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BeetleLover

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Everything posted by BeetleLover

  1. I was curious to find out if there were any differences between the original and the rere Brat in terms of the bodyshell / details. Think I saw something somewhere where someone said the little white bumper on the front nose of the Brat was different? Also wondering if there was anything difference between the Mudblaster Shell and the Brat's? cheers James BeetleLover
  2. Heya Novastar, I'm a temporary Aussie at the moment in Melbourne for the next several years... I will be back in New Zealand in time at least for my 75th but most likely a lot sooner!!! Yup you can come to my vintage enduro later on! James
  3. Good Topic! I had thought about it before... My good lady Kelly knows the value of each of my cars so if I'm gone at least I know they won't be at a boot sale for $4... The other thing is that I have identified this as a potential life hobby for me, if I were to continue at my average rate of 1 car a month for the next 42 years till I'm 75 I'll have 574 cars with perhaps an average value of maybe $400, kiwi that would equate to about $230,000 kiwi or maybe $165,000 US, course perhaps the values might have gone up by then if Tamiya doesn't re-release them on a 30 year cycle lol... I had envisaged owning my own substancial RC track by the time I'm 75, I'll either get my long time TC friends to come over and thrash the heck out of them in a 1 year endurance race or... I'll sell them all, buy a vintage 2010 model 1:1 Porsche and drive at tremedous speed with possibly impaired vision and slowed reaction times Who wants to come round mine for the TC oldtimers vintage Enduro Summer 2052 New Zealand, leave your details here, I'll be in touch later Funny thing is I'm probably serious!!! James
  4. Hey Stuart, sorry to hear about your amphibious Hilux... The practise of having the incorrect photo's up for a substancial dollar value kit that can have great variation in quality even for a "NEW" item is totally unacceptable! I have enjoyed reading about you pursuing the matter vigeurously because all too many of us don't stand up and put into action what we'd actually like to do! I guarantee every Tamiya Fan has at least 1 friend who is regularly logs into TC or a member of TC, word travels fast and all connections considered we are a large community in a relatively niche area of interest. I seem to remember another thread where CTY300 was boasting about how he was too big and that he couldn't care less about his reputation because people would still buy from him regardless. Looking forward to seeing how this all turns out, and have CTY300 learn some lessons about integrity and justice! I think his latest lack of judgement will have a larger impact on his future as a seller than he ever anticipated. I'm not going to buy anything from him in future Don't stop what you've started! Go the Aussie Battler! James
  5. The metallic shells could also be a good base to do "rat look" models... ie paint over and remove paint on hard edges or scratches to expose, bare metal... worth playing with some rust effects on it too perhaps, never tried it but just a thought... James
  6. Hi everyone, after having a shortage of heads here in Australia I now have a whole bunch more arrive from New Zealand. I have good stock levels on most heads but within a couple of days I'm down to only a couple of "Ray's" again. Short Arm busts for top mount applications are available too as well as several sets of repro FAV lights. I also have a couple of Repro FAV guns left also Please see my trades if you are curious about the great products I have available, they really are 1st Class! http://www.tamiyaclub.com/trades.asp?id=3092 If you've purchased products from me before, leave a note here of the quality so other members know I'm committed to producing the best repro/hop up parts available Thanks... All the best with your parts hunting and RC Projects!! Kind regards James BeetleLover
  7. Hi all, I have a small number of very high quality reproduction FAV guns. Once cleaned up of flashing and painted these cannot be picked from the original. Screw heads have been captured too, you could dremel/sand these off if you wish for even more realism. I only have 8 available and should go fast as the original guns are certainly hard to find. I have never seen a new one on Ebay. $16 US plus international postage from Australia Have a look in my trades for a Picture etc, cheers http://www.tamiyaclub.com/trades.asp?id=3092 James
  8. Pretty amazing stuff, I've worked along side 4 axis machines but when it gets to 5 axis it starts to get really trippy. My old house mate and colleague without any formal training has been building these type of machines for the last 5 years or so. His latest one (number 4) is about .5 metre cube in size but he has engineered it with very fine tolerances and minimal backlash (movement in the mechanism) Cost him about 10 grand US. He built it to make jet turbines for his jet pack which he is currently designing. Pretty amazing stuff but I have a great deal of faith that he will pull it off. He told a family friend at 14 he wanted to make a jet engine and it was laughed off. At 16 he asked them to visit to demo his first home made jet turbine... It is surprising how simple the actual engineering of these machines is. The real skill is working with the drivers/calibration etc and the art of writing and ensuring the tool path program is correct! One incorrect/corrupt line in code will have devastating effects! I hate to think how much that solid piece of aluminium would have been for the helmet... mistakes are very expensive!!! Look up 3D prototyper too for some amazing technologies...
