Platinum_Racing

I just finished up building my Tamiya Eunos Roadster (I know, I'm not in the same league as hardcore touring racers, call be a Tamiya basher conniseur). It's a pretty cool little car. I like it, but it's not really a good racer or anything like that... more like another collectable Tamiya car for the enthusiasts (Like myself). It's based off the M04M chassis and has a very realistic body and tire combo. All in all it's a sweet little ride, slow, horrible electronics, but then again..... I save my spektrums for my good racers. Hopefully I'll have more pics soon, but for now these should do the trick...

http://www.TeamPlatinumRacing.com/EunosRoadster.html

Well, what do you guys think?


On top of your opinions, lets turn this into a discussion about kits VS. RTR's... I've always leaned towards the kits because it gets you involved more heavily and can strengthen your knowledge in R/C in general, and your specific vehicle. The first kit someone does generally doesn't turn out all that great at first.... There's a lot of tuning, a lot of re-building, but eventually the person building gets it right and doesn't have to ever make that mistake again. Is my line of thinking on par with everyone elses, or is this whole thing just an over complicated way of looking at the hobby? This may be a strange place for a thread like this, but I think it'll spark some conversation. This seems especially true since all good touring cars are kits anyway, and we have some pretty hardcore racers here. At least back in the off-road section you can have a REVO race truck, but here....... Yeah right. I prefer kits myself, but I don't think the hobby would've advanced quite so quickly as it has without the introduction of fun to drive, zippy little RTR's. Kits are far superior in terms of build quality and overall chassis equipment, but still..... Americans especially are lazy as Hell, so the less work we have to do to reach a specific goal the better. RTR's take the work out of it, so now you have newbies starting out that will hopefully get into this on a more serious basis. Who knows, maybe they will gain so much confidance that their next purchase may just be a kit.

vtl1180ny

It looks cool but it also looks like it's forcing you to use stick packs.

I've owned numerous Tamiya's and to me they always were and always will be the toy side of the hobby. Even if we could get their TC's locally I don't think I'd buy one because of that feeling...

RTR's are a new trend and honestly I don't like buying an RTR either... To me it's just more crap (the radio) I need to store or sell off... The few RTR's I bought, I've come home and stripped out the radio's before even using them (T-maxx, MGT...) I've been in this hobby for way too long, I don't need the instant woody of watching an RTR RC do 70 in a huge parking lot...

Platinum_Racing

I agree completely... The instant woody thing gave me a chuckle though....

As far as them being the toy side of the hobby, this is true for many of their vehicles, but some other vehicles have started cult like followings that are still widely followed today. I have fallen victim to some of these cults as well, like with my Bruiser especially.

And yes, this car is like many others from Tamiya..... Your forced to use stick packs... So all my race packs won't fit it...

cartix

iTrader: (36)

I too have just finished building the Eunos kit, I need to paint the body now. This chassis with it's enclosed gearbox and the M03's are perfect for running on an unprepared parking lot. Get a couple of these together, layout a track, drop some 3300's in and race forever.
I've been in the hobby since '94 and always had a couple of Tamaiy sedans in the collection. Right now I have 3 M03's, 2 FF01's and the M04.

vtl1180ny:
Interesting that you consider all Tamiya kits toy grade, with the 415 is winning World Championships etc.

Platinum_Racing

That's why I said I wouldn't mind having myself a 415...... Tamiya didn't go toy grade there.....

I need to find some passable stick packs though..... I also need some for my other Tamiya cars, but all I really have is this old Dynamite 2000 for my TT02 and seriously, probably 40 or so matched GP packs and a couple matched IB4200's. All my good packs are for racing.......

gijoe64

iTrader: (30)

RTR's are the distruction of this hobby, it makes people that would other wise learn how to work and in joy their RC vehicle to just open the box play with it for a week and toss it into the trash once they can't get it to work anymore.

Francis M.

iTrader: (2)

I like kits my self but I also think that RTR's are a good way of getting people in the hobby. Some will put it away like you said but there is also a good portion that stays with the hobby. I think the Monster truck scene has the most RTR's on the market and look how popular that has become racing wise.

"Americans being lazy", I don't know if this is accurate because Americans have a busier day to day schedule when you compare it to the majority of the world. So R/C is what it is a Hobby that you do on your spare time. Americans just happen to have less of it (time).

vtl1180ny

But that's been my experience with Tamiya... I don't doubt the 415 but then again the top drivers could kick our butts with a Nikko... hahaha.... We really don't have Tamiya support around here for their TC's...

The only Tamiya I have left is my Blackfoot, which has been on a shelf for a long time... I've been eyeing the semi's for years and I may just get a Knight Hauler this year and do a complete scale buildup on it, the Hi Lift F350 looks good too, now if I could get a Dodge Quad Cab body to match my daily driver I'd be in heaven...

Robertw321

iTrader: (1)

I run the races for my local HobbyTown and I love RTR's. When a spectator asks how much it costs to get started I don't have to tell him he's looking at $2000.00 worth of equipment on my table. I can tell him I can get him started with a XXXS or TC4 RTR for $350.00. If this person turns out to be a true enthusiast he will learn to take it apart and put it back together properly. He will upgrade. He will learn to set it up. He will learn how to race. If it turns out he is not a true enthusiast, or racing is not his cup of tea selling him a high end kit won't change that. He won't invest the time to learn. Nothing will change that. As I see it RTR's are a win win situation. The true enthusiast will stick with it. If they are not, I will have had another racer for at least a few weeks and he will have a car, that he didn't drop a ton of money on, that he can still play with in a parking lot. Try that with your insert high end car here.

Platinum_Racing

Hopefully the RTR will eventually push the person into a kit someday. Those little Hasbro nitro cars are what scares me..... There's RTR vehicles, then theirs R/C blasphemy. That is R/C blasphemy.