Why buy the Tamiya Monster Beetle remake?
Another year, another batch of Tamiya R/C model remakes, as the company continues it’s policy of remixing it’s past hits and tapping into nostalgia. Tamiya have now put out remakes of nearly every popular off-road R/C model they created in the 1980s (when they were at their creative peak). This month, a remake of the Monster Beetle was announced.
The news excites many, with the argument often being that “unless Tamiya remakes a kit, I will never be able to find or afford that car”. But is that true? Because it’s actually not impossible to find original examples for similiar prices to many remakes. Look, I’ll show you…
Australian Tamiya TV commercials from 1985 and 1987
Most vintage Tamiya fans will be familiar with the early promotional clips they made for each car, that were often aired on TV sets in hobby stores and were narrated by an American.
But even I was surprised to re-discover these two old Australian TV commercials from the 1980s.
Tamiya Plastic Model Co. – back in the 1980s
During the 1980s, the great Tamiya Plastic Model Company’s colourful annual product catalogues pretty much left everyone in the West desperate to own their products. It was truly a golden era for Tamiya.
Thanks to a little-known book from 1990 called “Tamiya Operations”, here are a few additional, rarely-seen images of Tamiya’s R/C toy production during that time. Plus a short video documentary.
Tamiya Monster Beetle (1986)
1986 was a big year for big toy monster trucks.
And combining their high-rise, go anywhere looks with the evergreen shape of a VW Beetle resulted in yet another hit for the Japanese model company Tamiya.
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