  9. CLICK, I'm on the same page now, so we are talking about having a separate topic heading under the Forums listing? That would be good to ensure the custom fabricators aren't lost amongst masses of regular Sales and Trades items. cheers James
  10. Hey Kelvin, I've been thinking the exact same thing... will be interesting what comes of it! James
  11. I've got our contents insurance to cover my collection which is about 65 cars. The number of the cars didn't seem to be a problem but I do have quite an accurate account in an Excel Spreadsheet of how much I've spent and a realistic price they would cost me to replace. I was hoping to have a good TC friend work through my collection to value my collection and I would value his as a backup and confirmation that I had priced them out appropriately. I have since moved to Australia and I was fortunate that they have given me another 6 months of insurance on my cars. I will soon have to put them in a secure lockup and have a specialist insurance company cover them because of my absence, that's really going to sting, I'm guessing maybe $50-60 US a week for secure storage and insurance!!!!!!!!!! Good luck with insuring your collection, shouldn't be too painful if you document properly what you have and they are in your house!!!! James BeetleLover
  12. Heya, my Lady is into Tamiyaclub although no real point of having a second account in the same household. She enjoys reading comments on the showrooms and is also an avid photocomp participant helping me out, she's looking forward to the next one! Kelly is a member of the Hawke's Bay RC Car club and her first outing was at the New Zealand Electric offroad nationals a couple of years ago where she bet a few of the guys. We are just about to move to Melbourne Australia where there is many clubs and we are both excited to join a new club and go more regularly. Our old club is a 3 1/2 hour drive away meaning we didn't get to race too often! So far she has assembled 3 cars, a Frog, Desert Gator and I with a little help her Baldre. I'm a very lucky guy to have a lady who really appreciate these cars! We used to go out on picnics and outings and always had a couple of cars for a bash, we drew crowds of children and parents would always ask us how much they cost. They were always a little taken aback obviously used to the prices of toy grade cars in the department stores... anyways after quite a few outings Kelly became very good at judging distance and perspective, don't tell her but she is even better than I am driving around obstacles miles away! James
  13. I've put a $1000 kiwi aside for dentistry to ensure my teeth are all good before our move to Australia. Today my appointment rolled around and shock horror my teeth are fine, no fillings or anything to do just $55. So I went out for a nice dinner, came home and spent $125 on a NIB Nikko Thunderbolt and I still have plenty left should I need another car... James
  14. It's very close. I was looking at it the other day, reckon it's only a couple of mm's James
  15. I'm not sure if collectors are exactly tired of discussions but I do notice the Forums aren't as alive as they used to be or maybe it's just because I have been coming here more regularly lately! There are a few topics that come up often that are well and truly chewed to death which I don't even bother reading anymore, I suppose I get a little tired of the "which car would you like Tamiya to re-release" and the like... I do appreciate your efforts H to generate discussion to keep the forum ticking over I've been on Tamiyaclub now for 6 years and I guess I've gotten to know quite a number of collectors as well as their specific areas of interest. Rather than posting on the Forums I quite often just ask my friends and contacts directly via email if I have any queries or need some help. Something that I run out of frequently which keeps me away from trawling through and contributing to the forums is simply lack of time these days! Are we all just more busy than we use to?! James
  16. Hey everyone, I've managed to get away one last batch of heads out of the molds before I leave for Australia. I'm not sure how many heads I can take with me due to room and possible import taxes and duties. Therefore I will run a promotion to get these out there. I won't be able to produce anymore till September when I should be set up again so best make use of the next 2 weeks! The promotion is Buy 2 and get the 3rd of equal or lesser value for FREE. Here is my Trades page. http://www.tamiyaclub.com/trades.asp?id=3092 If you are interested please drop me a line to my Tamiyaclub profile: BeetleLover cheers James
