Tamiya1/10

Seems liike with global warning is not in your part of the woods and if big boy Christie decide to close the bridges and tunnels you get to make more vedios on Monday. if that much snow each year, your next buy shoukd be the blizzard by kyosho.

This is the Asia version to the American Barbie.

you guys are serious, right? I just can't relate to a black bear behind the wheel....maybe Smoky the bear or Yogy bear. But in the end, is whatever put a smile on your face. Now Alfred C Newman of Mad behind the wheel would put a big smile on my face, but lcienceingwould be a problem with Tamiya.

As a guide, the pricier the model the level of build is higher. But if you can ready english can follow the number system 1 to 100 or more you can pretty well build anything. The key is take your time, check you are using the right part, measure it don't just eye ball it because you may run out of the needed part and discover why there are so many extras for other. Tamiya's instructions are very good. Just take your time, because undoing what you did will take even more time in the end. one more thing, never force a part to fit because once damaged, the frustration, cost and time will go up.

There is nothing like getting the proper tools and equipment for the job. The end results will be just right. I think your wife made the right call, and that is why at times they are known as the better half.

Going off topic even more. I often wonder why Toyotas are so reliable. It is the material used, the design knowing which area will likely fail and make improvements on it? A friend has a Toyota well over 10 years old and god knows the actual real milage (service garage from experience on wear and tear thinks Odometer has been roll back), nothing much seems to go wrong vs Hyundai, which the driver side outside mirror stop working in just 4 yrs and the AC compressor broke just after 5 years (5 warranty). Wonder will the tranny go soon. I am at the age where reliablitly is more important than looks or performance

Love to see one. TC member has done dually, but not functioning tow.

Going slighly off topic, i still maintain Tamiya should release a dually working tow truck. This tow truck will have so much play time for towing drift cars to crawlers.

The old exact same chassis and new body will not work too well to experienced hobbiest. rc4wd stretched it chassis for its d90 and d110, but used the d90 chassis for the toyota, which just don't sit well. Maybe company sees hobbiest can fix any short coming of the design. For the asking price, i will go for Tamiya's re release 3spd.

My only experience with hpi is their cup racer, which i have no real compaint about, except how the wheels can be extended out. i just found no company has everything right, which is very normal. I now look at the model over the brand, plus write ups before i decide to buy or not. Brand along is not that important as i know no company can hit a home run for every new product launch. Some are just dud.

You can probably get a good condition Blazer for around $3K to $4K?, which is too much for 99% of people The immediate family of the relative will challenge the will and after estate tax, you have withdraw your bid at ebay. The positive side is Tamiya will do a re release and I am willing to bet on it , just don't know when. Re-release will be part of Tamiya business model.

Environmentalist calls it unecessary packaging and Tamiya sees it as money saving or cost cutting. I think is only high end re-re kits are still blaster pack. I guess all current models are plastic bagged parts.

Good call with the strips and the lights are a bright idea and the lazer weapons are deadly.

Is good stella states the kit is from China and don't expect top of the line as some buyer will expect they are getting a M4 at Kia price.

Tamiya being a privately held company has a different reporting objectives. The other question ask is, is their bottom line within their industry standards? Company's CFO has a task of miminizing tax, keep the bankers and shareholders happy and getting his/her year end bonus. As for the high head count for Tamiya, it could be Mr. Tamiya or his company does not believe in letting employee go. Kind of like a job for life with the same company. The employees are part of the family vs most public held corporations where one makes the number the job is still, else is pink slips on Friday. Financial statements such as income statement can be manipulated within the law. The botton line could be for tax purposes, which inter-company charges, loan structuring, salaries for senior excutives etc could have an impact on the bottom line. I would think if Tamiya is going public the bottom line would look a lot better. BTW, head count could be miss leading as company could hire self-employee staff, which are not included in head count but they could be there for years and years.

Porsche is like a find looking lady with nice hips. That's the view most drivers get to look at.

Just Dorvack's Mentoring.

I haven't read all the replies/suggestions, but just put some tubing inside the shocks to prevent tge piston to go all the way down and i think the street rover wheels and tire will further lower the chassis and offer less tilt because of the tire low profile. I did it with my SCX10? by axial just by putting tubing inside the shocks piston, kept the standard wheels and tires, the whole truck now looks like a regular truck and looks wider, and won't tip over as easy.

Always go with quality over quantity. what does JDM stand for? Just don't matter?

That was my first rc car back in the 90's (not counting the Pajero) and had every options except the front and rear gear housing. Still has the chassis and if the body is re-release, I will get it and apply all the decals. Back than I painted the entire car silver.

Those are valid points. By the numbers, i think the Japanese box is more rare and the Japnese box has sufficient english written on it to cover what is saying in Japenese. To make it more valuable... source the instructions in Japanese too.

Tamiya seems to followed the once big 3 from the States. Keep the chassis, maybe with some minor tweed, throw on a new body and wa la a new model. The new box will have customers lining up to secure it. ithink if its not for Tamiya's root, i don't think any new company will survive. Having said that, i know no company can put out models that will be a hone run....maybe except Apple, but thats a different sort if company where rc is no a must have item.

For re-releases I will not run it every day. I will built it, run it gently a bit, and on to the shelve, and then every once in a while, more like few years later or when the mood hits me, a gentle run again. I get my enjoyment mostly from building and looking at it. The runners I have are all retired and seating pretty on a pedistal.

It has to pass 2 tests... 1) do I like it? 2) do I have the money / budget? And finding out what will be release or re release also helps in deciding if the current model will be going home with me.

second that. If both boxes are similar, would go with the Japanese box,. which the Japanese box seems to meet the requirements.