, I only buy kits when they are offered with a special price. But yes, Tamiya is quite pricey for not being as competetive with the performance of most of their cars compared to contenders on the market.
6. Not fixing issues in Re-Re's: Yes maybe. I can only tell two instances where they did. The Bruiser I mentioned above: Better axles, better transmission (and left the long steering rod disregarded). The second was the ball diff for the SRB-line models. But to be honest, that came as a hop up part and was never part of the Re-Release itself.
7. Cost of Hop Up parts: That's why I sometimes buy parts from Yeah Racing, 3Racing or GPM for the one or other Tamiya Kit. And I get those parts not only in blue! "Blue is better" was LRP!
8. "Breakability": That's maybe something to bicker about. We had cars that we bashed with and we had no real issues. The Wild Dagger-Line for example or the Midnight Pumkin (ran mine with a Reedy Pink Dot, CVA-Shocks and full ball bearings ... a blast!). But ... Polystyrene-bodies do break when abused. That's a surprise? Not for me. Some drivers put burdens on their RC's that I cannot understand. Would you ever try to run over an obstacle three feet high with full speed with your real car? No? But many people do this to their RC's when approaching curbstones for example. I strongly believe that any RC should be run in an environment according to it's scale. When you think and act otherwise ... and you got an issue ... I give you a tissue!
9. Lazyness: Tamiya's main issue in my eyes is not being innovative as they were in their heydays. The "One-Chassis-and-1001-Body"-Practice is what you meant with lazy. On the other hand it's just economics! Sad but true.
10. Not listening to the customers: You've got to be precise: They're not listening to customers outside of Japan! Maybe in the U.S. its different, but I guess Tamiya won't listen to modelers in Europe.
Ok, sorry for the long text. And when I wrote "you" several times, I did not mean RCKicks, I just used that word as in general. I started my Tamiya career in the late eighties with a Bruiser. A time, where Tamiya seemed to be quite innovative (King Cab, Astute, Porsche 959, ...). But these days have long gone. At least for RC cars. Products like the CR01, the TXT1 and the CC02 were half hearted attempts to jump on trends but came too late and were totally overengineered. And I was really disappointed, especially about the CC02. Don't get me wrong. I have a lot of Tamiya models. I love my Tamiya models. But I do not jump on every new kit they release.
Tamiya is a big brand name and they likely get 'a million' messages from hobbists a year. I think they only listen to inputs from the biggest dealers abroad, like Tamya of USA and the Tamiya importer of Germany. Things into this is also they are pretty conservative and reserved (Japanese people), not jump onto new ideas quicly, but wants to use a lot of time to think aboutpossible new stuff and changes. Also the fact they are so large and well known, 'we hear some are not happy with these details, but we sell so many of it anyway, so why should we bother to change?' I'm mostly into their 1/14 trucks. As of 2022 they use the same base chassis setup and technial solutions as their first model from 1993, King Hauler. There are some 'bugs' that easily could been imporved, but there is absolutely no chance they will even think about changes. 'What is done is done. We got no major competition in our price bracekt, sell all we can manufacture, so why bother with changes?' The newest Mercedes and scania trucks have more outside details than typically for older odels, but this I think have only happened due to massive pressure from the major Euroean dealer of Germany, through many years before it finally happened:) anyway, I'm generally happy with the Tamoya models, just modify and get parts from others when I wish to do improvements
I guess the new rerelease of that Clodbuster would go under #9. Lol
Some interesting points. With regard to re-releases, Tamiya has issued far too many already in my opinion. Design NEW products for the latest and future generations of RC fans, not keep looking to the past. In any other hobby, if you want something old or classic you have to search for a used example. With regard to prices, you can buy a Grasshopper II Black Edition kit in Modelsport for under 100 GBP. But on the other hand, by the time you have bought all the electronics that seems expensive compared with some of the RTR products from other manufacturers that are far more modern in design and perform much better as well. Quite a few manufacturers have seen great success with scale realistic crawlers. As Tamiya virtually invented scale realistic RC I feel as if they are being left behind. Another area is smaller scale RC vehicles. Kyosho has made a huge success of the Mini-Z at 1:27/24 scale and we see lots of other products such as the Axial SCX24, ROC Hobby at 1:18 scale, etc. All Tamiya seems to have are the cartoonish Mini 4WD products. I think that if Tamiya doesn't start to innovate, they will face a difficult future as competition is only increasing and you can't survive on nostalgia forever.
Tamiya are a brand very close to my heart and adore them despite all the niggles you mentioned. However, I own so many brands of RC and they have there niggles. I love my Traxxas cars which are quite expensive and they have had inherent issues for years that Traxxas don't address 🤷♂️.
