WillyChang

Things "got interesting" here around time of Super Hotshot appearance... 'cos that box is plonked right in front my thoroughly planned shelving design. Then Avante and Egress, then Fox and WildOne on top of those... plus a trio of Sakura D3s, a D4, a Yok RS, an MST FXXD... then came AE RC10 Classics, a WC... then GF01, G601, T301s, SW01s... it's like an archeological dig all layered by time strata. Most amazing is that the pike is tall enough to totally occlude any sight of HPI Baja SS 5B standing against gap in shelves. Yeah don't get into 1/5ths fellas... they're serious spacehogs!! Used to have more, now down to 1 left just hanging about for good memories. Savages also nearly as bad, also reduced to last 1.

Thommo be correct side of island. I'm in Melb on the other side, only 4000km away.

Dunno if I'd be crowing about getting off taxfree, the day before Brexit!! boris might come lurking on here looking for ways to prevebt revenue loss!

Not a bad lineup! Terra Scorcher 2020... reckon it'll come fully loaded like the original or it'll just be a basic Thundershot rebodied. Dunno what body to expect for MudMad but if it's 57415 does that mean it's coming as XB...

don't bother with primer... just paint PS1 White or PS12 Silver then paint anything you want on top of that. Nothing keys into lexan better than PS. Acrylics will tolerate mild handling but clearcoat will help durability.

Nah, just get ballbearings - they're dirt cheap nowadays like $1ea or less. Back in the 80s when Grasshopper was new, 1150 bearings were like $10ea. Yeah sure they were usually good Japanese brands like SKF and they were only $10ea because they're "hobbygrade" factory rejects... you'd pay $30 for one "instrument grade" good example. At $10/bearing a full set would cost more than the $80 for the Grasshopper kit!! Bronze "oil lite" bushings are for areas of higher stress. But they're also more aggressive on wearing out your shafts faster; plastic wears itself away faster.

yep I'm a perfectionist I'm afraid, and nothing's more perfect than pure vector artwork. Even the simplest sponsor logo could take an hour or three, each!

I last rebuilt my boycave shelving in 2006 & where to display shelfqueens. Had put great thought into what I already had, what I might like to have and allowed 30-50% headroom... only did like a certain few from #1-100, much of which I didn't think I'd have chance to own. Then T started the re-re program in earnest Plans of Mice & Men, as they say. Display shelf is located 3.5m up in our highest cathedral ceiling, about 3' higher than height of std doorframe. It too was imagined as a "two lane highway" of length about 4 Bruiser lengths. Idea was to have all 4 of the 3spds parked in a row on the back lane, shorter cars in front. A decade+ on... still haven't scored a Blazer so the 3spds are all still Toyotas. I haven't dusted them for some years; needs the tall ladder to access. And every access invariably does some damage... including once dropping a Bruiser 3m ooo that was painful.

Do you know what's it painted with? Some paints ain't gunna come off without a fight. Frewer offloaded their old molds to someone else overseas a few years ago afaik. Many of the old bodies didn't come with photorealistic light stickers, that's only a recent development last 10-15yrs only. The gun painters would airbrush their own headlight designs; me with no skills just pasted on chrome foil. Got involved in the vinyl trade 12yrs ago, spent many an hour trying to draw up artwork for decals... then @Incredible_Serious sourced a whole stack of Frewer 6R4 shells so I drew up paintmasks & full decal set for the Computervision scheme.

Walter got Frog up on fleaBay for $195 plus $22 post if you CBF'd driving down there

All of the above! let's be honest - nobody really knows, least of all most LHS staff... U & I probably have better idea than all of them combined. Re-res are weird... when Hotshot appeared (2007?) we all went crazy thinking its a 1-batch wonder, I myself bought three... yet today they're still on sale today a decade on. Ditto Scorcher, Buggy Champ, GH, Hornet, VLB... usually Frog and Brat too... they seem to run another batch few mths after stock dries up, no announcements anything. Comes & goes. Then there's other models like Boomerang & Astute (I think), the first batch sells out and nothing else the few years later they make big hoohaa about another lot being made. As a runner Boomerang is superior to Hotshot IMHO. Plus there's some models that do become 1-batch wonders like Fighting Buggy (well, 1 batch each in 2 releases) and many of the previous bodyshells remade on TT01 kits. Fox & wildOne seem to have disappeared too when IMHO there's still market demand; FAV got churned out a few times but haven't seen much since - guess Nobodys buying. If you've got a deadline of May, yeah hard to negotiate timeframe - grab a kit wherever you can. LHS here sold out, last price $245. Or get a Comical Frog! $250... I'm hoping that one's arrival might increase demand for the real Frog, they might make another batch. The other most annoying thing with rere biz is T either never remakes the original useful hopup parts, or they make some new good hopup options but they become 1-batch wonders! parts like balldiff for SRB; CVDs for Frog disappeared for a while but seem to have reappeared sporadically.

