Collectible Cars

It was Beaties in the Grosvenor Centre for me. I loved staring at all the kits I couldn't afford at the time which were Blackfoot and Monster Beetle for me. Finally I could afford a Tamtech Lancia LC2 for me and the Ford Probe GTP for my brother. We zipped around in them for a while but when I couldn't race it at the local school on Friday nights (There was no class for a 1/24 model!) I sold them and bought a Kyosho Turbo Optima. After that the rest is history.

I love that colour scheme! I wish Tamiya would do it as the Olio colours do little for me!

Very nice! What shell will you run on it? I've a real hankering to do a nice Alpine A110 in Monte Carlo colours on that chassis

The radio gear finally arrived and it's amazing! It's brand new and feels special to be installing it so many years after it's release! I love that it mimics the set up on the side of the box and because there is no receiver it slots nicely next to the servo and in the chassis space under the roll bar. Now I just need to route the wires so they look nice and tidy.

I really don't know at this point! These kits are always worth the most NIB so it seems a shame to break into it after 30 odd years! But I'm not a fan of collecting boxes so I'm torn. I might see if someone wants the NIB and I'll restore the Nitro one.

I was fortunate enough to get me hands on these two as I'm into collecting RC Minis right now, but know little about them, other than they look so cool! (The Tamiya Monte Mini is the one that started it all!) One is the Petit Ten Nitro (33 EJB) and the other is the electric powered version (which is NIB and complete) Any background or owners of these that can tell me more?

Whilst waiting for my radio gear to arrive (still waiting - thanks Parcelforce!) these two turned up! One is the little nitro powered pocket rocket, the other is an unbuilt electric version. I also ended up with an extra clear bodyshell and a set of chrome body parts! Lots of fun. I'm not sure what I'll keep and what I'll sell as I'm not into collecting boxes and the instructions are in Japanese! I'd love to get that little engine running on that 33 EJB Nitro though!

Gorgeous collection my friend! I think I'll end up adding a few others when I get the chance too!

Do you have one Chris? Yeah, the parts are eye wateringly expensive and I hear of rumours that because of licence issues the bodies are unlikely to be released again. Just have to watch ebay like a hawk. I do see parts come up for good prices sometimes.

While I wait for that to turn up I'm turning my attention to the body. The mirrors had yellowed somewhat over the years and so they were removed, primered and sprayed with Halfords Wheel White Acrylic rattle can paint. I like Halford rattle cans, they are powerful and the paint is thin so goes on well. Once it hardens I'll finish off the black & red parts with the airbrush. I also powered up Fusion 360 and CAD designed a bumper that screws onto the existing rear bumper mount. This was 3D printe d and then sprayed with Alclad Polished Aluminium through an airbrush.

Now we have a perfect New Old Stock M-01 chassis with the Tamiya Hop Ups listed above. Whilst rebuilding it I noticed the previous owner had fitted the Manta Ray Ball Diff too! Result! I left the bumpers off as it'll only be zipped around the living room/kitchen on a smooth floor now. The original kit came with Acoms Techniplus a Radio Gear but I wanted something a bit higher end such as Futaba. So I ended up with a Tamiya Adspec Sport with the P-80F ESC & RX combo. It'll certainly keep it all cleaner when wired up!

It is one of the early releases, the 1995 Monte Carlo Rally Version number 58163 based on the M-01 FF chassis. I was most excited by the body shell. It was absolutely perfect! Seeing how expensive these bodies are this was a real find! The cost of a new clear shell, bumper parts and decals wold already have been twice what I paid for the whole car! The other bonus was the previous owner clearly had an appetite for Tamiya Hop Ups which was great news! I could see it had the following: 52239 Front & Rear Stabiliser Set 53155 Aluminium Low Friction Damper Set 53205 M Chassis Universal Damper Set 53206 M Chassis Ball Bearing Set Tamiya RS-540SD Black Sprint Motor It was clear the chassis had been used, it had the usual scratches on the bottom, especially the bumper. One had been replaced but the other was tatty along with the bottom of the gearboxes and main battery section. So immediately the search for New Old Stock parts began, which revealed they are RARE! I couldn't really find any spares that would restore the chassis to new. Parts such as: 50651 M Chassis A parts 50652 M Chassis B parts In the end I decided the cheapest answer was to buy an unused model with a M-01/M02 chassis and rebuild it using parts from that. So I started searching evil bay for something that wouldn't break the bank! Quickly enough I came across this: It wasn't used so I could see the chassis was perfect. Just what I wanted. Research showed the parts I wanted were the same on the M-01 & M-02 so I could switch them across. A shame the body had been painted in the wrong shade of a blue otherwise another project may have started here! I enjoyed a nice evening rebuilding both chassis whilst using the best new parts for the Mini. The Alpine and the used chassis went back on ebay and sold for only a little less than I bought the Alpine for!

Hi. Let me give you some background for this build. I've had the desire to buy a real Classic Mini for ages, even going as far as looking at a few. But my sensible head soon kicks in having owned a few and recalling how much work they are! I also don't own a garage and live in a nice village, so the idea of restoring a car on the driveway and having it in pieces wouldn't go down well. It didn't stop me dreaming whilst browsing through images on Google though! But whilst casually browsing the web one evening I spotted this beauty! A 1/10 Tamiya Mini Cooper '94 Monte Carlo Rally RC Car in perfect red & white! My dream spec! I didn't know Tamiya made such a nice range of Rover Mini Coopers! They must have come after I finished racing RCs in the early nineties and got into real cars, but before I got back into Vintage Tamiya stuff with my Juggernaut 2. After a nervous spurt of furious bidding it was mine! For a good price too! It only took a few days before a nice marge box arrived and the fun began!

Today I got some cool vintage stuff!