01 - 00:41 - Nostalgia aspect 02 - 01:58 - Box art 03 - 3:56 - Tamiya made a lot of character cars 04 - 4:57 - Manuals 05 - 5:45 - Range 06 - 6:42 - Fit and finish 07 - 7:20 - Marketing videos 08 - 8:54 - Build experience 09 - 10:45 - All of your friends were getting them 10 - 11:15 - The bodies
That video is very accurate in why I love Tamiya RC cars. Number one reason is I’ve always been a real car fan and when I was younger I was amazed watching my dad in his garage rebuilding old land rovers from the ground up and it’s rubbed off on me lol. Because of my disability I can’t drive on the roads only On fields which is not the same, I kinda gave up on messing with real cars especially whilst I was a lot lot younger. Tamiya gave me that chance to build a scaled down version of something my dad did, and that we could both relate to.
Born in 1974 as well, and pretty much agree with most of this. My first buggy was a Striker, and I wanted it based purely on the box art and reading the Tamiya catalogue. And the local model shop had an Egress in the window a couple of years later, and we all stood staring at it every time we walked by. And now I have an Egress, so basically it's a childhood dream come true.
#1 is spot on! I’m an 80s kid and I grew up looking through Tamiya catalogs wishing that I could afford the awesome scale 1/10 RC kits. I settled on the 1/24 static Tamiya, Fujimi, Revell, ERTL, and Monogram kits instead, as those were more affordable. Now that I’m in my 40s, I have the money to spend on my previous dreams and Tamiya delivers. Just started on a Actros 3363 Gigaspace with the MFC and tanker trailer - my parents would have never spent that much money on an RC kit for me as a kid 😂
You're spot on Gavin! My first car was a Grass Hopper back in 1985 when I was 10. I saved up my money cause a school buddy got a Fox and I was blown away. After getting the car my parents, who didn't think I could build such a model, got me a Futaba stick radio, battery and charger. Now 37 years later, I'm still buying kits. Never understood the draw of RTRs. Just not the same and I've never felt the connection to the car/truck. When you built it, it's apart of you. You know the car and there is an emotional attachment that I feel towards the car/truck. In fact, when I married my wife, we used my vintage Clodbuster as our ring bearer. (It was her idea too). That was almost 20 years ago now. Great work Gavin. Keep the great content coming. Cheers Mate!!
For me it's less of the nostalgia, I love the amount of models to choose from, from low end to high, from comic to scale. The build experience, hop ups and endless capabilities to customize and make it your own (even for box art build)
My favorite part of RC is building the kits. Hard to beat a Tamiya for a fun build experience. That why I love them. The nostalgia is 💯 true too. My first Frog in the 80s made Tamiya my favorite from way back.
I guess i am just a young pup here. 77 when you all had tamiya I was stuck with tyco i remeber seeing the older kids with their grasshoppers and being so jealous. then i dropped it al till long after highschool first car back and real hobby level was a jato and i was hooked then lots of Kyosho and started racing a Lazer zx-5 . but one of my fav memories of racing was m03 mini's all stock so much fun.
Spot on! I'm from 1968 and always loved Tamiya. Building their static models from a very young age on and rolled into their RC stuff kinda naturaly. Tamiya's box art has always been good. This goes for the RC kits aswell as the static kits. Great video! 👍👍
i never had proper rc as younger, born in 90's so nostalgia. but a couple years ago i bought my first ever tamiya kit to try the Tamiya experience, Plasma Edge 2, and gosh golly i can tell you i want more
If anyone else didn't notice, there is a smol spider at the mic clip (white dot) 1:30. It walks around, webs down for a moment, goes back up, and continues on their day lol.
They're super fun to build. Relatively cheap, but the bodies look great and they're fun to drive too. And tons of aftermarket parts to customize your kit however you want!
I'll add another few, the battery run times were so low it always made you wanting more! And the smell of a freshly opened box, those rubber tyres. Great video 👌🏻
Just came across this video. I can completely relate to it all. Especially buying the catalogue and dreaming of getting the Avante. I was born in 76 and got my first kit, fighter buggy whilst at university. It was amazing. Looking to get another one, probably a TT02. But it seems so expensive now. £260 with gear, bearings and shocks. I really want to but that’s what holds me back. No doubt I’ll order one tomorrow 😊
I love tamiyas (not for nostalgia, I am a teenager) but for the scale bodies for the onroad cars and cool retro feel of them. The chassis are quite simple and cheap compared to other companies and surprisingly strong. The amount of upgrades and customisation are very nice as well. great video and summary of Tamiya my friend:)
Ya true, actual modeling. True RC enthusiasts. Not bashing and breaking, I don't appreciate that and the modern culture of RC - keep up the good work. Appreciate your mindset 👍🏻
Your analysis is spot on. I'm an 80's kid who grew up in New Zealand. Had an original Hornet, Supershot, and Porsche 956 and loved the hobby. Still do RC today, although I have no Tamiyas. I love your passion for the hobby. Maybe I should pick up a re-release Supershot for old time's sake.
Tamiya catalogues should be on this list. I had to save my school lunch money to buy the catalogue. Every night I would read it front to back going through all the cars and specs. Eventually I saved up enough money for the Manta Ray. Each week I would buy a bearing or two to upgrade it. The TA01 chassis was never going to be competitive. I have been driving AE/Kyosho/Yokomo ever since but watching this makes me want to buy another Tamiya kit.
I definitely agree with all your points, Gav, couldn't have put it better! The number one point for me is all the ten points you raised all bundled together! :D
Yep, spot on with all the points! I'm a '75 model and now have a large Tamiya box display in my games room, probably more than the hobby shop in the city had when i was a kid and couldn't afford any of them 😂 So many good points you made. I enjoyed this vid.
