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Hey Everyone! I'm new here and I am in possession of some classic Tamiya vehicles that require restoration. Not sure which to start first, so I'll let you guys decide! Once one of the cars wins, I'll document the restoration process for the group. I'll keep the poll open until Friday 9/22.

So my second restoration leading into 2022 will be this. The 1/8 scale 4281 Kyosho Porsche 959. This one was purchased from Yahoo Japan and finally (after some real help from a Japanese friend) arrived with me this week. I paid £111 for what you see below. In all its glory Kyosho teamed up with Hobao on this kit and it was a very limited and expensive issue. The chassis is basically a Hobao Pirate with Kyosho adding front and rear bumpers, exhaust system, wheels and the body. The other thing about them is that parts are almost impossible to find, they are very rare. Also, Kyosho never listed the kit in its product catalogs, I have them all for the period and it isn't listed. I have three in the collection including this black one and have been collecting any parts I have seen for about three years. I have the sum total of about 5 parts bags!! These are the other two So the eagle eyed will notice that the rear wing is missing on the black one. Originally the bumper and wing were cut out from lexan together as this photo from the manual shows. However, over time the rear wing has gone. Now Kyosho only issued the complete body set and as they are selling for approx £500 and are rare that's a non starter. The solution will be to try and 3D print a new one and affix it. I'm hopeful that I know a man that can help there! However, if anyone has one lying around please get in touch!! The other plus point is that the cars of this era generally use very generic hardware and lots of restorable metal parts. This means for example a 3mm cap screw can be replaced with generic hardware and I don't have to hunt out unobtainable Kyosho bags. That said I will have to restore as much as I can due to low availability of the parts. The chassis will be stripped and cleaned and then each piece restored to get me where I need to get to. The chassis plate and rear bumper being metal will probably be blasted and then repainted in matt black. Once this is done I can reassemble on the fly. The alloys on these are actually metal and thankfully the tyres dont appear to be glued. Once clean I will carefully assess them and see whats best. Blast, repaint etc etc. Lastly the car has no engine. No big deal as I can source something appropriate for her. The kit manual calls for an OS 21 size engine so should be able to get one. Maybe a long term one this but stay tuned. One last picture to give you an idea of the size of this thing!! Its big, that a 1/10 mini shell.

I started this build more than a year ago, but hoping to bring it all together in the next few weeks. The original thread is here, but as I near crunch time I thought I will put together proper build thread: The idea for the build stems from my love of the Avante, but it gradually crept in scope to factor in the Paris-Dakar Rally, the Mini 4wd Dash Warriors anime and copycat brand mini 4wds from the 1980s. This image sums up the influences …

Well, been a while since I last posted... I'm taking the plunge, decided on building up a Porsche 959 based on the new MF-01X chassis set at 210mm. Ordered the following - 1/12 TGB P type 959 body - TGB P Type 959 wing - TGB P Type 959 interior - ******* 959 sticker set Need to buy - Jimny MF-01X - Options… :-) - RC Rally Raiders 959 1/10 wheels Looking for some insight on locating some 959 drivers heads. Anybody have any used bits they can part with? Don't fancy sporting for eBay units and can also craft my own. Interesting possibilities are Knight Customs SRB 3D printed head, helmet and visor. Just 1/10 scale and wondering if they could be scaled down? I do have several kits of the Toyota 4WD driver and could use the head only version, create a helmet and make a visor. Any other suggestions? TIA. Cheers, Thompson

Hi all, I’m struggling to find the plastic bushes/spacers which locate the Technigold motor into the rear axle and the chasis of my Porsche 959. The parts are E3 and E4. Are there any alternatives to the originals? Thanks in advance for any info. Edd

I built this car a long time ago for a drift build-off. Being time sensitive and having a 1 year old at the time, it ended up functional if a bit dodgy in spots to make the deadline. Here's a quick poorly shot video of it whipping around. I definitely need more driving practice. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wPQz_SYY-Sg&t=95s I put a few battery packs through circling around the driveway and then put it on the shelf for a few years. Well, 8 years to be exact. I decided to rebuild to get it back up and running as well as do some modifications to the dodgy parts. Here's the car in it's former state. It's a Nikko 959 body on top of a shortened widened TA02 chassis. A Tamiya 959 is on my want list, though it's WAY out of my price range. Plus, I'd be scared to death to drive it. I thought this was the next best thing. I don't feel too bad about sliding this one all around, spares are all over and cheap, and while it's not super detailed, it looks pretty good cruising around. I've robbed some parts off it over the years, but it's mostly intact though in rough shape. Enough story, let's get to the pics! I'm not much for flashy paint schemes. Not sure what, if anything I want to do to the body. Love the color. No wheels, no shocks, and I cleaned off 8 years worth of dust for the pics. Chassis is custom 6061 that I painted "carbon" ...Seemed like a good idea at the time. It's about 30cm shorter than a standard short tub to fit the WB of the Nikko body. Let's cal it a TA02 SS, or Super Short I've got serious stress cracks all over the chassis. The front gearbox was actually breaking in two. The rear was in good shape, though I had painted it silver and it's not aging well color-wise. Wondering if the paint helped it survive? No cracks anywhere on it. Interesting... Anyway, these bits have led a hard life in many vehicles, I can retire them with honor. Some new silver gear cases just showed up! Time to get wrenching...

