65 replies to this topic

[Live Steam Mad]

Thanks Alistair for your kind post, just wanted to share a photo from Kyosho catalog which shows what appears to be a box artist doing his job

Cool.

NOTE THE KYOSHO POLYCA SKY BLUE PAINT in the photo as may have been used on box art Optima

Despite intensive web searches I never found anywhere that sells it.

I'd love to grab some LOL.

Cheers,

Alistair G.

[Live Steam Mad]

The e-shops may send the paint to my friends but after that EMS refuses to send paint and thinner material to Europe by airmail.
I'll buy some myself next time I go to Japan. (my list is growing)

Again I can't understand why EMS would refuse to accept the Kyosho Calsonic Blue MZW150CB paint seeing as how it is a 30ml bottle of paint, NOT spray, and it is water soluble, non toxic and not flammable.

At the time, did you mention to your Japanese contact(s) that the above was true? If you tell them I think you will have success finally.

Your friends should be able to in any case send items to you by normal Air Mail (which has different rules, in HK you can send sprays to any country using international Air Mail apparently since I got TS8 and TS16 on Ebay from Hong Kong).

There is also another postal option, called Surface Air Lift (SAL) which is cheaper than EMS and Air Mail if I remember right. Again the rules for that service may be different.

In any case, like I mentioned, the paint is a bottle, NOT spray, and is water soluble, non toxic and not flammable!!!!! If you like I can give you the web page that tells me this and you can send them a link or get your friends in Japan to print it out and show them at the Post Office that the paint is harmless! Surely they can't refuse to handle it with that knowledge.

I'd really appreciate it if you could buy all the stock of Kyosho Polyca Sky Blue and Kyosho MZW150CB Calsonic Blue that you can find in Japan, if any. I will pay you for the paint by Paypal, plus extra for your trouble

Best Regards,

Alistair G.

[Live Steam Mad]

Hobby World Japan got back to me about the Kyosho Calsonic Blue MZW150CB paint, but the news is bad, they said ;-

"We cannot ship this item to oversea countries,
because Kyosho doesn't have documents required for shipment to consumers nor its service.

Thank you for your understanding.

Best Regards,
Aiko Oishi"

If anyone in Japan would care to help me out I would really appreciate it.

Best Regards,

Alistair G.

[RETRO R/C]

Alistair,

You have to understand that it is not anyone trying to make your life difficult, nor does anyone have a conspiracy against you. The UK seems to have implemented some seriously restrictive "rules" on the importing of paint and other similar substances.

Sure - someone may be able to send it - and sure - it "MAY" get through your customs. But if it doesnt, and it is held, its no ones responsability but your own. I dont know what the penalties are for importing "dangerous" substances - but while the UK has these very restrictive rules in place - I dont blame anyone for not wanting to send the items.

I blows chunks - I know - As I said in my email - I would love to help - but we dont have access to the Kyosho line of paints here - sure we could get them from the places you mention - however I dont want to be responsible for myself or you getting pinged by customs - the same predicament as everyone else is in....I know its only paint - but the authorities are the ones you need to be hassling.

Cheers

Darryn

[Live Steam Mad]

Alistair,

You have to understand that it is not anyone trying to make your life difficult, nor does anyone have a conspiracy against you. The UK seems to have implemented some seriously restrictive "rules" on the importing of paint and other similar substances.

Sure - someone may be able to send it - and sure - it "MAY" get through your customs. But if it doesnt, and it is held, its no ones responsability but your own. I dont know what the penalties are for importing "dangerous" substances - but while the UK has these very restrictive rules in place - I dont blame anyone for not wanting to send the items.

I blows chunks - I know - As I said in my email - I would love to help - but we dont have access to the Kyosho line of paints here - sure we could get them from the places you mention - however I dont want to be responsible for myself or you getting pinged by customs - the same predicament as everyone else is in....I know its only paint - but the authorities are the ones you need to be hassling.

Cheers

Darryn

Hi Darryn,

Yes I realise that it's not all a conspiracy, I'm not quite that daft. I note that you mention about the UK having more restrictive rules than other countries... I don't know about that but I do note that in Germany you can get hold of the Tamiya TS paint, whereas in the UK it appeared to have been withdrawn and then banned from sale (under risk of an 80,000 Euro fine for retailers or something rediculous ISTR) which is odd since the UK is less "European" than Germany it seems, but not when it comes to European directives on substances in paint for health reasons? LOL. Hence I got my own TS8 and TS16 paint from Ebay HK. No problems whatsoever with postage.

Now then, let me explain something about the policy regarding the UK ;-

Firstly, for posting things FROM A UK ADDRESS using e.g. Royal Mail ;-

http://www.royalmail...ediaId=36200675

Now let me explain the policy regards importing items FROM OUTSIDE THE UK. This comes straight from the horse's mouth as it were, since I telephoned officials at Royal
Mail to get this information ;-

I 'phoned 08457 740 740 and had a word with Royal Mail about whether I could receive a pressurised, flammable liquid canister Aerosol of Hobby paint from Hong Kong.

Royal Mail said YES I can (I mentioned I was a private domestic customer). It is indeed perfectly legal and cannot be stopped by Customs officials.

