Gear: Tamiya RC Cars Recreate Street and Race Classics In Miniature

Tamiya RC Cars Recreate Street and Race Classics In Miniature

By Petrolicious
July 22, 2013

One of the coolest automotive sub-hobbies has to be messing around with RC cars. All the things that attract us to full-size machines are there, only in miniature—exquisite engineering, speed, the ability to endlessly tune and tinker, and thanks to Tamiya’s dedication to the classics, style too.

Bodies accurately recalling classic Minis, various Datsuns, Porsches, and Abarth-tuned Fiats, Lancia Stratoses and Delta Integrales, vintage BMWs of all shapes—even Unimogs are represented by a wide selection of Lexan kits readily available at hobby shops and through countless online sources.

When mounted atop a line of chassis ranging from entry level to pro-am, there’s a sweet spot for all experience levels and budgets, and with an extensive list of performance upgrades available for even the least inexpensive kits, they’ll easily hold your interest long after the initial break-in period. Regardless of your favorite motorsport flavor, Tamiya has you covered with RWD, AWD, and even FWD kits tuned for everything from endurance, to rally, Formula 1, and touring car classes.

Head on over to eBay, Tower Hobbies, or Amazon to get started, and remember to compare prices for the best deal.

Photo Sources: rcworld.ch, tamiyausa.com

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CJ David
CJ David
11 years ago

I seriously want to build a Tamiya McLaren MP4 someday.

I should probably get my Lunch Box and all of my Losi trucks running again first though.

Terrence Dorsey
Terrence Dorsey
11 years ago

I used to have the most amazing all-carbon Kawada SV10 and Tamiya F104 setups back in the day, and raced them with decent results (locally… nothing approaching what the big boys could do). Tried to step up to 1/12 on-road competition, but it was way over my abilities.

The accurate bodies available today are very slick, but I wonder how well they hold up to actual use. Back in the day I’d just buy whatever was cheap and fit, give it a quick two-tone fade paint job and go racing. They got pretty banged up after a few weeks.

Christopher
Christopher
11 years ago

Absolutely love RC cars from Tamiya and others. I also love Tamiya’s scale models where you had to assemble and paint them. My first was a 1:24 Lamborghini Countach, I dry sanded that beauty and the finish was mirror like deep blue. =)
My brother and I collected mostly monster trucks for RCs… such as Tamiya Bruiser and the Lunch Box. All our collection was such a joy. Good memories =)

Josh Clason
Josh Clason
11 years ago
Reply to  Christopher

I never had a Tamiya but had a Kyosho back in the day as my first r/c car. I still have a Losi and an HPI kicking around in storage somewhere.

Josh Clason
Josh Clason
11 years ago

That Porsche body is amazing.

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