Category Archives: Customized Builds

Tamiya Mini 4WD provisional regulation changes announced

Tamiya hereby announces changes to the regulations for Tamiya Official Mini 4WD races in Japan, which are provisionally to be in force for 2018 New Year and Spring races.

■Mini F Series Regulations ■

In order to keep Tamiya’s Mini 4WD race competitions fun, exciting, and fair, we have developed a set of competition regulations. All participants of official Mini 4WD race events are required to abide by these regulations.

Mini 4WD races are not just about being the fastest, it’s also about using your head and having good set-up techniques. Not only do you challenge other racers, but you challenge yourself too. By remembering the spirit of fair play, you can learn how to race honorably and with good manners. Therefore, we hope that every Mini 4WD fan will abide by these regulations.

※Latest changes (December 2017): Section 3: Machine Measuring System
★The limit on the number of rollers (was previously 6) has been removed.
★The limits on positioning of rotating mass dampers have been removed.
Please note that these special rules will provisionally apply to 2018 New Year and Spring races only. An announcement about their continuation or otherwise will be made at a later date.

【１】Machines

1. Usable Machine Types

Only Mini 4WD REV, Mini 4WD PRO, Racing Mini 4WD, Super Mini 4WD, Fully-Cowled Mini 4WD, Aero Mini 4WD, Mighty Mini 4WD, R/C Mini 4WD, and Truckin’ Mini 4WD machines are permitted. Further restrictions on machine types may be possible depending on the race event or race class.

2. Machine Assembly

All machines must be four-wheel drive. Modifications that result in rear-wheel or front-wheel drive are prohibited. Bodies should have stickers applied or be painted, and must be securely attached to the chassis. Please be warned that bodies which are particularly small, or those which it is difficult to check are painted or have stickers applied, may be prohibited. Home-made bodies are prohibited. All machines must go through car inspection and machines that do not pass inspection cannot participate in the race. As a general rule, machines must be assembled by the racer. Some exceptions may be applied. Please ask Race Officials.

3. Machine Measuring System

All machines must have a 4WD setup and will be subject to the same measuring system as shown below.

Maximum Car Width: Under 105mm
Overall Car Height: Under 70mm
Overall Car Length: Under 165mm
Minimum Ground Clearance: At least 1mm
Minimum Car Weight (including batteries and motor): At least 90g
Front and Rear Tires: Diameter: 22-35mm, Width: 8-26mm (Note that tires must be attached.)
Rollers: There is no limit on the amount of rollers that can be used.
(★Effective for 2018 New Year & Spring races)
Mass Dampers: The installation positions of rotating mass dampers are no longer limited.
(★Effective for 2018 New Year & Spring races)

When adding parts to the bumpers, side guards or the chassis, please note the zone restrictions below.
※Definition of Bumpers – For MS chassis, the bumper is the section on the Front or Rear Unit not including the Bumperless Unit. On other chassis, bumpers are the sections forward and rearward of the front and rear gearboxes respectively.
※Definition of Side Guards – Parts that extend from the sides of the chassis between the front and rear tires.

Parts which extend around the outside of the wheels to completely frame the chassis are not allowed.
Parts attached to the front bumper cannot extend past the line of the front axle.
Parts attached to the rear bumper cannot extend past the line of the rear axle.
Parts attached to the side guards must remain within the lines shown: (back edge of Front Tire & front edge of Rear Tire)
Chassis: Extension parts which are attached to the chassis itself are subject to the same zone restrictions as similar parts attached to the bumpers or side guards.

※There are no rules for parts which pass above or within the outside edges of the tires.
※There are no rules for mounting rollers, etc. to the body as long as they are above the level of the wheel axles. If they extend below this line, they will be subject to the same limits as parts which are attached to side guards.

