bRIBEGuy

For me, I typically will put all the kit spares in a large ziplock freezer bag, and then label the bag with the model. Those bags in turn go into larger plastic storage boxes, which are stashed away.

The VG moniker could denote that it is a different type (composition) of lube. With Tamiya shock oil, the regular shock oil is silicon based, and the VG series is mineral oil based. Perhaps the same here (and with the other lubes)?

Bump.

Bump.

Bump

Bump.

BUMP

For me it will always be the OG HotShot. The silhouette it cuts is timeless, and the over-engineered double mono-shocks are iconically "Tamiya". The HotShot 2 is arguably the better car if you want to drive it... but the look of that original design just gets me every time. Also (and I hate to be that guy...) I don't personally consider the BigWig (or Super Sabre, Boomerang, etc....) to be part of the HotShot series. Just because they share some parts, doesn't make them part of the group.

Titanium IS soft compared to steel. There is no real way around that. Steel screws will be both stronger and more durable. The only reasons to use a titanium screw are I need to save grams Ooooooooh, Titanium! If you do go with Ti screws, also remember to use a copper anti-seize compound if the screw will contact any other metal. Titanium is very reactive and galvanic corrosion is NOT your friend. You will absolutely run the risk of stuck screws down the road otherwise, which in turn will lead to striped heads and sheared bolts.

I was going to chime in on this thread earlier, but didn't get a round to it, and now I'm relegated to page 4.....LOL. It's actually quite great to read through everyone's personal thoughts and comments here, and the irony of me not having time to post earlier will certainly act as foreshadowing to some of what I will write.... As with many here, build threads were one of the things that always seemed core to my TamiyaClub experience. Not in that I was posting them, but in that I was enjoying reading them, and seeing all of the amazing creations that were being built around me. While I was active on other forums, I'm actually almost embarrassed to say that I pretty much just lurked here without posting for *cough* close to 14 years *cough*. I could probably start a new thread documenting the reasons I wasn't active, and wasn't doing build threads, but the Cliff Notes (hey, who remembers those?) would look like this: I didn't really think what I was doing would be of interest to anyone else here Tamiya was only part of what I was doing I drifted in and out of the hobby a few times I got burned on a number of other forums with image hosting, and was hesitant to see another billion hours of thread effort get flushed away with unavailable pictures As I got older and wiser (*cough*), I stopped caring about the first point, and started realizing that points 2 & 3 applied to a LOT of peeps on the site. I had always really enjoyed writing threads on other sites, largely as personal documentation of things I had done. It was cool to look back on an RC Crawler or Scale Truck (or any other myriad of RC toys I had obsessed over) that I had long since sold, and be able to see all the steps and work that went into it. Not dissimilar to the last point, it also created a great repository of information for my own reference for setup and such. Curious to know what servo is buried in the belly of your Clod Buster? Check the build thread! What weight shock oil is in those CVA's you tinkered with a decade ago? Check the build thread! And so slowly I started to convince myself to start documenting my work on this site as well. I have done a number of build threads here now, and for the most part, I have quite enjoyed them. As other have noted, it does take significant time to take and edit reasonable photo's, upload and host them, link them to TC, and then take the time to write up some verbiage to tie it all together. It's fun, and I do enjoy it... but a well documented build thread is actually a LOT of work. I am quite lucky in that I have a reasonable professional career, a wife, a daughter, a dog, a house, and a myriad of other hobbies (cycling, photography, knife making, camping, Lego, etc...)... but these are all things that take away from my dedicated RC car time. Creating build threads in turn then has to come out of that sliver of remaining time that is set aside for RC. It's a first world problem for sure... but it's still a problem. Sadly, what I have found to be my biggest struggle with build threads, is a combination of the above paragraph (lack of free time) with my general inability to focus on one project at a time. In all reality, an RC Project like my TC-01 (and associated thread) is a rarity for me. It's few and far between that I'll start something and finish it, without starting something else on the side first. As a result, many of my build threads still require me to go back and finish them up (or keep going on them) since I set aside that particular thing for some particular reason (needed a part that I can't find, needed the dining room table for a family thing, got distracted by a squirrel, etc...). After I get enough projects going, I find I feel overwhelmed, and stop documenting them, and then..... well, how am I supposed to finish (or start) a build thread? Add in the general decrease in site traffic here, the associated decrease in thread interactions, and the seeming increase of negativity and links to social media, and to be honest, I just haven't felt "the itch" to be on TC as much spilling out my thoughts and projects. And to be honest... that kinda sucks. I really enjoy the RC stuff... I really enjoy the quirkiness of the Tamiya stuff... and I really enjoy a bunch of the people around here. I do have a bunch of builds to finish up, and some new stuff in cue (a bunch of Hotshot series restorations, a XV-01 & XV-02 build, NIB vintage Boomerang, etc...), and I really am hoping that I can find the motivation to turn those projects into something fun for others to read along with. But first I want to wrap up the one's I've already started... and that will require it's own batch of time and motivation. So for now I will post this, and ponder what is next... and hopefully remember to take some pictures along the way for when it's time to start writing again.

Ooooh...... tempting. Would you ship to Canada?

The gold color was from one of the chemicals used in the zinc plating process. It was deemed a health risk at some point, and globally it had to stop being used... so the gold-ish screws became silver or black. I think Tamiya still had the gold screws well into the 90's in some kits... and there was certainly an era of "mixed hardware" as well.

Happy to ship. Shoot me a PM with you address if you want me to get you a quote @Problemchild

What CNC setup are you running? Is that Solidworks you're using?

Honestly, it's probably more $$$ than it's worth. Shoot me a PM with your address and I can get you a quote though.