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BeetleLover

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Everything posted by BeetleLover

  1. I bought a DB01 Baldre some time ago and the Pinion's shaft was too long so when you tried to put the grub screw in it was beyond the length of the motor's armature. Glad I had a collection of pinion's I'd have gone nuts if I was waiting for a replacement. I don't know if the pinion wasn't machined properly or whether it's a pinion for a different application altogether outside of Tamiya... James
  2. A skilled driver with older equipment can still beat someone with better radio gear, comes down to practice and getting to know the shortcomings of your gear i.e. some of the older gear is slower to react but you will preempt and time your corners differently accordingly. When I upgraded from a pretty standard set of RC gear to a futaba 3PKS for the first few races I kept clipping the corners because I was used to turning early. Once I became familiar with the responsiveness of the 3PKS I could not possibly go back to my original gear! I agree with the faster steering servo, good intermediate step if you aren't prepared to buy a complete new set of gear. My point is you can still get by and be competitive with your older gear if you practice/race regularly but it's definately an upgrade worth considering. Other things which add up to a good package are quality batteries and connectors, good clean tires/wheels, good quality speed controller and tidy soldering/connectors. James
  3. We've seen it all before where the initial asking price drops to less than half the RRP. So the question is how soon do you want the Avante 2011? I'm sure Tamiya's calculation is fully based on x @ full price, x @ 75% full price etc etc. Their wholesale price probably adjusts dependant on how fast the initial sales are. That as well as resellers parting with some of their markup will probably add to making this car affordable in months to come... Perhaps we should all hold off on buying one and hold Tamiya to ransom until they drop the price to our across the board agreed price If I'd been Tamiya I'd have made this a limited edition item with a numbered plaque like the black 934 and perhaps etched some of the parts so you could identify them as such. I then would have kept the price at it's initial entry. I would have estimated a 1000 exclusive kits would have easily been absorbed amongst collectors and those who remembered the original, altho the real headache is even at full price would that have been enough kits to recoup tooling and manufacturing costs? I'd love to know how many of these will be produced in the end. James
  4. Could we have a look at your original shell, can it not be saved? I could possibly be interested in taking it off your hands James
  5. In New Zealand in about 1988 we had a TV show called "Hotshotz" which was based around a bunch of kids racing cars and somehow finding out about crime happening in their neighbourhood. The main character in the film has a Falcon with a Saloon style body, I recall one of the other kids getting a brand new Porsche 956 much to the annoyance of the other racers. At the same time I had a Falcon and we would do the onroad days at our local club occasionally much like many other racers at the time, not unusual to find a lot of hornets under big saloon bodies etc... Anyways back to the TV series the big wind up at the end sees a helicopter with camera equipment attached to it locate/chase the baddies! I would love to see it again! Had the most RC cars ever together regularly on a TV show James
  6. I'm someone who tries to get as close as possible to the box art but for my scorcher I wanted to treat it to a little finessing. I chose to fill the gap because the gap wasn't completely uniform. I sanded ever molding seam line out and to me it just made sense to fill it. When I eventually get around to completing the detailing I will use a thin pinstripe tape to put the line back in place. I also decided to use .25 plastic rod to but in the beading on the guards, I felt these 2 small mods only enhanced the car and didn't detract from the box art. James
  7. Going on what's gone on before my guess it won't be anything significant, just another different shell on a chassis that is across multiple models. If we are lucky we might get a special addition on the Box like the Topforce drawing attention to its number. I suspect Tamiya put a much greater emphasis on the actual date of anniversaries such as Bigwig as the 10 year anniversary model and the Porsche for the 30th. Also if the re-release program keeps going we might see reissues relating to x number of years after the original release. 58100: Top-Force 58200: David Jun TA03F Pro Chassis 58300: ABT-AudiTT-R 58400: Mini Cooper S 2006 58500: ? Mini Cooper Clubman on an M06 chassis... just a guess! James
  8. Hmmm, exchange rate means you get a few more kiwi dollars to your dollar that is always handy... get quotes on a variety of rental vehicles sometimes there is heaps of difference in price... get a GPS too perhaps. There is a couple of Tamiyaclub members in the south Island so hopefully someone else responds to your query...Pretty easy country to visit to be honest James