  17. I've nearly run out of heads in the last 3 weeks, Ray has sold out, supply of the others is dwindling fast, best get in before prices return to the regular amount. Ask me what I have! Kind regards James BeetleLover
  18. Heya! Nice Topic... I wanted a competitive club car but couldn't find a Tamiya shaft driven model that I liked so I bought a AE B44... Those white solid wall rims reminded me of the BigWig and then there were other little nuances that made it worthwhile doing the vintage scheme... I liked the idea of fooling someone at a distance that perhaps a Bigwig was competing with modern Buggies! http://www.tamiyaclub.com/showroom_model.a...749&id=3092 James BeetleLover
  19. Hey everyone! I've got a lot of stock on my hands and with me changing countries in the near future I need to clear things out... both to save on space and second try to start a little fund to help me ship my collection over to Australia, it's going to hurt if I'm parted for too long! Anyways! So Savings to be had on my Hyper Detailed Driver Heads! If you haven't Seen or Heard about them yet check them out! Albert, Evan, Dave and busts are all $10 US flat ($2 - $3 saving on each) oh and (Evan and Dave are perfect for Sand Scorcher and Buggy Champ!) Ray is $8 US See my trades for images http://www.tamiyaclub.com/trades.asp?id=3092 I do have a few but I'm not sure when I will next be casting more as the move will mean I'm without a workspace for a while so grab them while you still can, first in first served. Also if there are products you want us to make, let me know here right now as Dan has time available and will continue to sculpt new components during my transitional phase! Each head costs upwards of about $1000 US to develop but I will consider and investigate all your ideas! catchya James BeetleLover
  20. I've been in this hobby seriously for the last 6 years or so and as far as hobbies go I would argue it's a relatively inexpensive hobby if you are patient and take the time to assemble your collection having networked, traded like crazy and have invested a lot of time in restorative work! When I was 11 a Falcon NIB was $200 kiwi dollars, 19 years later I managed to get another one for $500 kiwi dollars... admittedly that's gone up 250%. I earn what I would consider to be a middle of the road income and compared to age 11 my income has gone up 6000%. Admittedly there are a few more responsibilities now but I should be able to afford a couple more cars now than when I was 11 which is awesome! I've spent $17,000 US dollars over 6 years on this hobby but again I would argue that an 18 year old with his first full time job can go out there and spent the same amount on tick for 5 years on a car that will be worth perhaps half of that by the time he's paid it off. I'm not suggesting Vintage RC as an investment, fact is ultimately I'm really happy if my entire collection on average just holds it's value, you win some, you loose some and many of the large collections you see on TC weren't just about forking out big dollars but are built up over quite some time. If you really want it you'll have to either save, do something to increase your income, work out an alternative or compromise on the level of finish or have a semi completed car sitting there for a couple of years waiting for that ellusive part that is missing. OR alternatively just pay the market price as dictated by Ebay and be happy that you have the something you've always wanted that might have been hard to find and right now!
  21. Sale is still running! Will go to the end of Feb!
  22. Put all Plastic parts into a caustic solution, the grease just falls off and they come out very clean without any scrubbing at all! Just leave for several hours and maybe repeat a couple of times!
  23. Yup Spray Can lids too Thought about lining them all up and painting them black...
  24. Heya, man! some of you have had logged some pretty serious number of views! My highest showroom views is 2539 for one of my painted heads which has been up for a bit over a year http://www.tamiyaclub.com/showroom_model.a...47&sid=3092 My highest trade views is 2141 http://www.tamiyaclub.com/trades_model.asp...619&id=3092 My lowest showroom views is 231 for an unpainted head and bust http://www.tamiyaclub.com/showroom_model.a...920&id=3092 Although not a total number of views a couple of my entries have received 8 - 900 views during one cycle of the showroom on the main page which I thought was quite remarkable (I guess a bit of luck depending on how active people are posting things!) It'd be interesting if they turned on the view numbers for everyone to see!
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