WhiteVanMan

Hi all. Yep, its me, Colin from the Tamiya stand at ModelExpo. Don't know where to start really... First up, the displays. Before the show I raided the Hobby Company showroom for as much new product as possible (luckilly no-one was looking...) some of the items had to come from Germany as they are not in the UK yet (VW Touraeg, 2 x 350Z, and before you ask, the Gravelhound was in the showroom, but it wasn't on the price list, so I didn't take it, sorry...). The Super Clodbuster was there, but on the display track. We ran it a couple of times but she was a bit erratic on the steering and I didn't have time to sort it out whilst on the stand. We had to run as much as possible so if a vehicle played up, it got left out. The Knight Hauler was our show stopper, when we stopped running it, everyone asked when is it coming out again..... The TXT-1 also went down well, but needs a bit of TLC as the balljoints all need replacing due to too much power and abuse (2 x 15x2 motors, twin ESC, twin battery packs etc etc.). We had alot of interest in the new Leopard tank, and even the Mini Cooper drew a few admiring glances. The Rockbuster was a let-down for us, due to a centre diff. problem, it kept slipping, and the gearmesh was terrible, I blame the person that built it in a rush....ah, that was me....opps...at least i'm honest, and I broke the Ferrari F1 car when I went too fast and hit one of the rocks, breaking the front wishbone and strengthener.... I wonder how many Tamiya r/c guide books will appear on ebay, we gave away 1400 of them...... hope you got at least 1 each. Our public have-a-go cars survived well, a few wishbones, 2 chassis tubs, 3 motor guards (we use the TA-03F chassis, and yes, they were speed limited, you all can drive, but the general public can't....)and we got through 26 bodyshells, lol, they were given away on Sunday, ebay perhaps, doubt it, they were wrecked). Another area which I have noted is the lack of off-road try-outs. We couldn't do this as there is a massive frequency issue at this type of show. We secured the 6 solid frequencies for the entire duration of the show, bad idea, as some muppets bought r/c deals, then switched on their transmitters sending some of our cars haywire....splits next time. At least the public got a chance to drive a radio-controlled car on the Tamiya stand, if it wasn't for us, well, I didn't see any other form of public have-a-go, please correct me if i'm wrong. I too was dissapointed in the retail side of things. Very limited on the Tamiya side, infact, I only saw 2 stands with Tamiya on them, and not that much either. This must be addressed for next year. If a shop cannot be bothered to sell Tamiya, then I'll open my own shop, then take it to Modelexpo and keep you guys happy. btw, no Wild Daggers left in stock, infact, there isn't any old stock really, it all gets sold to the shops, so its up to them really, sorry folks. I could waffle on forever here, but my final thought for now is that I thought it was a Model Expo, not an r/c car expo.... still, great effort from all involved with the show, The BRCA did a cracking job with the racing, boy can those cars move...... I'd love to have a massive Tamiya stand there, and even try to incorperate a display of Tamiya r-c cars from yesteryear, heres dreaming. All I have to do now is convince them to spend the money.....wish me luck.

Hi Everyone. WOW, what a blast that was (despite our early problems....), it was great to put names to faces. OK, so I only came for the saturday, but to see the pasion that people have for their cars was fantastic. Highlight for me was the Mini race, plenty of door to door action there, the TXT race was fun, but I must change the gear ratio, way too much torque and not enough speed. What a line up for the photo-shoot...... Special mention to Ryan on race out of control. Great job, and never left his post, we are proud of you. Peg board a pain, but hey, at least we had something. Heres looking forward to the next one.

