Wandy

No way will there be a Bigwig re-re. No Supershot either. I think we've got the FAV, Wild One and Astute to come plus a modern take on the Rough Rider and then that will be it from the 1980's classics.

So that's a no then? I had a look and couldn't see anything Boomerang related but the item decription history does only go up to mid September, and as far as I am aware this re-release became common knowledge in early October. Anyway I agree that a Fox re-release would be way down in the pecking order. My money has always been on FAV/Wild One to be the next of any re-release.

Did your source know about the Boomerang long before it happened?

No probs. I'll still be buying a Hotshot from you soon. Was just wondering if I was going to get it for a fiver cheaper.

Unless I have missed something I notice that your prices have not changed since the VAT change to 15%. Are you going to change your prices to reflect this change?

I dont understand your Hotshot statement there...a Rough Rider cost less than a Hotshot when the two cars were on sale in shops together, and if you were transposing the cost of everything from 1979 to 2008 then, using your price of 300 for a Rough Rider, a Hotshot would surely cost 600 in 2008 since the Hotshot was roughly twice the price of a Rough Rider back in the day. However in reality the new Hotshot costs 110 in 2008 so I dont accept that a Rough Rider would cost a massive amount more than 110. But it is still a lot more than any previous re-release has cost. The Hornet, Hopper, Frog, Brat, Hotshot, Lunchbox and Boomerang are not Manga style cars. The Thundershot, Manta Ray and Top Force are though. So why is it that Tamiya quickly dropped production of the Manga cars yet continued to keep the others? Could it be that in actual fact Tamiya miscalculated and the Japanese market also showed no interest in them just as we in the West showed no interest? I assume your estimate is based on Tamiya needing to make new tooling for the car, but the current re-releases are using tooling from back in the day are they not? Didn't someone from this club say thay they had a conversation with someone within Tamiya and was told that all the old tooling still exists? I think it's more likely that they realised that some cars just were not desired, ie Manta Ray etc so they dumped them quickly. The Hornet and Frog must be selling strongly worldwide as they have been in production for 4 and 3 years respectively now. The release of any kit is a gamble and some you win, some you lose. They lost with the Thundershot but are prepared to now have a go with the Fire Dragon. And why not? It shares the same chassis as the Thundershot so why not have a go? You could say that for any of the re-releases! Compare a Hotshot to a Dark Impact....bit it didn't stop them from re-releasing it. Actually there is a way of marketing the SRBs as still purposefull and unique, even in 2008. They have the capability of going where other buggies cannot...pools of water and heavy snow. Therefore they could be marketed as all weather/terrain cars...or simply as cars to be used at the beach. No, I've already stated that Tamiya R/C kits have bucked the trend of the cost rising with inflation. Die casting may still be more expensive than plastic but lets not forget that we are talking about casting a few very crudely shaped metal parts here. The 1/12th scale Ferrari is a myriad of small and intricately shaped metal parts that need to be highly detailed and painted. What exactly are the significant metal parts on a SRB? Two gearbox halves, 4 suspension arms and some metal tubing at the front? Hardly rocket science to produce a die for them (assuming that they actually need to produce them). Well stating what were the milestone cars will always be a debatable point. The SRBs could be classed as a milestone release as they were the first fully waterproof cars released by the company. And it is of course highly likely that any re-release will be an all plastic affair because most of the cars were indeed made mainly of plastic! I accept that the SRBs may not be that important to them but sentimentality has played no part in any of the re-releases. As you say, any kit is released to make money for the company and promote the brand. We both agree that it is largely fantasy that the company will re-release the SRBs in original form. We only differ in our reasons why this wont happen. You think it's a cost and profit issue and I think it's a brand image issue.

It works both ways though. They have re-released kits that none of us wanted because we didn't think they would be commercially viable. Think Thundershot, Manta Ray etc. It's perhaps no surprise that those kits were withdrawn very quickly whilst the ones we all wanted are still in production 4 years on. I think we would surprised to discover how similar us Western customers are in our preferences to our Eastern counterparts. Come on now, we know that they dont just specialise in plastic. Look at this baby.. http://www.stellamodels.net/catalog/produc...oducts_id=3553.. do the company worry about outsourcing for this too? I dont understand what your saying here? The 2007 Hotshot costs ~110 in the UK. The 1985 Hotshot cost....~110 in the UK, ie no effect of inflation on price whatsoever. How can this not be applied to a re-re SRB? Yes, I believe the reaction from the industry is the reason that stops them from re-releasing it...but that has nothing to do with how well it would sell. And I dont think it would for one minute hurt the company financially. Do you really think they make a profit on every product they release?

I'm not sure where your coming from there. A Rough Rider kit in the 1980's cost ~60. A Hotshot in the '80s cost ~110, so by your reckoning the re-release Hotshot should have cost 500? How do you know that there would be no interest in it? What evidence do you have that there is not the same level of interest for a re-re SRB in Japan? Again, how do you know this? Sure, the Top Force, Thundershot, Manta Ray and Frog were apparantly re-releases after a marketing excercise but that wasn't necessarily the case for the others. Indeed you were of the opinion that there would be no more re-releases after these four cars. The fact of the matter is that most companies dont know what is/will be popular until after they have actually released the product. Most things that have ended up as everyday items in our life were introduced by innovative companies, and were not actually desired by the general public. The idea was planted into the customer's mind by the company...not the other way round. Well I cant argue with that, and if anything, that will be what we will see. But my feeling is that the only reason Tamiya wont re-release the SRBs in original form is more of the "embarrasment factor" of how poorly they perform. However that would have nothing to do with how many of them they might sell if they did go with the re-re....which is why I think they should re-release it as a 30th anniversary limited edition model.