Coming after the iconic unique TA03, the TA04 was a total sellout to Conservative Conventionalism pretty much cribbed off everything else ppl were racing, led by HPI RS4... so it rates poor on the Uniqueness scale. Has a lot of issues if you actively run it not an easy car to setup & maintain. Most TA04 kits needed a big bunch of hopups to get then handling adequately; chassis' original design didn't generate much grip. Adding every vital hopup easily doubled kits price, even on the PRO (which didn't even get TRF shocks! Only plastic CVAs) Have bought every variant from TA04PRO to TA04 no suffix (F360) then TA04R and TA04S and finally TA04SS just for completeness. Used to have runners for each; have moved most of those on leaving only some NIBs for posterity. If it's time for reres from that era, I want TRF 404 & TRF 414 hey maybe Tech Racing should get into the rere game too

You didn't install full Ballbearings? Looks like white bushing peeking from wheel BBs should be first mandatory upgrade, before worrying about shocks etc. Even for shelfqueens

Usually takes a few weeks soaking... that baked on castor crud is pretty tough. It doesn't dissolve either, acetone (already harshest solvent) only just encourages it to maybe flake off a little easier. Got a ultrasonic cleaner? Dont put solvent in the cleaner though. Fill cleaner with water. Put part & solvent into a sealed glass jar and put that in the water. Jar mush be sealed or else the ultrasonic will vaporise the solvent fast, can get explosive.

Oh you do? Sweet, lmk how you make out. I tried downloading the Gears files and when my interwebs finally worked there seems to be a bunch of them... did the fella try making a few versions with different toothcount? What's the original teeth? Looks like he's designed a motormount with slotted screwhole for mesh adjustment too.

thanks MK!

2 flats, probably Traxxas TRX plugs are the worst, I can't unsolder them after they're assembled. It's cutoff & throwaway, no way to reuse. Such a waste. GensAce batts are good, bought them before Hobbyking

yeah they should all fit each other, same size hex in wheel if that's your Q. If you care about stance then the big F1 rear wheel will make your sports car look like a top fuel dragster - front bumper will scrape. Thick F1 foam donut can be trued down; bit harder with F2 rubber tyres. Everything on my shelves are mostly ready to run but might have trouble digging up a serviceable nicad hump pack though, haven't seen mine for years/decades. RM Mk1 is super flexy chassis though, it's best on glass flat surfaces. Anything rougher it'll wobbly like jelly and all that jiggling loses traction. The later RMs like 956 have stiffer chassis better for rougher surfaces, same with early Associated 1/12s. Give them fresh foam tyres and they'll perform just like new.

Jenny is our resident styrene bodymodding guru! (I can barely getaway with building LEGO ) Buy the body first, then measure. btw if your heart is fully set on F350... be aware that Highlift's F350 is recycled from earlier Juggernaut's F350 body. T really hacked out the wheelarches to clear those huge Rock Cruiser M/T tyres. The Jugg's F350 body is more scale looking over a 2" touringcar wheel. (search for pic of Shodog's blue Jugg on Old small wheel Hilux chassis... JuggLux) But of course the Jugg1&2 are long discontinued 20+ yrs, it wasn't a cheap kit & suffered bad reputation from weak original drivetrain so they sold in very limited quantities. Alternatively to fill out those huge arches, FYI about 8yrs ago there was a brief fad amongst drift community for Oversized 2.2" wheels (& tyres), high on the Bling scale*... you might still find some unsold stock of those around today. Speedline is the brand I've heard, maybe MST too. *drifters are Rebels. They like either total bling, or drab rusty steel wheels. Everyone just wanna be uniquely different... but just like one another...

