The 58015
Rough Rider from 1979 was the first off road RC buggy Tamiya ever
produced. Like all the other models Tamiya was releasing at the
time, this one was based on a real life vehicle, in this case the Funco
SS II Baja buggy from Bob Maynard racing. Some time between design
and production the link to Bob Maynard was lost and the livery was
changed to Rob Mitchell Racing, but it is still clearly the same
car. The real SS II is based on the suspension and engine from a
VW Beetle welded onto a tube frame chassis. Like the original, the
model uses trailing arm front suspension and swing arm rear suspension
(resulting in variable camber). Not only is this the first RC
buggy chassis
ever, but it is virtually all made from metal. The bottom plate is
fiber reinforced plastic (FRP), but all the suspension and gearbox
components appear to be cast aluminum. The wheels are an
innovative 3-piece beadlock design. The hard body was originally
styrene, but the updated version is ABS. The model includes a
driver and a simulated engine exhaust for detail. The electronics
are all sealed in a clear plastic case which sits centered on the
chassis. This is a rear wheel drive buggy without any differential
so handling can be exciting. The shocks are oil filled, a first
at the time.
Unlike most Tamiya kits it does not use a 6-cell stick battery pack but a
smaller, almost square pack. I had to get creative to find
something
that would fit.This model was re-issused as 58441 Buggy Champ in 2009. Note the name change. There is some indication that it was always called Buggy Champ in Japan and the Rough Rider name was only for foreign markets. This makes a certain amount of sense since the Super Champ came later with a similar name. The model is true to the original in most respects, but the original mechanical speed controller has been replaced with an ESC which eliminates the need for an extra servo and a receiver battery pack. This leaves a lot of room inside the electronics box. By the time I was looking the updated models were sold out and could not be found for any reasonable price. However, there were also a pair of special editions released in 2011: an 84162 Gold Edition and an 84187 Silver Edition. From what I can tell, these are just the same model with the body painted; it is not molded in another color. These didn't appear to sell very well, because the silver edition was still available for a not entirely unreasonable price which is what I bought. I figured I would just paint the original color over it. In the end, I bought a separate body kit and sold the silver body. Later in 2018 Tamiya did another production run of the 2009 re-re so I could have got a better deal if I had waited. That's usually not true though.
There are a handful of upgrades available for this including a rear differential to swap out the solid locker, but I decided to leave mine mostly stock for the nostalgia value.
Update: This model was destroyed in the 2022 fire. It has not been replaced.
 Page 1: Assembly |
 Page 2: Upgrades! |
 Page 3: Final Photos |