TOPIC:

Thanks to olds RC cars.
They gave the idea to the creator of the Kitchenaid...

But what's this?



It's got the same MSC as that 4WD Chevy, semi-trailing arm rear suspension and what looks like double wishbone fronts. And what about those weird body mounts?

Bingo!




Looks like the same chassis as this, which seems a bit more stylish:



I'm tempted to have a punt - badword you Tamiyabase!

OK heres what I think, at some stage a previous owner has either bought a few parts and made the rest id damaged some and made new. From what I can ascertain ut is a Kyosho-Graupner circuit 20.

Problem is the brand on my tyre is Michelin and on these its Goodyear ????

That's raised a burning question - what year were these released? - Doesn't that Baja California buggy look awfully similar to Tamiya's Rough Rider? I wonder which came first & which was the rip-off?

Y'know how I said these early cars all look similar to me? - Just found another currently on Ebay UK, item 190733260500, a Thunder Tiger Challenger, apparently.
I didn't realize Thunder Tiger were about so early, I thought they were a late 90s thing?

Me to Eddrick.
I knew Thunder tiger when they worked with Model Racing Car( MRC a french trade wich created the Rabbit) with the Patriot 1/8th and the cup series 1/10th.

First of all I'm very single minded about Tamiya so haven't spent any energy researching other brands...
So it's interesting to learn how much Kysoho and Graupner are intertwined.

Could it be the wheels are from another model?
The Racing Baja has Dunlops...

Let's check Kyoshobase for the year of origin.
I do find it an interesting subject...

I knew Kyosho & Ripmax were fairly close, I didn't realise Graupner had been involved too - kinda suggests Kyosho concentrate on making stuff, but team up with a popular/successful name to shift it.
I've tried to buy stuff from Kyosho directly in the past, & it appears that they won't deal with the individual, you have to buy via an agent (ie Ripmax, at the time).
I'll bet if Graupner have been involved, Robbe will have at some point too.
One could say Kyosho models are mongrels?
Here's an interesting quest then Edou - see if you can find out who made the first proper RC car (ie freely-drivable, not tether cars) - perhaps it was Mardave, & they're still using the same design/parts....

Well... that's what wikipedia is for.
One can question the reliability of course...

They wrote:

Early Commercial Products

Several early commercially viable R/C cars were available by mid-1966, produced by the Italian company El-Gi (Elettronica Giocattoli) from Reggio Emilia. Their first model, a 1:12 Ferrari 250LM was available in the UK in December 1966, through importers Motor Books and Accessories, St. Martins, London, and early in 1967 through Atkinson's model shop in Swansea. This model was followed by El-Gi's 1:10 Ferrari P4, first shown at the Milan Toy Fair in early 1968.

In the mid-late 60s a British company, Mardave, based in Leicester, began to produce commercially viable RC Cars. Their first cars were nitro- or gas-powered cars sold in the local area in the early 70s.

In the early 70s several commercial products were created by small firms in the US. Most of these companies began as slot car companies and with the wane in popularity of that genre moved into the R/C field. Among these were Associated Electrics, Thorp, Dynamic, Taurus, Delta, and Scorpion. These early kits were 1/8 scale nitro-powered (then called gas) aluminum flat pan cars powered by a .21 or smaller engine. The bodies for these cars were made of polycarbonate (the most popular made of Lexan). The most popular engine was the K&B Veco McCoy. The primary sanctioning body for races for these cars was Radio Operated Automobile Racing (ROAR). In 1973-74, Jerobee, a company based in Washington State, created their 1/12 nitro car using a Cox .049 engine. Several aftermarket companies created parts for this car including clear Lexan bodies, heat sinks, and larger fuel tanks. This scale evolved into 1/12 scale electric racing when Associated Electrics created the RC12E in 1976-77. Jerobee became Jomac and created their own electric kit.

In 1976, the Japanese firm Tamiya, which was renowned for their intricately detailed plastic model kits, released a series of elegant and highly detailed, but mechanically simple electric on-road car models that were sold as "suitable for radio control". Although rather expensive to purchase, the kits and radio systems sold rapidly. Tamiya soon began to produce more purpose-built remote-controlled model cars, and were the first to release off-road buggies featuring real suspension systems. It was this progression toward the off-road class that brought about much of the hobby's popularity, as it meant radio-controlled cars were no longer restricted to bitumen and smooth surfaces, but could be driven virtually anywhere. The first true Tamiya off road vehicles were the Sand Scorcher and the Rough Rider, both released in 1979, and both based on realistic dune buggy designs. Tamiya continued to produce off road vehicles in increasing numbers, featuring working suspensions, more powerful motors, textured off-road rubber tires and various stylized "dune buggy" bodies. They also produced trucks, such as the Toyota HiLux Pickup, that featured realistic 3 speed gearboxes and leaf-spring suspension systems. All of these models were realistic, durable, easy to assemble, capable of being modified, and simple to repair. They were so popular that they could be credited with launching a boom in radio-controlled model cars in the early to mid 1980s, and provided the basis for today's radio-controlled car market. Popular Tamiya models included the Grasshopper and the Hornet dune buggies as well as the Blackfoot and Clodbuster monster truck models. The earliest Tamiya models, particularly the early off roaders, are now highly sought after by vintage R/C collectors and can fetch prices of up to US$3000 on internet auction sites if still in mint, unbuilt form. Acknowledging their continued popularity, several of the early kits have even been re-released by Tamiya during 2005-2007, with a few alterations.

A British firm, Schumacher Racing, was the first to develop an adjustable ball differential in 1980, which allowed nearly infinite tuning for various track conditions. At the time the majority of on-road cars had a solid axle, while off-road cars generally had a gear-type differential. Team Associated followed suit with the introduction of the RC10 off-road racing buggy in 1984. Team Losi followed with the introduction of the JRX2 in 1988.