As others said, Tamiya is a plastic model company before an RC company, that's why their bodies are more scale-like while their chassis are less bashable. They may be behind the times with the lack of bearings, oil-filled shocks and hex nuts. As for parts availability and listening to customers, it may be a regional thing. Note in South East Asia Tamiya is pretty much all there is; even Kyosho may not be immediately available in any random hobby store and like HPI has to be specially imported. I've noticed the way they repack for the US and EU and maybe UK markets are very different in terms of ESCs packed in as well as model choices offered. As for re-re abuse, hehe, molds ain't cheap and since they're licensed models they will stretch those re-releases as much as they can... they don't have the advantage of Shenzhen RC companies that don't pay licensing fees and can undercut other RC companies (although as RTR they tend to be getting expensive as well, even for clone brands).
Lockdown got me and a couple of mates back into this hobby, and we were keen to get a kit or two, build them and have a little play. Even went back to the old BMX track we used in the late 80's, early 90's. We went with newer kits rather than any old classics, just so parts would be available if/when we broke them and ended up with TT-02B's as there's not much else on offer from Tamiya that is 'new'. Personally I became quite frustrated with the kit having bling'd it to the max and not really enjoying the driving experience - it was just very bland, and while it had loads of power in a brushless set up it wasn't always possible to put that power down easily. We also discovered even with relatively new kits parts weren't always available. I gave up on Tamiya as a cars that I want to drive and instead have them as kits that I build, as I do like the build process. So like everyone else I've gone down the bland, brushless stadium truck route because that's the most fun, less likely to break and when I do break stuff parts are available. While it's nice to relive some of the old kits and build them, it's a shame Tamiya doesn't have any new kits that I would want to drive, with the exception maybe of TD2. Everything is just meh, compared to other brands. Having said that I built a Frog because I never had one as a kit and that thing is a blast to drive. I thought it was going to be similar to a Hornet, but it's way better than that. My wish would be for Tamiya to release a 1:8th buggy kit that had a similar driving experience to a Frog. 1:10 just seems way too small for brushless setups and I'd love something that had a bit of grunt that could take a bit of a bashing, but also came in kit from. Just call it something ridiculous like 'Mega Frog' and it would sell. Or do a bigger version of the Falcon, that could really drive well, that would work too.
Ive only been to 2 race meets. Tub screw mount points broken and the pinion gear split in half. New Tub & Rebuilt the car, went to race meet 2.. tub front screw mounts again after just 1 lap and a very light bump on the barrier. TT01E
Painful
LunchBox is a blast at the skate park!
The main issue for me is the greed that has crept into the Hobby. The Ebay marked has become a very unfriendly place. I would like to see Tamiya get on top of this and make more things available so the Ebay crowd has no leverage to create stupid prices
This is the same in every hobby now unfortunately. You can get anything you want off ebay. Provided you're willing to cough up two to three times the original retail price.
This works something that Games Workshop did for their latest 10th edition starter set for Warhammer 40k. The 9th edition was a very limited release which were sold within seconds of release only to end up on Ebay for 4 x the RRP. For 10th, when the initial run was sold out, they started taking backorders for the next run at RRP so no one got stiffed by resellers if they were willing to wait. I'm not trying to say GW are a good company, they'll suck you dry given a chance but what they did for 10th would work for some of these new releases for Tamiya.
tamiya is like marmite love it or hate it i personally love the brand been buying and building on and off since early 80s with the original clod and only ever run it stock no issues price is like everything buy if you can afford it but for me the build experience alone is worth the price the market is flooded with cheap off brand builds but as you say all the negatives follow on for any company its all subjective i dont think i will ever stop building tamiya and my only negative i agree with is the lack of popular models not hitting the market quick enough
I’m getting back into the hobby / racing . Started years ago with a Frog ,Blackfoot and monster Beetle .got out started with gasoline race boats ( had 5 of them ) then I got a team Associated SC10 2wd and 4wd. Quit for 12 years and now I’m back in again sold everything except tools . On Long Island New York there isn’t any dirt tracks anymore But there is an on road club ! I got the itch again out of boredom so I got a TT02 GT40 kit ! OMG I’ve spent a fortune on aftermarket parts . Carbon fiber , titanium , aluminum ( I think I bought stocks and bonds in YEAH RACING HA ) Just today I bought a brushless system . If My wife finds out I’m a dead man ! Tamiya makes a fair product but very expensive to up grade and you need spares of a lot of stuff . You commented about buying the parts trees . I personally think it’s the cheapest parts you can buy . If I were to get aluminum lower A arms and bent them it would be like $40 for a set . I use the stock plastic $9 a set. Plus when they break it won’t mess up my other expensive parts . I only wish Tamiya would include longer threads on the shock balls . They strip the plastic A arms even if your careful . On order I’m getting longer titanium
ones , And I agree with you BALL BEARINGS in every kit . I ordered Fat Eddie bearings before buying the kit . May be Someday I’ll get the Ceramic ones .
