Bruder to Tamiya Scale Opinions

[FlyingBeagle]

I am a complete newby to this hobby, In fact so new, I have not even laid eyes on a real piece of RC equipment. I have spent many many hours scourering this forum as well as others trying to pick up every little bit of info I can and gain a better overall understanding of the hobby. I think I want to start with some Bruder conversions as they seem well within grasp of my skills, tools, and budget. I have been flying RC aircraft for several years now so the model aspects of the hobby are not entirely new to me.

One of my initial concerns is scale how does a 1/16 bruder dozer or excavator compare to 1/14 king hauler or some of your Stahl of Leimbach equipment. Are they close enough that you cant really tell or when you put them together, or does the bruder equipment look like a toy on the back of the truck? How are Bruder conversions accepted at the meets. Are they looked down on like toys, or are they a relativly common sight.

Some of you guys are incredible craftsman, and I would not want to insult someone who has a 1000 hours of labor poured into a model by setting my plastic bruder next to it at a show.

[CustomRCmodels]

converting Bruder trucks / vehicles is a common thing you find here on the board ...
they fit fairly good in between the Tamiya's and Wedico's .
Or just using Bruder parts , like the cabs , to stick on a Tamiya or Wedico chassis is also a common task .
Everything goes here I would say ....
no reason to be afraid to insult anybody

[doodlebug]

Welcome aboard!

[Gregg]

A conversion though is a pretty big first step .you may want to pick up a King hauler or a like kit and built that first.
There is always alot more work in a conversion than a kit but you learn alot much faster starting out with kits, like common hardware to use. Good parts sources and many other things.

[siuvinson]

My first (and only) construction related build was a bruder wheeled skid conversion. I had some r/c experience when I started, but nothing related to multi-channel operation and scratch-building.

If you've been reading up a lot, I'm sure you have a decent idea of what you would need to get started. By no means will you have everything to finish right from the get-go, but you can acquire more as you build like I did. If you want to start on a conversion instead of a KH kit or similar, I say go for it! I was able to finish my conversion for about $300, and thats starting from literally no tools or electronics or anything. You won't be able to build even a stock KH for that much.

And some of the big-time members here use bruder conversions at the shows (I haven't been, but seen pics of their rigs), so I doubt anyone would look down upon you for doing so. That's not what we're about here anyways...all that matters is that you share in our obsession and that you tried! If you run into snags, that's what we're all here for!!

[FlyingBeagle]

Thanks for the insight, I would love to build a KH first, but it is not in the current budget. I believe I will try a bruder conversion first and see where that leads me. I am kicking myself right now because I passed on the oportunity to buy an excavator and Dump truck on sale before Christmas at a menards in Indy. I just wasnt sure If I wanted to do this or not. Again thanks for the advice.

Can someone post a link to a video or some pictures that show some of the 1/16 Bruder equipment with some 1/14 trucks, I would appreciate it.

[YoungGunz]

http://www.youtube.com/user/JDE9374/videos

here is my channel.... there are a few videos with my KH and my bruder skid steer. might give you a rough idea, but a skid steer would be considered small next to a truck in any situation.

Hope this helps, J.D.

[FlyingBeagle]

Thanks for the videos, The skid steer and truck look real good as well as they look good together. Just like in real life it looks like it would take quite a while to fully load a tractor trailer with a skid steer.