  9. Really enjoyed reading Tamiya Dan's experiences as a store owner and the run down of the change in stores in the early 90's certainly fits with my local store growing up. My local store was in Hastings, New Zealand (50,000 people), I forget the name of it but we all called it Leicesters after the guy running it. He was very good and knew his stuff. It was quite a large store and car wise it must have been about 70% Tamiya, the rest Kyosho and Mardave and smaller brands... At anyone time there would have been maybe 10 different Tamiya models up on the top shelf running around behind the counter and glorious parts trees to many many models all over the show. The store must have been there for maybe 3 or 4 years maybe from say '88 - '92 a period I would have said was really golden for me at least. Shortly after he moved to a very small narrow store, perhaps in a better location but from there on in, few boxed kits graced the walls and occassionally the parts tree you were after might be there. I remember what the cars up there were at the time... Bullhead, Madcap and Bush Devil. I think this store might have lasted till I finished high school sometime around '94 perhaps. Another store that was around at the time and my memory is loosing it but I think it might have been called again after the owner Peter Nuttals. I remember seeing the Avante in there maybe months before it closed down. I was fortunate to get my first real RC car a Tamiya Falcon when this store had a closing down sale which would make that late '88. Perhaps they had noticed a decline in business then, I can't tell what it was like previously as I was relatively young at 11 and so it could have been likely that real golden period for sales might have been between 84 - 88. As an adult in the last few years, I generally don't get into conversations with model store owners and like others here I'm generally only in the market for paints/brushes and consumables. It would be fair to say a good number of people here have become experts in their respective fields/interests in what has become quite a diverse arena now. What we are "into" is quite likely to be a relatively niche interest. I "get" that a good majority of modern day store owners have difficulty providing for my specific, vintage and perhaps un-lucrative requirements. Times have changed, and more often than not (often due to knowledge learnt online) we know more about what we need than the people selling them, hence my reason for not getting into a conversation, from experience I'll end up knowing more about it, I'll establish I cannot be helped and I'll come across as a Male Rooster so I'll button it, buy my paint and get back home to this online resource of people in a wider range of interests who understand and know exactly what I need and the knowledge I seek. thanks Tamiya Dan for sending me off on a nostalgia trip of my "locals" James
  10. Cool, you'll have a great time! Kelly and I are going back to NZ for our wedding from the 19th of Feb to the 5th of March, we won't be leaving the North Island but we might be in Auckland for a couple days at the end of that if it coincided with your trip. I can recommend someone there perhaps you should look up and say hi to. Kelly has been all around the South Island but not CHCH but you will find even the drive most enjoyable, check out Hanmer Springs out of Christchurch... I would attempt to get to Wanaka out of Queenstown and I think the distance is do'able. There is an amazing vehicle and toy museum too down there which I'm eager to check out sometime soon: http://www.nttmuseum.co.nz/ There are guides for chasing the lord of the rings locations... If you get around the top of the South Island you could go to Kaikoura to check out the great whale watching tours. Blenheim and Nelson are beautiful over Summer. Blenheim has an amazing aircraft museum at Omaka, I know this cause I worked on the displays installing the mannequins into the planes. http://www.omaka.org.nz/ A bunch of us had our heads molded and cast in Silicon so a mannequin or 2 will have my head! Nelson has beautiful beaches... In Auckland there are some train services down at britomart which is the waterfront end of the main street Queen Street and of course there are bus services too. I would recommend going to Kelly Tarlton's Aquarium, Waiwera hot springs (bit out of town unfortunately) You might be able to hire some bikes or rollerblades and go along the waterfront to mission bay and have a kiwi classic of Fish and Chips. I would look at going over to Waiheke island on the ferry for a day or overnight trip, very cool. Another good day would be the Auckland Zoo and "motat" the transport museum. Another good trip from downtown is a quick ferry trip over to Devonport and go for a relatively easy walk up to mount Vic. Very nice area over there and you'll love the houses and village centre In fact just thinking about these places is making me home sick! I lived in Auckland for about 3 years... I cannot recommend New Zealand highly enough we miss it sooo much after being away for nearly 9 months now
  11. Just spun up my New Built rere Buggy Champ gearbox... there is a slight wobble in the spur gear, doesn't concern me at all and I suspect it is just normal operation. You could spend some time playing with where the spur attaches to the shaft, filling up any space where the spur might wobble on the pin with something... James
