Legendary Series Availability

[Siclick33 217]

My recent build of my Kyosho Nitro FW-06 has led me to start looking at other manufacturers kits as well as Tamiya. The main models I was looking at was the RC10 and the Kyosho buggies. After looking around, I quite like the idea of getting a few of the Legendary Series kits. My question is which ones you think are most limited, and which ones should I look to get first, before they go out of stock.

Having looked around, it seems that the Fantom 60th Anniversary Gold is long gone. I have found what appears to maybe be one of the last standard Fantoms in the UK, so I have ordered that in the hope that the website stock level on that shop was correct!

Are the anniversary Optimas and Ultimas in particularly limited supply? Are the 'Worlds' editions more or less likely to sell out than the JJ? Are some of the more 'normal' kits like the Tomahawk more likely to sell out first?

I understand that this info might not be known, but hope that someone who has been around Kyosho longer than me might have more of an idea than I do! 

[Twinfan 2310]

The Legendary Series cars come and go in stock, but none of them have been discontinued. Yet.

The JJ and Anniversary/Worlds cars are single run and once sold out will be unavailable, so if you fancy one of those they're the ones to pick up first 

[Siclick33 217]

Another couple of questions for you Kyosho experts....

Now I know what to prioritize in terms of kits, I have now been looking at motors/ESCs. The Fantom I have just bought recommends the Le Mans 480T brushless and pretty much all of the kits recommend the brushed 490, Unfortunately, neither of these motors are available any more. Are they likely to come back or have they gone forever? I could use the 240/480 Gold brushless motors but I'd rather have the correct motors in each model. 

And a bit of a random one....

Pan cars are new to me. I see that Kyosho sells 'tyres' which also come with the wheels. I also see that they sell the wheels separately but they don't appear to sell tyres on their own. So where are you supposed to get the tyres from? Are all pan car tyres the same size?

[Twinfan 2310]

I believe the 490 brushed and 480T/S brushless Le Mans motors are gone for good.

[JimBear 1301]

I think (someone with better knowledge correct me!) they used to glue material (foam) onto the rims back in the days, sort of cut and shut-style.

I would imagine not much is possible to mix between the different brands.

I still slap myself over the head every now and then that I missed out on the EP 4WD. The CRC seems to be available. And the newly released Plazma.

[Siclick33 217]

40 minutes ago, JimBear said:

I still slap myself over the head every now and then that I missed out on the EP 4WD. The CRC seems to be available. And the newly released Plazma.

Are you talking about the one in the photo? I managed to order one of these kits yesterday but I might have been lucky. There is another one on eBay in the UK that is about retail price, so I think there a few still out there.

The one I've been hunting for is the 60th Anniversary Fantom EP-4wd Ext CRC-II Gold (which might be the one you're talking about), but they have clearly all gone from the shops a long time ago and resellers are asking pretty crazy amounts. One of the cheapest available on eBay UK is £800 (almost 1000 Eur)  I can't even find all of the spares to make up an unofficial version. I will have to make do with the CRC instead. 

[Twinfan 2310]

They didn't make many gold ones, they sold out in the first couple of days here in the UK.  I think Kyosho underestimated the demand for them.

[JimBear 1301]

@Siclick33 Yep, that's the one. The gold version was way too expensive and too much of a shelf queen for my taste. But still cool.

[Twinfan 2310]

I seem to think the gold one wasn't too bad pricewise?  I saw them when they were released and they were £249.99 I think?

I bet some people are kicking themselves that they didn't buy one at that price now if they had the opportunity at the time....

[Siclick33 217]

I thought I had managed to source all of the parts to be able to build up a Fantom Gold chassis, but the rear axle mount is out of stock everywhere so it's a failed plan. I did find one at RCMart but it turns out that their stock levels were wrong  All of the other parts seem to be available, albeit they are expensive.

It may be somewhat irrelevant now though, as I can't get the recommended motors for any of them and I don't fancy spending big bucks on Kyosho kits and then putting Tamiya motors in them. Not that I have anything against Tamiya motors but I wanted to build up the Kyosho cars with the recommended Kyosho components. I'm not really sure why they are selling kits and recommending motors that have been discontinued 

The latest kits only show the Gold motors as options, but these are £150 (approaching $200) in the UK, which is just bonkers. They are half the price in Japan (including shipping and taxes) but finding stock is difficult, so I wonder if even these are running out.

This is probably where I bow out and go back to Tamiya before my quest to collect the Legendary Series has even begun. Does anyone want to buy a Fantom and a JJ Ultima?  (That was tongue in cheek so please don't enquire!).

