Tamiya’s Mini 4WD consists of inexpensive 1/32 plastic cars that race themselves around fenced tracks. Your job as the racer is to make sure that they’re configured in such a way that they don’t go flying off the track and punch through your grandmother’s shoji. Ideally, they also finish going around the track before the other cars.

The Trigger Also Rises

21 May 2026, 1386 words

Now that I’ve fixed the Rising-Trigger knockoff chassis’s broken motor mount in the previous entry, it’s time to move on and start building the car. Of course, since it’s a knockoff Daxing chassis, this car will mostly be used for display. So we better do a good paint job. Did I mention it’s my first paint job?

Fun with the Fun-Vroom

25 Jun 2025, 925 words ★★ Tamiya

Tamiya’s new Fun-Vroom Mini 4WD is out, and with it, the new “EZ” chassis. It’s quite a bit different from previous Mini 4WDs, but it’s just as much fun.

Speed Checker Check-In

17 May 2025, 740 words ★★ Tamiya

Mini4WD cars have a lot of accessories available for them, but my favourite is this, the Speed Checker. It’s a little pocket dynamometer, so you can take your 1/24-scale toy cars to the dyno and see just how fast they are without all the confusion of a track.

Rising Trigger Revival

25 Mar 2025, 946 words

Getting some of the late-90s Mini 4WD bodies, such as the Rising-Trigger in the Aero Mini 4WD series, can be really expensive. Luckily, a lot of those bodies have been reproduced by Daxing, and you can buy their kits from AliExpress. The only problem is that those kits show up smooshed once in awhile.