  12. Hi everyone, I'm in Melbourne Australia and been following the alarming footage of the flooding in Queensland. I know there is quite a group of Australian TC members up there so I thought I'd just like to send on my regards and hope you are all safe despite the devastation. Many homes are destroyed and underwater, people and families are most important but beyond that I hope your RC collections don't succumb to the water. Keep safe, keep your chin up and best wishes from your Tamiyaclub mates James Beetlelover
  13. Hi All, I was wanting to know if the earlier vintage CPR Unit "P-100F" was harder to come by than the "P-160F" and whether they are more expensive to purchase. Also does anyone know when the original one was superceded by the 160, would like to make sure I am in keeping with period correct gear. thanks in advance James BeetleLover
  14. Remove all gears Agree with the thicker grease, brushless power won't mind
  15. In New Zealand the Auction site has a finish time but will auto extend beyond this for 2 minutes each time the winning bid is placed. Also you have 2 options for your bidding either you place your maximum bid and then that becomes visible as the bid to beat or you can select Autobid with your maximum and it will go up in $1 increments, if someone beats you it will bid on your behalf to your maximum. Twinset when you mention auctions dragging on that it will stuff up your shipping dates I have never known an auction to extend more than maybe 45 minutes. Stats for Ebay might be a little different due to the larger audience but auctions generally finishing on the weekend have a much higher number of views. I much prefer the NZ auction system to Ebay and the listing prices are much much cheaper James
  16. If you can't beat them join them! If you can't wait or be at the right place to watch the close of the auction and place your maximum you don't need the item badly enough! I agree with pointless early bidding that promotes the price climbing. I don't think I need to show anyone my intentions, someone will outbid me regardless.
  17. Like Rosey suggested earlier it looks like the bonus parts are the Avante Mkii rims, the originals are obviously in there somewhere!!! I'll be down for a couple at least James
  18. Happy New Year Everyone!!! Must be time for a New Years Jan Comp?! How about a theme "Animals" that sure could be interesting James
  19. From what I can tell they are identical, have fitted a rere nose to my original Scorcher shell and looks perfect James
  20. I needed a 3M commercial one for work, was about $150 US and I'd swear by it, takes ribbed glue sticks for traction with the trigger, complete overkill for this situation unless you are putting lights into at least 150 models! I'd but the cheapest one available for this application, just some blobs on the underside of your model. James
  21. Hiya, I'm just calculating the size required to make purpose built shelving for my collection. I want the tolerances to be near on perfect so each slot has to be specific to each car. Most cars have the dimensions on their info page here or on Tamiya101 but the Dynastorm hasn't. My car is many miles away and I was wondering if some nice soul could measure the length, width and height of the car, I would greatly appreciate the info. Calculating and drawing up the perfect set of shelves is one thing but it may be sometime before I have the funds to construct them but it's fun to design them... cheers for your help in advance, kind regards James BeetleLover
  22. I like taking a wreck, adding a few spares and pieces I've accumulated and sell a far better car on than previously, can't say no to making a few bucks in the process to aid me on my projects. Certainly couldn't afford to collect if I didn't move spare cars on from time to time. Can't say I've deliberately disassembled a car to try and get more for it in pieces but then again, this method has it's risks probably takes more time, effort and playing around in Ebay and then of course you might be left with parts that aren't sort after or required. Depends what you're after I suppose, how many times are we happy to pay a little bit more for a specific piece than paying a larger total for a swag of bits we won't need, if it weren't for these reseller types occasionally we probably wouldn't find the part we're after. I've broken up a couple of NIB's and that's worked out ok, certainly cheaper than ordering a bunch of parts that may well turn out to be on back order and slow to get... I can appreciate the resellers are often business people and not so much enthusiasts so can't blame them for parting out and choosing the best method/arrangement for selling... james
  23. I agree with you, things just aren't the same with the photo realistic boxes now. I definately think that was a strong selling point and somehow made the cars seem larger than life and looked better imho than the Kyosho boxes they were alongside. It'd be fun to scale one up and have a massive picture frame in the living room but we all know many of our women might be opposed to such an example of early 80's fine art lol... James
  24. Last Day for specials before price goes back to normal! Hope you had a good Xmas! Happy New Year from tomorrow! James
  25. I'm guessing you are using the Tamiya TEUbk-101 or similar? It's actually a brake and designed to save your drivechain from too much strain from immediately going from forwards to reverse... you could reverse the channel so you could immediately go from forwards to reverse but then to go forward again you need to move your stick forward twice to get going again... James
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