Saito2

Little group shot of the two cars I thought were top tier competition Tamiya BITD. These two (the Astute, admittedly, is a Super Astute poorly disguised). I don't really want to go any farther than this in development. I don't care if the Procat, Lazer or some Yokomo is "better" than the Egress. The Egress will always be the best to me. My old TRF201 was boring in a way this Astute won't be. It got me thinking. I don't have much, if any further to go, acquisition-wise, in this hobby. A Falcon or King Cab might get me to open my wallet (outside of something really oddball like a B2B, Road Wizard or a real proper Holiday Buggy re-release which likely won't happen). I have a vintage RC10 collection to keep going through but there's not much from Tamiya or Kyosho left I want. I felt the Mid was as far as I wanted to go in Kyosho-land outside of a possible Ultima Pro XL. I (probably recklessly) got most of the Kyosho Car Crushers I wanted too. I think its fitting this Egress runner and Astute which sat at the top for me (these cars were at the '89 Worlds, how cool is that?) in my youth will be my last new Tamiya kits for awhile. It was fun.

Finished mine today. Honestly, I foolishly got so worked up over the shenanigans "current day" AE and Blunder Tiger were pulling with the RC10 re-releases, I forgot, I'm a Tamiya-guy to the core. I care about the Astute, not the RC10, lol. This one isn't special, just a Super Astute done up in standard Astute livery. Its got some alloy parts that some think you absolutely need to prevent breakages down the line and others feel are a complete waste of money. The truth, as always, is probably somewhere in the middle. YMMV. Fear not, I don't have any dislike for the original box art Super Astute. Is 90s-tastic! I just did this one up in the original style to compliment my 2018 SA.

Great experience isn't it? I'm happy to hear you found it so enjoyable. Working at my RC bench relaxes me and recharges my "batteries". I look forward to it everyday.

Don't happen to remember the color you used? I'm thinking of painting up my LB to look like the RCCA one as well. I think Steve Pond used automotive lacquers in the article.

Very cool find! I remember getting that red reply card with the hand drawn Sand Scorcher on it when I bought my first Lunch Box. I love all that extra paraphernalia. You know, I went to Carlisle multiple times a year for three decades and never got lucky enough to find a Tamiya, lol. I haven't been back since my dad passed over 13 years ago now. My first boss in the restoration field was good buddies with Carlisle founders Bill and Chip Miller. He declined to go in on the venture when the started up and decided to stick to his restoration business. Whoops, lol. At least he and Chip did buy a Corvette together that wound up being a reasonable valuable old race car called the Purple People Eater.

The Super Astute appeared in the catalogs, often pictured with the Top Force at the time. The limited addition aspect wasn't played up back then. IIRC, it had a more brief production run than more evergreen cars like the Hornet, Midnight Pumpkin or Manta Ray but then again a lot of cars did like the Vanquish. I'm guessing not a lot were sold.

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But...but....but...that's not possible. You can't have one as well. He guarantees right in the auction that no one has these because he cannot find them anywhere. He can't! Anywhere! (well except for that Ricky Jr. fellow). Wait! Are you Ricky Jr, @Frog Jumper? Its nearly inconceivable there could be three of these in existence. Just remember folks he can't take any less. No lowballers, No tire kickers. I know what I have, blah blah blah.

Never, ever, underestimate the stupidity of flesh creatures, lol.

Here's the magazine car in its first stage of development. There's definitely some airbrush trickery going on there too. Here it is modified further. Again, mine is just "inspired" by this car. The color in my shots is a bit brighter than real-life for some reason. I backed the metallic red with black to darken it. I'd like to get some arms to dye pumpkin orange (I won't dye my vintage white stuff) but at $30 for a set, AE can keep 'em. Maybe someday I'll try to replicate the sweet Bud's bi-level wing.

Next up is the fifth one pictured with the black tub I managed to save. Its body will be reminiscent of an old RC Car Action feature/project car called the RC10 Torpedo.

Thanks! I admit I was a bit surprised by the "sad" replies to the pic. I personally found it funny to see the T-shot come to an abrupt halt while the wheel took off ahead of it, lol. (admittedly, my sense of humor is weird/black/a bit off)

A couple weeks ago I asked opinions on alternate colors for the Hotshot 2 because I'm usually not a big fan of black paint jobs. I chickened out and painted the shell black anyway. Anytime I mess too much with what Tamiya did, paint scheme-wise, on their earlier vehicles, it doesn't look right to me. Newer models are a different situation for some reason. Anywho, what spurred this HS2 body was a Hotshot I built a little while back: It was supposed to be a more capable Hotshot without losing too much of its looks. What I stupidly failed to realize at the time was I basically just built a Hotshot 2 with a HS1 body. The running experience didn't feel right. Part of the Hotshot's appeal is those funky f/r monoshocks. Besides, if I want a period-correct upgraded HS, it should sport the 4 yellow CVAs from the H.P. suspension (Supershot arrangement) kit. I stumbled across a super cheap, new HS2 body. But, I'm being more careful with my money into today's chaotic world so I didn't spring for the more-expensive decals. Fortunately, I was able to (poorly) paint my own stripes and add some left-over decals, including some from an old HS2 resto I did years back. Its close enough to boxart that it doesn't bother me too much....yet, lol.

The Thundershot has been my grab-n-go 4wd of late. And here's what happens when you don't check your wheelnuts.....game over.

PS7 Orange.