Everybody’s Scalin’ – A Real Scorcher Out There

I hope I’m not thrown off the island for talking about this in this space, but as the Thanksgiving holiday approaches and the temperatures start to slowly inch downwards I’m looking at doing my annual “I don’t really need this but it sure looks cool!” winter project…and I’m leaning towards a buggy!

“Hey, buggies aren’t scalers, ya dope!”, you say. Yep I agree with this. However, the buggy I’m leaning towards, a classic Tamiya Sand Scorcher, sure looks the part.

It’s between that and a Kyosho Optima 4WD. While that may not look quite as realistic, it still has the 1:1 vibe of a classic off-roader you’d see rocking around the LA Coliseum during a Mickey Thompson race.

While I’ve always dug these two particular vehicles for various reasons, you used to be able to pick up darn near any kit back at the hobby shop in late 80’s/early 90’s and find a race buggy that really looked the part.

Tamiya Hornets, Grasshoppers, Frogs, Sand Scorchers, Associated RC10 Gold Tubs, Kyosho Optimas, Scorpions, and Beetles; the list goes on and on. They looked awesome!

Many of these vehicles are available today as slightly updated re-release kits and sell pretty well. While part of this is definitely due to nostalgia, it doesn’t hurt that they are coming out in a consumer climate where vehicles are expected to look realistic.

And hey, I can’t post about nostalgic Tamiya vehicles without including one of their awesome / hilarious promo videos from back in the day. The only thing more entertaining than watching these classic vehicles do their thing in appropriate terrain is listening to the poor narrator struggle with the (presumably) Japanese-to-English localization script.

Have a great weekend and be sure to stop by this area of the Internet next Friday as I’ll be posting a special “Everybody’s Scalin’ Black Friday Edition” write-up with several decent off-the-beaten-path gift ideas for the scaler in your life.