Ferruz

Yes, they are Kyosho Turbo Optima Mid Special wheels. There is indeed a lot of thinking and planning behind the looks of my Manta Ray, which started well before I even bought the kit. In the general consensus this buggy is seen as Tamiya's ugly ducking but, when looking beyond the poor box art color choices, I've always seen a lot of potential in those shapes, so the goal of my build was to give it a chance to show its true colors (no pun intended). It took me just under one year -and a few sets of wheels- to find the "right" ones but eventually did, I find these Kyosho rims are the best for me in terms of both looks and performance.

Hard to say for me, there's three cars I have active all the time. Maybe, considering the extensive winter use, the Manta Ray is the one I run the most

Had a little blast through the meadows with the Hornet yesterday and today after work

Started working on the driver for my RC10 JPS. First off, I had to rearrange the electronics and battery holder to make it fit, which in itself took a good part of the afternoon. Now that's done, next thing now I have to figure out how to hold it into place and than, finally, I can paint!

@Mokei Kagaku Thank you for your detailed explanation. Better forget about it altogether then, and be thankful that we live in the re-release days. But I'm sure it's fun to try!

The dust cover is great, I'd love to get one of those for my DF-01.

Today I went out to see Munchy again, this time with the Manta Ray for a change. As usual, the furry friend was more than happy to check out the car and to pose with it in exchange for a few treats Some sleek shapes lurk in the grass! What now?? Chipmunks can be clumsy too, you know.. Munchy meets Slippery Sam Look at all those blue hop-ups inside... too much bling for me, mate Well, now that I've posed for you, I expect there will be treats coming... ...right?? Yes Sir... being awesome is a full time job! I'm fantasizing about printing out mini versions of these photos, so he could hang them as posters up the walls of his burrow 😅 He's adorable

After buying and receiving yet another driver figure for my buggy cars, I started thinking: what about trying to make a good old mold of the torso and helmet/face sections, in order to be able to do them myself? They look like realtively easy items ro reproduce, although I've never tried anything like it before, and I don't have a 3D printer. I'm pretty sure somebody posted some pics of their work in the matter on the forum not long ago, but I can't remember where and wasn't able to find it. So, before I start... did anybody engage in this, and with which results? What materials did you use? Thanks in advance for any input! I'm curious to see what you come up with.

It's an absolute beauty mate, no need for chipmunks to make this more interesting! Great job 👍

Wow buddy, your LHS looks amazing! What a yummy sight. My local (relatively speaking) HS is huge and the guys there are super nice, but they don't stock a single Tamiya kit in the whole shop (as @JeffSpicoli said, BORING). They can order them of course but so can I, and for a way cheaper price, so for as much as I like to support them when I can I never bought much more than paint, ESCs, servos and some static kits for my wife. I would LOVE to walk into a hobby shop one day and buy a kit off the shelf, just like that, without time and shipping and a screen involved in the process. Last time I saw a LHS with any Tamiya kits was in Australia not too long ago, just about one year before I got back into the hobby. And the time before that I think I was still a kid with no money, so I'm looking forward to such thrilling experience someday in the future!

Any pictures of this splendid glory?

Today I got an automated call from Fedex about the customs and fees of the Terra Scorcher ordered from RCMart, which is surprisingly already here. "Only" 22 dollars more, not too bad if I don't count the possible further 15 for a change of address (long story, nevermind...). I now have to wait confirmation but I know the kit box is in the area. I then took apart two damaged servos and made a functioning one out of them. One was a cheap China knockoff, totally busted but had steel gears and bushing, the other a Carson that was loose but otherwise still working. I carved out the plastic gear on the Carson servo a little, in order to be able to fit the metal bushing and this seems to have done the trick. I put it on the Hornet and tried it out later on in the evening. On my way with the car I stumbled upon what I thought was the usual suspect, but at a closer look I really don't think this is Munchy. 🤔 Maybe he spread the word about the goods as this fella was pretty relaxed, guess we'll see next time. The servo works well for what it is. It will sure serve the purpose on the Hornet, for whatever long it'll last.

I agree with @mongoose1983 and @mtbkym01, your Super Chams looks gorgeous!! 👍

Looks great! Can't wait to see it with the decals!

How nuts if you don't mind me asking? I'm curious as I just bought a Terra Scorcher from RCMart myself and I'm in Canada. The car was discounted by 38.2 % which was great -counting also that most other hobby sites say "late whenever" about restocking- but the shipping was steep indeed. It came to 169 usd for the car and about 75 usd for international shipping (the only option offered). So yep, shipping did cost almost half the price of the kit. Still, considered what's going on in the world and the discounted car it was worth it for me, but the shipping price does sure hurt.

