E218: The First Hobby Grade RC Monster Truck?? Marui Big Bear 🐻 Datsun- First Look !

Published 11/08/22
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[@puddleduckist]

I had one of these as a kid! I had a ton of fun with it. I added different springs and speed controller and a few other changes. Great memories! I painted mine blue!!!

[@cristo341]

I had one of these 87' -88' times. Nostalgia. They broke really easy though, not made robustly enough. The speed and nature of the hobby made them expensive to run

[@xr8jim]

I still have mine, sitting on top of my cupboard, loved it when I was a kid

[@jessemarkle5413]

This was my first hobby grade rc and I loved it! My dad put it together for me and I miss it! Mine was blue. Ran into a turbo hopper a kid in my trailer park head and knocked his batteries out! Lol this was out before the tamiya Blackfoot also. I use to race my friends tamiya frog with it. Wow what fun. Loved it!

[@andyrobinsonrc2480]

Hi Jesse, that’s a great childhood story , thanks for sharing :)

[@XARIER39]

NICE. This brings back memories. There was a kid in my neighborhood that got one of these and I was so envious I must say. It was a time in my life when I was first becoming aware of the existence of hobby grade RC vehicles and this was one of the coolest things I'd ever seen in my life in the mid 80s. Plus I loved bears lol.

[@andyrobinsonrc2480]

Ha ha, neat story, it’s amazing what influence our early RC Memories have on us :) cheers for sharing

[@craigalexp]

Mine was red. My parents got it for me for Christmas, my dad spent some nights putting it together and painting whilst i was asleep. Loved the thing. Sadly our house got robbed whilst we was out for the day at the zoo and Big Bear was taken and never to be seen again.

[@XARIER39]

@@craigalexp Man, that story has such a great beginning and then THAT happened! I feel for you. Heck, I'd give you one if I was the RC Elf.

[@jessemarkle5413]

Was it me? I loved it

[@homelesszaya.6548]

Was my 1st hobby grade rc. My pop built me one fir my 11th birthday in 1985 (yeah I'm old) but this truck is what started it all for me. I've now built 2 as an adult, and boy was that expensive

[@andyrobinsonrc2480]

Cheers for messaging, that must have been awesome getting one of those for your 11th birthday! I bet it was expensive having to build 2 up as well ,do you still have them?

[@homelesszaya.6548]

@@andyrobinsonrc2480 I recreated the box art blue one and gave it to my dad. I have a fresh painted body (imagine California 1980s ) and a chassis needing more bits. It will come along. Put it away after finishing the perfect one , tires were the hardest to find. I had to settle for stock wheels modifies to accept newer tires:(

[@scrpnby4207]

I got one for christmas when I was 12. It was in fact the first rc monster truck. It's amazing how similar the future Tamiya chassis were. VERY fun truck. I'm hoping to pick one up again in the next few weeks.

[@BangForYourBuckRc]

These were definitely on my wish list when I was a kid! Yours is in impeccable shape! Very cool!😃👊🏼👍🏻

[@andyrobinsonrc2480]

Cheers , yeah apart from the body shell it’s in superb condition, really pleased it had all the manuals as well :)

[@DustyFingersRC]

What a nice find! Looks in great condition 👍🏼

[@andyrobinsonrc2480]

Cheers Damien it’s such a cool vintage piece, bit of a survivor

[@philmoffett366]

Superb mate👍 oh that brings back memories😍 I always remember when it first appeared just after the tamiya Toyota hilux and thinking how absolutely cool it looked in the rc magazines at the time!

[@andyrobinsonrc2480]

Must admit face to face it does looks an good :) even better than in pics

[@darrengrimmer8541]

I’ve got to give to Andy you keep pulling the rare ones out of the fire.. superb my friend👍👍👍

[@andyrobinsonrc2480]

Thank you Darren much appreciated, not sure if this one will be staying now in the collection , as I bought some more stuff, but was worth showing

[@Bormac073]

I remember back working in the hobby shop as a teen and we were selling the Big Bear kit for $100. WE had hundreds of them back then and were selling like hot cakes ahead of xmas. Most nights I would be building up a truck for clients. Oh the memories.