Actually I just looked at my old PayPal records and notice that I paid $635 18 months ago for my Knight Hauler from Jason. The price is now $725 so the price has definitely gone up in that time, regardless of currency values.

So there is no real reason why they dont do a similar job on the SRB castings and mould them to a 21st century spec whilst keeping roughly the same form as that of the 1979 original. We've had the discussion on these forums over and over again (which is fun ) about how many units Tamiya need to sell to break even. The truth is that nobody except Mr Tamiya himself knows.

No, I wasn't really thinking of going as far as blister packs, rather just the exact same kit but packed in a similar manner to the existing re-releases. Where do your figures come from to get a 500 price tag!?

I dont know why they dont just bring out a 30th anniversary limited edition re-release of the exact same Rough Rider of 1979, aiming it squarely at collectors with a hefty price - say 200. They would still sell boat loads of them without damaging the brand in any shape or form.

A nice little bonus of this re-re will be the availability of nice shiny new yellow CVA shocks to help Hotshot owners in their bid to convert to a Supershot.

No chance of that, it will be identical to the original minus a few decal changes and the dogbone propshaft. Besides, the Boomerang bodyshell would never fit over the Hotshot roll cage.

I still think they may release a 1/10th version of it the Rough Rider but it will be seriously modified from the original design.

The large side stripe decal that goes along each side of the car is in three parts which line up to create the effect of one long decal. Only thing is the second part of the decal, which lines up around the rear part of the side window, simply does not fit properly for me. If I line the decal up alongside the window the yellow curved part of the stripe is miles away from the adjacent stripe of the first decal part. Trying to line this curved part up leaves a large part of the decal "floating" as it has no where to go. Now I have managed to get it to look reasonably joined but only by having to get the second decal to overlap the first one, but it looks unprofessional in my opinion. Has anyone else had this problem?

You beat me to it Rich.

Well the Avante has had it's re-re...in the form of the Avante MkII. Old Avante body on modern DF-03 chassis. That's as close as we'll get to an Avante re-re unfortunately.

It's fun to be right. http://www.tamiyaclub.com/forum/index.php?...st&p=279603 http://www.tamiyaclub.com/forum/index.php?...st&p=225187 http://www.tamiyaclub.com/forum/index.php?...st&p=225101 http://www.tamiyaclub.com/forum/index.php?...st&p=218307 This is yet one more release from that coffee pot promotion....it really was a big hint to what would come wasn't it? Only the Astute and Rough Rider to go now then. As it happens I still predict that, the coffee pot re-re's aside, the Fast Attack Vehicle will be the next re-release with the possible later addition of the Wild One. I think you can forget about the Monster Beetle folks...if it was gonna happen it would have by now. The FAV is a blatantly obvious choice for a re-release. It's all plastic, a military vehicle and no licensing issues. Watch this space folks.

Yeah I forgot to figure in the value of the pound. For the record though I wasn't 'moaning' about Jason's or anyone elses prices, merely making an observation that the cost of buying from Japan, for UK buyers anyway, has now become prohibitive and it's a bit of a sickener because buying from Jason and Stella has always proved very fruitfull for me. Now though I figure it's no cheaper to buy from them than here in the UK so Mr Shopkeeper must be rubbing his hands with glee as I and others will now buy from him, unless the pound regains it's strength against the dollar.

That's my feeling too. Infact I'm already watching a few things that are currently low on price that would ordinarily fetch a lot more than the current price. Of course they may jump at the last minute but hopefully not!

Just browsing Jason's store as I do frequently to see the latest vintage Tamiya treasure he has somehow managed to unearth and I noticed that his prices seem even more lofty than normal!! http://stores.ebay.co.uk/Jasons-Store Now I know this beacuse the full option Knight Hauler that I bought from him last year had stayed at a price that worked out at 320 delivered to my door. That same kit would now cost me 412.. a rise in price of approximately 28%. I noticed that the likes of NIB FAVs and Wild Ones used to sell for 275, but the price of them recently has been more than 310. They still sold to someone though! How can he justify the price rises? The price of oil maybe? And as the oil prices are now dropping again will he revert to the old price tags? P.S. 800 for a NIB 959 delivered to my door. Tempting?....not in this economic climate. It has been said that the credit crunch will bring a dose of reality to the markets where the cost of goods/services/property/entertainment will be much more realistic....so when will it affect the vintage Tamiya market? Or will it at all?

Has this been confirmed by anyone such as J Anderson or is it just a rumour?

So there is. How dare they put it on the back of the decal sheet, far too much effort for me to go looking there. Do we recommend applying the silver post decals or actually painting them (as was required on the original Hornet)?

Finally got round to building my re-re Hornet and am now attending to the body. Step 28 in the manual tells me to "mask off the window areas from inside using masking seals included in the kit". I cant find anything that remotely looks like a masking seal. What have I missed? Are there such seals included? Or have I just been unlucky and got a kit without them supplied? P.S. How basic is this car!? I still love the look of it though. Now, having watched the old promo video, I just need to buy a runner for the beach ...where this buggy belongs.