Vintage Article: TQ10 Review

[FifthScaleRacer]

Here's an article on the rare TQ10. I have never seen one for sale NIB on ebay before. A couple of times I have seen new assembled ones though.

[teshreve]

Sweet!
That article and that car are what made me buy my first RC car; the mighty RC10 Graphite :p
I wanted a TQ10, but nobody had even heard of them. I even brought in the magazine to the hobby shop. Back then, like today, your average hobby shop operator isn't really much into hobbies... which I have always found utterly bizarre.
During my search, the RC10 Graphite was released and I said close enough! I later discovered it to be better than the TQ10 due to the new front arms and front shock tower (and longer front shocks, even?).

[MOmo]

Makes me want to go back through my stacks of old RCCA and re-read articles!


MOmo

[floodx]

How many TQ10 owners in these forums? I have one with the short arms - I am guessing around 89-90? Replaced my gold pan at the time. All the arms and tranny are dyed black - still looking for the original tires/wheels (ASC 6820?) in my father's basement. Definitely don't have the box or manual - at age 15 probably wasn't to interested in reading directions.

[CamplinP]

I am glad for the tech advancement and competition of ball bearings. I remember back the how many chores I had to do just to get a simple bearing set. Like this car $240 vs the $320 with bearings. I enjoy looking at these old articles and old adds. I am always amazed at the price things were for the performance they had. Especially for 1980's dollars. When people complain about how much R/C costs, I think they never raced in the 80's or forgot. You could not get an RTR, Brushless, 2.4ghz radio car with bearings that will do 50 MPH for $250.

[kenooze]

I have one brand new, just built

[RedScampi]

I have one I bought from a forum member. I'd like to have a new sidewinder body for it. Anyone making these or have a source?

[Brandon G]

I have a NIP body I could let go...

[THEYTOOKMYTHUMB]

How many TQ10 owners in these forums? I have one with the short arms - I am guessing around 89-90? Replaced my gold pan at the time. All the arms and tranny are dyed black - still looking for the original tires/wheels (ASC 6820?) in my father's basement. Definitely don't have the box or manual - at age 15 probably wasn't to interested in reading directions.

I have 1 model of vintage RC10 and it’s a TQ10 that has been bastardized to the point of unrecognizability. The best model ever made as long as the parts are dyed black.

[floodx]

Speaking of bastardizing - I am on my way - mounted a SC10 stealth tranny on the back end and looking to upgrade the front end (wide front arms) and do new shocks all around. Any other suggestions to completely bastardize (other than the obvious brushless setup)? I have been out of the RC business for a long time - I figure at the end of it the only thing original will be the chassis (I don't plan to drill or modify it an any way since the TQ10 was technically just a new graphite chassis with RC10 parts).

[SteveK]

Sweet!
That article and that car are what made me buy my first RC car; the mighty RC10 Graphite :p
I wanted a TQ10, but nobody had even heard of them. I even brought in the magazine to the hobby shop. Back then, like today, your average hobby shop operator isn't really much into hobbies... which I have always found utterly bizarre.
During my search, the RC10 Graphite was released and I said close enough! I later discovered it to be better than the TQ10 due to the new front arms and front shock tower (and longer front shocks, even?).

Yep, the TQ10 was just the original RC10 with a graphite chassis and new wheels, tires, and body. Horizon bought the rest off Associated. The graphite RC10 was updated from the original, like you said. I don't believe a tub version with the same upgrades was released until the Championship Edition in 1990, about a year later.

Regarding the hobby shop owners, if they owners are too into the hobby then they usually don't run the shop properly and it goes out of business. A couple of shops in the area were like that, and they all failed. The owner of the one shop in town that has survived for about 30 years told me that you have to be really dedicated to make it work, and a lot of guys just wanted to work on cars all day.