You are spot on. As soon as I saw the title, two reasons came up in my mind and they are the #1 and #2 of yours. I think the nostalgia is by far the biggest reason. Expanding on the #2, back when Tamiya was still only doing the scale models of the real cars (in the 70's and early 80's), Tamiya's box art (to be more presice, the descriptions on the boxes) was a very valuable source of informaiton of the cars and the motor sports when Google was still more than 30 years away and the mass media was much more limited than even in the late 80's and 90's. I learned a lot of what Le Mans 24hr was about, what the meaning of Gr.5 or Gr. 6 and so on was, and which races the car had won from Tamiya's boxes.
Yer i was born in 1970 , remember tamiya in beaties and see video for monster beetle at 18 and was sold loved building it etc fantastic ❤it just bought re realised on and a blitzer beetle to build
Nice vid, kinda forgot that Tamiya often were the first to bring something to the market. Like how they started the touring car scene/racing, monstertruck scene/racing and in a way crawling with the scale bodies and TLT axles. That was pretty big and stays in peoples memories.
Tamiya for me was a better time. I was 13 and I got my first kit. Built it with my dad. Also taught me about electronics, soldering and all kinds of other skills that I use today. I still have it today. I have a few of them from back then. I'm '76 vintage. I still have the Tamiya '89 catalogue that I would flick through as a kid.
My oldest son is a year younger than you. So I was busy raising three children, born in 1975 through 1979. The oldest one got an RC car for Christmas when he was about 10. But is was powered by 5 or 6 c-sized rechargeable Nicads and they took hours to charge. I never saw it run because my dad and brother depleted the batteries before I could get outside. That was it until I discovered RC racing on the internet in 1996. I've been hooked ever since.
I have always loved Tamiya! These kits look more like a real car or buggy! Also love how imagination of iconic looks can be different and still work great! They built some of the most fun to build kits!
I'd add that the 1980s was the height of the Japanese Bubble Economy and the Tamiya products reflect the "look and feel" of Japanese products of that time: quality fit and finish, Japanese language user manuals with cartoon characters, careful packaging. It was a time of optimism and exuberance for Japanese manufacturers, with little competition from other Asian countries. Hence, in many product categories the Japanese often experimented with novel designs and engineering solutions.
Brilliant video! I’m not an 80’s kid but have lost hours to watching clips of old tamiya commercials from back in the day on here. Must have been really cool to be a kid around that time living it
Absolutely right. The nostalgia, the bodies and the marketing videos. In the eighties, the videos were like catnip for young boys. Utterly irresistable. Before my buddys and I could get the cars, I remember passing around the Tamiya catalog in school. It was enough just to look at them in a book for hours and dream. Fun times. Cheers.
Me and my son raced on road in 90's and 00's. I ran tlo1 spec class. I ran a schumacher in stock son ran atamiya fo3 or something, their current on road car. I also ran in mini class. Ran a rs4mini and also 1/12 class. Had a great inside track in Hanover Pa. Directly north of Baltimore. People came from a hundred mile radius. I usually ran 2 or 3 classes on saturday night. 10 years of fun till a bunch of a hole kids ruined the track
The marketing! From guidebooks to the catalogues. From the promo videos playing in hobby stores to tools, grease even spray oil with the twin stars. The main parts sealed in blister sections. The realism! The wild one to the fast attack. Check out Tamiya rc car Grand Prix episodes from the eighties. Watching real Japanese tamiya fans racing their buggies and cars! Even those RC lecture with moko chan pamphlets. It wasn’t a hobby it was a lifestyle!
Yes, yes, YES!!! Great summary Gavin. I love Tamiya for all these reasons and more. It has brought so much joy to my life as a kid and now. I’d like to know more about how they produced manuals of that quality at that time. On a computer? Must have been pretty cutting edge. Would like to know more about the box art production and artists too. Keep ‘em coming.
I was Born in 1972 and the nostalgia is awesome your exactly rite on all points box art is wiked to and the old catalogues.. I was also always in Beatties had the old blue and black bags and loved watching videos in the shop brilliant ..
I think everything you said is exactly right. Although, in the states I don't remember seeing the videos at the hobby shops. I think Tamiya today is depending too much on nostalgia and needs to take action to meet the needs of the current markets which would be more RTR's. I think they can established new fans. Some of their newer kits being produce today are expensive when you compare them to the RTR's of today. This video was a great idea and I enjoyed it.
@@SEAN-fx5dm One thing they could do for some of the kits is to have transmission pre-built as they do for the comical grasshopper. Of course, the only problem is that they don't include bearings.
If your old enough to have gone into Beatties as a child and stood mesmerised....then you know why Tamiya has a place in my heart 😎 still collect Tamiya Rc Guide books, today, as i threw them out as a kid 🤦♂️🥴
I was an 80's kid, but I'm immune to any kind of nostalgia related to the brand... dunno if they werent available in my country or if only wealthy people had them, but never saw a Tamiya RC anything with my own eyes until getting mine a few weeks ago (a TT02 WRX Nurburgring etc). After building it, I did like the finish of the chassis and enjoyed the process... but now that I have to put the decals on, I may change my mind lol... maybe part of my enjoyment comes from me not having the skills to build static models and make them look good as opposed to these RC kits which are more mechanical. Liked it enough to think about getting one or two more, but maybe an XV01 or XV02...
I asked for a Traxxas T-maxx for Christmas the first year it came out and I was incredibly disappointed with it being a RTR kit so I went up to my room and proceeded to take it completely apart then put it all back together and went out and broke it in, I found out just a few years ago that my dad had walked into my room just as I got it completely apart and saw it in pieces and was so upset that he had to go for a walk, by the time he got back I had it completely back together and was out running it, I found out on his death bed that was both the most upset and most proud of me that day than he had ever before or since.
Seeing that boomerang brings back memories was my first introduction to the hobby back in the day and still my all time favourite tamiya just wish i could afford one now ...great video Gavin 100 % agree with everything you had to say 😎👌
Tamiya is fantastic. Ive had TT01s on and off since it was released. I just don't like the steering slop in the design. Tamiya has some unique and brilliant models. And who doesn't know about the Hornet, Frog or Grasshopper? Smashing piece of content Gav.