[@andyrobinsonrc2480]

Great Memories Jason :) I always wanted a job in beatties in the UK behind the Tamiya counter but by the time I was looking for a first job/weekend holiday job they had packed in by then. They were a big uk hobby shop. Cheers for watching ;)

[@wadeskelton7585]

Fantastic find Andy this is a kit I never manage to find in decent shape when I’m not already broke 😂

[@andyrobinsonrc2480]

Cheers Wade :) ha ha I know what you mean. It’s a nice original example but must admit not first on my Marui list

[@Toystheyrenot]

Very nice RC! Marui box art is right up there with Tamiya’s best.👍😊

[@andyrobinsonrc2480]

I’d agree there , the box artwork is stunning! Trucks not bad as well

[@Pablo668]

Nice work. I have one of these, and managed to get it cheap. Finding tires is the issue with these things. I designed and 3D printed rims so I could use Tamiya Lunchbox tires on mine. I think they could well be the first monster truck. I don't remember one before it. The Tamiya Bruiser was a thing by then, but it was more of a crawler than anything anyway. Monster Beetle and Blackfoot came a year or so after. That's my memory of the timeline these things were available where I live anyway.

[@jessemarkle5413]

Love to see a brushless update nowadays!

[@andyrobinsonrc2480]

Would be cool, but I don’t think the transmission on a big bear could handle modern motors :(

[@RCACTIONAUSTRALIA]

Awesome Truck Andy. I have my first Marui RC on its way to me in the post. Can’t wait to add another Brand to the collection.

[@andyrobinsonrc2480]

Hi Adam look forward to seeing your soon then ;) they are cool buggy’s etc and really cool since there was only ever 12 releases

[@mariokleff1065]

Great find, thank you for sharing 🙂👍🏼

[@andyrobinsonrc2480]

My pleasure, thank you for taking the time to watch it

[@Blastfromthepastrc1346]

Really cool Andy! I do enjoy the vintage rc stuff myself and I will try to get some to my channel aswell. Thank you for sharing and have a great upcoming weekend!🙂👍

[@andyrobinsonrc2480]

Thank you. Enjoy your weekend as well. Vintage rc is great and for the most part that’s what attracts me to the hobby, I like modern stuff but it doesn’t have the same appeal or hold on me :) take care

[@YOOPDLRC]

Awesome monster truck.👍👍👍

[@andyrobinsonrc2480]

Thank you , glad you liked it

[@albertdelbosco9686]

Had one when I was a kid. 8 years ago spent tons of money for one sold it

[@M.A.S.Ked-Crusader]

This one holds a special place in my heart, this box starred at me every time I went up in the attic as a kid, and buried up there was the truck with a rough rider and loads of spares, I actually have the big bear body still, I think I might repurpose it at some point ! Luke’s vintage rc channel has a lot about these trucks (and others) well worth checking out if you haven’t already 👍

[@andyrobinsonrc2480]

Cheers , yeah I’m a big fan of Luke’s channel and he gets in some awesome RC cars ;)

[@M.A.S.Ked-Crusader]

@@andyrobinsonrc2480 his restorations are brilliant, I wish I had that amount of patience lol !

[@1HZ80]

I have 2 on the shelf,I need to give them a run again.

[@andyrobinsonrc2480]

They are very cool looking trucks from a great time period in RC

[@garethv1554]

had one of those for Christmas in 1985. It would go nuts once the battery was low. great car but could be very fragile.

[@renercadventures]

Great truck and review🤩👏😹

[@andyrobinsonrc2480]

Thank you 🙏 glad you enjoyed watching it much appreciated

[@renercadventures]

@@andyrobinsonrc2480 you're welcome 😊

[@shawn67mustang]

Mannnnnnnnn!!! I miss mine so much! The dang idler shaft would burn up the trans casing though. Horrible suspension with NO dampening at all... But was it ever fun as hell!