Looking for the following 959 / GRB parts if anyone has them lying around & unwanted: 1x GRB/959 Front Hub (Part C2) 1x GRB Prop Shaft (the one without dogbone ends that fits the brass jointed prop joints) 4x 959 Wheels 4x Rally Block Tyres 1x J/K Parts (light buckets) 1x 959 Body Kit (I wish..... but you never know) Ideally I'd want new / as-new condition but.... might have to take what I can find! Rob

Hi, I'm in the process of rebuilding an old 959 that was in a really bad condition, with lots of broken parts. Over the last few months, I found almost evething needed but now the only parts missing are the R1 and R2 rear hubs. Mine are just too damaged to do anything. Does somebody have some spare to sell or a clue on where I could find them? Thanks.

Just found some new R parts - R1 & R2 only, 1 loose from tree. Drop me a PM with offer if interested.

Hello, I am a newer member to this site, been lurking for a long time. So I decided to combine a quick intro with some questions regarding a couple of 959's I purchased a while ago off of the Bay. I started building and driving Tamiyas back in the early 80's. orignally with the Frog(my only vehicle I never kept). Then onto a RC10 a year later, a few years after that I got a Lunchbox. then into the 90's kind of dropped out of the hobby. Started back up in the late 90's with a TA02 skyline. Boxed those all up in the early 2000's and only in the last few years started thinking about getting them all back to running condition. Fastforward up to now, and I have since been buying vintage cars that I once owned or dreamed about gettig as a kid. On to the questions. So I picked up a lot of 2 959's of the bay, both in a "somewhat complete" state. Of course the description was slightly vague and the pictures were not crystal clear, but since there was a buy it now of $200 for both, I decided it was a chance to take. This was the auction. http://www.ebay.com/itm/2-Vintage-Tamiya-58059-Porsche-959-Rally-Rc-Car-1-12-4wd-chassis-USED-/201063279849?ssPageName=STRK%3AMEWNX%3AIT&_trksid=p2047675.l2557&nma=true&si=GJJwAb19%252BLpVvaininjv4D7gkIU%253D&orig_cvip=true&rt=nc#ht_35wt_1365 Cars arrived and of course under inspection there were more of the typical broken parts(ie. lower front arm, rear body mount post, cracked lower knuckles, broken front diff housing,and a really nice home-made driveshaft with cv joints) that were never really disclosed. So stripped them down and am going through the components cherry picking the best ones for a resto project, leftovers for a runner and find different versions of the front suspension components. You can see the added tabs on the ends, I assume it is a steering stop since the front uprights also have a tab on them. So my question is, I assume the tabs are a later version added in later production,or am I completely off base? Question #2- what were the lengths of the rear camber links for the 3 different positions? I assume I will have more questions as the restoration continues, so I might just add them in replies to this thread instead of creating a new one each time. Appreciate any info that you guys can enlighten me with. Thanks, Andrew

Hi all, has anybody managed to change the oil seals in their shocks on the Porsche 959 or Toyota Grb ? mine leak so bad and I just cant see how you remove the seals. Many thanks Steve

Hi all, I'm continuing my sellout with this vintage Porsche 959 (58059). I have restored this kit myself to the shelf queen it has been for the last 10 years. The kit comes with all 620 brass bearings replaced with ball-bearings, and all Toyota Celica Gr.B option parts. It is fittet with a brand new Technigold motor and also has all electronics installed (not battery though). Only thing missing is the ball connector for the servo arm to the speed controller (se pictures). The kit has NEWER run since the restoration! Some of the option parts used in the restoration are as follows: 7.2V Flashing Unit (50314) 3 x 620 Ball Bearing Set (50315) Toyota Celica Gr.B Stabilizer Set (50322) Toyota Celica Gr.B Center Differential Set (50323) Toyota Celica Gr.B Propeller Shaft Set (50324) 2 x 850 Ball Bearing Set (53030) From the pictures you can see some of the replacement parts I have used to bring this kit back to new. Shipping inside the EC will be 30£ Shipping to the US will be 82USD Standard or 63USD Economy Offers welcomed! Hi-res pictures available here: http://sdrv.ms/Pu7F3v And – of course mail me with any questions! Cheers Martin martinjordt@hotmail.com