4. Motor

Machines may use the kit-included normal motor, Rev-Tuned Motor, Torque-Tuned Motor, Atomic-Tuned Motor, Sprint-Dash Motor, Power-Dash Motor, Hyper-Dash 2 Motor, Hyper Mini Motor, Light-Dash Motor, Hyper-Dash 3 Motor, Rev-Tuned 2 Motor, Torque-Tuned 2 Motor and Atomic-Tuned 2 Motor. Mini 4WD PRO machines may only use the kit-included normal motor or motors designed for use with the Mini 4WD PRO series.
Depending on the race event, other Tamiya motors may be permitted.
For speed-limited race events or classes, if your speed exceeds the allowed limit, even the above motors may not be installed.
Disassembling the motor to change the number of coils and other such illegal modifications are prohibited.
If there are indications that the motor cap has been detached, it will be judged as being illegally modified.

5. Batteries
Only Tamiya-branded R6/AA/UM3 batteries are permitted. R/C Mini 4WD cars and TR-1 chassis cars may use alkaline batteries only. If the battery appears to be damaged in any way, they will not be accepted for safety reasons. Please note that some events may have different rules regarding which types or brands of batteries can be used.

6. Modifications

Please follow the guidelines below when modifying your car. Also note that for modifications not listed, race officials will have the final absolute authority to grant or deny their use.

  1. Chassis modifications are limited to cutting away plastic material or cutting holes out of the stock chassis. Homemade chassis and homemade parts are prohibited.
  2. Parts used for modification are limited to Tamiya Mini 4WD, R/C Mini 4WD, and Dangun Racer parts only.
  3. Part modifications are limited to cutting away the material or making holes in the stock part.

[NOTE] Original part shape must be clearly identifiable.
In the following cases, it will be considered that the original part shape is not identifiable:
※Modifications to the part shape on carbon plates, FRP plates or metal parts (including modifications to shaft or pin shape).
In the following cases, it will be considered that the original part shape is identifiable:
※Modifications to parts that keep the original part shape, such as simply cutting away the material, or enlarging or adding parts attachment holes.
※Opening holes or painting on the top side of the rollers.
※Modifying or cutting tire material (changing the material properties of the tire surface is prohibited. Combining different sizes or materials of tires is allowed. However, please make sure that they do not fall apart during running).
※Using motor parts is allowed (motor disassembly is not recommended).

4. Gear modifications are limited to making holes or shaving away material to reduce weight and installing ball bearings. All running gears must be installed according to the set gear ratios.
5. Only kit-included battery terminals or Grade-Up Part battery terminals, installed according to the instruction manuals, may be used. Soldering or double-plated terminals are prohibited.
6.Modifications that cause physical harm to the track, cause injury to any person, or release grease and/or other substances onto the track are all prohibited.
7. Modifications to the tire’s shape are allowed if they comply with the Car Measuring System outlined above. However, changing the material properties of the tire surface (including, but not limited to, applying glue or other substances to the tire surface) are prohibited.

【 2 】 Race Courses
For courses which satisfy the below specifications and are sanctioned by Tamiya, times recorded during races will be officially recognized. All times recorded on original courses that do not meet these requirements will be considered unofficial.

Individual Lane Width: 115mm (measured on a straight section)
Course Wall Height: 50mm (measured from road surface)
Adjusting the height and lane width of lane change sections, bank turn sections, etc. for smoother racing operations is permitted.

【 3 】 For Competitions at Official Race Courses
The start of the race will be indicated by a signal from a Tamiya race official or a starting signal system. Racers will switch on their cars, hold them in the air with one hand, and drop them vertically into their assigned lane at the start signal. Throwing or pushing the car forward is prohibited.
A racer will immediately retire from a race if their car leaves the track, flips over, jumps into another lane, or if their car’s body detaches during the race.
If race officials determine that a racer’s car is blocking the progress of faster machines, the racer will be required to retire.
A car’s race is completed when it reaches the finish line.
Qualifying and Final positions are determined by either the race finishing order or Time Attack time.

【 4 】 Car Inspection
All racers must have their car inspected by race officials before the race. If any part of the car is determined to be against race regulations, the racer must make the necessary changes in order to participate in the race.
From the time the car passes the car inspection to when the race begins, the car’s settings must not be changed and no modifications can be made.
In addition to the pre-race car inspection, other car inspections may occur at any time during the race day at the race official’s discretion. If the car is found to be in violation of the race regulations at any of these inspections, the racer’s race results up to that point will be disqualified and the racer must make necessary changes in order to participate in subsequent races.
If a machine does not pass car inspection, and cannot be made race-legal, the participant can still take part in the Qualifying rounds for their own benefit, but their times will not be recorded.

