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Jun Watanabe’s column on Hobby Media!

14 Sep 2019

By Jun Watanabe in Hobby, Jun Watanabe, Tamiya

Hello. I’m Jun Watanabe. In my last column, I wrote about my first encounter with an RC car more than 30 years ago. Despite being a boy with a special admiration for Tamiya, the first RC car I got was Yokomo’s Dog Fighter. Because I was his beloved child, my father, who loved RC cars more than me, wanted to give me a higher-performance RC car. However, I couldn’t find it in myself to be satisfied. To me, the RC car to have was one from Tamiya. Nevertheless, I decided to play with the Dog Fighter (to be fair, this difference in understanding is so common between parents and children. It’s likely I myself, since becoming a father, have made this same mistake). From that day, I trained my Dog Fighter for about a year. The body was painted yellow by the previous owner, and it was a bit dusty since it was second-hand.

Then, one day, I finally got a Tamiya RC car. The model was a Hot Shot 2—my first Tamiya, which I will never forget. It stole my heart with its cool shape, which was also slimmer than the original Hot Shot. Every morning, I would charge it before going to elementary school, and when I came back, it would be finished. It’s hard to believe, since these days charging takes 15 minutes or so, but back then, it took eight hours. As soon as I came back from school, I put the fully-charged battery in my Hot Shot 2 and ran out to the farm road behind the house. It was a long, unpaved, dirt road that led to a tobacco field. I played with this RC car every day surrounded by farm landscapes, the cries of crows, and a sun setting into the forest.

About 30 years have passed since then, and I recently started something like an RC label called “Blockhead Motors”. This is a label that proposes RC car models with a vintage style, like a tribute to the Tamiya off-road RC cars of the 80s. RC parts aren’t quite there yet, but original goods such as stickers and t-shirts are available, as well as driving events, which are held regularly. One thing I find interesting at these events is that each person would often bring his entire collection of RC cars! Because it’s such a niche hobby, people who come to these driving parties are also quite enthusiastic fans. And I really mean it. Some people bring more than 10 cars just by themselves. But it’s not only RC nerds who show up. Recently, parents and children who bought Tamiya’s cute Grasshopper have come to play, as well as people who have RC cars but no space to drive them. Now, we are planning an event at a skatepark. I think features such as banks and mini ramps are perfect for playing with RC cars. Though, of course, because it’s a concrete park, I think it might be a bit dangerous for the machines.

However, what I feel now is that there are many people who don’t know how to enjoy RC cars, maybe because they have no place to drive, or they only try driving once after buying, or maybe they think its a waste of money. That’s why I want to propose more ways to enjoy new RC cars.

こんにちは。デザイナーのJUN WATANABEです。前回のコラムでは、今から30年以上も前に僕がRCカーと出会った時の事を書きました。タミヤのRCカーに特別な憧れを抱いていた少年時代の僕が初めて手に入れたRCカーは、なぜかヨコモのドッグファイターだったのです。僕よりもRCカーが大好きだった父が、愛する我が子のためにより高性能なRCカーをもらってきてくれたのです。しかし僕は素直に喜ぶことができませんでした。いや、そりゃそうでしょう。僕の中では、RCカー = タミヤだったんです。仕方なく僕はヨコモのドッグファイターで遊ぶことにしました。(でもこういう親子のすれ違いって多いですよね。自分も父親になって子供のためにそういう間違えた提案をしていることがあるような気がします)。
そしてそこから僕は約1年間、ドッグファイターで修行の日々です。前のオーナーによって黄色く塗られたボディ、中古なのですでにホコリだらけのマシンでしたが、かなりボロボロになるまで毎日のように遊んでいました。
そして僕はとうとうタミヤのRCカーを手に入れることになります。そのマシンは決して忘れることのできない、マイファーストタミヤ、「ホットショット2」でした。ホットショットよりも明らかにスリムになったボディ、そのかっこいいシェイプに僕はハートを掴まれました。毎朝、小学校に行く前に充電を開始し、帰ってくる頃に充電が終わっていました。信じられない話ですが、現代ではたった15分で充電完了になるものが、当時は8時間もかかっていたのです。学校から帰って来ると、充電完了になったバッテリー1本をホットショット2にセットし、家の裏の畑道で走らせて遊んでいました。アスファルト舗装されていない、タバコ畑へ向かう長い土の道。畑仕事をする農家とカラスの鳴き声、夕焼けの太陽が森に沈む風景の中、毎日ラジコンで遊びました。
それから約30年が過ぎ、そして僕は最近、「BLOCKHEAD MOTORS」@blockheadmotors というラジコンのレーベルのようなものをスタートさせました。80年代のタミヤオフロードカーをオマージュしたような、ビンテージな雰囲気のラジコンを提案するレーベルです。RCパーツはほとんど作っていませんが、ステッカーやTシャツなどのオリジナルグッズを作り、定期的に走行会などのイベントも行なっています。走行会をやってみて面白いなと思ったことは、1人あたりが持ってくるRCカーの数が多いことです(笑)こんなマニアックな世界ですから、走行会に来る人も相当に熱心なファンなんですよね。中には1人で10台以上も持って来る人もいたり。でもそんなRCヲタクしか来ないのかと言えばそうでもありません。最近だとタミヤのコミカルグラスホッパーあたりを買った親子が遊びにきてくれたり、RCカーは持っていたけれど走らせる場所がなくて困っていた人たちも遊びに来てくれたりしています。そして今企画しているのがスケートボードパークを貸し切っての走行会です。バンクやミニランプなどのセクションはRCカーを遊ぶのにぴったりだと思うのです。もちろんコンクリートパークですから、マシンは壊れやすくなると思いますけどね。
ただ、僕が今感じるのは、RCカーを買っても楽しみ方がわからなかったり、走らせる場所がなかったり、買ったあと1度だけ遊んでそのまま、という人も多いような気がします。せっかく高いお金を出して買ったのにそれではあまりにもったいないですよね。だから僕は新しいRCカーの楽しみ方をどんどん提案していきたいと思っているのです。

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