TOPIC:

Hello there! My name is Eric but I've gone by Blakbird on the Internet for as long as there has been an Internet. Here's a brief history of my RC life. Unlike many of you, I didn't really have RC's as a kid. I have 6 siblings and we couldn't afford them. I remember having a "remote control" rather than "radio control" car which means it had a tether cord and only one channel. You could go forward or reverse, and a caster made the car turn right when going backwards. To go left you had to go 270 degrees. It was not impressive, but I was always fascinated by the idea of having a "real" RC.

At various times in my adulthood I dabbled with RC, but looking back now I chose the worst possible places to dabble. My first real RC was a 1/8th scale nitro buggy kit from Thunder Tiger that my wife got me for my birthday. Coolest gift ever, but I had no idea what I was doing. I am an Aeropace Engineer so building it was no problem, but the first shock was figuring out how much support equipment I needed. I needed a glow plug and a warmer and a starter and a battery and charger for the starter and fuel and a fuel bottle and ad naseum. And then I coudln't really get it to run right because the instructions said effectively "if it doesn't run right it is too lean" and then "if it doesn't run right it is too rich". Between my inability to get it to run and my inability to find a place to run it that didn't annoy everyone it didn't last very long. Years later I bought an HPI Savage and had the same problem. It was super cool and fun to build, but I didn't know how to make it run properly so it sat on the shelf. I didn't have any mentors to show me what to do. Later I got a Traxxas E-Revo. Now that was a different animal. Electric was easy and that model was fast and fun. I didn't get the joy of building it though and then I started to have kids and didn't have time.

When I start a hobby I tend to go all in. Over the years I've done woodworking, automotive restoration, making homemade telescopes, amateur rocketry, and collecting LEGO Technic sets. After I got to the point of having collected every Technic set ever made in the 40 year history of the brand, I wrote a website documenting them all. What would come next to hold my interest? RC!!!

I started RC in a big way and almost immediately went crazy. Within a month I had built a kit from all the major brands and very quickly Tamiya stood out as the winner. This is not because Tamiya cars are the most crazy fast or highly performing, but because they are the most fun. The Tamiya catalog has every kind of vehicle you could want from areas as diverse and tractor trucks to tanks to buggies to touring cars. I don't even know what to call the Konghead. When I discovered the re-released classics I knew I had found my calling. I bought ALL the re-re's in the buggy and truck categories and still have about 30 on my shelf waiting to be built. It has been a fun ride and I am looking forward to staying on it.

I've been documenting my collection so far and my future plans at my web site below:
www.technicopedia.com/RC/

Eric

Nice projects Eric. Now you have all the rere. Why don't you interest to original? Several have differences and like you did with real cars, restorations are very atracting.
Still welcome on board

stingray-63 wrote:

Nice projects Eric. Now you have all the rere. Why don't you interest to original? Several have differences and like you did with real cars, restorations are very atracting.
Still welcome on board

Oh man, don't let my wife hear you suggest that. The short answer is I had to start somewhere and the re-re's were (mostly) easily available to buy. Being new to the community I had no idea where to even start looking for vintage cars much less the parts I would need to restore them. I may end up there some day. For now I will learn by building. I admit to being very interested in the history and seeing how each model evolved into the next and what cultural and technological factors drove the changes. I suspect I would quite enjoy the restoration process. The second reason is probably that mine is a working collection. I don't have any shelf queens; I drive everything I build. If I were to restore a 30 year old model to newish condition it would be hard to convince myself to drive it.

Even with the re-re's I've not had 100% success in finding them. I would really like the 30th anniversary Porsche (49400) but haven't found one available for remotely close to what I would pay. I haven't been able to find the Thundershot (58361) at all, oddly, for any price. Maybe I just don't know where to look. Not sure why that one would be so rare compared to the others. It is a 58xxx series and not a limited.

This site has been a gold mine of information. I've spent countless hours researching. I've become aware of some of the difference. For example, the re-re Avante is a pretty good match for the original, but the Wild Willy bears only superficial resemblance to the original. Same for the Holiday Buggy.

The thundershot is easy to find and relatively cheap to restore. Take a look on the bay. Here you should find all advices you need and members are very friendly.

stingray-63 wrote:

The thundershot is easy to find and relatively cheap to restore. Take a look on the bay. Here you should find all advices you need and members are very friendly.

Thanks. I'm sure I could find an original for restoration, but at the moment my collection is the re-re's and I want to build them so I am looking for New in Box. That's the hard part. I've had an open search on eBay for about a month but haven't come up with any hits yet.

Is the 30 porsche the same shell as the 40th anniversary with different decals?
The 40th is a nice kit aswell.

waterbok wrote:

Is the 30 porsche the same shell as the 40th anniversary with different decals?
The 40th is a nice kit aswell.

Good question. I have the 40th Anniversary kit which is a TA-02SW shaft drive chassis. According to the instructions the shell is 11824141. The 30th Anniversary is a totally different TA-05 belt drive chassis with a lot of aluminum upgrade parts. Shell is 1825465 so apparently not the same. Somebody with both would have to speak to the difference.

So how crazy a person are we dealing with here? Let me elaborate. If you were to meet a new Tamiya fan and they asked you which kit they should start with, you'd probably recommend something simple. Maybe a Hornet. Or a Blackfoot. Did I start with those? No. Why start with the easiest when you can start with the hardest?! The first 3 Tamiya models I built, in order are:

• King Hauler with MFC and trailer
• 
• Leopard 2A6 Full Option Kit
• 
• Bruiser
• 

Crazy? Yes. But I'm having a blast.

Yeahhhhh!!!!! The king hauler. The first trailer truck

blakbird wrote:

Why start with the easiest when you can start with the hardest?!

So cool, jump right into the deep. If you want a challenge try the 1/35 tamiya RC Panther G.


Oh and very nice paintjobs on the lot

edit: your website is ace, love the lego bit