There are many Tamiya kits which have borne the name of Blackfoot. It all started with the 58058
Ford Ranger Blackfoot in 1986 using a derivative of the Frog chassis
and a licensed Ford step side body. In 1992 we got the 58110
Super Blackfoot which appeared very similar but featured an updated
gearbox and used the same body without the Ford badging. Five
years later we got the 58192
King Blackfoot with a slightly different body without a narrow bed and
looking like a newer model Ford. They didn't stop there. In
2003 we got the 58312
Blackfoot eXtreme now on the new WT-01 chassis and using a body mostly
like the King Blackfoot but with a new grille and hood scoop. At
long last we come to the model at hand, the 58498
Blackfoot III which again uses the WT-01 chassis. So why call it
the Blackfoot III if it is the fifth iteration? Probably because
it is the third model to use the original body, though the chassis
shares almost nothing with the original.As you might surmise from the above history, the Blackfoot must have been pretty popular to have been updated so many times. All of these iterations are distinct in some way so I wouldn't necessarily consider any of them a re-release, though the Blackfoot III is sometimes considered an update of the Super Blackfoot.
This is a very simple monster truck chassis. Unlike any real monster truck, it is rear wheel drive but this is consistent with the whole history of the Blackfoot line. It has four wheel independent suspension and simple friction dampers. The WT-01 chassis is very simple and durable so will survive a lot of harsh treatment, but with those big tires with no foams and no dampers you can expect it to bounce around like crazy.
There was something that bothered me about the appearance of the Blackfoot III from the start and I wasn't immediately sure what it was. After some thought, I decided that the track width was much too large compared to the body and made the chassis look like the wrong proportion. With a bit of research, I found that the 58603 Volkswagen Amarok used the same WT-01 chassis but in a narrower version so I decided to order the parts and make the conversion. I like the look of the updated model much better, and I did not notice any significant loss of lateral stability from the narrowed track width.
After the updates I really like this truck. It is nearly bulletproof and looks great. I was initially tempted to increase the power system since the gears can handle it, but later changed my mind since it seems perfectly powered as it is. And just look at it!
Update: This model was destroyed in the 2022 fire. It has not been replaced.
 Page 1: Assembly |
 Page 2: Upgrades! |
 Page 3: Final Photos |