Easy. The mini 4 by 4 series. Every 80-90s kid in EVERY sea counties was hooked on them. Ask any SEA adult, friends or acquaintances, what is Tamiya Grasshopper or Hornet. Then, ask them about Tamiya Emperor. Most of us have never even heard about Lunchbox
Totally agree on everything even if it was mostly Kyosho cars for me when i was young. Every hobbyshop had Tamiya plastic model kits but not many sold rc´s from Tamiya here.
Great job with the last few videos. I'm a fan of your channel in general but I've thoroughly enjoyed the last few with you just talking about rc. I was born in '73 and my first real rc car was a Blackfoot, my brother got a monster beetle, that was the best Christmas ever. Once we opened those gifts I don't think we opened another one till the cars were built lol. My second rc was a stryker,me,my brother and his good friend,he had a falcon,used to race them at a roller skating rink back in the mid 80's. I keep looking to get a tamiya again,I lost both the Blackfoot and stryker somewhere, but I can't decide which style I like the best. You hit the nail on the head with their bodies,top notch. Anyway, enough rambling about my youth lol. Love your channel, great videos and content. Keep up the great job and all the best to you and your family
I must admit , that in the "hate" video , people complained about cost. But here in the USA it's far more affordable. A debis Mercedes tt02 kit in my local hobby shop is 134$ (193aud) to me its the dollar exchange that kills it. Cause to the exchange it would be 92$ for you all . I think as an adult in my late 40s tamiya is literally nostalgia. But they have so much great detail
I have no nostalgia for tamiya, but i have just gotten into tamiya RC fresh this year and experiencing it all for the first time. For me its the model quality, instructions and style. Pure class
Agree 100%, my first proper RC car was the Subaru Brat and loved it. Spent many an hour or two in Beatties watching those videos, great times. Their RC and static model kits were always of a higher quality than anything else at the time.
The aspect of building something is what made me buy a kit from Tamiya, we get busy looking at our phones making nothing, just laying there looking at a screen instead of making something, doing something! I’m hoping to make my 5 year old help me build my latest kit, maybe she will be less into phones and social media
Great video…….my first in 1989 was a gold pan rc10, my second one was a tamiya Blackfoot…….the Blackfoot is my favorite monster truck of all time……not because it’s the fastest or best handling….. it’s the scale look of the truck and it’s just a fun truck……I currently have a rerelease Blackfoot, super Blackfoot, 2 grasshoppers, a hornet, a GII super G, a rere grasshopper II, a lunchbox and a Frankensteined monster beetle
Man, I grew up building Tamiya plastic kits (as well as other Japanese kits), and you are right… quality, manuals, box art, Fit and finish are second to none! I may have to pick up one of their RC kits. Like you say, never could afford them growing up! 1977 here…
tamiya still make kits that you build from every nut and bolt! they brought back the sand scorcher, fighting buggy and buggy champ with all that alloy! they do the unusual too, adding tracks! and then there is the Clod Buster! still my #1 kit
I love Tamiya because I grew up with it from the early 80’s.. all my memories of being young but skint!!. Box art of course is the best in the world.. Ok I’m going to get to a point that some people may be offended at.. but sod it here goes.. I grew up in a working class family we had to spend every penny on the bills and food.. That meant there was not much money sloshing about for material things shall we say.. But in 1984 for arguments sake the grasshopper meant of I saved my paper round money I could achieve a grasshopper which meant I could join with this great little hobby… please understand I was never unhappy as kid growing up just because money was tight and I honestly say I was not bitter but back then just like now many other people never needed to worry about money.. That’s it’s for me if the likes of kyosho or Schumacher bring out a kit tomorrow that will cost 5 grand many people watching this could by 2 or 3 of them without thinking.. so with Tamiya offering kits that are affordable will stir up a bit of snobbery from the more well off people.. There you go I went there!!!!
my biggest plus for Tamiya was the build of it- kyosho at that time was often using self tapping screws, Tamiya was better in that. A kyosho shell often didn't have the detail i wanted, they never had hardbodies like Tamiya . now things changed for me, i like kyosho as well, maybe a bit better?
Absolutely spot on Gav 👍. For me I have two main reasons for having way more Tamiya than anything else, firstly, I have to build them and secondly, I have a massive variety to choose from. Great video matey.
Well the fit and finish as you mentioned just could not be bad, cause the Tamiya recipe had already started with their static plastic model kits ( cars, airplanes, tanks you name it !!!! ) . You could glue them easily and the details were awesome !!!! I tried other static plastic model companies from Germany, Italy USA but they either did not have the appropriate surface for the parts to be glued easily or they lacked in detail.
You really summed up : nostalgia. People who discover rc today need to know and understand that in the 80s, there was no ready to run rc. Rc was a kind of do it yourself hobby. Manual were absolutely awful. Tamiya was THE exception and the benchmark in all criterias you mentionned. I definitely prefered in that time their kit vs kyosho or Schumacher. Probleme is today Tamiya didnt move. Today people are looking for ready to run bash cars ( such as traxxas or ARRMA) or kit of compétition oriented cars (As KYOSHO, mugen, team asso, TLR...). AND Tamiya still lives in the 80s....
Among the 10 things you mention and the price are some of the decisions for which I have invested so far in Tamiya and not in other brands, perhaps as you say it is a taste or a kind of love for the models and their characteristics. There are several more models that I want to buy but at the moment I can't for economic reasons. I really like the ones that have a metal chassis, the drag trucks, among others
You hit the nail on the head. Nostalgia, and the incredible box art, which grabs your attention, and makes you want a Tamiya RC buggy, or truck. Sure by today's standards, and level of technology the vintage, and reissued classic Tamiya vehicles are quite primitive, and a car like the Frog for instant will never be able to compete in a competition against a modern high tech racing buggy, with sophisticated racing suspension, and chassis made of much stronger materials, or will take the kind of punishment a modern basher can. But that's not the reason you buy a Frog, Hornet, or Hotshot. You buy it, and run it to bring back those wonderful memories of your youth. Think of these Tamiya cars, and trucks from the 80s, and 90s like model railroaders think of the classic Lionel O scale trains of the 40s, 50s, and 60s. Lionel got many people started in the model railroad hobby, and Tamiya did the same for the RC car hobby.
