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In 1985 Tamiya offered a nearly all new version of their Hilux 1/10 4wd electric truck which they named the Bruiser. Utilizing the same attention to scale realism the Bruiser wasn't just a rebodied Hilux, it rode on a redesigned pair of drop rails connected by updated crossmembers to create its ladder frame style chassis. Also upgraded were the functional leaf springs front and rear that were now softer and mounted on swinging shackles with multiple spring eye holes for adjusting the ride height. Plus, the oil-filled aluminum shock absorbers that were once optional were now fitted as standard in addition to a set of radius arms to reduce wheel hop. A necessary addition, those radius arms, as the Bruiser was now fitted with a longitudinally placed 750 sized motor backed by a three-speed shift-on-the-fly transmission with overload clutch and built in transfer case. Unchanged were the two universal joint driveshafts that led to the live axles attached to the suspension by miniature u-bolts. All that power necessitated some serious rubber and the Bruiser didn't disappoint with four oversized All Traction Utility tires engulfing two piece chrome plated wheels with plastic inserts. The required trio of servos, radio gear, and 4,000mAH battery found their place in a now black plastic electronics box that lived under the bed area of the new multi-piece hard plastic fleetside body with extended truck cap, complete with a host of accessory components from plastic tube bumpers and side rails, grille and lights, to a molded plastic interior with driver figure. A Mabuchi RS750H motor and mechanical speed controller were also included in the unassembled kit which would receive minor updates when it was renamed the Mountaineer in 1992:

Learned about these recently. Built like a tank in comparison to a lot of other cars at the time it seems.

Dangeruss wrote: ↑Mon May 05, 2025 6:15 am the front axle still equipped with selectable hubs.

I think the manual hubs were gone by the time of the Bruiser. They were a Hilux and Blazer thing.



"One day."

morrisey0 wrote: ↑Mon May 05, 2025 9:24 am I think the manual hubs were gone by the time of the Bruiser. They were a Hilux and Blazer thing.

"One day."

Right you are, typo corrected, thank you for pointing that out.

One day indeed... that's a whole shelf worth of truckin' coolness.

Scottzone wrote: ↑Mon May 05, 2025 8:57 am Learned about these recently. Built like a tank in comparison to a lot of other cars at the time it seems.

At 11 pounds it's heavy as a tank, that's for sure.

A year or two after the Bruiser came out, one of my classmates brought a new built box art one to class and had it sitting on his desk. I can't recall for sure but he may have shifted through the gears on it, and drove it around a little on the floor. That was my introduction to them, and would eventually like to own one myself. He was bullied a lot due to his parents routinely buying him super expensive stuff for a kid at the time. Not long after that, he showed up with a new built box art Clod Buster which was the first time I laid eyes on one of those as well. We all gathered around while he drove it in the gym during recess. He brought a plastic toy car to demonstrate the Clod driving over it but it couldn't due to the slick floor. Every time he'd come into contact with it, it would jam against the front wheels and the Clod would just push it around. The problem was mainly the open diffs but at 6-7 years old, we had no idea what a diff even was. He was relentlessly made fun of over it, but we were all secretly jealous.

Then coincidently, in the mid '90s I passed on buying a pro street Monte Carlo SS with a 454 which I later found out he was the one that looked at it after me. He bought it, and not long after either the motor or rear end blew on it, possibly both.

That was one I always wanted but never could afford.