[Twinfan 2310]

Try Banzai Hobby for the 13.5T Gold and the 15.5T and 19.5T Red motors. The 21.5T Gold always seemed a bit pointless to me.

The kits only recommend unavailable motors because they've been out a while and they haven't updated the manuals. Check the latest releases for the latest recommendations e.g. instead of the 490 brushed, Kyosho recommend the G22 motor for the Dune Master.

[Siclick33 217]

As you're probably aware, the 21.5T Gold is recommended for the pan cars (not the buggies); I can get them but they are ridiculously expensive. I had ordered one at a reasonable(ish) price from Plaza but their stock levels were incorrect and they didn't have it. I cancelled my order, which also included 13.5T Golds, so I could complete a new order (there were a few other bits I needed since I placed that order) and then they put the price up of the 13.5Ts  I might try to re-order them from Banzai, but they are on backorder so I have no idea if they can actually get them.

I'm not sure of the kit release dates but the Ultima 20th Anniversary Worlds Spec, Optima Mid 60th Anniversary Worlds Spec and the JJ Limited Ultima show the brushed 490T motor as a recommendation and it is my understanding that all of those kits are fairly new, but that motor has been discontinued for quite a while. I certainly can't find any stock, new or used, anywhere. None of the Legendary series recommend the G22 as far as I can tell although I am sure it would work fine. I have close to zero knowledge of motors but the Kyosho G22 looks more akin to the Tamiya Torque Tuned type can, whereas the discontinued Kyosho 490T looks more like a Tamiya Super Stock. I could use Tamiya motors but that seems odd (although I do see that the Fantom Gold manual actually states the Tamiya paint codes, which I also find a bit weird).

I know I'm being mega picky but these are not cheap models or motors, and it seems sloppy to me that Kyosho can't update their manuals (or provide an addendum) to reflect what is actually available to buy. I can easily get Tamiya (or other) motors to work, but if I'm going to do that then I'm thinking I might as well stick to Tamiya kits. I'll keep a look out for Kyosho motors and if I can find any then I might then get a Kyosho kit to go with the motor, but that seems a bit of a back-to-front way of going about it!

As I say, everything is resolvable; I'm just a bit disappointed with Kyosho.

[Twinfan 2310]

I hear you, I was just saying that alternative options were available. For me, as long as the brand is correct I'm OK with that but I can see why you're not 

(I collect NIB kits and always make sure they have a matching ESC and motor if they're Tamiya or Kyosho).

[legacygt777 55]

On 2/14/2025 at 3:08 AM, Siclick33 said:

I thought I had managed to source all of the parts to be able to build up a Fantom Gold chassis, but the rear axle mount is out of stock everywhere so it's a failed plan. I did find one at RCMart but it turns out that their stock levels were wrong  All of the other parts seem to be available, albeit they are expensive.

It may be somewhat irrelevant now though, as I can't get the recommended motors for any of them and I don't fancy spending big bucks on Kyosho kits and then putting Tamiya motors in them. Not that I have anything against Tamiya motors but I wanted to build up the Kyosho cars with the recommended Kyosho components. I'm not really sure why they are selling kits and recommending motors that have been discontinued 

The latest kits only show the Gold motors as options, but these are £150 (approaching $200) in the UK, which is just bonkers. They are half the price in Japan (including shipping and taxes) but finding stock is difficult, so I wonder if even these are running out.

This is probably where I bow out and go back to Tamiya before my quest to collect the Legendary Series has even begun. Does anyone want to buy a Fantom and a JJ Ultima?  (That was tongue in cheek so please don't enquire!).

There are several Kyosho motors available for sale on Amain Hobbies site. Kyosho is not going to recommend a specific motor because if you plan to race them, each of the race classes have a spec motor for that class.

For example, if you're running a 1/10 buggy 13.5 class, you can use Kyosho's 240 Gold which is a 13.5 motor.

If you just want a cheap Kyosho motor, just get their 550.

https://www.amainhobbies.com/search?s=kyosho+motors

 

  

[Twinfan 2310]

Kyosho do recommend specific motors and ESCs, they're in the manuals.

[Siclick33 217]

Oh dear! I bit the bullet and found one of these!

I took a gamble with my first use of Buyee and it all went smoothly. It was very expensive but much less than those I saw on eBay. I also have quite a lot of the gold parts to build up a 'spare' - the only show-stopper (to avoid me having to break open this one) is the gold rear axle mount. Hopefully one of those pops up for sale at some point.

Now I need to start saving up for the Optima Mid Worlds Spec Anniversary Edition.