Bluefoot

Really ugly - Saint Dragon Bloated ugly - Royal Ripper(Thunder Tiger "The Tiger") But hey - don't slag the Kangaroo! It's a fine looking beast! Find out for yourself and buy my one - it's in my traderoom: http://www.tamiyaclub.com/trades_model.asp?cid=26851&id=2193 Oh yeah - the Bigwig is really ugly too!

The manual for these say that "the power switch was removed for safety" !! You are supposed to turn them off by disconnecting the battery. I have a copy of the manual in my TCphotos showroom here: http://www.tcphotos.com/showroom_model.asp...93&secid=306&t=

Wow! You guys know your Kyoshos! The only ones I have out of that catalogue are the Sideways and the Saurus.

No. You need the M02L chassis. The original M-chassis came in three lengths - short (Mini, Fiat Abarth) medium (Honda S800, Mazda Eunos) and long (Porsche Boxter, Merc SLK). The 01 and 02 referred to the motor being at the front (01) or at the rear(02). The only difference between the three is the length of the centre chassis section. The front and rear sections are the same. The front and rear sections are interchangeable, and steering can be installed on both. The Porsche and Mercedes both use touring-car size wheels rather than the smaller M-chassis wheels.

Hi Bjørn, I have just posted some pages from my Kyosho "Mini Catalogue" from 1990 here: http://www.tcphotos.com/section.asp?sid=2193&secid=306 It has photos, names, numbers, descriptions and specs. I hope this helps. I'd be interested to find out about the earlier cars too. Cheers, Don.

Mercedes 300 SL Gullwing models and toys. I have far more of them than my RC cars (and I have far more of those than are in my showroom). Also Schuco Piccolo. But only the Mercedes racers (silver arrows), Gullwing, yearsets and sets containing the aforementioned cars. I really should post some pics in my TCphotos showroom. These have gone on the backburner over the last year or so as I stock up on RC stuff.

Well he is called "Mad Andy" []

My top two have both featured in the "Have you seen" which probably doubled the views of each. 1232 views http://www.tamiyaclub.com/showroom_model.a...d=16364&id=2193 805 views http://www.tamiyaclub.com/showroom_model.a...d=34631&id=2193 but the third one, which I took my username from, has got 672 views without any help http://www.tamiyaclub.com/showroom_model.a...d=15435&id=2193 The Egress seems to keep picking up views faster than anything else anyway. Must be those tyres. I think a good first photo will attract more views from people surfing through the model lists.

I had some really crusty ones that I scrubbed with Jiff first, and then metal polish (Silvo). Worked very well!

I'll have one - chassis plate - thank you. Cheers, Don.

Pumpkin for me thanks. The Lunch Box is too boxy for those big wheels. They look far better lowered like Shodogs' Millers van.

Hey Dee, Sorry, you are correct about the Leopard/Gepard body - they are different. They do share some parts but mainly on the chassis. I have not got round to restoring my Leo A4 yet, just collecting parts for it. I think the real Gepard is based on the Leopard A4 though. Is that correct? Cheers, Don.

Well I'd see if you could get it going with what you have for starters. If it's looking good then I'd upgrade the radio gear. You can check if the motor and gearboxes are working by plugging a battery in and moving the speed controller arms with your hand. If that's ok, and that missing wheel doesn't cause any problems, then look at the radio gear. With a 2 channel unit you will only be able to drive the tank. Fowards, backwards and steering. You won't be able to operate the turret rotation or the gun elevation. I had a Gepard that I ran on 2 channel gear. The radar and gun elevation was operated by a switch inside one of the hatches, so I could set the guns at any elevation and then drive it through an obstical course. It didn't have the turret rotation unit in it. The one I have now has a 3 channel unit, and the third channel operates the turret rotation. You can see it here: http://www.tcphotos.com/showroom_model.asp...93&secid=154&t= You will be able to see what is missing from your guns too. (The wiring is a nightmare at the moment. I gotta tidy that up). You don't need a flash expensive radio for a tank. They go pretty slow and are never far away. You could probably pick up a decent second-hand one on ebay for not much. Just make sure that it is in working condition, and on a frequency that is legal in Oz. Futaba is probably the best-known brand. Acoms and Sanwa are good too. The Gepard you have went out of production about 10 years ago I think. It has the same chassis and most of the hull as the Leopard A4. I think the tank market is very small compared to the car/truck market for Tamiya. Not many hobby shops here in NZ stock the 1/16 tanks. The newer ones are much more sophisticated than these old ones, and hugely expensive with all the electronics, but heaps of fun. Cheers, Don.