【 5 】 Disqualification
If any of the following situations occur, race officials will, at their discretion, have absolute authority to disqualify any racer. Please take care to remember the common manners for a Mini 4WD race to avoid any problems.

A racer’s car is determined to have modifications that will cause physical harm to other racers, other cars, or the race track.
A racer’s car is determined to have modifications that are designed to deliberately obstruct other cars.
A racer deliberately puts grease or other substances onto the track to affect track surface conditions.
A racer is determined to have modified their car after it had passed the car inspection.
A racer is determined to have deliberately touched the track or cars to impede other racers’ race progress.
A racer does not follow the instructions of race officials or otherwise impedes the operations of the race track.
A racer has a false start, or is determined to have thrown or pushed their cars forward at the start of a race.
A racer is determined to have acted against the spirit of fair play or caused distress to other participants.

【 6 】 Race Operations
Participants may raise objections to the race officials. However, these objections must be made before the next race begins.
Race officials reserve the right to announce the use of special regulations at any time during the race.

【 7 】 Participant Restrictions
Please be aware that some races have age limitations, so it may be that some participants cannot take part in certain classes or races.
Except for endurance races, it is against regulations to have more than 2 racers using the same car.

Toyota builds a modern, full-size Tamiya Bruiser


During the 1/10-scale, off-road RC boom of the 1980s, toymaker Tamiya’s bread and butter came from the demand for such memorable machines as the Frog, Grasshopper, Fox, Hornet, and Blackfoot; but the company also sold more mechanically advanced radio-controlled cars, like its all-wheel-drive Porsche 959 replica and, of course, the Toyota Hilux–based Bruiser, a metal-framed beast with a leaf-spring suspension and a three-speed gearbox. In a fit of nostalgia, Toyota commissioned a full-size replica of the radio-controlled pickup based on its current Hilux offering.

American kids weren’t the only ones who went nuts for Tamiya’s plastic models and radio-controlled cars, buggies, and trucks during the Reagan administration. The youth in Thatcherite Britain had quite a soft spot for the things, too. While the Hilux moniker has long ago fallen into disuse in the USA—its role now filled by the Tacoma—British ’Yota enthusiasts still do their four-wheeling Hilux style. And in a goofy genius move, Toyota cribbed cues from the Bruiser that was introduced in 1985, upsized them, and applied them to the modern truck. To wit, the thing features a to-scale antenna pole mounted in the bed, wound in a loose spiral with cable, just as an RC car’s receiver wire would be wrapped around the little car’s aerial rod.

Also mounted in the bed is a replica of the Bruiser’s utilitarian on/off switch. Other, accents, however, are a bit more in the realm of smoke and mirrors. Unable to source and unwilling to fabricate rear-window louvers for the modern Hilux, the backlight makes do with a vinyl appliqué. And while the full-size Bruiser sports a correct double-tube rear bumper, the front wears only a tubular bull bar, while white stripes on the bumper evoke the rest of the toy truck’s front-end treatment.

To pay lip service to the Tamiya truck’s monstrous stance, Toyota went to Arctic Trucks for their AT35 conversion, which includes Fox shocks and a set of 17-inch wheels shod with 305/80 BFGoodrich Mud-Terrain T/As. Unlike the original, which the hapless builder had to prep and paint on the outside (unlike the less detailed paint-on-the-inside Lexan bodies so many RC cars wear), Toyota went with a Diamond Blue Metallic vinyl wrap wearing the Bruiser’s livery. It did, however, make use of a domed gel to replicate an era-correct embossed Toyota tailgate. Rather than an electric motor, the full-size Bruiser carries a 2.4-liter diesel engine to do its saintly rock-clambering, forest-bashing duty. Is it nerdy? Absolutely. Is it fun? For certains. Does our demand for ’80s-style Tamiyayota accuracy have us looking wistfully at the reissued Bruiser kit? You bet your charging boar it does.

