I’ve been into radio-control cars for over 30 years, and have built countless kits from nearly every RC car manufacturer on the planet, thanks in large part to a steady stream of review cars when I was helming RC Car Action magazine. One brand I’ve returned to over and over again as a favorite is Tamiya – you may recall I wrote about the passing of founder Shunsaku Tamiya, and most recently I built a (very loose) replica of David’s Ebay Jeep using a Tamiya Wild Willy 2 kit. As a top manufacturer of both static and RC models, the brand has a highly devoted following. Any new model from Tamiya is big hobby news, but especially so on the radio-control side.
Tamiya’s latest release has got me super-double-extra excited, because it combines all the things Tamiya does best: scale realism, clever engineering, premium quality, and fun performance. I say “fun” instead of “high” because there are plenty of competition brands that go all out for track performance at the expense of even remote scale realism, whereas Tamiya’s replica designs aim for high performance within the constraints of a realistic model. And, importantly, it’s a Beetle.
Tamiya is no stranger to Beetle models and currently offers the rally Beetle, Monster Beetle, and Blitzer Beetle (in that order clockwise below), and there’s another ’68 Beetle on the M-06 chassis that goes in and out of production that is also on my wish list.
These are all wonderful models and clearly lean more heavily between realism and fun, depending on the model you’re looking at. But even the most realistic of the three, the rally car, isn’t exactly realistic beneath its polycarbonate shell:
The MF-01X chassis is pretty neat, and Tamiya configures it as rear-motor befitting a Beetle, but the monocoque design with integrated gearboxes and full-time four-wheel drive (note the driveshaft running along the top edge of the chassis) is far from what underpins an actual Beetle. And that’s OK! This model is a ton of fun, just not realistic technology-wise.
So you can imagine why I’m so stoked on the Dune Beetle Cross and its BB-02 chassis. Look at this beauty!
Now, true, no Beetle had massive trailing arms like that, and though you can’t see them from this angle, there aren’t swing axles back there, either. Instead, it’s got the same rear end as the BBX buggy, which gives us a closer look:
The Dune Beetle will arrive with plastic-body shocks instead of aluminum as the BBX wears, but Tamiya’s oil-filled dampers are exceptionally smooth regardless of what they’re made from. The front of the trailing arm is ball-mounted, allowing for camber to be adjusted by altering the length of the upper threaded link.
They’ll be covered by rubber boots for the Dune Cross, but universal joints as configured above are standard equipment.
Also standard: a ball differential, which is my favorite bit of RC car tech that doesn’t exist in full-size cars – or has it been done? I’d love to be proven wrong and see what that looks like in a “real” car!
Back to the suspension. The Dune Cross will also get a double A-arm front suspension like the BBX buggy, but that won’t be the only front suspension in the box …
In addition to the A-arms, a much more Beetle-like trailing arm front end setup will be included with the kit. I’ll likely go with the A-arms, as they also widen the front track width and I intend to hit the local dirt track with my Dune Beetle (you can see the trailing-arm car get a little roly-poly in the GIF below), but the trailing arm option is a great touch. Note the waffle pattern that emulates the texture of an actual Beetle floorpan, though the chassis itself is not constructed like a real Beetle’s.
More details abound in the rear of the car, with a nicely detailed flat-four left exposed by the bodywork. Driver and navigator figures are tucked beneath the roll cage, and there are dash details as well. Gotta go into Zen mode to paint those guys. 
It’s just a beautiful model that should be a blast to drive, and I can’t wait to get my hands on one – hopefully as soon as they drop for the holiday season. As a full assembly kit, it’ll need a few items to complete it. If it’s like the BBX buggy, I’ll need to supply a radio system, steering servo, motor, speed control, battery, and paint. Good news, I already have all this stuff. 
The Dune Beetle Cross is sure to be a fun build that I can stretch out over a week to deliver a very satisfying model both to display and drive. As a fully-licensed, great-looking, realistic, and technically-exciting model at a not-extravangant price (by RC standards at least: MSRP is $488, expect to find it at around $350 in hobby stores and online), this is definitely the kit I’m looking forward to most in 2026.
Where my fellow RC fans at? Does the Dune Beetle Cross have a spot on your wish list? Would you like to see a build story here at The Autopian? See you in the comments.
All images: Tamiya
Many years ago I spent a summer working at World Engines. I started to get into RC cars at that time and had a pretty nice WE original that I took to college with me to harass people outside the dorms. Lots of fun, and tweaking the performance and upgrading parts was a big part of that fun. Maybe it’s time I took another look at these things.
I would definitely like you to write up a story as you build this,I don’t know a lot about rc cars,but I appreciate the mechanics of them.
2WD RC cars are a hoot! I love my Traxxas Maxx since it’s the ultimate basher. That said, my brushed Stampede/Bigfoot on Proline Trenchers is a riot. Drifting it in gravel is a blast and it’s not so fast that I fear sharing the remote.
Throwback to the Sand Scorcher. I dig it.