I have many fond memories of my tamiya cars from my grass hopper to my Porsche 959 loved every one of them.
Hi Gavin, this is a great list and you're breaking open doors for me. I don't really hate Tamiya. Tamiya's just Tamiya for over 40 years.
My most annoying moments are:
- Waiting for a nice ReRe and getting just a new version of the Clod Buster or the Tyrrell 6-wheeler every two years. Shouldn't the Falcon come out last year?
- Not everyone has the finger on the pulse like you and gets informed so quick. So yes it's annoying not to get one of those limeted editions. I mean I got the SCX24 Betty one year after it was sold out. So why they don't ask the re-sellers first and wait for the community reactions before setting the production numbers?
- But the one thing which makes me really angry are these sloppy moldet driver figures. Tamiya is one of the best plastic display model manufactors in the world. Their airplanes and tanks are awesome and high detailed. But the RC driver figures are a nightmare, look like they were made in the 50s, the parts fit together as bad as if they were made by Matchbox and need lots of work to get them nice. This really hasn't to be.
I think Tamiya and Kyosho are more less in the same boat. Hard to find parts, availability, etc. Tamiya are smart to add hi-wear parts as a weak points so the end user is forced to use hop up parts.
I love my tamiya me, but I don't like that most kits come with philips style screws.... In my opinion they make a kit look cheap hex bolts all round look so much smarter. And another thing I do not like is incorrect stance of certain cars they've re released.. Forcing the owner to go down a modding process. Bearings are a must if this is the only thing they improve in the coming years.
Some of the opinions are a bit unfair regarding re-releases, the only reason I ”rediscovered” this fantastic hobby was thhat Tamiya and Kyosho did put out previous releases, there were a long period where all cars looked the same and had no carachter at all. Now we can almost get all the cars we wanted as youngsters, so we should be happy and greatful we get this opportunity again 😊 great episode Gavin 😊👍
#8 - The ABS plastic for EVERYTHING is really the reason for this. An engineered, reinforced type of plastic wouldn't be difficult to accomplish, especially today, and costs wouldn't substantially increase the prices. The upshot of their plastics is that they at least do a good job with the molding, with few issues with fitment.
Isnt that the case only for the Re-Res? The newer models are extremely sturdy, still havent had a failure on my XV01, even though that thing went into a curb at 60-70kmh and the only thing that broke was the servo CRACKING open; nothing was bent or loose after that.
abs is/can strong, motorcycles parts are full abs, but those arnt cheap shit like tamiya uses
It's Japan in general, take Honda for example , in 50 plus years they have never ever listened to riders and that's why it's love/hate there, letting models run unchaged for decades with only a new "bright new bold grafix " model now and then when thousands of people are complaining of the same problem for years. Just seems they're too far up their own behinds to listen to the rest of the world and make any kind of change like it's an "honour" thing .
Right, you nailed it: Tamiya won’t listen at all… Next!
No different than their plastic models. Tamiya has ALWAYS done what they wanted and don't listen to their customer base. Bottom line, if Mr Tamiya likes (or liked it) then it got made. If he had no interest then you'll never see it.
I'm a big Tamiya fan too. When I got a tt02 drift spec chassis I thought I'd finally got a real RC racing car. I was wrong.
It wasn't until I acquired and started racing a Schumacher Atom at the local GT12 club I realised how inefficient and toy-like the Tamiya machines really are.
Okay, a GT12 has a very specific job to do. You can't give them a shake down at the local empty car park - which makes them more competitive and fun, cos your development is limited to race days - but they are so much more balanced, stable and resilient than the average Tamiya kit.
The tt02 is designed to look satisfying, and solid, and keep us occupied by buying bags if shiny spares and "hop-ups", and done well, they look beautiful. But they are an engineering bodge, in my opinion.
I used to work in marketing, and have watched closely how Japanese brands - like Tamiya, Seiko, and others operate.
We are often clouded by the Western business model thinking that everything is designed to make profit, but that's not necessarily how Japanese brand management thinks.
Yes, ultimately, the business had to make a profit, but more often the goal is long-term brand strategy. RC is only one part of this huge multi-faceted modeling brand.
By limiting production of certain models you're sacrificing short-medium term profit for the longer term noble objective of brand mystique. Tamiya's RC division fo this exceptionally well.
This is partly why supply is often erratic.
As unfrasable as it may sound, suppliers and Tamiya kit builders may one day wake up to the reality Grasshopper kit production simply fizzles out without warning, for example. I hope it doesnt happen, but we can imagine how that could only increase the desirability and cult status of the Grasshopper brand.
