Celebrating 45 years of Tamiya 2WD off-road buggies

[BlackSeaRC]

In 1979, Tamiya released the Rough Rider off-road racing buggy. This was the first vehicle designed specifically for off-road use and featured numerous die cast metal components. The Rough Rider and Sand Scorcher went on to become two of Tamiya's most iconic vehicles. Over the years there have been many different buggies from Tamiya and they are still as popular as ever. 45 years after the Rough Rider, we have the BBX, Tamiya's newest off-road buggy.

In the following video, I undertake a special double kit build that looks at the Buggy Champ and the BBX to see how these 2WD buggies have changed over the years.

 

[high plains drifter]

Quite enjoyable video to watch. Very nice job and that BBX looks amazing with the brown color paint and black wheels. Agree that both are stunning.

 

[BlackSeaRC]

Quite enjoyable video to watch. Very nice job and that BBX looks amazing with the brown color paint and black wheels. Agree that both are stunning.

I have seen a huge number of different colour schemes for the BBX and the vast majority of them look good. I have never painted anything in brown before but this seems to work well. This model has clever decals that match just about any paint scheme (unlike some other Tamiya models that look best in box art colours). I wasn't sure whether to go with gloss or matte black for the wheels but the result looks fine. The finish won't be as durable as the original chrome finish though. That took a lot of bleach to strip off! I even burnt a hole through the bottom of my container before I'd finished.

As for the Buggy Champ, I just love the simplicity of the design and it still looks great all these decades later. It is hard to choose my favourite because clearly the BBX will drive much better but from a nostalgia point of view, the Buggy Champ is difficult to beat.

 

[ferp420]

i have a soft spot for grasshoppers although i haven't touch them in years
still my favorite rc of all times

 

[smog]

Nice video, so chill I could have meditated while watching. That's the best view of the BBX I have seen. Thank you, but now I really want one...

For fun and nostalgia sake. Here is a pic the my OG tamiyas I built as a kid in the 80's. Now they are part of the museum now. My favorite was the Wild One because had the best handing. My cousin had a Super Champ, it was particularly cool. A lot like the vintage buggy in your video. It looks like they shared a bunch of parts