Drove the Hornet straight into a lake by mistake yesterday, right after the pics with the chipmunk. It sank and I barely managed to fish it out without having to fully go in the water myself. Ran back home, took the soaked electronics apart, blow-dried and buried the circuit boards in rice overnight. This afternoon I put it back together and, after a few spasms and glitches, it came back to life as good as before. Wow, I guess the components are more resilient nowadays I ran it hard all afternoon, three battery packs, bashes, big jumps and all back in one piece this time.

@Falcon#5 they are indeed incredibly tiny and graceful (though they get to be quite rough too) but I believe my friend -now named Munchy- has become a little meatier in this last month due to my presents

There is true friendship by now with the chipmunk. He comes from afar when I call, I can feed him crumbs from the hand, touch him and even pet him. Amazing! He's a bit weary of the noisy, zippy RC cars, but he sure doesn't mind taking a closer look in exchange for some gifts. So, what you got up there?? How do you even get in here? That's a locknut, not a peanut! One thing with the car now... the Chiphornet! What the nut are you looking at?? RC gags aside, yeah.... I'm getting pretty attached to this tiny furry creature. I don't expect to be perceived as much more than some odd food dispenser to him but still, this behaviour is quite remarkable counting that he's completely wild

I pulled the trigger on a Terra Scorcher from RcMart! I was just starting to lose hope last night as on Towerhobbies it went from "order pending" to an unsettling "late July". Did some more browsing for good measure and was surprised to find it on RcMart (their website, not Ebay). The sweet thing is... it comes with 38% discount!! So even with the not-so-cheap shipping and the possible, dreaded customs it was a no brainer. Apparently, there's still a few kits left so if anybody is interested now is the time. Now sitting back and waiting a good month at least... plenty of time to figure out colors/livery for the car, though I've been thinking about that for a good three months already.

@junkmunki I like your Ronnie, good job! I'm about to do a Ronnie too, just waiting for the driver figure to show up jn my mailbox. Mine won't be for an F1 though but a buggy (my little "off road tribute" to one of the most legendary drivers), but still it's nice to see your helmet and get an idea on how it will turn out. Your F1 collection must be amazing.

Today I've built a rudimental track in the dirt, and than set off with the Hornet, Big Boss and Manta Ray. My wife timed every lap and at the end we marked down the best laps of each car. It was so much fun! I never drove three cars in the same session, can't believe I haven't done it before. Hopefully we'll do more of that. No action pics as the phone was used for the timing

I really don't think it's that black and white. You have a point in the fact that they don't grow up drooling over them (in fact, if there's any drooling at all now it's mostly in front of a screen) but still, what counts even more for nostalgia is what you actually owned, how dear that object is to you because of the dynamics you had with it. I highly doubt that, if brought to a hobby shop and exposed to both re-re and present stuff, every 6-7 y old would necessarily go for the latter. A NIB kit is a NIB kit and I think most children, especially if new to the RC world -as that's the scenario we're talking about- wouldn't care if it's a re release or a modern car as much as they would care for its character, appearance and personality. You don't think about a ball diff at 6. Your attention is caught more by those bright flame stickers of that wonderful box art. This is why I brought up that point. I believe my 6 y old nephew would more likely choose a Grasshopper over a modern, more technical but less good looking buggy because the first impression is crucial at that age, it sets the appeal standard and transcends the obsolescence of the car the moment such model is available again as a re-re. TRF? To be nostalgic of these, one probably has to get a little deeper in the hobby. My point is, when looking back you end up valuing many aspects more than how up-to-date one model was or wasn't at your time. It's about what it means and it meant yo you, be it a Holiday Buggy or the gleamiest TRF. At end of the day, any kid that is willing to peek beyond the shallow, flat-screened stimulation of today will develop the tools to enjoy such hands-on activities and therefore, maybe, feel a healthy little rush of nostalgia when looking back as a grown up, just like in our case, even though without all of the daydreaming we've done. Those times are gone anyway, and it seems to me today's society markets its goods (to kids and adults alike) in a different, relentless and more insidious way, not much time to drool over a specific object anymore. Nevertheless, a kid should see all options of course but I'm sure the basic Tamiyas (Hornet, Hopper, Frog...) still totally have the numbers to play it big in a child's everyday fun, development and imagination, no matter if they are 35 y old designs. They were great yesterday for that purpose and will be great tomorrow.

If it was my son, I'd get him a Grasshopper or the Hornet as a first build. There may be no nostalgia, but I find they have so much more character than a DT-01 and that sure counts for a kid. Plus, by doing so, it will be nostalgic for him in the future when, as a grown up, he'll stumble upon one