Wandy

Lol. Nah, they are all in the loft. Anything built that is not on display is kept in sealed containers. But I dont have enough shelf space to display all of my stuff at the same time so have a rotation of displayed models. To be honest I havent really updated my showroom properly for a couple of years as I have gotten lazy.. In that time I have still been buying quite a bit of stuff too so I need to bring it all up to date. My collection is still very paltry though compared to a lot of other people's on this club.

Definitely. Why they couldn't have just done something similar to what they did with the Lancia Delta body is a mystery to me. Just been browsing some youtube build vids and noticed other people grumbling at the grille decals so I'm glad it's not just me.

While waiting for a bearing kit to come in the post I thought I'd get started on the body. And I have to say I'm not enjoying it. There is still plenty of cutting away of the body that needs to be done and trimming the rear bumper area to shape is bit of a pain. And 5 seperate decal pieces just for the grille assembly. Just as well this is going to be a runner as the decals definitely won't be perfect. Air bubbles aplenty in the headlamp decals. Good practice for the bodysets I have on pre-order, I guess.

The body is really nice and the window tint isn't as heavy looking as the box-art depicts.

Mine from Time Tunnel arrived today.

I don't think it will come with the Evolution name on the box art unfortunately. It looks like they have had some kind of licencing issue with the Evolution name, hence the decal changes.

Welcome. Within 12 months you will own 20 RC cars. It's best that you accept this fact, immediately.

Yeah there's no titanium screws by the looks of things. Also missing the grey rod-ends & tyres the same as standard Top Force, to add to the decal changes.

Well...quiet would have meant spending less than £500. I've already spent £250 on the Mk2 Escort kit and 3 bodysets and its not even February. By the end of May that figure will now be getting close to £1000. We will probably have the Optima Mid announced after that so there's another £300. Not even joking either....I can see it happening. It is definitely due a re-release.

I want all three of these below plus the Top Force Evo. Can't remember the last time so many fantastic looking buggies got released at the same time by Tamiya, they are really gunning for it in the face of Covid-19 adversity. And thinking about it, they did this back in 2009 when faced with the global economic downturn.

Cheaper than I thought it would be actually. Was expecting UK price to be around £450.

Feeling guilty for saying this now. This is their best release announcement for years. Would love it if they are planning on blitzing us this year with all of those must-have re-releases we have been craving. 959 etc.

I really like that Grasshopper 2 Black Edition. Been meaning to get the standard kit for a while but will just plump for this one instead now.

Top Force Evo is a must have, and I'm delighted that kit has come back relatively soon after the standard TF re-re-release too. Thought they might keep us hanging on for years like they are doing with the Avante 2001. I guess the Evo UK price will be similar to the Avante. Could be tempted by Thunder Dragon/Fire Dragon bodysets to sit on my Terra Scorcher chassis. Not really interested in the kits though.

Oh dear, this is going to be an expensive year. Just when I was planning on having a quiet one with regards to RC too. Now just watch Kyosho also bring back the Optima Mid this year to add to the wallet pain.

Let's not get carried away.

Nah. Like I mentioned earlier, it's just supply and demand and that fact that stuff that is unobtainable always becomes more attractive. If AE did another run of the RC10 the sales would be very, very poor IMO.

Completed ebay listings show the kits fetching approximately £600.

Still great prices for the RC10s though.

I just think that AE and their cars are a totally different animal to Tamiya. AE cars have a very limited target customer base of vintage enthusiasts compared to Tamiya and since the cars from back in the day were never really classed as toys, there is very limited nostalgia for them outside of people who raced them back in the day. I remember Roger Curtis, designer of the RC10, being quoted in 2013 that he couldn't undertstand why the kit was being re-released. So if the creator isn't particularly enthusiastic about it then its maybe not that much of a surprise that customers weren't either. I think the RC10 re-release was heavily driven by Thunder Tiger, who maybe looked at Tamiya and thought they could replicate that kind of re-release success. But if AE weren't owned by Thunder Tiger the re-release would never have happened IMO.

Yep. Again though, the Classic kits are now fetching big money on ebay. As soon as a vintage kit goes out of production and is hard to find, the appeal goes up.

Wow, sounds like you got an amazing deal on the RC10s. I paid £290 in total for my two Classics and £150 for the one Worlds kit and I thought that was sweet, but it sounds like you did even better.

To be honest, the RC10 re-release was a bit of a flop and AE actually struggled to sell all of the kits. The Worlds kit was being practically given away by shops in the end. Ironic really, considering what they go for now. Have a look at RC10talk.com. There is a dedicated section to the re-releases and it is absolutely dead. By the looks of things there have been about 10 posts there in the last 12 months. It's the vintage buggies that spark the passion of RC10 enthusiasts. IMO there is zero chance of the RC10 coming back again in any form. And they probably think it was a waste of time bringing it back at all. I am certainly glad they did though.

Love that! Confirmation once again though that Tamiya chose the most boring colour scheme possible for the Terra Scorcher.

I wouldn't get too excited. It's likely to be a way of drumming up hype with the lack of an actual venue to showcase their stuff.