Tamiya - Subaru Brat Overview

The current Tamiya Subaru Brat R/C is a significantly improved re-release over the original from 1983. It now comes with 2 bodies: The highly detailed hard ABS plastic (blue) body mainly for showcase/display purposes, and a lightweight polycarbonate body for racing (and if you so like painting, detailing, adding decals etc).

The real world counterpart Subaru Brat was known by many names, in the United Kingdom it was known as the 284 and in Australia as the Brumby. This particular model was never sold in japan, and was made as a purely export only model, and as such has become more of a grey market import and collectors car in recent years.

The term “BRAT” is an acronym for what Subaru coined as a “Bi-drove Recreational All-terrain Transporter”, meaning that this model is a light duty four-wheel drive coupe’ ute. It’s main design and marketing was focused to those who preferred utes/pickups for their daily use, but with the added advantage of 4wd with single or dual-range transfer (dependent on the model and year make of the vehicle), this made it a popular choice for a lot of farmers and those who lived more further out in the wilderness.

The RC itself has a few upgrades over the original RC model in the past. One such (and very noticeable point) is that the Chassis is near identical to the Tamiya Frog, whether this was done to save on manufacturing costing, or reliability & popularity is unclear, but it works well for the Brat! It also features a dual styled speed controller in both Brush and Brushless flavours, while also being LiPo compatible, perfect for adapting the classic RC to a more modern audience and modern tech too. The model itself is in 1/10th scale and measures at about 453 mm(45.3cm)/17.8in long, 220 mm(22cm)/8.6in wide, and a height of 175 mm(17.5cm)/6.8in.

To finalise the kit also has a 4-wheel independent suspension with front double wishbones and rear trailing arms, the rear also uses diaphragm type oil dampers and coil springs. For further details be sure to visit the product page on our website!

And if you have any questions feel free to email, call or message us online, and we will be sure to get back to you.

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