Hudson

A very informed response - much appreciated…….

Yup, I think that’s excellent advice - I’m gonna make an offer…..

I live in France and someone’s selling a NIB on a well known national website - I was just very surprised that I’d never come across this model. I looked at ‘members models’ on TC and only found one - I guess it was a short production run!? Also just seems strange as it’s basically a Sand Viper. I’m just curious……

I’m a big fan of the DT02 chassis and thought I was aware of all the different releases over the years - Holiday Buggy , Sand Viper, Neo Falcon! etc etc. I then came across an advert for a NIB Fighter Buggy SV - this is the first time I’ve seen this precise model - it seems to be a Sand Viper with different colour box art and different wheels/tyres. Can anyone throw any light on this for me?

Are we expecting an old skool Tamiya box art box or something more along the lines of the Avante black special box? Personally I’m hoping it’s the former……. (apologies if this has already been covered earlier in thread)

I reckon they got the colour scheme wrong, somehow that metallic blue and yellow lacks class (imho!), whereas the Astute 2022 in those classic colours is very cool looking. In fact I’m about to buy one (pre painted). Certainly as a collector and a fan of box art the Astute 2022 is the nicer of the two.

It’s funny, I’d been looking for ages for one of these, finally I found one out here in France about 3 weeks ago, and literally days later this advert appears! Frankly I’m amazed someone hasn’t bought this - very rare and good price.

My guess is that Tamiya did tinker with some Fox variations but never landed anything satisfactory. Add in the electrics access nightmare plus more demand for four wheel drive at the time…… Only a guess of course! Is there any sales data from this period? Two of my best mates had the Fox back in the day, it was surely a good seller. In any case, the Fox remains my favourite ever buggy and I’m pleased Tamiya never ‘diluted’ its appeal with variations of the same chassis

So I messaged Tamico and this was their exact response - ‘all our new Tamiya kits come shrink wrapped from our supplier’.

No I don’t think so, he would receive his kits direct from Tamiya (not shrink wrapped) so presumably he can simply remove the lid and add or remove esc. As previously discussed, some distributors choose to/have means of shrink wrapping, others don’t, and wrapping seems to be much more of a ‘thing’ in the US.

Yes ok good idea. I mean, I’m still gonna buy the kits shrink wrapped or not….. Is there a small implication here that I shouldn’t be happy buying from Tamico? That’s a genuine question, it’s only very recently that I’ve got the re release bug and I definitely haven’t settled on a preferred place of purchase, I’m in rural France so definitely no local hobby shop!

So are we concluding that in terms of European distributors, none of them routinely shrink wrap?

Surely one needs some sort of ‘proper set up’ to self shrink wrap?? Assuming we’re aiming for a decent result! My understanding is that Tamiya don’t shrink wrap but some major distributors do, which is why I asked the question. I think it’s maybe more of a thing in the US. Based on responses here Tamico may be my best bet, maybe they’ve just recently started shrink wrapping……

Does anyone know of a particular online RC store that sells their re releases shrink wrapped, I know it's a small detail but I do prefer them this way!! I have delivery address in UK or France. Many thanks if anyone can help

I’d set about trying to match the creative prowess we saw in the mid 80’s in the buggy range. Hornet Frog Fox Hotshot Boomerang Wild One, all of these imho are wonderful looking buggies still today. I don’t see any particular reason why a good design team couldn’t create the 2021 versions of the aforementioned, backed up by good box art, decals, colour scheme, name etc. It feels a bit like we’ve accepted now that all modern buggies are just boring and generic with more emphasis on performance. Perhaps we can say that the Super Avante is an attempt to do what I’m talking about. I’m a fan of this buggy and will definitely be buying one. Interesting to see the new Wild One release with alternative design scheme, although this has sort of been done before this feels a little different with third party decals etc. There could be a lot of mileage here for Tamiya, the Fox for example with different colour scheme, decals, wheels etc