Traxxas, affordable fun right out of the box. You dont have to go far for parts and they have excellent support. If i were recommending a start up kit for someone new to the hobby i would say Traxxas. Now, do i like Tamiya, yes they have some awesome kits starting with Wild Willys jeep . I would really like to build one, but for the money i would rather buy a Traxxas.
Traxxas is good for a beginner for sure. My first true rc was a rustler, the one with the mechanical servo speed potentiometer thing.
After a year or two i really wanted a team losi or associated stadium truck though. I swapped all my turnbuckles and stuff to adjustable arms and did all sorts of motor changes but a rustler just never really comoares to a xxxt or a t3. The monster trucks were to expensive for 13 year old me, but the tmaxx and savages looked dope.so did the terra crusher and the mad force.
I love Tamiya but i prefer Team Associated RC10.. I have a Tamiya Sand Scorcher 2007 (NIB), RC10DS Nascar Truck, RC10 Buggy, Losi 8ight 3.0 E (NIB), RC4WD Rascal, FG Marder 1:6, Carson SuperAttack 1:6, Traxxas Slash 4x4 (2x), Hobbyking Desertfox Modified, Blitz Tube Chassis RC4WD Z-C0028 and a Marui Toyota Landcruiser.
I think a lot of it just has to do with your age. If you grew up with Tamiya in the 80’s, they’ll always have a soft spot in your heart. Every time I build one, I’m a kid again. If you’re younger, you’ll just look at them as more rudimentary kits made with plastics that are more brittle than the new RTR performance stuff that’s out there.
Again! there is a reason your channel exist. 😊 I get that Tamiya culture evolve on nostalgia. My take on Tamiya, I believe Tamiya is a culture for the nostalgic group. If Tamiya ever change its core perception, Tamiya will just become another waste product for a hobby that keep changing because of performance issues. There are lineups for that, however the point is, like you said about value, that is what they are protecting. The time and art value they put on to create the kit is much more precious than bashers demand. I think its more of a generational issue for Tamiya to get this hatred from. 😄
Even if Tamiya creates a basher lineup with quality parts, I don't think they will waste their time creating a masterpiece for a body that will just be trashed. I think it is not what Tamiya is all about. Tamiya wants each sold kit to be valued and not just a piece of plastic to be trashed thereafter.
cool video Gav. my ideas about basically all the points you covered: i think that i am the target customer for Tamiya in 2022. a 43 year old man who sits there and thinks "hey back in the day i always wanted a lunchbox, now i have the cash i'm gonna treat myself, oh wait i need the bearings, ok cool, love the unboxing, love the build, first drive (seemed faster when my neighbour had one??)...few packs later... BROKEN! cool now i have to source parts and fix it.... pure nostalgic fun!..... me again, "something faster and stronger would be cool????.... before you know it my first ARRMA and first Traxxas are here.... i think the points you mentioned are what makes Tamiya what it is and more importantly what it was and has been... horses for courses.... i totally agree that the ReRe logic leaves me scratching my head, but thats good marketing, keeps us all hooked! and thats what we want if we are honest.... buying smaller kits to keep us going until our dream ReRe's finally come out. low unit numbers make every car special. if everyone can get everything all the time the whole concept looses its value. To the HopUps: yeah, TTO2B Plasma Edge, mine is stupidly full of BlueBits... completely my one choice (or fault).... even the modern Bashers can/need to be hopped up... its always our choice.... probably triggered a few people with this but hey, thats what this topic is all about right? love the channel Gav. keep up the good work. greetz from Bavaria Germany.
I don't know anyone who hates Tamiya. Now Traxxas has plenty of hate. Traxxas blows for sure.
Had the 959 and egress back in the day. Friend borrowed the 959 and never gave it back and the egress I gave to my brother when I joined the marine corp back 93. Miss those cars.
Cool vid. Around 2005-2007, when I was getting back into the hobby, I bought a DT-02 and a DF-03 for my boys. They both came with bearings included. Pretty sure my TRF-501 I bought a bit after that had bearings included as well, though many opted for more high performance bearings rather than kit ones. I'm not sure but I think a few years after that when Tamiya shut down TRF they announced to the world that they were not an RC company but a plastic model company that makes RC vehicles as part of their range.
That could possibly be part of why they stopped providing bearings in their kits.
Yeah, Japanese firms do highly value customers, but being the companies themselves have a strict internal hierarchy, they are very unlikely to listen to customers suggestions/demands. It's a cultural thing. Very little gets changed in any Japanese organization until something goes catastrophically wrong.
I wish I was talking hooey.
