Wandy

Ok I'm now fleecing myself but this has to go to fund other projects so I will take £250. []

Dropped the price down to £275 as I need a quick sale. Please see the trades section of my showroom.

Well it depends what vintage car you are running but parts for most of them aren't THAT expensive!....and anyway this is why Tamiya are doing re-releases...to cater for this modern phenomenon of 30 somethings wanting to relive the old days for small cost. I agree with you about NIB though, a pretty pointless excercise if you ask me. I can just about understand owning a NIB of the ONE car a person had in the 1980's (since most of us were only fortunate to own one at a time back in those days) to relive the moment of looking at/opening the box when they got it, but owning endless amounts of NIBs and then stacking them in a cupboard never to be seen by anyone except in a few website photos just seems like excess boasting to me. Still, each to their own I suppose. I cant even justify shelf queens anymore. I have sold all of mine off and any car I own is a runner. Most of the vintage stuff, Bruiser/Hilux/SRBs excluded can be bought for around £100 in used but good condition and it is pretty easy to clean and polish up a runner to make it look almost as good as a true shelf queen. I just cant justify paying hundreds of £s for something just to look at it. My motto is "If it dont get used then it dont get kept!"

Wandy, could you give me a link to a movie of that promo, really want to see it [] http://tamiyaclub.com/CS/forums/1/69108/ShowThread.aspx http://tamiyaclub.com/CS/forums/1/67942/ShowThread.aspx It was discussed nearly two years ago and nearly all of the cars re-re'd so far were part of that promotion.

Nah, I cant see this being anything other than an almost identical version of the original, minus a few tweaks. And it will be all the better for it. Mind you I would be very surprised if they included the original heatsinks. What would they be for? It would seem like a pointless and expensive add on if you ask me...but I hope I'm wrong and they do put them on as they were a prominent positive feature in the design of the car. The link also says that the chassis has been "redesigned". I think what this means we will see is the same monocoque chassis...but that from the Hotshot 2 (with the metal door for easier R/C access). I also think that they will have improved the metal dampers to reduce the notorious slop, especially in the front set up. I also would not be surprised if they have come up with a new and improved linkage to operate the rear monoshock, as we all know how much stress the original design placed on the upper wisbones..resulting in a need for new 'R' parts. I thought they would use the piano wire for the prop shaft but the use of a dogbone is an even better idea. I know for a fact it will not happen but I would be ecstatic if they used the series 1 bumper that was found on only the earliest 1985 Hotshots. It's extremely unlikely though because it was much weaker than than it's replacement...but it was soo much better looking. One other thing that will have to happen....on the upper chassis half where the ESC switch locates the ON/OFF writing will have to be reversed because when you currently put a TEU-101BK into an original Hotshot it is switched ON when in the chassis' OFF position! All in all I am delighted with this re-re and, as I said earlier, I am sure the Boomerang will follow shortly. If it is true that there will be loads of hop-ups available it will surely show that Tamiya has finally cottoned onto the fact that the re-re market is to be taken deadly seriously...as their sales figures must be showing. I mean, by all means continue to produce modern and forward thinking designs but there is nothing wrong with indulging in nostalgia as long as it makes a profit and does not damage the brand..which is why we will continue to see more re-releases every 6 to 12 months. I was one of those who speculated that the coffee jar promo was a big 'wink-wink' to all of us about what was coming, and lets not forget that the Rough Rider was one of those cars included in that promotion. I am sure that the company is working on ways of re-releasing a SRB with modern performance capablities whilst staying faithfull to the original design. I imagine a chrome finished selection of plastic parts to replace the metal ones on the originals (as in the first run Subaru Brat) and a differential in the gearbox. Whether the original linkage to the steering servo would be used is debatable but perhaps they would place the steering servo in the current reciever box? One thing is for sure..all those who said a SRB re-re was out of the question must surely now have a rethink. If Tamiya can find a way to release it and improve it whilst staying faithfull to the origianal idea AND make a profit then they WILL do it. The re-re Hotshot shows that they are confident that re-releases are popular worldwide and are not affecting the brand. If anything, they are strengthening it!

I just knew this was coming!!!...which was why I have recently sold my new built and runner 'Shot. To all those who said there would be no more releases, well WE TOLD YOU SO!! To me it was obvious that Tamiya would re-re at least ONE of the 'Shot series transmission cars. They are an all plastic affair and would be very cheap to make. Next will be the Boomerang. Absolutely guaranteed. I predict within the next 2 years we will also have seen the Fox and Fast Attack Vehicle too. Watch this space. Happy days!! []

Wow! I'm glad I bought mine now! I was actually thinking of selling it on but not after seeing that. Really pleased I got one of the chrome editions now!

Thankyou mate. Outrageous really isn't it?

Well all you have to do is go online and get a quote from Royal Mail on a 5Kg parcel. You'll see that I'm not fleecing anyone.