To be fair my friend, the box art was very misleading. The box art never actually represented what was in the box, a little like a big mac picture! However, I would not have been able to get into the hobby without Tamiya! I think it was because it was not able to compete at track level, I fell out of love with Tamiya. The Tamiya I speak of was a tough piece of kit. Thinking back, my Super Sabre was one of the best bashing cars I have ever owned. It only seemed to break things at club meetings, of all places! Cool piece of Tamiya history and the thoughts of others. Thumbs up bud!
Why I love Tamiya? 1) You need to build it and that for me is the best of the hobby. Nothing better than a rainy day building a Tamiya Kit 2) The bodies details. No other big brand have bodies so detailed like the Tamiyas. Are scale replicas of a real one. I have de Lancia 037 and is the most beautiful car in my collection. 3) The variety of models that you can find. Some are very emblematic vehicles. 4) Are Japanese and I love japanese products.
#10 is the bug bear for me personally. When you have ocd, those bodies suck. Stickers the same. Think its about time Tamiya at least did pre-cut stickers. Apart from that i agree there is something about Tamiya rc models that is adictive. (very good marketing stratogy).😀
You nailed it gavin and brought back many memories I still need to build my xv02 and a lancia delta body to suite but can’t help just looking at it in the box before I start build.
Tamiya really were great at marketing. I'm sure you remember the video of the 1:10 scale Hilux trucks pulling a full-size Toyota pick-up. Awesome way to promote their products! The other one I remember is a Super Champ jumping off what seems like a huge cliff edge and then driving away.
@@RCKickschannel This is the superb Super Champ promo video: czcams.com/video/Mj-BtNJDtEI/video.html As well as some great beach action including water crossings, check out the jump at 1:18 to see that Tamiya invented bashing before Kevin Talbot was even born!
Brand recognition and familiarity is one reason too. Not just from their static scale model but also from other product lines. One example, Mini4WD. In some parts of the world they're really popular, like massively popular. If you're from region where they never really a thing, you wouldn't be able to comprehend how big the Mini4WD boom is. In fact I'd bet Tamiya made more money from that line from RC, considering how cheap they are to manufacture. Anyway the point is many people are already loyal and familiar with the brand before even considering buying an RC, and when they do it's easy to decide what brand to pick.
I had a falcon, then a clod then a terra scorcher I always wanted a lunchbox but couldn’t afford So in my 40s I first bought a lunchbox rere Then an original terrascorcher - then hooked Refurbed a falcon and a clod and now I have over 30 kits
I'm a 70 and 80's kid. First Tamiya was in 1983. I still love building Tamiya's and collecting certain models. I have wished they would change a few things but I understand why they did. The new Bruiser is alot better than the older one. I have several of those. I'm kinda into more of the newer stuff from them.
Quirkiness just like old German cars it's one of those things that you really don't need a registered trademark for because if you see it you recognize it Gavin you hit it right on the Target I call it the big 🖼️
I do appreciate Tamiya and respect a lot of their history and what they mean to a lot of people. Since I was born in 1998 I have zero nostalgia for it. The main reason why I don’t buy them is because I like to drive my cars hard and the Tamiya kits probably wouldn’t hold to the abuse…. I might still pick one up at some point just cause
in the 80s there I never heard of any other rc brands in my country only Tamiya. Always wanted 1 then but my parents will not get me one. now my wife says its my back subject so she allows me to have it
My dad let me borrow the money for a monster beetle in the 80’s and I lost the instructions but got it built. This year I lost him and seen the re re monster beetle and without hesitation I got. I am going to build it the way I should have with him 30 plus yeas ago.
My first rc car was a tamiya ranger xlt, loved it, broke it, fitted rough rider body with superchamp wheels /tyres. sold it to afford radio gear for hilux 4x4. Which I still have, Regretted selling it. Bought re re buggy champ. Please tamiya, want re re xlt. Do it, do it, do it now.
Will sound a bit weird, but the smell of opening a new kit. The rubber, the plastics, probably not good but I never get tired of the smell of a new kit.
01 - 00:41 - Nostalgia aspect
02 - 01:58 - Box art
03 - 3:56 - Tamiya made a lot of character cars
04 - 4:57 - Manuals
05 - 5:45 - Range
06 - 6:42 - Fit and finish
07 - 7:20 - Marketing videos
08 - 8:54 - Build experience
09 - 10:45 - All of your friends were getting them
10 - 11:15 - The bodies
That video is very accurate in why I love Tamiya RC cars. Number one reason is I’ve always been a real car fan and when I was younger I was amazed watching my dad in his garage rebuilding old land rovers from the ground up and it’s rubbed off on me lol. Because of my disability I can’t drive on the roads only On fields which is not the same, I kinda gave up on messing with real cars especially whilst I was a lot lot younger. Tamiya gave me that chance to build a scaled down version of something my dad did, and that we could both relate to.
Born in 1974 as well, and pretty much agree with most of this. My first buggy was a Striker, and I wanted it based purely on the box art and reading the Tamiya catalogue. And the local model shop had an Egress in the window a couple of years later, and we all stood staring at it every time we walked by. And now I have an Egress, so basically it's a childhood dream come true.
#1 is spot on! I’m an 80s kid and I grew up looking through Tamiya catalogs wishing that I could afford the awesome scale 1/10 RC kits. I settled on the 1/24 static Tamiya, Fujimi, Revell, ERTL, and Monogram kits instead, as those were more affordable.
Now that I’m in my 40s, I have the money to spend on my previous dreams and Tamiya delivers. Just started on a Actros 3363 Gigaspace with the MFC and tanker trailer - my parents would have never spent that much money on an RC kit for me as a kid 😂
Me too. I've been going nuckin' futs with buying some lately. Haha.