especially on that SRB SuperChamp!! (Jeez that designer must've been blind!! There were no red fronts to match. And if T just wanted a foam wheel to reuse, why not any of the grey/white wheels from the earlier F1 CSes?!) But IMHO they look great as a full set on RM Mk1 & Mk2, nice clean cone look very unique compared to the multi spoke or dished wheels that other companies drew back in the day. The Lola is an iconic T design like AVante. Not sure how well that red will paint though. Red plastic is waxy and quite flexible; yet the wheel is reasonably stiff due to the cone design & bracing. I've never managed to crack any red wheel all these years. The red does fade slightly after decades of UV exposure. Haven't seen anybody dye them yet.

yeah it's too far off If one has an unlimited boneyard of parts... putting whole Lola rear axle on would be neatest way. But the you odd probably need to transfer the whole rear pod to suit, the CS chassis probably be too narrow to site the RM pod... nah ah there's easier ways to re tyre

btw if existing wheels are unbroken you can easily true them down and mount some fresh generic foam donuts, most 1/12 tyres should fit. There's also the RM-01 released in the recent decade; I'm told it's front wheels & tyres should fit the old axles. Not sure about rear wheels; sparepart tyre donuts for that are plenty around. No such luck with modern equivalent to Duplo tyres though.

Front wheels are ok, they're just twin 1150 bearings. But Lola rear axle debuts a "D" shaped hub; the older cars have a hex hub don't they? Dunno how wild of a mongrel Celica you've got there, but it'll be hard trying to graft on D hub onto the CS diff. (the Lola has its own unique big fat barrel of a sealed diff) If you haven't got CS diff & it's got fixed axle of 5mm diameter... maybe D hub (from left side of Lola axle) can bolt onto that. fyi the 5185 Buggy Sponge Tyre set uses the exact same Lola red rear wheel plus they supply D-hub adapters to suit SRB!! They don't resell for much... https://www.ebay.com/itm/Tamiya-Buggy-Sponge-Tyre-Set-Rear-5185-/271366634375 (not compared to other wheel sets of the era) I don't remember if those D-hubs are permanently pressed/bonded to the SRB halfshaft or just secured with setscrew.

