The REAL Tamiya ORV Chassis Story! 

Hi Terence! Thank you so much for the kind words! And thank you for subscribing! More to come!

Thanks for reaching out! How cool...is that! You'll will have seen so many of the now classic RC's that even today are coveted. I loved my original Blackfoot. Researched it like crazy trying to get the best I could at the time. The Tamiya Hump pack battery was awesome as it fit really well into the ORV chassis. I think working in a hobby shop in the 80's would have been fun...the R/C world was booming.

Totally agree with you! As my first Tamiya back in the day I was super happy with how well it handled most terrain and seemed super stable. I really love this chassis and I'm sure your monster beetle handles even better just because of the oil filled shocks! I hope to one day pick up the Brat and get another chance to build an ORV chassis! :)

Thank you!

Sounds like the way I use mine. The weather is good or they don't get used!! :) I just picked up a Monster Beetle for the channel! So we both have all three now!

Thanks Richard! I really wish I had kept my original Blackfoot just to have it! That's awesome that you have an original! You must have done some modifications to the body to get the lights on there.

Fantastic! That’s a great piece of history and so cool to be able to have restored one.

That sounds like the chassis was from the blue brat that came out?

@@FastFreddyRC possibly, I’ve not been able to figure it out. My cousin gave it to me. It had a homemade aluminum tractor like body on it when he gave it to me. I ended up putting a midnight pumpkin body on it

@@IowaBudgetRCBashers weird! Well I have no idea then. Must have been a project build of some sort.

Wow! Some great upgrades on yours! I can picture it…probably looks awesome!

Very cool! It's the only vehicle I know of where Tamiya gives you two bodies in a kit. I'm definitely aiming to get one in the near future. I've always loved the ORV vehicles. You're Camaro version sounds sweet! I would have loved to have seen it. It's funny about the Big Bear. As a kid I used to go into the local hobby store just to look at the Big Bear. He had one on display and I couldn't believe the size of it back then. It looked like a great truck to have. And of course now, knowing that it was the first Monster Truck, I think it would be so cool to find one. But I'm guessing they would be very hard to find these days.

@@FastFreddyRC I still have the Subaru with the Camaro body on it. Yes the Mauri was really cool. And did seem huge with the monster truck tires. Funny thing is it was a peanut next to the black foot and Clod Buster. It was 1/12 scale and Tamiyas are 1/10. It had tires wide and squishy more similar to the Clod and but overall dwarfed by the Tamiyas. I traded mine for a fishing rod and really nice air rifle after I had a Clod because it felt like a redundant thing. I regret that. They are impossible to find now.

@@BBBILLY86 Awesome! That's so cool that you still have it...would love to see it! You're right about the Big Bear...I still have my original Radio Control Car Action magazine where they did a monster truck shoot out and when they are all lined up you can see the Big Bear was quite small in comparison to the Blackfoot.

Thanks for watching!

Agreed! Each phrase gave the cars a personality lol

Thank you!

Thank you so much! That's so awesome that you have so many of them. I have the Blackfoot and the Frog and I really want to get a Brat next. But yeah, it would be awesome to find a Mud Blaster. I absolutely loved my original Blackfoot. I'm pretty sure the only thing I had to replace was the hex drive shafts. As a kid you don't think of keeping it when it wears out and I really wish I had. I used it so much that the rear wheels where cambered out as the suspension (the black rear housing for the drive wheels) were wearing out and not fitting tight to the ORV frame any longer.

Yeah…definitely wish I still had my original Blackfoot. If you only knew then what we know now. I would have loved a Rough Rider back then! Luckily I still have an original King Cab and Jeep Wrangler CC-01 with the mechanical speed controllers. I’ll never let these go.

Glad you liked it! Thank you!

Thanks Andy! Appreciate it! Had a lot of fun putting this together. Have to say mine has always been the Blackfoot but I think I’m biased because it was my first Tamiya RC.

​@@FastFreddyRCMy first proper RC also

Thank you!!

Appreciate the kind words. Thank you! I really wish I still had my original Blackfoot. But back then you don’t see the future. I think I went through two sets of hex drive shafts on mine lol They wore out pretty quick and I used it a lot. Happy Holidays!!

@@FastFreddyRC They sure did, I had a Trinity 427 & a 7 cell pack in my Blackfoot, after blowing through about 4 or 5 sets of those crappy dog bones (even wrecked a few with the stock set up) I bought a Thorp Diff, I still have it.

BTW, Riff mentioned your ch.

@@UncleBobsRC Riff?

@@FastFreddyRC Riff Raff's RC

Cool! That’s a really rare kit. I wonder if there are any NIB kits still around?

@@FastFreddyRC No... I'm 51 this yr... that thing is older than my son... still kept the manual speed controller... uses high speed servos mean for heli tail control

@@73jacksoo very very cool! I’m sure you’re right but I know there have been a few NIB kits that have been found of original Tamiya Frogs. But I think based on age that one would be a miracle find.

Thanks so much!

lol - I'm reading this thinking you're not a fan of the chassis and then...BOOM...you tell me you pretty much own them all!! LOL - As it was my first real R/C I can't help but not love the Blackfoot and that chassis. The one that's missing for me is definitely the Brat which I hope to get one day. The Lancia...now that's a different story. It's the one car that seems to defy logic as it doesn't really look anything like the real car with those tires way outside the fenders. I can buy the look on the Brat because it was a "truck", sort of, but on a car? Something just never looked right for me. However...that being said...if I ever found one...I don't think I would hesitate now to lay the $$$$ on the table lol

@FastFreddyRC 😆👍🏻 Absolutely the same here Sir. 😎👍🏻 It’s such a weird looking chassis but I have such a soft spot for the cars. I’ve always loved the Lancia and would have got one in ‘84, but Tamiya only equipped it was a 380 motor, so I got the Ascona instead as it came with the 540 and looked slightly more scale. To this day I’ve never owned one. I do have the TA03S variant, but like yourself I’d be all over an original one if the right car turned up at the right time for the right money. My Blackfoot is a first generation and is currently awaiting a chassis swap for a black/dark grey one, plus a respray, a set of gold wheels and a set of CVAs in place of the pogo sticks 👍🏻 My Frog is getting built with an XB body, a chrome Brat chassis and a set of Watanabe Hornet wheels & tires. One Brat is a basher and the other is a nib blue special edition. Just got my fingers crossed for a relatively affordable 037 now😎👍🏻 (might do a CC-01 build for a scale Brat/Ranger when funds allow too)

@FastFreddyRC Oh and I totally forgot, Brilliant video by the way 😎😎😎👍🏻👍🏻👍🏻

Don’t you know it! :)

Oh! The tanker trailer arrived today! Unboxing video coming out soon!

@@FastFreddyRC lol

@@FastFreddyRC Such a beautiful model

How was it setup? That definitely doesn’t seem right. With the 540 motor alone the frog should have been way faster.

The Hornet and the Frog are actually on completely different chassis. The Hornet is on the Grasshopper Chassis. In fact the name of the grasshopper chassis is…grasshopper. There are three vehicles I can think of on the grasshopper chassis: The Grasshopper, The Hornet and The Super Storm Dragon.