I never forget the sweetest smell of a my NIB frog. I was 13 back in 1986. Great content Gavin.
You are bang on with your analysis!! I love Tamiya RC for nostalgia and stunning box art!!
You're spot on Gavin! My first car was a Grass Hopper back in 1985 when I was 10. I saved up my money cause a school buddy got a Fox and I was blown away. After getting the car my parents, who didn't think I could build such a model, got me a Futaba stick radio, battery and charger. Now 37 years later, I'm still buying kits. Never understood the draw of RTRs. Just not the same and I've never felt the connection to the car/truck. When you built it, it's apart of you. You know the car and there is an emotional attachment that I feel towards the car/truck. In fact, when I married my wife, we used my vintage Clodbuster as our ring bearer. (It was her idea too). That was almost 20 years ago now. Great work Gavin. Keep the great content coming. Cheers Mate!!
For me it's less of the nostalgia, I love the amount of models to choose from, from low end to high, from comic to scale. The build experience, hop ups and endless capabilities to customize and make it your own (even for box art build)
My favorite part of RC is building the kits. Hard to beat a Tamiya for a fun build experience. That why I love them. The nostalgia is 💯 true too. My first Frog in the 80s made Tamiya my favorite from way back.
Yes the box art is awesome. And the engineering of these kits stand alone I think. Attention to detail was spot on. I think you nailed it.
I guess i am just a young pup here. 77 when you all had tamiya I was stuck with tyco i remeber seeing the older kids with their grasshoppers and being so jealous. then i dropped it al till long after highschool first car back and real hobby level was a jato and i was hooked then lots of Kyosho and started racing a Lazer zx-5 . but one of my fav memories of racing was m03 mini's all stock so much fun.
Spot on!
I'm from 1968 and always loved Tamiya. Building their static models from a very young age on and rolled into their RC stuff kinda naturaly.
Tamiya's box art has always been good. This goes for the RC kits aswell as the static kits.
Great video!
👍👍
i never had proper rc as younger, born in 90's so nostalgia. but a couple years ago i bought my first ever tamiya kit to try the Tamiya experience, Plasma Edge 2, and gosh golly i can tell you i want more
If anyone else didn't notice, there is a smol spider at the mic clip (white dot) 1:30.
It walks around, webs down for a moment, goes back up, and continues on their day lol.
I think the Beatties picture was of the store I used to run in the Merry Hill Centre, Dudley, good to see, happy times.
I’m a 80’s kid and loved Tamiya and still do. I love the fact they haven’t changed since I was a kid and I can afford the kits now 😂
They're super fun to build. Relatively cheap, but the bodies look great and they're fun to drive too. And tons of aftermarket parts to customize your kit however you want!
I'll add another few, the battery run times were so low it always made you wanting more! And the smell of a freshly opened box, those rubber tyres. Great video 👌🏻
Just came across this video. I can completely relate to it all. Especially buying the catalogue and dreaming of getting the Avante. I was born in 76 and got my first kit, fighter buggy whilst at university. It was amazing.
Looking to get another one, probably a TT02. But it seems so expensive now. £260 with gear, bearings and shocks. I really want to but that’s what holds me back.
No doubt I’ll order one tomorrow 😊
Nostalgia, love of the hobby and love of the build & run…….I can switch off from work really easily
I love tamiyas (not for nostalgia, I am a teenager) but for the scale bodies for the onroad cars and cool retro feel of them. The chassis are quite simple and cheap compared to other companies and surprisingly strong. The amount of upgrades and customisation are very nice as well. great video and summary of Tamiya my friend:)
My first hobby grade RC car was a Tamiya Hornet in the 80's so nostalgia for me all the way. czcams.com/video/mHYtrBui9Ms/video.html
Ya true, actual modeling.
True RC enthusiasts.
Not bashing and breaking, I don't appreciate that and the modern culture of RC - keep up the good work.
Appreciate your mindset 👍🏻
Your analysis is spot on. I'm an 80's kid who grew up in New Zealand. Had an original Hornet, Supershot, and Porsche 956 and loved the hobby. Still do RC today, although I have no Tamiyas. I love your passion for the hobby. Maybe I should pick up a re-release Supershot for old time's sake.
Well worth getting a vintage Tamiya rere. When you build it, the memories come flooding back as the rere cars are just like the kits back in the day.
Tamiya catalogues should be on this list. I had to save my school lunch money to buy the catalogue. Every night I would read it front to back going through all the cars and specs. Eventually I saved up enough money for the Manta Ray. Each week I would buy a bearing or two to upgrade it. The TA01 chassis was never going to be competitive. I have been driving AE/Kyosho/Yokomo ever since but watching this makes me want to buy another Tamiya kit.
I definitely agree with all your points, Gav, couldn't have put it better! The number one point for me is all the ten points you raised all bundled together! :D
Nostalgia for the win! I promise I won't rest until I have every car I know from the Tamiya catalog when I was a kid....and maybe a few more 😉
Yep, spot on with all the points!
I'm a '75 model and now have a large Tamiya box display in my games room, probably more than the hobby shop in the city had when i was a kid and couldn't afford any of them 😂
So many good points you made. I enjoyed this vid.
You are spot on. As soon as I saw the title, two reasons came up in my mind and they are the #1 and #2 of yours. I think the nostalgia is by far the biggest reason. Expanding on the #2, back when Tamiya was still only doing the scale models of the real cars (in the 70's and early 80's), Tamiya's box art (to be more presice, the descriptions on the boxes) was a very valuable source of informaiton of the cars and the motor sports when Google was still more than 30 years away and the mass media was much more limited than even in the late 80's and 90's. I learned a lot of what Le Mans 24hr was about, what the meaning of Gr.5 or Gr. 6 and so on was, and which races the car had won from Tamiya's boxes.
