Tamiya King Hauler

[Dangeruss]

In 1993 Tamiya decided to head out on the highway with their 1/14 electric tractor, the King Hauler. In typical fashion for Tamiya the 'Hauler offered hobbyists static model levels of scale realism in a radio-controlled vehicle. The two foot long, seven-pound road warrior boasted a full-length aluminum c-channel ladder frame with molded plastic crossmembers and chassis rail brackets. A leaf spring equipped drop beam axle with spring loaded undampened shocks resided up front, guided down the blacktop by an adjustable tie rod and draglink steering system with spherical ends and a direct mounted servo saver. Putting the hammer down on the 540 sized motor, drivers could row their own with the included three-speed transmission that first debuted on Tamiya's 1981 Hilux 4x4. From there power was funneled down a dogbone driveshaft to a pair of tandem axles, a bevel geared thru-drive connected to the bevel geared rear drive axle, all located by a set of radius rods, leaf springs, and quartet of spring loaded undampened shocks for maximum load carrying capacity. Ten single piece chrome plated plastic wheels kept the 11.00x22.5 tires rubber side down while the rig was topped off by an impeccably detailed long nose sleeper cab loaded to the gills with a chrome plated grille, air cleaners, side mirrors, exhaust stacks, airhorns, bumpers, frame side boxes, fuel tanks and more. The transversely mounted battery, radio, and electronics hid up front under the chrome ladened body while mounted on the rear of the frame was a functional fifth wheel that could hitch up to the box, tanker, and flatbed trailers that Tamiya sold separately. A Mabuchi RS540 motor and full set of 40 bushings were included with the unassembled kit:

[Lowgear]

I had two of these back in the early '00s. I remember being surprised at how much smaller they were than expected. I ended up beating the crap out of them, and then cutting them up to use the pieces for other projects. Back then you could get them for relatively cheap so it didn't necessarily matter unlike today. Unfortunately I never took a picture of the ones I had but I don't even think I made it to painting the bodies.

I believe I still have a few of the parts/pieces stashed away.