Sources: Car and Driver and Toyota UK

Tamiya Plamodel Factory 17th Modeler Competition Part 2

Model Art Prize Hidenaga Asahina “Can Spray Modeling”

This time the can spray was the theme, so we made a storm that will be stored in a can spray.
Of course the painting is also a can spray.
This idea incorporating the can spray itself into the work remained in the eye of Model Art ☆

Mr. Asahina was awarded. It was difficult to cut the cans cleanly.
We got a new discovery that the inside of a can is like this.
Congratulations ☆

Tamiya Prize General Department Shigeyo Nagase “BMW R75 / 5”

The Tamiya Prize general department is “BMW R75 / 5” by Mr. Shigeyo Nagase.
All are painted with can spray as well.
Silver color is painted using various silver colors such as aluminum silver, silver leaf, silver metal and so on.
Complex green is finished in a distinctive color by applying clear orange from the top of the candy green.

Mr. Nagase who was awarded.
Can spray is not a substitute for airbrush! It tells firmly that it is.

Tamiya Award Military Division Naoki Hirai “Pig stealer! (Pig thief)”

Tamiya Award Military department is Naozaki Hirai’s diorama, “Pig stealer! (Pig thief)”.
Both tanks and figures are made very carefully and I feel that they are very used to making dioramas such as expressions of the ground, grass and water.
In addition to its reliable technology, the accent that originally had a piglet in a figure of a soldier with a gun makes the diorama interesting.

Mr. Hirai received the award. Congratulations ☆
The smile is wonderful! (From Mr. Komori)

Source in Japanese language: Tamiya Plamodel Factory

Tamiya Top Force (2017) – may the force be with you

From time to time we´re presenting some builds, mostly of Tamiya’s great range of re-releases. Today, we will show you the Top Force buggy which is Tamiya’s 100th RC Kit (1991) and was first re-released in 2006.

Now Tamiya did it again. The Top Force (2017) is back to show his potential.

The so called “Vintage Racing” scene becomes more and more popular. And it’s good to see other manufacturers following Tamiya re-releasing their classic cars from back in the 80´s and 90´s.

The Top Force, and especially the later released Top Force Evolution was Tamiya´s answer for the very popular off road racing scene in the early 90’s. It’s based on the classic Manta Ray chassis (which itself is based on the TA01/TA02 touring cars), but comes with a double deck FRP chassis and damper stays, ball diffs, steel prop shaft, Lexan undercowl and universal shafts for the front end. The body looks like a big wing, which gives the Top Force a very aerodynamic and aggressive look.

But that’s history. How good is the new/old Top Force ? Building the kit was a joy. We built the kit with a full set of ball bearings, a classic Tamiya aluminum motor mount (the original plastic one was always a weak spot) and the “Tamiya Top Force 2017 High Capacity Damper Set” No. 47358 (which is especially released for the Top Force 2017 kit). These dampers are of very good quality. They work extremely smooth, and look excellent too. On some of the photos, you see the car with Tamiya DF-03 wheels and modern racing tires. A perfect set up for the vintage racing scene.

As a regular reader, you may know that we lik alternate paintschemes. The Top Force is no exception here. This time, our choice felt for the relatively new Tamiya PS-63 Bright Gun Metal. We like it a lot, and it suits the colour of the Tamiya High Cap dampers very well.

Join vintage racing ! May the force be with you.

Announcement of the 77th Tamiya Pachi Contest winning work

This year’s contest received the most applicants in the last 10 years. Scene photography department Gold prize is “HUNTER” of Keisuke Tanaka. It is a work that seems to have cut off a moment of the battlefield, with spectacularly blending the line of sight of the soldier looking forward from the Panther D type vehicle and the grassland spreading beyond. Akihiro Seki’s Gold Prize in the work photography division is “UE tractor + 3.7 cm antitank gun”. As the title of the work is a little unique work with a 3.7 cm antitank gun on the UE tractor. Both work and painting are balanced well. It is also characteristic that the number of entries from young people in their teens is increasing this time. There are many high-level works that I can not think of as elementary and junior high school students, both special awards were selected from junior class in both departments. A patch contest that not only produces a model but also photographs that work and enjoy it, I will be waiting for your efforts next time.


The 78th Pachi application method (Deadline: September 1, 2018)
76th Pachi Contest winning work