Yer i was born in 1970 , remember tamiya in beaties and see video for monster beetle at 18 and was sold loved building it etc fantastic ❤it just bought re realised on and a blitzer beetle to build
Nice vid, kinda forgot that Tamiya often were the first to bring something to the market. Like how they started the touring car scene/racing, monstertruck scene/racing and in a way crawling with the scale bodies and TLT axles. That was pretty big and stays in peoples memories.
Tamiya for me was a better time. I was 13 and I got my first kit. Built it with my dad. Also taught me about electronics, soldering and all kinds of other skills that I use today. I still have it today. I have a few of them from back then. I'm '76 vintage. I still have the Tamiya '89 catalogue that I would flick through as a kid.
Had a Tamiya tank kit with an umbilical remote that moved it...early 70's
My oldest son is a year younger than you. So I was busy raising three children, born in 1975 through 1979. The oldest one got an RC car for Christmas when he was about 10. But is was powered by 5 or 6 c-sized rechargeable Nicads and they took hours to charge. I never saw it run because my dad and brother depleted the batteries before I could get outside. That was it until I discovered RC racing on the internet in 1996. I've been hooked ever since.
I have always loved Tamiya! These kits look more like a real car or buggy! Also love how imagination of iconic looks can be different and still work great! They built some of the most fun to build kits!
I'd add that the 1980s was the height of the Japanese Bubble Economy and the Tamiya products reflect the "look and feel" of Japanese products of that time: quality fit and finish, Japanese language user manuals with cartoon characters, careful packaging. It was a time of optimism and exuberance for Japanese manufacturers, with little competition from other Asian countries. Hence, in many product categories the Japanese often experimented with novel designs and engineering solutions.
Brilliant video! I’m not an 80’s kid but have lost hours to watching clips of old tamiya commercials from back in the day on here. Must have been really cool to be a kid around that time living it
Absolutely right. The nostalgia, the bodies and the marketing videos. In the eighties, the videos were like catnip for young boys. Utterly irresistable. Before my buddys and I could get the cars, I remember passing around the Tamiya catalog in school. It was enough just to look at them in a book for hours and dream.
Fun times.
Cheers.
Me and my son raced on road in 90's and 00's. I ran tlo1 spec class. I ran a schumacher in stock son ran atamiya fo3 or something, their current on road car. I also ran in mini class. Ran a rs4mini and also 1/12 class. Had a great inside track in Hanover Pa. Directly north of Baltimore. People came from a hundred mile radius. I usually ran 2 or 3 classes on saturday night. 10 years of fun till a bunch of a hole kids ruined the track
The marketing! From guidebooks to the catalogues. From the promo videos playing in hobby stores to tools, grease even spray oil with the twin stars. The main parts sealed in blister sections.
The realism! The wild one to the fast attack. Check out Tamiya rc car Grand Prix episodes from the eighties. Watching real Japanese tamiya fans racing their buggies and cars! Even those RC lecture with moko chan pamphlets. It wasn’t a hobby it was a lifestyle!
Yes, yes, YES!!! Great summary Gavin. I love Tamiya for all these reasons and more. It has brought so much joy to my life as a kid and now.
I’d like to know more about how they produced manuals of that quality at that time. On a computer? Must have been pretty cutting edge. Would like to know more about the box art production and artists too.
Keep ‘em coming.
I was Born in 1972 and the nostalgia is awesome your exactly rite on all points box art is wiked to and the old catalogues.. I was also always in Beatties had the old blue and black bags and loved watching videos in the shop brilliant ..
I think everything you said is exactly right. Although, in the states I don't remember seeing the videos at the hobby shops. I think Tamiya today is depending too much on nostalgia and needs to take action to meet the needs of the current markets which would be more RTR's. I think they can established new fans. Some of their newer kits being produce today are expensive when you compare them to the RTR's of today. This video was a great idea and I enjoyed it.
I agree, I am a bit concerned that nostalgia is playing too large a part in the decisions Tamiya make.
@@SEAN-fx5dm One thing they could do for some of the kits is to have transmission pre-built as they do for the comical grasshopper. Of course, the only problem is that they don't include bearings.
If your old enough to have gone into Beatties as a child and stood mesmerised....then you know why Tamiya has a place in my heart 😎 still collect Tamiya Rc Guide books, today, as i threw them out as a kid 🤦♂️🥴
Nostalgia and body’s shells are spot on 👍
I was an 80's kid, but I'm immune to any kind of nostalgia related to the brand... dunno if they werent available in my country or if only wealthy people had them, but never saw a Tamiya RC anything with my own eyes until getting mine a few weeks ago (a TT02 WRX Nurburgring etc).
After building it, I did like the finish of the chassis and enjoyed the process... but now that I have to put the decals on, I may change my mind lol... maybe part of my enjoyment comes from me not having the skills to build static models and make them look good as opposed to these RC kits which are more mechanical. Liked it enough to think about getting one or two more, but maybe an XV01 or XV02...
I asked for a Traxxas T-maxx for Christmas the first year it came out and I was incredibly disappointed with it being a RTR kit so I went up to my room and proceeded to take it completely apart then put it all back together and went out and broke it in, I found out just a few years ago that my dad had walked into my room just as I got it completely apart and saw it in pieces and was so upset that he had to go for a walk, by the time he got back I had it completely back together and was out running it, I found out on his death bed that was both the most upset and most proud of me that day than he had ever before or since.
Lovely story 👏🏻👏🏻👍🏻👍🏻🙏🏻🙏🏻
Seeing that boomerang brings back memories was my first introduction to the hobby back in the day and still my all time favourite tamiya just wish i could afford one now ...great video Gavin 100 % agree with everything you had to say 😎👌
its the nostalgia for me,im 55 and now have the money to buy them.
One of thr earliest manufacturers and very high quality
Nailed it! Thanks for the great video.
Tamiya is fantastic. Ive had TT01s on and off since it was released. I just don't like the steering slop in the design. Tamiya has some unique and brilliant models. And who doesn't know about the Hornet, Frog or Grasshopper? Smashing piece of content Gav.