ok let's crack out our fountain pens & compile a definitive list... Early 1/12 pan sportscars - 934, 935, 936, Countach, Celica LB. CS Competition Special variants. Early 1/10 F1s (and F2s). CS Competition Special variants. B2B sidecar Early 1/12 pan hatchbacks - Kamei Golf and Renault 5 Tyrell 6-wheeler Cheetah, XR311 Sand Rover, Holiday Buggy Special Racing Buggy - RR, SS, Ranger (name on radiobox but never acknowledged), ok ok SuperChamp can join too RM Mk.x Racing Master - 1/12 RM01 Lola, RM02 280ZX... got up to 6 or 7... then T goes and spoils the pattern by calling the 2012 reboot "RM-01" too RM01 1/12 pan car from 2012 Wild One, FAV Fox 3spd (metal) - Hilux, BB, Bruiser, Mounty ORV (did name get mentioned on box? Never on car) - Brat, Lancia, Frog etc Monster ORV - Blackfoot, MBeetle, then they got trailing rear susp SuperBF Tamtech 1/24 onroads short monocoque (Testarossa, 961 etc), 1/24 sportscars long monocoque (Brabham, March, 962C etc), some 1/14 F1s. They all used the original TamPack 2x3 square battery. TamTechGear 1/16, includes GT01 onroad RWD (934, 935, GTO), GB01 off-road RWD (mini Fox, mini Frog), GB02 off-road RWD (mini BuggyChamp), GB03 off-road 4WD (mini Hotshot). They all used newer 3x2 TamPack stick battery. Road Wizard (or does that become the first F101?) GrpC chassis - 787B, XJR15, F40, NSX, IMSA 300ZX etc Grasshopper, Hornet, GH2 Hotshot - everything that uses Hotshot gearboxes Thundershot - everything that uses Thundershot gearboxes WildWilly - M38, Wheeler, Quattro etc Grasshopper-derived Wheelie - Montero, Lunchbox, Pumpkin (later called CW01) Striker, Sonic Fighter Falcon, Bearhawk... begat Stadium Blitzer, Blitzer Beetle etc Monster (stadium) Racers - Kingcab, Hilux Monster Racer Dyna - DynaStorm, DynaBlaster Astute Avante - Av, Av2001, Vanquish, Egress. Ok ok Vajra too. Skyline (R32 GT-R) - later became TA01 MantaRay - later became DF01 Clod - ClodBuster, Bullhead etc Juggernaut - (not really called)-1 & 2 TXT - 1 & 2 **ok here comes the codemonkey rot** F10x RWD 1/10 F1s. Variant F103GT is Touringcar sized. F201 4WD F1 XC Cross Country - PajeroMTW, Wrangler, CRV, Mu, later around Pajero Rally Sport got renamed CC01 TAxx Touringcar A-league & Awfully-noisy due to lotsa gears. Might have belts sometimes. Must still have gears, mucho lotsa gears. TBxx Touringcar B-league, or Better with shaft. Begat TB Evolution sub-series. TL01 Touringcar, Lite TTxx Touringcar Terribly-plasticky Mxx M-chassis. Even x for RWD, odd x for FWD FFxx Frontwheeldrive Front(ish) motor touringcar. MF01X M-sized Fourwheeldrive TRF20x RWD offroad pro racer DN01 Zadhak is a plastic version of TRF201. TRF50x 4WD off-road pro racer TRF4xx Touringcar pro racer, all belt driven so far TRF10x 1/10 RWD F1 DFxx Dirtbuggy Fourwheeldrive, started with DF02 then MantaRay got relabelled DT01 posthumously. Variant DF03Ra is Touringcar sized. DTxx Dirtbuggy Twowheeldrive... think it also only started with DT02 RookieRabbit, became MadFighter, begat MadBull & now merged into DT01? WR02 - all new Wheelie Reardrive chassis for reborn WildWilly2000 in 1999. (Does that mean old M38 is WR01? No! No sign of WR03 yet to continue trend). Variant suffixes for farm tractors WR02G, Wheeler comical WR02C and Comical Buggy WR02CB. WR01 debuted by a Wild Dagger 4WD running 2 motors thru independent gearboxes, modular design. One of those gearboxes is what WR02 used. WT01... umm it's a single motor/gearbox RWD Truck version of the WR01 CW01 Classic Wheelie, grasshopper-derived CR01 CRalwer-wannabe (sic) CC01, CC02 - ex X-Country, now joined by new design common only by CC naming GF01 Fourwheeldrive shoehorned into WR02 shaped chassis G601 6x6x6 extension of GF01 XV01 Touringcar sized 4WD, front located motor TLT1 Tamiya Little Truck - Rockbuster (aka mini TXT1) & MaxClimber (err it's an SUV!!). They're tiny 1/18 but fitted big 540 motor... and RockBuster appeared same time as Novak SS5800 brushless motor system... heh heh heh! HiLift/HighLift - F350, Hilux, Tundra (LWB); new 3spd gearbox, axles recycled from TLT1 SemiTrucks 1/14 T3-01 lean-steer trike StarRider 370 motor - Dancing Rider, Dual Rider SW01 wheelie StarRider 370 motor 4WD - mini Lunchbox *** and now for some smelly nitros *** TG15T very first Tamiya Gasser with 15 engine, racing Truck style. TG10/TGS 1/10 Touringcar nitro 4WD TGX/TGR SuperTen sized nitro 4WD TNS nitro 1/10 both touringcar & buggy sized; think they were all only sold as XB eXpert-Built RTRs? NDFxx Nitro Dirtbuggy Fourwheeldrive, 1/10 buggy size TGMxx Gas Monster... TGM01 Mad Bison is 1/10. Then TGM02 TerraCrusher became 1/8 with neat reversing gearbox. TGM03 is TNX super sized, then TGM04 is TNX 5.2 with even bigger engine. Nitrage 1/8 buggy BMT... Tamiya never made their own 1/8 canam track racers but they did resell some made by BMT (Blitz Model Technica) of Italy, aka BMT 931 & 941 --------------- Happy Australia Day 2020 everybody!

I wanna see... another sibling for Mini Lunchbox! eg mini Pumpkin? Mini Wheeler? Mini FarmKing? another CC02... perhaps a SWB variant. Stick a hardbody on it like Amigo Mu or Wrangler even better. another TT01 euro racing truck with different body mold. Or have they no 3rd shape racing truck in the series? Or has the fad passed & Nobodys buying/racing those anymore. another chassis with portals how about MF01X-TR?