I was told on the 'phone that the rules are that I can receive hazardous goods like this one FROM overseas via GROUND shipping and I can SEND the same goods to anyone ANYWHERE in the world but I CANNOT SEND these items WITHIN THE UK TO ANYONE!!

So, with respect Darryn, you would appear to be mistaken as regards the UK.

Also I would with respect turn your attention to what I mentioned above as regards the particular paints that I was after for the Optima, of the Kyosho Calsonic Blue and Yellow, MZW150CB and MZW150Y respectively, in that these are bottles, NOT spray, and are water soluble, non toxic and not flammable!

So you CANNOT classify these as being dangerous substances as regards Postal Regulations.

So if there is any TC member who would like to help me out to get these, I would pay in advance, I would be most grateful.

Cheers,

Alistair G.

[Live Steam Mad]

Hi, I just found this picture online in the 1987 Kyosho full line Catalog showing the Kyosho Polyca Sky Blue paint that I am pretty convinced that they used for Optima for the one in the Vintage Promotional video of Optima (not sure about whether this color was used on the box art and catalog pictures but I strongly suspect it was). There is nowhere in the world where you can get this paint from, so I'll be settling for what Jurgen used, as it's closest to box art IMHO.

Cheers,

Alistair G.

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[Live Steam Mad]

I just noticed that Rakuten has an English page ;-

http://en.rakuten.co.jp/

...so it may be possible to get the MZW150CB paint from them. I only found this because I started to get automated shopping item e-mails from them so I used the unsubscribe (using Google translate) option and it sent me to the English page!

the links for the paint are ;-

http://en.item.rakut.../4955439795712/

http://en.item.rakut.../otagai/947702/

http://en.item.rakut...i-hobby/701762/

(this last link says sold out but mentions Fujii-Hobby).

Tenso will forward the items to overseas addresses ;-

http://event.rakuten.../tenso/english/

...that would appear to be a long shot but may be a way of obtaining them. The problem is finding them actually in-stock...

Regards,

ARG

[mugenbulldog]

Can any one tell me what decal this is? It's on the back right above the body mount... I am printing a set of all the "missing" box art Optima decals and this is the only one that is eluding my efforts.

Here is a preview. The NGK or Rays are what I would use if I can't figure out what that decal is.

[Marwan]

Hi,

the decals have a writing in two lines, the upper bigger font says "Rays" for sure and bottom smaller font is not clear but it could be "Engineering" or "heads..." I'll scan the photo i have so that you can see.

hope this help.

[mugenbulldog]

Hi,

the decals have a writing in two lines, the upper bigger font says "Rays" for sure and bottom smaller font is not clear but it could be "Engineering" or "heads..." I'll scan the photo i have so that you can see.

hope this help.

Thanks so much in advance! RAYS and NGK were my two guesses. If its Rays, they make the high end OEM wheels for Nissan and Infiniti, as well as Volks, Gram Lights, etc. etc. That would be cool if that's the original decal, as it implies that the awesome 5 star spoke wheels on the original Optima are Rays. Looking forward to the scan... The RAYS decal I made represents their current logo and it has probably changed a bit.

[Live Steam Mad]

I finally got my hands on an original (empty!) Optima kit box last week , cost me all of 1 quid LOL. Of course it's not in the best condition and I bought it for use more as a color guide for getting the colors accurate, more than anything else.

Here is a scan of the RAYS decal so you can see what it's like (see below), I scanned in at 1200 DPI on my new scanner (Canon MP610, it's very good at scanning). Sorry I can't get some of the scan sharp but my used kit box has quite an uneven front surface and it's difficult to get it flat against the scanner glass as the box is quite large so it's awkward.

I found a 13th (!) Kyosho Polyca paint last night (after I had already found Kyosho Polyca Blue and Kyosho Polyca Sky Blue), this one is Calsonic Blue (see attached picture below). I can tell it's by Kyosho since the web page I found it on says so ;-

http://www.rcmotors....70/89/id:18896/

...actually you can see this more easily here (machine translation from Russian) ;-

http://translate.goo...l...2Fid:18896/

(hope that link works LOL)

I have a feeling that this is what Kyosho might have used for box art Optima since Jurgen got the most accurate color so far and he used Kyosho Calsonic Blue but I don't know whether he used Polyca or Mini-Z paint, I suspect the former as he got it from Kyosho Germany who still sell one Polyca paint (orange).

Unfortunately if you try and order it from this Russian web shop you find that they only ship to addresses in Russia, they have no option at all for international postage. If someone could help me in obtaining it I would be very grateful, I can paypal plus give a little extra for the trouble.

How is the missing decals decal sheet coming on? Did you finish it yet? If I can help you with any high(er) resolution scans of the box art, let me know!

I only have 1 original decal sheet and a used body, I could do with a Marwan Optima body but can't afford it ATM since I just bought a 2nd RR2009 body set LOL.

Cheers,

Alistair G.