[@andyrobinsonrc2480]

Hey Shawn cheers for watching! Yeah unfortunately the Big bear had a few flaws with it but it was a cool kit to look at and run

[@gaskelldave]

Nice find Andy, I look forward to seeing it painted up. Will you go for box art blue? And just a thought on the flat spotted tyres, maybe you could try leaving them submerged in very hot water or in a steamer to help the rubber go back to its original shape.

[@andyrobinsonrc2480]

Hi Dave. I might have sold it 😂, someone said they were interested in it and I thought they’d probably like to finish it off rather than have my awful colour choice ha ha. Cheers for the tyre tip as well ;)

[@barrycheesemore2928]

Wow, what a cool find mate! I vaguely remember seeing these advertised years ago, would have loved one but I was only 15 when these were released. I got my first RC car, a Tamiya Boomerang, in late 1987, loved that thing. I've had a few Tokyo Marui airsoft guns, great bits of kit ;)

[@andyrobinsonrc2480]

Cheers Barry , I was never aware they made airsoft guns. They made some nice and cool looking RC’s though. Need to find a few more ;)

[@ReverseGear]

I had this back then.

[@andyrobinsonrc2480]

There very cool trucks :)

[@Jaysqualityparts]

My cousin had one and I had a pumpkin idk if he put it together wrong but he was always stripping the gears out. I always thought his looked cooler. I was always waiting for body mounts while he waited for gears 😂

[@andyrobinsonrc2480]

Definitely a week point on the big bear and sone of the maruis , the gears stripping. And lunchbox/pumpkin mounts were a week Point, cool trucks though

[@alejandros6708]

Be careful. Marui is very addictive too 😉

[@andyrobinsonrc2480]

I bet it is , I’ll be looking for others as well now ;) thank you

[@martinhsrc6699]

Where did you get your blockhead motors t shirt? Very cool

[@andyrobinsonrc2480]

Cheers Martin, it was from L&L models ;)

[@videorage]

I'm sure it was the first RC monster truck. Tamiya launched the bruiser in 1985 & the monster beetle & blackfoot in 1986. Although larger wheeled vehicles did exist prior to the big bear (blazer, wild willy) they don't really count as monster trucks.

[@andyrobinsonrc2480]

Yeah I’m pretty sure it was, can’t think of a monster truck that pre dates it hobby grade wise. The Tamiya cars had big wheels but were what you call monster truck wheels just big trucks. Cheers for your comment :)

[@dktha]

This was my first RC truck, it was really awesome, but I had some problem that when I turned the front tires as much as they would go they would always hit the body. Maybe we had some done mistake with my dad setting up the car, but saw one of these for sale in eBay and looked like someone had actually cut the body a bit to make space for the wheels to turn properly. Was that a real problem or our mistake? Looks like in the video the wheels turn properly. Later on I got the Lunchbox and can't remember what happened with the Marui.

[@1701_FyldeFlyer]

If it was me, Andy, Id leave as is and not paint it. OK might not look as good but preserves its originality.

[@andyrobinsonrc2480]

Yeah I can see your point , as they are only original once , but I kind of see it as never been finished. This May have sold though. Could be for the new owner to decide :)

[@MatMabee]

Is there a market for these? I've had one running for decades now so it's a little beat up

[@andyrobinsonrc2480]

Hi Bryan, vintage rc cars are generally in demand , so if you have a good one it maybe worth something , depends on the condition originality, weather you have the box, manual etc

[@jessemarkle5413]

Only went 14mph stock. Blackfoot was 15. Fast then lol

[@Tailgatesntoolboxes]

I have a mauri golden eagle jeep

[@andyrobinsonrc2480]

Nice 👌 I’ve not seen one of those in person before :)

[@Tailgatesntoolboxes]

@@andyrobinsonrc2480 I got it from a friend of mine who sold it to me as long as I kept it not resell it..i thought at first it was a tamiya jeep but after researching it. I found out it's a mauri golden eagle. Looks like a wild willys . it is dusty as all heck lol. I don't have it running as I am afraid to break something on it.