Good video, and I agree, but Tamiya has traditionally been always like this, since I bought my first kit back in 1983. I think they were always geared a bit towards "novelty" and not necessarily "performance" basically. But I always wondered about their insistence on using their battery connecter, which was always terrible and a downright fire hazard when used with today's LiPo's I still see them on new releases from time to time
It might have to do with the Japanese culture, they are like Toyota, not the best performance or new tech but solid quality products. Not the most exiting to own. I spend a few minutes watching Traxxas videos and the performance is amazing, but I don’t feel the same joy as when I’m watching a tamiya.
I have always seen Tamiya as entry kits. They let you learn how to build and maintain a vehicle. TRF's are outside of this, but are very pricey. A buy them since they were to go to when I was a kid in the 80's and into the 90's. I fall on Traxxas for my daily beaters. I still have my fingers crossed for a Super Blackfoot. That was the first kit I saved up for and bought as a kid.
I guess my complaints would be the continued use of Philip head screws and the organization of the hardware bags. I swear I spend as much time hunting parts and hardware as I do building the kits.
I've got back into the hobby after selling my Blackfoot and Monster Beatle in 1995. My first new kit was a ready to run Kyosho Mad Van, an absolute unit of a car. My first new tamiya kit was a Lunch Box for my son, followed up by a Thundershot for myself. Have to agree with the sentiment; Kyosho are learning from past mistakes in re-releases, Tamyia aren't - B5 part on the Thundershot for example. I'm hunting for a new bodyshell for the Thundershot after my son wrecked it on it's first day out - again the Kyosho polycarbonate is much thicker/toucher.
I was eyeing up the Avante Special edition re-release, but honestly i'm now leaning towards the Kyosho Mid-Optima in terms of value, longevity and quality. Yes getting hold of Kyosho spares/hop-ups is a nightmare - but at least they are available. Interesting flip, as in the 90's Kyosho quality was behind Tamiya for a while (owned a Kyosho Bigboss which was a PITA to assemble).
The hobby is all about having fun , I have Tamiya cars that i been running since the early 90s , my OG grasshopper and my 1980's RC10 have given me actual decades of fun not by being the fastest or the biggest or even the best looking but by just being the 2 cars I absolutely adore and have fun just running them on old nimh packs in my back yard gets me more smiles than my Kraton 8s or any of my 1/5 scale stuff . Every RC car I have and the ones I no longer own have brought me a smile every time I used them , yes some more than others but remember that every RC car or truck has limitations so you have to treat them accordingly otherwise you will spend more time repairing than running .
My first rc was a Tamiya (tt01ed) and it was a bittersweet relationship. I was blown away for months on how cool all the mechanical parts looked and how well it drove until I bought my second rc (ae sc10), then I realized what I was missing. Nevertheless I loved that car and if I had to start all over again I'll buy it without doubt. Something I really hate about Tamiya is them using mod.6 gears... Look so similar to 48p gears until your trans is blown out and you don't know why (ask me how I know)
All valid points of frustration from fans and might push off new people.. Personally, I love the kits, they are so much fun to build and customize, and also love the variety they offer. I do agree they should be more robust considering modern day plastics. Hope Tamiya listen :)
I love Tamiya!! . So much scope for fun, tinkering and performance upgrades. It makes you dig for the bits you want which adds to the fun
I think 1/10th scale isn`t meant for bashing. Yes i know there are other brands out there which are more "bashable"than Tamiya, but in generall 1/10 is more prone to total carnage if you bash them . For me absolute nogo. Also bashing as such is not my thing.
I truly love and appreciate Tamiya. I remember when I begged and begged when I was little and got the Hornet for Christmas. I get it today they aren’t bashers but for some reason I get joy, and calmed nerves building them and also not being able to afford anything when I was a kid and growing up broke it’s a awesome feeling being able to hop up all the cars I have why back at this point in my life I like the researching and getting all those parts . Every Tamiya car I own has lipo and brushless .. Tamiya is the show piece and my hpi and Traxxas are my bashers
Point 11) Tamiya fan boys who think Tamiya are the be all and end all of RC - despite trying nothing else. Listen, don’t get me wrong, there are fantastic Legacy kits.. Hornet, Hotshot, Supershot etc. But just like the One Direction super fan needs to know - there’s some great Thrash Metal out there 🤘
I often find comparing rc manufactures is alot like comparing real car manufacturers, each brand has their fans and if you love a brand for what ever reason you tend to forgive them more and give them more leeway with things. I love Tamiya but they have really tested my patience at times, the td4 😂 for example. I do think Tamiya get a lot of unfair press as well these days and a lot of us have become spoilt by what brands like Traxxas and Arrma can offer, but those brands go out their way to make hardcore bashers , and Tamiya can’t take that sort of abuse. I remember when Traxxas made buggy’s forracing Etc and they were as frog ole as anything else out there. I hear lots of comments about Tamiya’s breaking easily , I have to think some times what are people doing with them ? Ive very rarely broken them even when I’ve been racing them and you expect to break more in a racing environment . Anyway just a couple of thoughts
In the eighties, I started with Tamiya then bought several kyosho. The first thing I noticed, was kyosho was crappy everything compared to Tamiya. I've never bought another ones since. Always stuck to the best and have really enjoyed them. I have bought some crawlers and they rock. Axial. However, compared to my bruiser, they are cheap looking and feeling. The bruiser out crawls it too. Ha ha ha
Just bought some spare parts for my Frog. They were still available after 30 years !!! To me that is amazing. I just put some bearings in it after running the bushes for 30 years. No problem at all but once you take it to the track things will break.
