Twinfan

Heavy Dump Truck. I wasn't expecting much from it but it's an absolute hoot to drive with the forward rolls!

It is a regular offer. It's been running for a while.

There are plenty of vintage buggies out there for the vintage fans though. I think it's cool that Tamiya tried something new yet still very definitely Tamiya

That makes sense as to why it's only rated down to 18T or 30,000rpm, unlike a HW1060 or the new Tamiya-spec kit-included THW1060.

I can't remember my first contact with RC. I know that back in the day a friend had a Hornet that he used to bash with me against my Thunder Dragon. I used to have a copy of the Tamiya Guide Book from 1988/1989 with the Bigwig on the cover but I don't know if I had that prior to my Thunder Dragon or if I got it afterwards. I suspect my mate got his Hornet for Christmas/birthday and that inspired me to ask for a car for the following Christmas. I also think I sent off for the Guide Book after getting my Dragon or picked it up when buying a replacement A-parts tree - I'm on my third and that one's cracked... Getting back into the hobby a couple of years ago via a Lunch Box (that I always loved) I've gone through a bunch of re-re and new builds which I've enjoyed, but anything older in design than my Thunder Dragon has left me a bit "meh". The Lunch Box is the exception though as I have two, one of which is a parts built mongrel that I take on holidays and I love tinkering with it, fixing it, upgrading it etc. So I guess my takeaway from the first contact is that I tend to compare other cars to my Thunder Dragon, and for the most part if it's not as "good" then I'm not that impressed. Hence my views on the Hornet and why I've got no interest in any of the buggy kits prior to 1988!

I'm not sure many people would cross-shop the BBX and TD4. Very different appeal to potential buyers in my opinion. I don't see the TD4 as appealing to the stereotypical Tamiya buyer, hence the slow sales?

I haven't built mine yet, but I picked one up recently for use as a cheap basher along with a couple of diff nut Hop-Ups. Then I picked up some Big Bore shocks and springs, and metal bevel gears, and the rear damper stay, and the slipper clutch and - you get the idea. I like "new stuff" so even though I wasn't sure about the TD4 at first it grew on me a bit and getting one for just over £200 tipped me over the edge. I also have a pre-painted TD2 with a full set of Hop-Ups to go on it when I build it, plus a set of four TD2/TD4 kits (both pre-painted and non-painted) in my NIB collection. So the collector in me thinks they'll be a short-lived thing and I've picked them up while they're around, and the driver in me wants to taste the latest Tamiya chassis. Ultimately, and I've said this in another thread somewhere, I think their future depends entirely on how popular they are in Japan.

Plaza Japan are currently making some changes to their system for orders over £135 (you can't checkout online) so hopefully they'll stop charging VAT and the potential issue will go away.

Yep, the chassis and resistors are definitely Supershot. As are the "Monroe" decals. That, and the general condition, rule out a Super Hot Shot for me as that was only launched in 2012.

The Hornet. It's a clanky old rattling bouncy piece of awful handling garbage. There, I've said it. Sorry to the fans...

Hop-Ups are all part of the Tamiya hobby for me. They're mostly upgrades for the sake of upgrades, but they're fun to buy, fit and use and give you something else to do with the car once you've got the basic kit. I don't really care if they're "better" or not!

Given that they're not the only ones with the regular Avante on their site, and that they're usually bang up to date with info, I suspect there are "rumblings" that it might come back for another run. They had the regular Egress up for ages a while back until the Black arrived, so it was as if they knew something Egress shaped was coming. I know another seller that did the same.

I'd like the Bigwig to come back as it's on my "one to get" list...

Sorry @moffman, I was just talking about the latest re-release. I agree it'll be back again but it looks like there's no re-stocking and 2023 is/was a one-batch run

Hi-Caps man, Hi-Caps! Worth the price of entry alone above regular plastic CVAs

Just a follow-up on this. It seems places weren't re-stocked after the recent Tamiya delivery so it looks like the Boomerang re-re was a one batch thing. If anyone's after one, or another one, you may need to do so while stocks last...

I think the point is that if you want a DF-01 the TF Evo is the daddy of the line and there are plenty still sat on shelves, so it's likely that anyone who wants one has one already. You can get the Evo for around £300, the TF in 2024 is going to be £250ish? I can't see it selling very well at all. It's similar for the regular Egress also coming next year. £525 when you can get the Black Edition for £400. There will be heavy discounts on both of those in mid- to late- 2024 I reckon...

Which is my thought exactly - it makes no sense to me!

I keep them. I put all the used sprees, manual, Hop-Up packaging, unused parts, spare parts etc in them and put them in cardboard boxes in my garage. So they're part of my organisation strategy. They're too good to throw out!

Bit of an odd one to do another batch of IMHO, given that there are plenty of EVOs still knocking about, but a couple of places are reporting that the regular Top Force is coming back next year. Tamiya really are unpredictable!

I don't think the stock pogo sticks are different lengths, don't they just have different preload settings? On my 'boxes I run the full set of shock preload clips to match the standard setup as this stops the body hitting the front tyres when reversing, for example.

The "correct" springs for CVAs on a CW-01 are the Tamiya Blackfoot/Monster Beetle/Top-Force (2017)/Manta Ray front shock springs, part number 9805786/19805786. These are the same as the “soft” springs in CVA Short shock unit set (50520). For the flanged tube you could use the non-flanged version which is 19805334.

You should be fine, my recent two were as were many previous ones. It's new orders over say £140+ that could be a problem.

OK, so a quick update on this. PJ used to stop adding "tax", or UK VAT, once your basket hit £135. I placed two orders in the recent past at just over £135, using Japan Post, and both had no VAT charged by PJ and they turned up at my door with nothing more to pay. Which was awesome. Working on an order today, it looks like UK VAT is now added regardless of the total so you run the risk of being double taxed if UK Customs don't read the paperwork properly!

Awesome!