Wow! That's an interesting way to do it! I think this would be very difficult to control. I had a toy (Hen-Long brand) tank set up like this, using the same radio gear as it happens. To make things a bit easier you would need to take the right hand stick out and rotate it 90 deg so that it has a foward-back movement. You can do this by removing the four screws and just turning it around. The wires might be a bit short and need lengthening though. You would then have each stick controlling one track. It will still be difficult to control. A better idea (and what I did to mine) was get the microswitch steering set out of an original Sherman, and use that with a single speed controller. The speed controllers you have are standard "Manual Speed Controllers" used in most Tamiya RC cars up until a year or so ago. The radio gear is Acoms. The antenna wire on the receiver has been cut very short. I would guess that it was connected to the rod antenna, which would work better if it was sticking up on the outside of the tank. The rear of the Turret should hinge open. They are qite fragile though, so it might have been glued shut.

That's right. You can see the difference here: http://www.tcphotos.com/showroom_model.asp...93&secid=154&t= Note that there are a few bits missing off each of these chassis. I'm not sure that the body is easier to find than the chassis though! I am still looking for a body for mine.

I don't have a WD but I do have a Maxx. By far the most fun fast truck I have ever had. They are big, and you need a lot of room to run them though - not a "backyard" bashed unless your yard is the size of a small park.

My original Grasshopper is mostly hot-melt and odd bits of plastic now. It still takes a thrashing from my kids. I have pics of it in my showroom, but most of the cars that I post are the ones that look good. In fact now I don't usually post anything unless it is "completed" or good enough for display. Maybe I should put up some more bashers and projects?

I agree with Stevo. Something which is hard-won has much more personal value, and gives much greater satisfaction than something that I can just buy on a whim.

Oven cleaner (caustic type). Here's the last one I did: http://www.tcphotos.com/showroom_model.asp...93&secid=304&t= However that didn't work on the King Hauler body I am doing, so that is currently soaking in brake fluid. That is working well on whatever type of paint it has. I'll post some pics of that soon too.

Are they listening to us? I haven't seen much demand for a re-release of the Manta Ray, Thundershot or the Top Force.

Two reasons. 1- so that other people who were interested can see for sure that it was sold. I find that if I just remove the add, I still get people emailing me saying "do you still have.....". 2- I put SOLD on, and leave the listing there until the buyer has received the car/parts. That way they can check that they got everything they thought they were getting.

The Blazing Star is good on gravel and hard surfaces.If you were going to run it on the road or parking lot I'd get a BS. If you are going into grass, mud and sand I'd get a WD/TD.

Yo Dude! another Kiwi. Hey we all start with just one. Next thing you know the house is full of 'em. Good choice of first car. Cheers, Don.

This is why you need two of each model - one to look good and one to thrash! That said, there is always an immense amount of satisfaction to be had from displaying a well-crafted model that has taken a lot of time and effort to complete. I don't like to spend all that time and effort just to go and destroy it the next day. Static Vs RC models - some of the eariler (and better) models use static body kits, and the RC mechanics/electrics are part of the appeal. And when you get bored with just looking at your RC Porsche 934 you can chase the cat with it! Can't do that with a static.

I'd say it was made to "compete" with the old Tamiya Quick Drive cars. I think the "fast" probably refers to the fact that it is RTR and you can get it out of the box and on the road pretty fast.