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Thank you :-) It has been a while, took me a few minutes to find the PM section... Paul.

Hi :-) Yes, I know, I haven't been here for absolutely ages... I need a little favour, I was hoping one of the German members (living in Germany) who knows me quite well could possibly get in touch with me via PM? Perhaps someone who I have bought from, or vice versa in the past. Thank you... Keep well, Paul.

I am not sure it counts, but I also collect fancy coloured diamonds. Some have been polished in recent times (modern cuts), others have antique cuts, up to and more than 100 years old. In any event, all were produced millions of years ago in the earths mantle and thrust up for us to find occasionally. Fascinating things and some of them make an original Black Porsche look commonplace :-) Paul.

I am blushing ;-)

Bruiser boxes only...

I just added new security measures around my property in light of this recent thread... P.

I have so much re issue stuff I can build, that almost none of the good stuff gets built, even when stoned, er, I mean drunk. I mean, I am teatotal now... See, I bet you really missed this kind of witty banter. Aren't you pleased I dropped in? P.

If I am very very drunk, I will even build a Sonic fighter or Striker. Although it is way better to be stoned off your mind. P.

Hey, nice to hear from you too - you are truly one of the chosen few... ;-) OK, nicely spotted. I like a drink, me. That would be why. I am already on my 4th Gin and tonic of the day and the day ain't over yet. P. PS : I thought it would be a good 2000th post...

I know :-)

Mine are already all sold. I haven't made any more reproduction ones. I have kept the silver Hotshot ones I made though, because I think they go better with the Supershot silver body than the gold ones. Paul.

I guess it depends on what you consider as re issues/re releases. I offer this (incomplete) list of what I consider not to be re issues, followed by a list of those which are pretty faithful re issues, to go some way to giving you my opinion... Avante Black Sand Rover & Holiday Buggy Renault 5 Blackfoot III Mud Blaster II Lamborghini Countach on TT01 (not even close!) Wild Willy 2 As I said, this is incomplete, but none of these, nor the planned Golf or Toyota Toms are re issues, but adapted original bodies on new chassis with awful boxes... Just my opinion :-) An example of some proper re issues Rough Rider Avante Hotshot (despite the internal packaging) The Hornet and Grasshopper (as above) Again, not an exhaustive list, but just an idea of what constitutes a proper re issue in my opinion. Paul.

The Mercedes C11 was re issued twice.

The Egress was planned for re issue two years ago (the plan, not the issue), to come along after the Avante. This black version of the Avante has been issued in its place. A Vanquish re issue isn't on the cards. Unsurprisingly, lots of people are now putting their Egress tyres on eBay for sale. Paul.

Hi, I am around, although considerably less nowadays and I very rarely log in - if ever. I haven't got out of the hobby, although of late I have listed about 50 kits on eBay, so to some it might look like that. Actually what I am doing is getting rid of duplicates, of which I have many, so there is a chance to pick up some Loaded collection kits. There is an element of truth to what has been said about being welcome - for example, receiving personal messages or emails from people laughing about the values of kits because of re issues (as if I care?) and general abuse which has gone down considerably since I took my sabbatical. Tamiya have made some siginificant mistakes. In embracing the current desire for retro across all markets and in an absence of imaginitive design from their side, they have re issued some kits only for the purpose of making money, whilst at the same time, aggressively squashing core community members under the guise of protecting their copyright, or intellectual property. This website has been slapped on the wrist and forced to remove portions of it in order to comply. I know of some members who make custom parts who have been told not to. In doing this, Tamiya have failed to realise two important things. Firstly, the people that got them there - ie us. Were it not for Tamiyaclub and those minded collectors (I don't mean mega collectors, just anyone who likes old Tamiya models, not necessarily NIB) Tamiya would have very little basis to make this business work. Furthermore, when the current trend is gone, and it will go, then they will be left neither with collectors that revere their imaginitive model making, nor the trend followers that just wanted to run a Hornet or Fast Attack vehicle once or twice to relive a childhood memory, but are less enthusiastic about the brand than we are. I thank you Swarm, for asking, you are a nice guy, we have had many chats :-) I would like to lay a couple of things to rest, though. No, I am not bankrupt! Although the business in which I am in has been hit by the recession, rather than fight the tide, I swim with it and there is always money to be made if you know how to ride the markets. I will come out the other end stronger. I haven't given up on collecting either, I have over a thousand kits, but I do wish to cut down my list of duplicates, mainly for reasons of space, but it would be arrogant to suggest they have little value, as clearly many of the kits do. I also do make some parts, which is mainly to keep me off the streets, because I have not been very busy for the last couple of years! Tamiya's re issue program is nearing its end and there are kits they simply won't re issue, some of the recent and future re issues will be along the lines of the Sand Rover and Holiday Buggy, ie not really re issues at all. From a sanguine point of view, if we are to take values as important, neither the Holiday Buggy or Sand Rover re issues have affected values, simply because they are not re issues, but kind of tribute vehicles on a modern chassis. Either way, it hasn't been entirely bad. They have made parts available for wrecked models and helped rekindle the interest in the hobby. They have stepped on a lot of toes on the way and angered a lot of people. But they haven't angered me. They simply lost their way with regards to innovation and new models.