Only race track duoches hate Tamiya. People who like to buikd kits and run out in the real world love them. Ill put my bruiser from 84 up against any modern kit crawler. They set the standard and created the whole segment of the industry in the freakin 80s.
Wow I have been out of the R/C hobby for 10 yrs or so, im old school and I remember the premium you paid for a kit with bearings. Kinda sad to see them still using the same up sell tactics.
Bearings have become a bucket load less expensive vs back in the day thankfully.
I think the big issue with Tamiya price wise is that cars like the DT01 and TT02B are great value, but the TD2 and TD4 the seem like a complete rip off, as they are getting close to the price of a Competition buggy.
Add the price of the hop ups to make it competitive and you should of just spent the extra on a competition buggy in the first place
As an avid lover, builder, driver of Tamiya Semi truck RCs i can attest that parts availability is something that they struggle with. Sometimes i have to go through ebay to find stuff and honestly that doenst help sometime. I also have an issue with options kinda the same stuff outside of that new Scania that just came out that i hope to get in a few months there arent a lot of choices for american trucks especially anything new. ALso the MFC's need to be updated as well.
I like the Tamiya trucks, especially the clodbuster, Juggernaut and the semi trucks.
I guess Tamiya leave plastic bushings in a lot of their kits because they are aware that a lot of their customers just build them and put then on a shelf and never use them. This also would have a negative effect on spares too. If more people regularly drove and therefore broke their cars, then the demand for spares would be greater, and probably the supply would be better too as a result.
I am a Tamiya fan and I was ready to internet rage on this bashing of Tamiya. (Nah. Not really.) All valid points. They affect each person different depending on they type of collector, builder, runner you are. Bearings are kinda annoying but I’ve just made it a habit to buy a set of fast eddys whenever I buy a kit. Parts is a true one though. I don’t do much in the vintage stuff because I buy them to build them. I absolutely run them all though and when you can’t get parts for something as common as a TT02, that gets frustrating. At least with that one you know a restock will come or there are other manufacturers that make those parts but still. The ReRes coming out exactly as they were in the 80s without improvement, I see both sides. I have a couple of Kyosho’s Legendary kits and the changes they made to make the classics were great. I can also appreciate that when I opened my Frog ReRe recently it was exactly as it was when I opened my very first RC kit, The Frog in 1987. That was cool too. The Kyosho I bought because it was a cool kit. The Frog I bought to relive childhood. So I appreciate both sides on this one. Overall great video with valid points from an obvious fan. 👍
Gavin touched on it in the video however their corporate communications to the western markets is non existent. If your a Tamiya fan in a Western Market how many times have you asked a retailer for info on new kits or part supply and all you hear back is “not sure, waiting to hear from the importer”. Some of their social media is ok but once again, seemingly no intent to ever translate to English.
As for the eBay price gouging re-sellers not being Tamiya fault, I disagree. If Tamiya actually produced kits in sufficient numbers then there would be no market for resellers, at least when it comes to flipping new kits.
I also wish that Tamiya would update their re-res in the same way that Kyosho do to allow them to easily run modern motors and batteries.
I like tamiya but they can learn a lot from Kyosho 😎
Not everything from Kyosho is golden, the Optima Mid being a good example....... It is fragile!
What happened to the Blazer build?
They're like the Nintendo of rc cars. Many people's first experience with RC cars was Tamiya. Nintendo consoles have the weakest hardware specs compared to peers but they sell a ton, just like Tamiya because their cars are easy to build, marketed towards kids (I was 10 when I got my Frog in the 80's), and people get nostalgic about them. So they have that distinct advantage and get away with the things you mention in the video. But here's reality. I never met anyone who owned a Tamiya who had his car stop working or much less fun because of a few plastic bearings in the gearbox. Most kids didn't care. And out of 10 of my classmates, 9 had Tamiya. 1 had Kyosho. Kyosho always felt like the dark side, and for the older kids and adults. What I see in the biz, out of 10 people who buy RC in any shape or form today, maybe 2 are enthusiasts. Most are buying for their child or tapping their inner child when older.