The Tamiya box art, as well as earlier Lego single vehicle white boxes influenced my work when I worked as a 3D artist.
Easy. The mini 4 by 4 series. Every 80-90s kid in EVERY sea counties was hooked on them.
Ask any SEA adult, friends or acquaintances, what is Tamiya Grasshopper or Hornet. Then, ask them about Tamiya Emperor. Most of us have never even heard about Lunchbox
Totally agree on everything even if it was mostly Kyosho cars for me when i was young. Every hobbyshop had Tamiya plastic model kits but not many sold rc´s from Tamiya here.
The Tamiya Hornet and Grasshopper are probably the most famous RC Cars growing up.
I have the Frog,Subaru Brat ,hornet,Grasshopper,Blackfoot ,Super Beattle. I love the vintage Tamiya RC cars
Great job with the last few videos. I'm a fan of your channel in general but I've thoroughly enjoyed the last few with you just talking about rc. I was born in '73 and my first real rc car was a Blackfoot, my brother got a monster beetle, that was the best Christmas ever. Once we opened those gifts I don't think we opened another one till the cars were built lol. My second rc was a stryker,me,my brother and his good friend,he had a falcon,used to race them at a roller skating rink back in the mid 80's. I keep looking to get a tamiya again,I lost both the Blackfoot and stryker somewhere, but I can't decide which style I like the best. You hit the nail on the head with their bodies,top notch. Anyway, enough rambling about my youth lol. Love your channel, great videos and content. Keep up the great job and all the best to you and your family
Tamiya brings back memories, great selection of kits for all to enjoy 😎
I must admit , that in the "hate" video , people complained about cost. But here in the USA it's far more affordable. A debis Mercedes tt02 kit in my local hobby shop is 134$ (193aud) to me its the dollar exchange that kills it. Cause to the exchange it would be 92$ for you all .
I think as an adult in my late 40s tamiya is literally nostalgia. But they have so much great detail
Great. Watching this clip and browsing to see what tamiyas catalog is at the moment....bought the TT-02BR (58717). Damn, every time...
I have no nostalgia for tamiya, but i have just gotten into tamiya RC fresh this year and experiencing it all for the first time. For me its the model quality, instructions and style. Pure class
Agree 100%, my first proper RC car was the Subaru Brat and loved it. Spent many an hour or two in Beatties watching those videos, great times. Their RC and static model kits were always of a higher quality than anything else at the time.
The aspect of building something is what made me buy a kit from Tamiya, we get busy looking at our phones making nothing, just laying there looking at a screen instead of making something, doing something! I’m hoping to make my 5 year old help me build my latest kit, maybe she will be less into phones and social media
Great video…….my first in 1989 was a gold pan rc10, my second one was a tamiya Blackfoot…….the Blackfoot is my favorite monster truck of all time……not because it’s the fastest or best handling….. it’s the scale look of the truck and it’s just a fun truck……I currently have a rerelease Blackfoot, super Blackfoot, 2 grasshoppers, a hornet, a GII super G, a rere grasshopper II, a lunchbox and a Frankensteined monster beetle
Great Video, yea, the good old 70ies ;-) you nailed that one, keep it up
Man, I grew up building Tamiya plastic kits (as well as other Japanese kits), and you are right… quality, manuals, box art, Fit and finish are second to none! I may have to pick up one of their RC kits. Like you say, never could afford them growing up! 1977 here…
tamiya still make kits that you build from every nut and bolt!
they brought back the sand scorcher, fighting buggy and buggy champ with all that alloy!
they do the unusual too, adding tracks!
and then there is the Clod Buster! still my #1 kit
I have 8 tamiya rc. If I wanted the most advanced I’d buy it. Tamiya is what we had in the 80s and I like it that way
1980 here! New to the hobby and wanted a challenge rather than a ready to run, so just got myself a Tamiya Subaru Monte Carlo.
I love Tamiya because I grew up with it from the early 80’s.. all my memories of being young but skint!!. Box art of course is the best in the world.. Ok I’m going to get to a point that some people may be offended at.. but sod it here goes.. I grew up in a working class family we had to spend every penny on the bills and food.. That meant there was not much money sloshing about for material things shall we say.. But in 1984 for arguments sake the grasshopper meant of I saved my paper round money I could achieve a grasshopper which meant I could join with this great little hobby… please understand I was never unhappy as kid growing up just because money was tight and I honestly say I was not bitter but back then just like now many other people never needed to worry about money.. That’s it’s for me if the likes of kyosho or Schumacher bring out a kit tomorrow that will cost 5 grand many people watching this could by 2 or 3 of them without thinking.. so with Tamiya offering kits that are affordable will stir up a bit of snobbery from the more well off people.. There you go I went there!!!!
my biggest plus for Tamiya was the build of it- kyosho at that time was often using self tapping screws, Tamiya was better in that. A kyosho shell often didn't have the detail i wanted, they never had hardbodies like Tamiya . now things changed for me, i like kyosho as well, maybe a bit better?
Absolutely spot on Gav 👍. For me I have two main reasons for having way more Tamiya than anything else, firstly, I have to build them and secondly, I have a massive variety to choose from. Great video matey.
Well the fit and finish as you mentioned just could not be bad, cause the Tamiya recipe had already started with their static plastic model kits ( cars, airplanes, tanks you name it !!!! ) . You could glue them easily and the details were awesome !!!! I tried other static plastic model companies from Germany, Italy USA but they either did not have the appropriate surface for the parts to be glued easily or they lacked in detail.
And you keep speaking in a past tense
You really summed up : nostalgia. People who discover rc today need to know and understand that in the 80s, there was no ready to run rc. Rc was a kind of do it yourself hobby. Manual were absolutely awful. Tamiya was THE exception and the benchmark in all criterias you mentionned. I definitely prefered in that time their kit vs kyosho or Schumacher.