Thanks for the vote of confidence mate, but when I called the post office I got them to confirm that it was the absolute cheapest price and they said that it was. The next service up, which got the items delivered a couple of days earlier, was another £15 on top of that!!!!

No, the 5Kg weight was for car with battery, R/C equipment and original box plus two other seperate auction items, a bodyshell and tyres. I did weight the car with box and this was 4Kg so I estimated that with the the other two relatively light items and external packaging the weight would be about 5Kg. Not my fault Royal Mail prices are exorbitant!!

I'm currently selling my Optima Mid bits on the bay and have had several people asking me for prices to ship abroad, in particular to North America. Now after a call to my local post office I was quoted £45 to ship a 5Kg parcel to Canada/USA and consequently notified the interested parties of this....cue a response of abuse asking if I "am on crack?" and "people like you make me never want to ship to the UK"... Now all I did was quote the prices given by my local post office and I must admit that even I thought it was expensive...so all I can say is if there are cheaper prices to ship from the UK then can someone tell me where they are so that I can avoid abuse and accusations that are unwarranted?

Right! I've done another u-turn and these things are now available and this auction WILL run! Sorry for any inconvenience caused! http://cgi.ebay.co.uk/ws/eBayISAPI.dll?Vie...p;rd=1&rd=1

Sincere apologies to anyone who was planning on bidding on this auction, as I have decided against selling the tyres for the time being. I am in the process of trimming down my R/C collection and was planning on selling all of my Optima Mid stuff, but having noticed how rare these cars are, even in this club, I think I will keep it for the time being at least.

Yes Kyosho fans I am here to make your dreams come true...I have up for grabs on the bay a brand spanking new & unused set of the original kit supplied Bridgestone tyres to truly complete your shelf queen. I honestly have not seen these tyres come up even once on ebay in 3 years...it would seem they are extinct as spare parts as even mine came out of an original kit. These things look wicked with the lettering painted and give the Mid a really realistic look. http://cgi.ebay.co.uk/NOS-Kyosho-Optima-Mi...1QQcmdZViewItem

Wow! This is an eye opener! I had no idea the TEU-101 was not suitable for 8.4 volts and consequently have used it plenty of times in my Hotshot with standard Mabuchi RS-540 motor installed. Have to say I've had no problems at all, apart from from one time driving in the snow and the water seemed to fry the ESC...but even then a quick blast with the hairdryer sorted that out! The 8.4V battery is a 3000mah too so not a weedy battery at all. Gives my 'Shot a nice little 'kick' around the track I must say!!!

Just another quick thankyou for yet another fast, duty-free order....this time with the Lunchbox re-release with ESC. GREAT service yet again!

Another thing to take into consideration is the old "can they, cant they" argument with regard to re-releasing cars where the licence to produce a model that is based on a full size vehicle from the 1980's might not be available to Tamiya anymore. Surely the re-release and identical marketing of the Subaru Brat has shown that there would be no such problems for the company to re-issue models such as the Ford Ranger, Blackfoot, Monster Beetle and dare I say it the Sand Scorcher. So if anyone wants to continue a discussion about why a car wont get a re-re just dont drag up the old "licence" argument. []

Fantastic!! So this surely means that the article published in that Japanese magazine, claiming "no more re-releases" was well wide of the mark? Come on Mr Tamiya, give us a Boomerang next.

Well one just went for £275 on ebay and it wasn't even mint!

So what are the full list of parts that convert a standard Top Force to an Evo...and what would be the cost if new parts were to be used??

Dont get me wrong, I've viewed that black Top Force many times and agree that it's a real beast but I think the body shell on the car is generally more difficult than others to make it look good. I especially think that the box-art green is a pretty awful colour, but it's all about opinions I guess! It's certainly a car with a "look" of it's own. From some angles it looks really poised but in others it's all just a bit.....well....messy. The Conqueror still gets my vote. [H]

Cheers guys. I think I will be driving a Terra Conqueror rather than a Top Force then, when the car gets built!

Nice NIBs you have there, it's a pretty rare car isn't it? And it's a definitely a mean looking thing. In terms of quality of spec, I'm guessing it's somewhere in between a Top Force and Top Force Evo? So can I stick the Conqueror shell on my Top Force without needing to do any modifications?

Ok, I just had one of those impulse buy moments after browsing the site and bought a NIB Terra Conqueror body shell. This was after discovering that it comes under the same chassis type as the Top Force. I have yet to build my Top Force re-re but I am still of the opinion that it's body is butt-ugly and, judging from the limited amount of photos in member showrooms, this Terra Conqueror looks a lot nicer to me. Infact I'm surprised there are not more of them, this looks it could have been Tamiya's answer (looks-wise anyway) to Kyosho's Optima Mid. So have I just committed myself to yet another project or will this Terra Conqueror body fit straight onto the Top Force chassis? And what, if any, differences are there between the two cars? What bits would I need to convert the Top Force into a full blown Terra Conqueror? Was the Terra Conqueror a higher spec car than the Top Force?