I do love (& admire) your willingness to speak openly & honestly about all aspects of our hobby. For me Tamiya is like your favourite Auntie, a bit wacky & has some annoying foilbles but you still love her (& no matter what, she won't change her ways). As a racer, Tamiya has, it seems always produced R/C cars which were aimed at the more fun side of the market, cars which are perfectly capable running around in the street or your back garden, but the designs, materials used & specification out of the box means they fell short of being competitive at the race track.... even those which were obviously more aimed at the serious racer (Avante, Astute etc.) were not really up to the rigures of racing week -in, week out - there are exceptions with some of the more recent TRF cars/chassis kits, but on the whole it does feel like Tamiya are happy doing their own thing. On reviewing the TB-05 Pro touring car chassis kit for Racer Magazine (RIP :-( ) a few years back, it was interesting looking at the design & layout of the car which ultimately felt like someone had designed something just to be different for the sake of it & as a result the chassis flexed & 'tweeked' at will - not ideal for a competition car. I expect the car was aimed at the sort of mid-entry level but & trying to justify the price was hard, yes it was cheaper than a full blown competition chassis, but it was still expensive for what it was.... all that said, I do have a weird affection for it & I guess that's the 'Tamiya effect' :-D
ye the weird aunty youre glad you neverhad to live with or had to marry because that would have been hell
All very good points. I had several tamiyas and liked them all,my favorite being the sand scorcher. I don't get the hate for tamiya. In my personal opinion,if it wasn't for tamiya then I don't think we would have the scale crawler scene. They were way ahead of the game for there time when they made the og hilux,blazing blazer with locking front hubs and even the bruiser with the 3 speed transmissions. They were all real trucks with interiors etc. As for rere's I do like them but I don't like how they rere several models in a bunch of different color combos as limited editions. I doubt I'll never see it but I would love to see tamiya do a rere of the og hilux or the blazing blazer. But don't make them limited editions this way it gives everyone who wants 1 the opportunity to get 1. But knowing tamiya if they did do a rere,they'll probably charge $1,000 for it 🙄.
I think it comes down to as what era of RC one grew up in. Some things you mentioned are liget. I always checked out kits before I perchused. Even before the internet. And a little common since helps.
I’m still waiting for a Blockhead motor Wild One since 10/21 in the US. I had to make my own.
Trying to find parts for the F150 with a tta02 chassis is a nightmare . After using the car a couple of times the steering knuckle sheered because of slight overdrive from the servo throw!
Finding this part is so hard. What can I do?
Try asking in a Tamiya Facebook group, or use Tamiyabase to see if another kit uses the same part. Google the part number you need as you could find it listed under something else. Part number will be in the manual
@@RCKickschannel I already did my research before commenting. What I can find are very expensive considering that the plastic they are made of is extremely brittle !
Lots of tamiya parts available out there but not knowing much about these toy class rc cars finding out what parts are interchangeable is even harder.
To be fair if you leave a cheap ball bearing sitting on the shelf for a year it will suffer from dry grease and rough running, if they get wet they are ruined. A well greased plastic bearing/bushing will last the life of the model wet, dry, ignored and neglected the plastic bushing won't rust or seize. Plus ball bearings are not designed to take a thrust load and most cheap bearings are no better than the bushings and good bearings are still expensive.
Im a proud tamiya owner and racer
Great list and agree with them all! Finding parts is a big issue. To me I can't find myself paying for a Tamiya kit when I have other options that come with brushless power, ball bearings, can handle bashing and just overall look more appealing. Tamiya seems like toy grade compared to the others. I love Tamiya and hope they are around forever but they are falling behind fast and if they don't change something who knows.
I much enjoy these little chats you do. Who are these people that tune into RCKicks and then complain about Tamiya content? 😂
I never bought Tamiya kits until I got my first CCO1 wrangler jeep and it was really fast imho with the standard 540 motor, my previous kits were Associated RC10 and a couple of Schumacher Cougars, but mostly RC10s, then some crawlers of which I still have my G-Made Sawback leaf sprung jeep, I’ve turned it into a WW2 Willys jeep with 2 Hunter Dan figures who are the perfect scale for it, which reminds me i must get it out for a run, i sprayed everything army green, not just the body and fitted the obligatory rifle behind the windscreen lol 😝, i freaking love it 😍 lol 😝
Yep, bearings were expensive back in the 1980s. I bought my rough rider in 1980, a four pack of bearings was $25 and you needed three packs.
I love Tamiya, but yeah, plastic bushings are always a waste of plastic. Have only found one upside to those: I ran an RC builders group at my school. I’d let the kids build with the plastic bushings because it didn’t matter if they got wet and required almost no maintenance. But most people want ball bearings. The hop-ups. Totally agree. Many hookups should just be standard in the kit. However I think if I were a kid in the hobby, I’d rather have a lower kit price than a bunch of blue aluminum parts in the kit. I typically spend more on hop-ups than I do on the kit. I always factor in hop-up prices when looking to buy a Tamiya kit, and when it comes out to more than double the original price, I start looking at other brands to see what they offer. I think if Tamiya released more MS kits, there’d be a market for them. That’s be a good solution.
