TOPIC:

The 58015 Rough Rider from 1979 was the first off road RC buggy Tamiya ever produced.  Like all the other models Tamiya was releasing at the time, this one was based on a real life vehicle, in this case the Funco SS II Baja buggy from Bob Maynard racing.  Some time between design and production the link to Bob Maynard was lost and the livery was changed to Rob Mitchell Racing, but it is still clearly the same car.  The real SS II is based on the suspension and engine from a VW Beetle welded onto a tube frame chassis.  Like the original, the model uses trailing arm front suspension and swing arm rear suspension (resulting in variable camber).  Not only is this the first RC buggy chassis ever, but it is virtually all made from metal.  The bottom plate is fiber reinforced plastic (FRP), but all the suspension and gearbox components appear to be cast aluminum.  The wheels are an innovative 3-piece beadlock design.  The hard body was originally styrene, but the updated version is ABS.  The model includes a driver and a simulated engine exhaust for detail.  The electronics are all sealed in a clear plastic case which sits centered on the chassis.  This is a rear wheel drive buggy without any differential so handling can be exciting.  The shocks are oil filled, a first at the time.  Unlike most Tamiya kits it does not use a 6-cell stick battery pack but a smaller, almost square pack.  I had to get creative to find something that would fit.

This model was re-issused as 58441 Buggy Champ in 2009.  Note the name change.  There is some indication that it was always called Buggy Champ in Japan and the Rough Rider name was only for foreign markets.  This makes a certain amount of sense since the Super Champ came later with a similar name.  The model is true to the original in most respects, but the original mechanical speed controller has been replaced with an ESC which eliminates the need for an extra servo and a receiver battery pack.  This leaves a lot of room inside the electronics box.  By the time I was looking the updated models were sold out and could not be found for any reasonable price.  However, there were also a pair of special editions released in 2011: an 84162 Gold Edition and an 84187 Silver Edition.  From what I can tell, these are just the same model with the body painted; it is not molded in another color.  These didn't appear to sell very well, because the silver edition was still available for a not entirely unreasonable price which is what I bought.  I figured I would just paint the original color over it.  In the end, I bought a separate body kit and sold the silver body.  Later in 2018 Tamiya did another production run of the 2009 re-re so I could have got a better deal if I had waited.  That's usually not true though.

There are a handful of upgrades available for this including a rear differential to swap out the solid locker, but I decided to leave mine mostly stock for the nostalgia value.

The SRB chassis of the Buggy Champ is identical to that of the Sand Scorcher which I've already documented in detail.  Please see that page for more information.  I'll only discuss the relevant differences here.

The Buggy Champ comes in a very large box.  It's not that this average sized model really requires all that space, but as you can see presentation was given priority in the packaging.  You can see the silver edition painted body in the center.
The SRB chassis is mostly metal and FRP, so there are only a handful of plastic parts, the most significant of which is the clear electronics box.  Most of the primary mechanical parts are in blister packs as shown.
Here is the completed chassis both before and after the electronics have been installed.  This model originally used a hump pack which was 5-cells wide, so a normal stick pack won't fit.  These re-released SRB models were designed to use a small Tamiya Li-Fe pack that does not exist outside of Japan, so I use a little Li-Po (1300mAh) with a Hobbywing 1060 controller.
The silver body didn't work for me aesthetically at all, but I was able to find a factory body kit which is shown on the right.  I'll sell the silver one when I get a chance.
Here is the completed car.  The body always looked more red than orange on the box to me, but it is certainly orange in real life.  The white stripes are stickers.  I considered doing these as paint which would be more durable, but the stickers actually look pretty good.

It was my intention to leave this model pretty much box stock, but I bought these aluminum wheels from RC Channel for it years ago and I think they are a nice addition.
Here are some before and after pictures of the wheels.  I think the metal wheels look a lot better, but they are not 3 piece locking wheels like the originals.  I did not glue the tires since this is not a high powered model.

This is a good looking buggy that is very realistic.  I hope I can keep it looking good.  This is a major piece of Tamiya history.
Here are a couple of pictures of real Funco SS II's including a Bob Maynard version which clearly inspired the Buggy Champ.

I love the srb never been able to run one but I'll be happy to try one