Dingo_aus

quote:Originally posted by TamiyaManYou should make the #50207 half shafts. Good for Frog/Blackfoot/FAV/Wild 1, etc. Be nice to have some that would last.... id="quote">id="quote">Yup I second that

Yeah - I might visit family in Melbourne at that time, when is it?

What FAV parts are you after, exactly?

rofl - those Willy's can sure be pesky

I can't see how it would cost heaps more to blister pack. Just a vac formed plastic shell with a cardboard inlay stuck to it. I suppose the cost would be labour in filling each pack. I think tamiya went downhill when all the external body work started to be one single piece of lexan.

Anyone biting in Brisbane?

With the reference to the hobby's lifetime, I was merely lamenting the fact that parts will dry up before the generation that consumes them (70's and 80's teens) ceases to demand them. That is unless something is done about it. This means we have to be careful with our runners so that we don't break something we can't fix. It would be worse than never having recaptured the memory of youth - it would be the death of one's youth all over again!!!! ok, ok, I'm going over the top a little there but you get my point.

Nah, I wish Mercedes would

Well it has worked before - look at the software "Blender" from NaN There the community raised 100,000 euros in 7 weeks and bought the code to the software and then released the source code open source. Of course, there the original holder of the code offered the sale as an alternative to the community up front. At least if we put this proposal to Tamiya they might sit up and realise that they themselves could make the parts profitably.

I agree, I don't feel comfortable participating a hobby that has a set lifetime (i.e. until all the parts dry up). I think with Ebay etc, the only "new" source of parts from back in the day will be from non-English speaking places who may not have realised the demand. Even this source is apparently drying up. I mean what happens when I crack the tub chassis of my FAV in 5 years? Most likely the only source available then will Complete shelf queens, i.e. no new spare parts. To this end the only solution I can see is to make the repro parts yourself. Or have a community buy out of the old Tamiya schematics and get a factory to reproduce. I say if everyone here put USD$50 in the kitty we could offer Tamiya a sizeable chunk of dough for the drawings, schematics, master's whatever!

quote:Originally posted by JamesmccI would love to see transcripts of Tamiya's meetings on who/what/when/where/how and why certain models live and which ones get the ax! id="quote">id="quote">I don't think it would do much good - they would be in Japanese

holy ****. Someone thinks their economy is on the up and up (well it is in Australia but not so in others places ) For USD$1600 you could probably build a factory in Thailand and produce the darn things That includes buying the whole village

I just saw a pair of Sand Scorcher NIB tyres go for USD$71 on Ebay. Is that normal? I'm blown away by the price. I just bought some compatible after markets from in the day for USD$5. Is the "original" really worth USD$66 difference? I mean is that a normal price the market bears of just a one off freak occurrence?

Part number 53330 has been discontinued like everything else one needs. I know some shops in the world still have stock of them but nothing I can find locally or without expensive postage. Ebay doesn't even get a hit for them. If anyone does know where to get them on the net or even better a shop in Austrlia then please tell me about it

I'm getting sick of Tamiya canning the good models. Yes they are a business but I think they are making bad business decisions. I mean if you want just another prebuilt remote control car, ebay (and other shops) are full of really cheap brand new ones. What Tamiya should do is concentrate on what made them big to begin with. Don't try to compete with cheap, prebuilt one-piece-of-plastic body cars, go back to the successes of the early eighties - high quality, realistic, scale machines. Something with proper looks rather than a totally unrealistic models (Imagine a full size blizter beetle driving down the road! It would look totally retarded if made 1:1. Then compare the FAV, Wildone Rough Rider, holiday buggy etc. They would look awesome)

I'm getting some made up for my FAV. These are SS tyres. I will be getting the rears done first. I don't have hard figures on cost nor how many I will have to get made. I do know the time frame. I will be able to pursue this after the end of next week. Should have more info after that. I also have no idea of how they will turn out - if they are **** and I do my dough I'll just sob in my beard (if I had one) and throw them on the pile of **** that is all the things I waste my money on If they are ok then I'll see the ones I don't need - badword, it has taken me 19 years to wear out the first set, I think I'l only need to keep two sets then

Thanks for the suggestion. I haven't looked at RC gear for years so I didn't know electronic speed controllers existed. I do tinker around with electronics so I had already resolved to create my own H-Bridge MOSFET configuration. I was thinking of using a microcontroller being fed the PWN signal from the radio and then using a high frequency PWM with mosfets to drive the motor Do commercial electronic speed controllers give gradual speed variations or are they "set" to like 3 steps?

Are any of the cars on the market at the moment similar to the scale realism and/or the shear good looks of the old models? I haven't been able to look throught the current range. Is the Wild Willy 2 still available? Is there anything similar to the Wild one / FAV? I'm really asking is there anything out there that doesn't involve snapping a monocoque body over the chassis to turn an abstract plastic art work with 4 wheels into something that resembles a vehicle?

I had a similar experience with a FAV. Found my brother's old one. Needed spares went back to the original shop like 15 years after buying the first one. The bloke there sold me a NIB FAV minus speed controller and front tyres for AUD$50. This was about 6 years ago. Got bored one day started building the second FAV. Didn't realise the value of NIB. Oh well soon I hope to use the brand new parts to create reproduction spares. Hope is to have a spare one of everything. And yes if they turn out ok I'll offer them of sale too.

Now that is a good looking Willy! (don't take that statement out of context Seriously that is one of the best looking Willies I've ever seen - you should be deservedly proud of it

What would be a reasonable price for a pair of reproduction Rough Rider rear tyres? Straw poll: What would you pay for them?

I was wondering what was the reason for the 7 Watt, .3 ohm three terminal resistor on my Fast Attack Vehicle? I assume it is three terminal for forward and reverse. What is the reason of having a small load there? Does it help the drain on the battery or something?

I'm interested in a set or two of Sand Scorchers for my FAV.