I've been building Tamiya kits for 35 years , currently building an M08R and yes they are pricey and fragile compared with modern Chinese stuff , but I still love the detail and they can perform really well .
I think 90% of people who buy there buggies will build them. And poss straight on the shelf. Its the same as collecting airfix models. Ther buggies and cars look really good on the shelf. The trucks are strong enough and get raced by a few clubs same as there touring cars. My tamiya collection is 4 and all bough purley for there looks, for racing i use the buggies i had bitd. But if a tamiya catches my eye, dont need to remortgage the house, i’ll buy it.
So, imagine this: You spent a good $200-350 on an elaborate model kit, where you have to screw everything together, apply oil, paint the body, and apply decals. Then spend that extra $200 for the required parts to get it running (unless you have spare parts). This is why I haven't bought a Tamiya product.
As much as I have grown up with and love Tamiya kits , there is no way I could or world recommend them to anyone new to or returning to the hobby. You can get cheap Chinese RTR's now with brushless systems, battery, charger, radio gear, aluminum chassis, fully ball-raced, oil shocks, tough fast and handle well, for less then a bare-bones kit from Tamiya.
I have owned many Tamiyas over the years. I have always enjoy the build and looking at the finished model (except for body posts!!!!) . When it comes to bashing, hot motors and track performance I usually end up disappointed. Cheap materials, loads of play in the moving parts, half hearted engineering, low durability, and slow to accept new industry standards... Almost every model I have owned would not drive straight on the straight even with good servos.
There is plenty to love and plenty to hate about those tamiya cars.
They are leaching off the lack of RD costs on most of their kits
If you want to drive around in the garden, then you take a Tamiya. If you want to do seriously off-road driving you will take a Traxxas, Arrma or Team Corelly. I like Tamiya because i have a lot of good memories from it when I was young.
Still remember the first tamiya kit I built, great experience and their boxes and marketing makes you want to get one. Other point best static models no doubt
I have a selection of F1 cars and I remember then paying £250 for Nigel Mansells Ferrari when it first came out. I think in Tamiya defence they were the first to launch replica cars and other models. Their strength in my opinion at the time was the instructions showing you how easy you can build a quality car out of the box and race. The hop ups was subject to availability and again in my opinion gave a level playing race.
Tamiya very rare change their models because they don’t upgrade their tooling on the moulds for the models. This is because it would cost far too much money and it’s easy selling the same deal because the markets still out there and their reputation still lives on.
I agree with peoples frustration try shipping from Japan /uk with post, tax ,export duty that’s my bug bare.!!
Thanks for sharing your quality content 👍
Thank you for doing this. Here are my 3 reasons.
1. Leaving out any of the really cool on-road cars of the early era (70's and very early 80's) from their re-releases. Where are the Countach, Porsche 936, Williams Renault F1, BMW F2, Can-Am Lola, Ford C100 and so on? If you can do XR311, there are no excuses Tamiya cannot re-release those kits.
2. The newly coming out real car scale models suck (buggies do not fall under this). Who needs more WRX's or Lance Evo's? Toyota 86 and Yaris? Are you serious? We do not need cars we can drive in real lives, we need cars we can only imagine to drive. To be fair, real cars these days (even the ones that are supposed to be exotic) suck anyway. I know the license pricing got out of control, but Tamiya should be able to do a whole lot better than what they are doing today. Lotus Europa was a pleasant surprise, but the build quality of the chassis just is terrible.
3. Their love of plastic and REALLY cheap materials. It got worse these days than the 80's and 90's when they started relying heavily on the cheap materials. The build quality of Lotus Europa on M06 is so horrible compared to the Renault Alpine A110 (M01 or M02?) I built in 90's. Yes, that was a CHEAP car, but also as bullet proof as a tank! The worst of all is the fact that the cheap materials do not translate into cheap prices!!!
#1
...There is
*licensing*
Getting "brand" names for your kits costs (a lot) of money, sometimes too much to make back those costs
some brands won't even give a license at all (because for example: they already have a deal with other model makers)
#2
Sorry, supply and demand, if those buggies were popular, there would be a whole lot more
apparently, Evo's, WRX's, etc, sell better than buggies
#3
100% with you on that, and to think Tamiya was dabbling in FRP tech way back in the 80's already, FRP has long been surpassed by carbon fiber
so the tech of FRP is at about the cost of what plastic injection molding was 30-40 years back, yet they still sell ABS kits for too much money