The 'Maverick' Classic Porsche Forum and Classic Porsche Club for Porsche 356, Aircooled Porsche 911, Porsche 912, Porsche 914 & Porsche Replicas. 'We join for the cars but stay for the people'
Well , ever since I was a young lad where I used to spend Saturday mornings staring in awe at the model kits in Monk Bar model shop in York , I always wanted a Tamiya RC car . Could never afford one and ultimately never had an RC car . My mate next door had a Tamiya Countach that we used to take turns trying to race around the petrol pumps at his dad’s garage forecourt .. I was so jealous of that car , even if the batteries seemed to last about 10 minutes max .
So whilst on holiday the other week, sat by the pool , half way though the audiobook of Bob Mortimers first novel ( brilliant by the way ) I cracked open a before lunch beer and was reminiscing about this with my wife and I surprised by the lack of push back !
To be fair, she was probably relieved for once I wasn’t trying to convince her I needed an actual early ragtop beetle with 356 running gear .
So all these years later, my Tamiya journey has finally started … the kit i had always wanted was ordered….. although the tools arrived first
It’s probably a bit cliche, but I’d always wanted a Sand Scorcher
my daughter popped in and pretty much rolled her eyes at Dad reverting back to being a kid
Anyway, going to build it up in the classic colour scheme and to start with the only mods being the upgraded bearings . I don’t really have the dexterity or finesse for model making so not sure how the body and paint will end up .
Exciting times … heading off to the local model shop soon to buy some plastic cement , paints and a few more plastic model specific tools . I have a feeling this little project is going to be slow
Brilliant idea James. I have to admit to being tempted myself. A good friend of mine has recently got into RC Crawlers. Watching with interest.
Peter
'69 911T UK RHD enjoying since 2002
'86 924S - Gone but not forgotten. Porsche's best kept secret...
'04 911 40th Anniversary now gone
'11 911 GTS manual of course...
Fabulous! I had one back in 1981, given to me by Bill Stringer who was the UK representative from Tamiya R/C models when I was editing Hot Car magazine. I sold it in 2005 for about £70, a little beaten up but complete. Wish I hadn't!
As a complete aside, when one of the boss men from Tamiya came over from Japan, Bill brought him round to my house to show him the GP Buggy I was building at the time. He whipped out this tiny camera and started photographing it from every angle, including underneath. I couldn't work out how – turns out it was an autofocus camera, something I didn't know even existed! The upshot of this was Tamiya introduced the Sand Rover buggy R/C kit, but they based the body on a US buggy rather than my GP. Oh well. But Bill Stringer wanted to buy my Buggy so they could use it as a display in Beatties model shops around the UK. A fair price was agreed, but the deal fell through when they discovered the Buggy was too wide to fit through the doors of most of the shops!
Sorry about that - back to the Sand Scorcher. Have you finished it yet?
Great stuff!!! I well remember one Christmas at least 25+ years ago I had a Sand Scorcher and our sons had Lunch Box and Midnight Pumpkin each. Mrs Middlefour was non too impressed when I set up to spray them in the kitchen!!! Have fun!!
Steve
1970 Silver 914 - Gone but never forgotten........
#1200
Excellent. You’ve inspired me to build something else. Had this since Xmas and never done it, so thought reading this and having no work on, I’ll build this
Keith .. love that story , especially the not being able to get it through the shop doors
Jeremy, thats proper hardcore doing driving to Portugal in a GP !!!
Mark , my youngest daughter has that model thats always in pride of place wherever she's living .. her dream spec 911 , white with red . She's built it turbo spec
Had to nip out this morning to get a paint sample mixed to match some coloured render , so took the long way home via a local model shop. Been a long time since I’ve been in one of these and the owner didn’t disappoint , lovely guy with the thickest lensed glasses I’ve seen in a long time, I assume this is what working on minute models does to your eyesight . Couldn’t believe how many people kept popping in, busy business but arguably a very specific demographic .
All I wanted was the paints, glue etc as described in the instructions plus so more tools … not quite sure how I spent almost £75 !
Its fun to do this stuff with a bit more than just pocket money, patience and skill that comes with age.
Once you'd cleared Christmas Day of visiting grandparents, cousins, aunties and uncles, Boxing day was build day. Get up early, Christmas PJs on, ignite the gas fire, get that NiCad cooking line up the Terry's Choc orange and have it built and painted before it went dark
Gone but not forgotten Tamiya kits, all got thoroughly used:
Wild Willy
Willy's Wheeler
Hotshot
Celica Gr.B - still have the chassis somewhere
Managed to blag a free but rough Chevy Blazer couple of years ago. Not sure what to do with it yet.
When my daughter was about 8 we used to cycle to the local Big House where the R/C car club met every other weekend, mainly nitro but some electric too, overlooking the large lake (Himley Hall).
That Xmas I bought her a Tamiya r/c sand buggy for £5 (pre-loved, little used) and the battery was charged with a timer you wound the spring loaded knob to how many mins charge you wanted.
It was in first class condition.
She loved it, I loved it, and skidding up and down the cul-de-sac here on frozen ice that Xmas was just great.
We (I) still have it, all working after nearly 40 years from when it was new. In 5 years time my grandson will inherit it and the cycle will go round again.
Must try to get it going tomorrow!
73T 911 Coupe, road/hillclimber 3.2L
Lola t 492 / 3.2 hillclimb racer
Boxster 987 Gen II 2.9
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