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[mugenbulldog]

You are the man! Rays Engineering it is, with a yellow background. It looks like their logo has changed a little over the years. This one looks a little rounder than the modern version. I am very enthused and might have to pick up a set of real Rays rims for my 1:1 ride. I can definitely make that logo from the detail in the scan, and it will be indistinguishable from what you can see on the box, but I would like to see if I can source a Rays logo of a little higher quality from the 1980s. Maybe I will fire off an email to them.

I haven't forgotten that I promised you a sheet of the missing Optima decals...

I am also jealous you got hold of an Optima box. I had one that was in terrible shape, and I chucked it years ago, and I wish I hadn't. And if you know of a blue that I can get a hold of in the USA that's closer to the Calsonic blue than the Tamiya blue is, I would appreciate it because know that I see the real color the Tamiya is just wrong

I finally got my hands on an original (empty!) Optima kit box last week , cost me all of 1 quid LOL. Of course it's not in the best condition and I bought it for use more as a color guide for getting the colors accurate, more than anything else.

Here is a scan of the RAYS decal so you can see what it's like (see below), I scanned in at 1200 DPI on my new scanner (Canon MP610, it's very good at scanning). Sorry I can't get some of the scan sharp but my used kit box has quite an uneven front surface and it's difficult to get it flat against the scanner glass as the box is quite large so it's awkward.

I found a 13th (!) Kyosho Polyca paint last night (after I had already found Kyosho Polyca Blue and Kyosho Polyca Sky Blue), this one is Calsonic Blue (see attached picture below). I can tell it's by Kyosho since the web page I found it on says so ;-

http://www.rcmotors....70/89/id:18896/

...actually you can see this more easily here (machine translation from Russian) ;-

http://translate.goo...l...2Fid:18896/

(hope that link works LOL)

I have a feeling that this is what Kyosho might have used for box art Optima since Jurgen got the most accurate color so far and he used Kyosho Calsonic Blue but I don't know whether he used Polyca or Mini-Z paint, I suspect the former as he got it from Kyosho Germany who still sell one Polyca paint (orange).

Unfortunately if you try and order it from this Russian web shop you find that they only ship to addresses in Russia, they have no option at all for international postage. If someone could help me in obtaining it I would be very grateful, I can paypal plus give a little extra for the trouble.

How is the missing decals decal sheet coming on? Did you finish it yet? If I can help you with any high(er) resolution scans of the box art, let me know!

I only have 1 original decal sheet and a used body, I could do with a Marwan Optima body but can't afford it ATM since I just bought a 2nd RR2009 body set LOL.

Cheers,

Alistair G.

[mugenbulldog]

[mtbkym01]

OMG! I've just got a body and decals from Marwan, thinking I'll do a box art job, yeah right I think mine will end up similar, but not perfect, this is gonna be scary!

[Live Steam Mad]

Funnily enough I just finally grabbed the "MZW150CB Kyosho Mini-Z Air Color Series Calsonic Blue" from Jason in Japan (JR-RC), since as Jurgen said he had used "original Kyosho calsonic Blue" on his very accurate box art Optima, it was the only bottle that he had and it was fairly cheap at 3 GBP so I'll try it when it arrives and see how it compares to my Optima box, and see if it shows brush marks since I brush paints on, since in the past I hated spraying on PS sprays since they are near impossible to remove if mistakes are made (however Tamiya did bring out a paint remover especially for it recently I think if I remember right).

Here's the paint ;-

http://www.ebay.co.u...984.m1439.l2649

I'd also like to get hold of some PC3 Light Blue brush-on paint and try it and compare it to my Optima box.

Cheers,

Alistair G.

[Live Steam Mad]

Well the "MZW150CB Kyosho Mini-Z Air Color Series Calsonic Blue" turned up and I shook the plastic bottle of it and painted some onto my very used Optima body for a test with a small flat brush, and it is very much too dark . You can spread it on thin to make it lighter but then it's coverage is very poor. Mid blue to dark blue is when you start to get good coverage. So when Jurgen said to me that he had used "original Kyosho calsonic Blue", he must have been using another version - probably the Kyosho Polyca Calsonic Blue that I showed a picture of above. I'll try and get hold of some.

In the meantime now I just ordered a bottle of Tamiya PolyCarbonate Brush-On (round glass bottle) of PC3 "Light Blue" from Ebay and I await it's arrival and will test that to see if it's a close enough match. Otherwise I will have to maybe try some other brands, if anyone has any ideas?

OptimaForever mentioned Tamiya PS30 Brilliant Blue, I'll try and get some and see what it's like. Anyone used it?

Maybe "Custom Colour Sky Blue Polycarbonate Spray" ;-
http://www.anticsonl...24_1_17481.html ?

Also I just ordered Tamiya PolyCarbonate Brush-On (round glass bottle) PC-6 "Yellow" from Ontracks.co.uk and will test it and report back.

Some pic's that I toook are linked to below to show the Calsonic Blue that I tested today as mentioned above. Looks very much like the blue I see on the "Calsonic" livery Kyosho cars... suppose I should have expected it really LOL.

https://picasaweb.go...iesCalsonicBlue

Ahh OK so I just searched and found that Kyosho also did / do a Spray version of the Calsonic Blue, item code KY76324 apparently. I'll try to get hold of some and test it.

Cheers,

Alistair G.