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  1. 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.


  2. 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.


  3. 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.


  4. 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.


  5. Sounds like Willy's countrymen need to jump through a few hoops to get stuff shipped, although 35/6 is only about 6 minutes per parcel, which isn's ridiculous if you have already spent the effort to pack them and get them there. Admittedly it is better to have the documents done at home. It takes me under a minute to ship each registered parcel I have. I was really in fairness only commenting on US and UK sellers, which form the bulk of the English speaking guys who refuse to ship abroad and the Americans are the worst (perhaps because there are more of them?)

    I just bid on those items now anyway and have freight forwarders in the US and the UK collect together pallet loads for me locally and ship them one every month or two directly here. Saves a fortune on shipping as well ;) I once got an entire 18 wheeler full size lorry shipped with models and furniture from the UK to the Czech Republic for £700. It had tonnes, literally, of stuff in it.

    Paul.


  6. It always dismays me when I see someone strictly strictly sticking to a rule about shipping only within their own country. Sure, there are dishonest people about and you might struggle with Paypal on a small percentage of your receipts for items that 'never arrived'. But isn't that better than selling something for 5 times less than what its worth by restricting your market to 60 Million people instead of 6 Billion?

    Actually the Brits are way better than the Americans for this in my experience. I am British, but am registered abroad and bid therefore as a foreigner on items from both countries and find so many American items that I would love to buy being restricted. Or quoted with excessive shipping costs to 'protect the seller' because of insurance and tracking, which is in fact offered on all International American services from USPS except for First Class Post. Priority International, for example, can be used for large packages containing upto 3 car kits and costs from about $40 for one kit to about $90 for three. It is totally tracked and insurable. It might be that USPS workers don't know this, or are pushing the more expensive 'Express' products (which fly on the same planes and are handled by the same staff) because they are skint, but some of it is down to being stubborn for sure ;) USPS will even pack your stuff for you in some branches and provide free packing material, although the packing service can leave something to be desired.

    Paul.

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