They should have a 1/9 X1/9 LOL
This is cool but I feel like the 47524 is still the Tamiya of the year, and the Redcat ice cream truck or JConcepts Reactor (does that count as a Tamiya?) is the RC of the year.
Pete, I like you enthusiasm for RC.
Wait, $488?!?
AMain has it on pre-order for $342. Also don’t forget their coupons.
That’s much more sane, thanks!
Well fortunately (or unfortunately for those who dont need a new hobby) the street price for this is only $341.60, with a 10% off discount Tower hobbies has it for close to $300. It should be available by the end of December.
I was super surprised to see this on a chassis that wasnt actually 15-20 years old. So many Tamiya kits have amazing looking bodies that are let down a bit by their ancient chassis, like how many kits use the TT-02 chassis… too many!
My first real RC (not counting toy grade stuff as a kid) was a CC-01 FJ40. I was just looking to build a regular model to put on a shelf and realized that I could make it move for a similar price… and now I have 50+ crawlers (many custom or scratch built) and some go fasts.
I setup a giant rock crawling course in my backyard and can run that for hours. With go fast stuff it gets boring after a half hour of so. Crawling is way more entertaining than it looks like from the outside, its got a zen like puzzle solving feel to it.
I don’t own an RC but I love your articles and would enjoy your build stories. I watch RC videos all the time. I feel like a cat with a laser pointer.
This is the dream project car most of us can afford these days.
When I was doing the R/C car thing back in the late ’80s to early ’90s I started off with a Tamiya Hornet then moved up to a Kyosho Ultima. Lots of fun. Also tried out a little on-road action with a BoLink kit. Fitted with a Trinity Monster Mash motor it was stupid fast enough that 16 year old me had a hard time controlling it when I’d run it on the neighborhood street.
I had a Bolink Sport that I used to send up and down the street at around 40mph, which was fast for 1995
My first rc was a Bolink, sent that car into the curb at full speed a few times, survived each to time.
This dropped out of no where. Tamiya…So sneaky, not even a mention at any of the recent toy fairs. I saw the vids late last week on YT and was like wait, what’s going on?
I had just decided no new kits, only used restoration projects, and then Tamiya has to go and drop this thing. I’m holding out – for now. But I’ll probably end up with one eventually. Only after I restore the basket-case Sand Scorcher sitting on a shelf in my workshop, though.
I saw some old covers of RC Car Action magazine from the 90s, when I was a subscriber – what amazing memories! That mag was (and sounds like, still is) a huge part of a lot of people’s fandom!
Don’t think RC Car Action is available on paper anymore, seems like they went digital only.
And I got a call from the hobby store that my kid’s rc car came in just now, what a coincidence.
Oh, I hadn’t heard that. I will investigate and revise.
This may end up being my first RC Car purchase!! I just started getting into RC this year. Both of my projects thus far have been 3D-Printed 1/10 scale WWII vehicles (A Hetzer tank and an SdKfz 234 Puma). Coming from modelbuilding, I have been a Tamiya fan for years!
I was involved in the RC business for several years. After accumulating 80+ cars for product development and marketing purposes, I have been kinda burnt out on RC for a few years now. When I saw the Dune Beetle debut video, I don’t remember being more pumped for a new kit to hit the market. Instant buy for me.
I ran an original gold pan RC10 and Losi JRX2 back in the day. I think the JRX2 is still in my garage though it hasn’t run in decades. Maybe 10 years ago I bought a new RC10 RTR. You’re making me want to dust it off and take it for a spin.
Yeah. My gold pan is sitting in storage since I snapped part of the front suspension. I just need to order the new parts and get it rolling.
Unfortunately I sold my gold pan to buy the JRX2. I did win a race in Myrtle Beach with the Losi. My battery dumped right as I hit the top of the last hill. As I recall, I was the last car running. The turn guard gave it a little tap with his foot and it crested the top and rolled down hill over the finish line.
Lol. Awesome assist and win.
I’d love to have a JRX2, I wish the re-release wasn’t tiny scale and was normal 1/10
If you build it (ie write the article), they will come!
_sigh_ You keep doing these articles, I’m going to freaking get another silly hobby. I looked at the Tamiya website for two hours after last time.
Oh snap! Just last week I was looking at Tamiya models trying to find a kit just like this one. My kids are at the age where their interest in RC cars and building things are finally overlapping, so I’ve been looking at RC models that have a realistic aesthetic but are both fun to build and drive. I haven’t had a good RC car in a few decades (just crap ones I don’t care about my kids breaking), but when I did it was a Tamiya similar to the BBX and I loved it. I know I’ll need to source all the electrical and controls stuff, but hopefully the Dune Cross is at a price point where that won’t be prohibitively expensive.
If you want to get into RC inexpensively with a fun-to-build Tamiya model, check out the Fighter NXGEN buggy. I’m building one right now. If crawling is more your thing, check out Tamiya’s CC-02 models.
Thanks! The CC-02 with a Defender 90 body would be right up my alley, but I suspect my kids would be more interested in the Fighter NXGEN because it goes fast.