Probleme is today Tamiya didnt move. Today people are looking for ready to run bash cars ( such as traxxas or ARRMA) or kit of compétition oriented cars (As KYOSHO, mugen, team asso, TLR...). AND Tamiya still lives in the 80s....
Just ten more reasons why we all have a big big heart for tamiya rc cars and buggys. Double 👍👍
Easy to follow the instruction in the kit 😅
Man I just dusted off my frog and took it the park yesterday and I come across this video today lol
The frog drives better than you would think for its age. It puts a big smile on your face that's for sure.
Among the 10 things you mention and the price are some of the decisions for which I have invested so far in Tamiya and not in other brands, perhaps as you say it is a taste or a kind of love for the models and their characteristics. There are several more models that I want to buy but at the moment I can't for economic reasons. I really like the ones that have a metal chassis, the drag trucks, among others
You hit the nail on the head. Nostalgia, and the incredible box art, which grabs your attention, and makes you want a Tamiya RC buggy, or truck.
Sure by today's standards, and level of technology the vintage, and reissued classic Tamiya vehicles are quite primitive, and a car like the Frog for instant will never be able to compete in a competition against a modern high tech racing buggy, with sophisticated racing suspension, and chassis made of much stronger materials, or will take the kind of punishment a modern basher can.
But that's not the reason you buy a Frog, Hornet, or Hotshot. You buy it, and run it to bring back those wonderful memories of your youth. Think of these Tamiya cars, and trucks from the 80s, and 90s like model railroaders think of the classic Lionel O scale trains of the 40s, 50s, and 60s. Lionel got many people started in the model railroad hobby, and Tamiya did the same for the RC car hobby.
To be fair my friend, the box art was very misleading. The box art never actually represented what was in the box, a little like a big mac picture! However, I would not have been able to get into the hobby without Tamiya! I think it was because it was not able to compete at track level, I fell out of love with Tamiya. The Tamiya I speak of was a tough piece of kit. Thinking back, my Super Sabre was one of the best bashing cars I have ever owned. It only seemed to break things at club meetings, of all places! Cool piece of Tamiya history and the thoughts of others. Thumbs up bud!
Me I loved the realistic look of the buggys ♥️
Why I love Tamiya?
1) You need to build it and that for me is the best of the hobby. Nothing better than a rainy day building a Tamiya Kit
2) The bodies details. No other big brand have bodies so detailed like the Tamiyas. Are scale replicas of a real one. I have de Lancia 037 and is the most beautiful car in my collection.
3) The variety of models that you can find. Some are very emblematic vehicles.
4) Are Japanese and I love japanese products.
#10 is the bug bear for me personally. When you have ocd, those bodies suck. Stickers the same. Think its about time Tamiya at least did pre-cut stickers. Apart from that i agree there is something about Tamiya rc models that is adictive. (very good marketing stratogy).😀
You nailed it gavin and brought back many memories
I still need to build my xv02 and a lancia delta body to suite but can’t help just looking at it in the box before I start build.
Tamiya really were great at marketing. I'm sure you remember the video of the 1:10 scale Hilux trucks pulling a full-size Toyota pick-up. Awesome way to promote their products! The other one I remember is a Super Champ jumping off what seems like a huge cliff edge and then driving away.
Yep I watched the Hilux pulling video the other day.
@@RCKickschannel This is the superb Super Champ promo video: czcams.com/video/Mj-BtNJDtEI/video.html As well as some great beach action including water crossings, check out the jump at 1:18 to see that Tamiya invented bashing before Kevin Talbot was even born!
Brand recognition and familiarity is one reason too. Not just from their static scale model but also from other product lines. One example, Mini4WD. In some parts of the world they're really popular, like massively popular. If you're from region where they never really a thing, you wouldn't be able to comprehend how big the Mini4WD boom is. In fact I'd bet Tamiya made more money from that line from RC, considering how cheap they are to manufacture. Anyway the point is many people are already loyal and familiar with the brand before even considering buying an RC, and when they do it's easy to decide what brand to pick.
Amen brother. 100%
I had a falcon, then a clod then a terra scorcher
I always wanted a lunchbox but couldn’t afford
So in my 40s I first bought a lunchbox rere
Then an original terrascorcher - then hooked
Refurbed a falcon and a clod and now I have over 30 kits
Born in '51. I've forgotten some of the kits. :-) :-) :-)
I'm a 70 and 80's kid. First Tamiya was in 1983. I still love building Tamiya's and collecting certain models. I have wished they would change a few things but I understand why they did. The new Bruiser is alot better than the older one. I have several of those. I'm kinda into more of the newer stuff from them.
Quirkiness just like old German cars it's one of those things that you really don't need a registered trademark for because if you see it you recognize it Gavin you hit it right on the Target I call it the big 🖼️
I do appreciate Tamiya and respect a lot of their history and what they mean to a lot of people. Since I was born in 1998 I have zero nostalgia for it. The main reason why I don’t buy them is because I like to drive my cars hard and the Tamiya kits probably wouldn’t hold to the abuse…. I might still pick one up at some point just cause
I agree with all of it 100% well said
in the 80s there I never heard of any other rc brands in my country only Tamiya. Always wanted 1 then but my parents will not get me one. now my wife says its my back subject so she allows me to have it
My dad let me borrow the money for a monster beetle in the 80’s and I lost the instructions but got it built. This year I lost him and seen the re re monster beetle and without hesitation I got. I am going to build it the way I should have with him 30 plus yeas ago.
What year did tamiya start? And what was the first tamiya made?
My first rc car was a tamiya ranger xlt, loved it, broke it, fitted rough rider body with superchamp wheels /tyres. sold it to afford radio gear for hilux 4x4. Which I still have, Regretted selling it. Bought re re buggy champ. Please tamiya, want re re xlt. Do it, do it, do it now.
Yes their box art was top notch, as well as the catalogues, just made me want a proper chassis from say Team Associated 🤣
Will sound a bit weird, but the smell of opening a new kit. The rubber, the plastics, probably not good but I never get tired of the smell of a new kit.