Interesting subject this. Form what I can read here, most of the postage charges are from overseas, hence the high charges. I personally quote postage on all of my auctions so that everyone knows how much they are going to pay for an item in total, including postage when the bid is placed. I'm with Daz on this one, I also send a refund if i've got the postage wrong, but again, not being tight, but jiffybags do cost money for small parts (if used) so I would have thought say 50p-£1 to cover packaging is fair. When I bid, I always check the postage charges before going for an item, you can always ask the seller to quote on postage before bidding.

and me.... cool tickets

At last, I know I can make it.... Runners. Wild willy 2 Wild Dagger TXT-1 TGX Subaru TGR Merc King Hauler x 2 Volvo FH12 x 2 Convoy time... TA-03F x 6, so if anyone wants a blast and doesn't want to run their own, then use and abuse ours, but no head-ons..... A selection of TL-01s' 3 Shermans and 2 Tigers, all with Battle Systems...anyone for a fight? 3 BMW Mini coopers.. Your only supposed to blow the bl**dy doors off...(sorry they are the BMW ones though). Display Nissan 350Z Toyota MR-S Loctite Skyline Ferrari F1 (F201) Rover Mini Cooper ABT Audi TT-R Merc CLK-DTM Mad Fighter TGX Subaru Impreza Honda CR-V (Thanks to Stu...) Focus WRC Peugeot 205WRC (TA03F-S) Evo 7 Baja King And if it comes to us in time..... The New Knight Hauler.......WOW, here's hoping. See you there.

Yep, just got one myself. I am now nearly sure that i'll be able to go to snetterton, if I do, i'm going to run one there with live pictures to a trackside TV, then we will all be able to see for ourselves........ Lets hope it will be alright on the night (day)

Interesting idea, the twin motor version, I must try that. Yep, either front or rear is possible, any TA-03 standard car would be suitable as a doner, but if using the short chassis, make sure you use the shorter belt......... which should be with you tomorrow by the way[]

Hi Todd. Yep, got one of these, is a stunning car. What annoys me with it is that there is no undertray for it, i've had to make a lexan one for it. On my first run, a stone got caught in the 2 speed gear..... not pleasant. It is really for circuit use only, due to the very low ride height and suspension settings. The engine is a corker, and the kit itself is of very high quality. They are now discontinued in the UK, I don't know about anywhere else. Have you run yours yet?

2manytoyz, i've checked out that link and they look great, could be just the job. I've emailed them to see if they can help making smaller ones, or for any ideas from them, i'll let you know how I get on.

Tamiyaracer, if you find that link......well, fantastic. I have now found another Supra shell, so i'll make 2 of them. I might even try and have a go at the yellow Skyline..... Any ideas as to where to get the Green Honda bodyshell at the start of the movie anyone... Now that would look good.

Help.... I'm in the middle of creating a copy of the Toyota Supra as seen in the film 'The Fast and ths Furious' but i've hit a brick wall trying to locate some decals for the side of the car. Everything else is fine, just the 'sword and hand' style logo thingy. Anyone got any idea where I can get some graphics for this, even full size ones as I could get them scanned at a local sign company and reduced. I've even paused the DVD to try and get a good image, but not really good enough. Your help would be greatly appreciated.

mmmmm. How famous do you want to go. Not really well known r/c drivers, but you will know the names. here are just some of the people that have driven my cars over the years. Mika Hakkinen, David Coultard, Damon Hill, Alain Prost, Rubens Barrichello, Johnny Herbert, Mika Salo, Ukyo Katayama, Eddie Irvine, Ron Dennis, Norbert Haug, Mark Blundell, Eddie Jordan, Matt Neal, Tim Harvey, Alain Menu, Tiff Needell, Sue Barker !!!!, Laura from the Adult Channell (~*^!), Rowan Atkinson, Justin Wilson, the list goes on and on....but the best moment.....Ayrton Senna. If I make the spring drive, i'll bring all the pictures. opps, forgot the Rally drivers. Colin McRae, Richard Burns, Petter Solberg, Tommi Makinnen, Marcus Gronholm, Nicky Grist......

Easy one this. The West London Racing Centre, just of the A40 at Hillingdon. visit www.wlrc.co.uk to check it out. I would love us to hold a Tamiyaclub meeting there, and I could really help if we wanted to go there, its awesome, off-road as well as on-road, good parking etc.

Hopefully, work commitments won't get in the way, but if I can make it, i'll bring our fleet of tanks ( 3 Shermans and 2 Tigers, all with battle systems fitted ) so those that haven't got one, can have a BLAST with ours.....looks like our van will be rather full....

Only one word to describe £16.......RESULT, mind you, people will pay that for a mechanical speed controller so...