I have a CR-01 crawler with both FJ40 body and Bronco body. If you want something that’s going to take you 2 weeks to build, this is it lol
I bought the CC-02 Bronco when it first came out. I was just getting back into RC after a 20-year hiatus so I can do it together with the kids. They weren’t interested.
Anyway of course the first thing I did was to stick a brushless motor setup in it. It now goes faster than the 1/10 on-road electric cars I grew up with in mid 90’s (with 7.2V NiCd and brushed motors.)
I probably overpowered this poor thing by a factor of 5.
Noted! Thanks for the heads up on that, because swapping in brushless motor was honestly something I was thinking about when I was looking at the kit. More power has to be more better, right?!
Tamiya is known for nice bodies, detail, and still offering kits. If you want performance, there’s probably better options. I don’t want to seem like I’m neggin on Tamiya, I’m not. It just seems weird to want one and then immediately go brushless. Their designs, especially their offroad ones, aren’t very forgiving to lots of extra watts.
It only seems weird if you assume everyone has the same knowledge as you do. As I noted, I haven’t had a decent RC car since the late 90s, so haven’t kept up on the limitations of the Tamiya models, and I assumed there were benefits to brushless motors beyond just pure performance. But fear not, I will do my research should I decide to buy one.
I like the details on this one! Especially that engine and pipe on the back.
1:9 scale seems odd to me. I am used to 1:5, 1:8, but 1:9 is an odd scale for me to think about because 1:10 is the dominant size. Of course there are those smaller 1:18 and 1:24’s as well, so I guess at some point we’ll just have scales of all sizes.
Ron Richardson: Yeah, you gonna make it all 220?
Jack Butler: [with hesitation] Yeah… 220… 221… whatever it takes.
Also self reply, but I expect to see this body show up on some other platforms pretty quickly. The community is usually quick to do that. A 4wd version is going to show up.
That’ll be interesting to see, as the gearbox is a very “2WD only” design.
Oh. I just meant that people will pop this onto a 4wd setup.
Oh, right right right right right. Yes, definitely!
This may fit over the CR-01 as that has a slightly extended wheelbase that doesn’t exactly fit under its 1/10 scale body shell. Time will tell, if I get one I will see how well it goes over it.
I’d call it 1/10 scale as the shorthand RCers use for chassis size, given its 11-inch wheelbase. Tamiya is a stickler for scale, so I’m betting that wheelbase and the Beetle body are bigger than they would be at true 1/10 scale, and thus Tamiya officially calls it 1/9 scale.
It’s not something I know much about, but the plastic engine looks like it’s a similar size to the tiny engines RC planes use…
As Peter already hinted at, the scales used by most RC companies aren’t really scales at all – they’re just shorthand for classes of chassis size. If you look at crawlers from Axial, Traxxas, Element, Redcat and many others, they all offer a “1:10” platform that they offer lots of different bodies for… but in real life all of those vehicle bodies have wildly different wheelbases, and the RC companies are just scaling bodies up and down to fit whatever wheelbase their chassis already has.
So the “real” scale varies quite a bit. Models sold as 1:10 scale frequently span anywhere from 1:8 to 1:12 scale actual scale.
Tamiya is probably just being more accurate with their description than most competitors would be.
I definitely nerd out on knowing what the real scale of my RCs is, and most of my crawlers are very close to 1:9 actual scale (although all sold as 1:10).
And the discrepancies get much bigger for the small scale stuff. The 1:18 and 1:24 scales are so inconsistent and inaccurate it’s laughable.
Tamiya makes the worlds best model kits and RC kits in the world. Their attention to detail is incredible, it is what you would expect from Apple. Materials, construction, instruction manuals are of the highest quality. They are not meant as the highest performing, lightest or most advanced kits but they certainly are most fun to spend time with. I built several Formula 1 kits and several RC kits among them the BigWig and Boomerang.
I grew up with Tamiya and I love that brand.
That said there are plenty of things they can improve on. The RC cars’ steering mechanism (unless you go all the way up to the TRF series) has so much slop in it that immediate upgrade to aluminum and ball bearing parts is a must. On the scale side of things, they are good but the newer, upscale Chinese brands have Tamiya beat in details and selection. The 1/350 warship line of Tamiya hadn’t been updated in an eternity. Upstarts like Trumpter have pretty much every ship (OK every major class of warship) under the sun available at 1/350. Tamiya has just the Bismarck/Tirpitz, KGV/DOY/POW, Missouri/NJ, and of course a million versions of Musashi/Yamato, some Japanese destroyers and cruisers, and that’s about it.
Right now Hobbylinc carries 128 1/350 warship kits from Trumpeter.
But there’s something about the box art of Tamiya that NO other brand can match. For someone like me who builds 1 kit out of 20 he bought, looking at the box is 95% of the fun.
Rc cars are souch fun. I had a Big Boss years ago, spent a such time fixing it as piloting it.
Tons of fun!