The Mountaineer is effectively the first Bruiser re-release. The original 58048
Toyota 4x4 Pickup Bruiser came out in 1985. It was the only
Tamiya RC to use a huge 750 sized motor with a pre-built 3-speed
transmission, was intended for the giant square 6V Ni-Cd battery, and
used a 3-speed mechanical speed controller. The 58111
Mountaineer came out in 1992 and was essentially the same truck.
It was red instead of blue and used a roll bar instead of a sleeper, but
otherwise it was the same body and the same chassis. I may be
mistaken, but it appears the only technical change was to switch to a
standard 7.2V Ni-Cd stick pack.When the Bruiser was re-released as 58519 in 2012, it included a few changes. Most importantly, the original 3-speed transmission was completely redesigned (shown at left) and was now powered by a standard silver can 540 motor through an electronic speed controller. The 84386 Mountain Rider followed 2 years later in 2014 and was exactly the same truck apart from the changes to the body details mentioned earlier. I have no idea why Tamiya changed the name to "Mountain Rider", and also no idea why they made this model a limited edition. The consequence of this limited release is that I missed out on it. Luckily for me, Tamiya released in again in 2019, this time as set 47394 (also limited edition) with no changes. That's the version I have.
I resisted buying this model for a long time based on the rationale that I already had the Bruiser (which was very expensive), and this is just the same thing in another color. It was also out of production and hard to buy which made the decision easier to enforce. But that kind of practical thinking has no place in this hobby. When the model became available again in 2019 I had to review my thought process and I realized that my Bruiser had been so modified from stock that it was barely a Bruiser anymore. I put a brushless motor in it, changed all the bumpers to steel, and added aluminum beadlock wheels. All of this served to double the price and the weight. So, I thought, why not get a Mountain Rider and keep it completely stock? That way I can have one which represents the model as Tamiya intended it, and another to represent my improvements (or the ways in which I ruined it). This was so sensible I couldn't argue with myself about it so I bought one.
Like the Bruiser, this is not really a rock crawler. It does fine in grass or on the trails, but it does not have the traction or gearing for serious off roading. That's just as well because I don't want to destroy it. If anyone was asking me to recommend one or the other (Bruiser versus Mountain Rider), I have no real basis on which to prefer either. Pick the one that you like the look of. Or get both. That's what we smart people do.
Update: This model was destroyed in the 2022 fire. It has not been replaced.
 Page 1: Assembly |
 Page 2: Final Photos |