Avante Coming Soon

[Wandy]

I was hoping the bonus parts would be those slicks that were on display at the Tamiya Fair. Bah.

[terry.sc]

As for the UK price, taking inflation into account £450 is about the modern equivalent of what the original price was in the 80s. It's why no one could afford one back then.

As for

How UK shops can charge £450 is beyond me,

Quite often UK retailers can't buy the kits from the Hobby Company for the price you can buy retail in Hong Kong, or for only a little less. Retail pricing in Hong Kong also doesn't include any sales tax at all, unlike the 20% VAT shops in the UK have to add the their prices. I'm sure if the UK shops and distributor could pay the same utility, rates, rent, wages(£2.30 an hour) and tax(max 16%) bills that they do in Hong Kong they could easily match Hong Kong prices.

[Wandy]

As for the UK price, taking inflation into account £450 is about the modern equivalent of what the original price was in the 80s. It's why no one could afford one back then.

As for Quite often UK retailers can't buy the kits from the Hobby Company for the price you can buy retail in Hong Kong, or for only a little less. Retail pricing in Hong Kong also doesn't include any sales tax at all, unlike the 20% VAT shops in the UK have to add the their prices. I'm sure if the UK shops and distributor could pay the same utility, rates, rent, wages(£2.30 an hour) and tax(max 16%) bills that they do in Hong Kong they could easily match Hong Kong prices.

Terry, your pretty much right about the Avante 1988 versus 2011 prices, the kit at £450 will be almost the equivalent in stratospheric cost as it was back in the day. However there can be no doubt that all of the other re-releases have proven to be astoundingly cheaper to buy than when they first arrived in the 80s.

A quick check here will back that up... http://www.thisismoney.co.uk/historic-inflation-calculator

Even the price of a Hotshot now....currently at Time Tunnel for £179....is much, much cheaper than it's 1985 equivalent, which was £110 when it arrived in Spring of that year. If a Hotshot in 2011 had the equivalent worth as the '85 price, taking into account inflation, it would be selling in the UK for £260.

Bearing in mind that Time Tunnel have actually had to increase their prices by 40 to 50% (the Hotshot was £130 in 2007) then the re-releases have been phenomenally cheap to buy compared to the 1980s. This also goes a long way to explain why getting a Tamiya car for Xmas as a youngster was a big, big deal.

Also bearing in mind that a Hotshot could be purchased for ~£95 all in from Stella (if you avoided import duty) in 2007 then this meant you were getting the kit for a 1985 equivalent of £40!! Absolutely incredible, and highlights how good it is to import from Hong Kong.

Still, all of this makes me wonder....why is the Avante still so expensive?

[MR HOBBIE 76]

Hi guys, Happy New Yr and all the best for 2011:) Would anyone know if the re release Avante will be coming Down Under ( Australia) ?luv to know because i mite purchase one if its based on the original version but with stronger parts added to it. Also the Price, like to know the price range that will be interesting? Back in 1988 when my dad bought me my ThunderShot, the price of the Thundershot was $ 325 ( Still have the price on the box) and it included a Dash Control as a special deal, and the Avante was next to the Thundershot on the shelve and it went for around about $680 and also had a Dash control with it as well. That Rc Car was way over Priced and poorly manufactured by Tamyia and i hope that they get it right this time round. Hope that in does come downunder. MR HOBBIE 76..

[TA-Mark]

Hi guys, Happy New Yr and all the best for 2011:) Would anyone know if the re release Avante will be coming Down Under ( Australia) ?luv to know because i mite purchase one if its based on the original version but with stronger parts added to it. Also the Price, like to know the price range that will be interesting? Back in 1988 when my dad bought me my ThunderShot, the price of the Thundershot was $ 325 ( Still have the price on the box) and it included a Dash Control as a special deal, and the Avante was next to the Thundershot on the shelve and it went for around about $680 and also had a Dash control with it as well. That Rc Car was way over Priced and poorly manufactured by Tamyia and i hope that they get it right this time round. Hope that in does come downunder. MR HOBBIE 76..

The bundled packages we see here in Australia (Usually sold in Toy World shops) and the outrageous prices are thanks to our local Tamiya distributor, Toy Traders. So you can thank them, then go buy it from Hong Kong at a reasonable price. We don't get hit with import duties like they do in the UK.

[Live Steam Mad]

Yeah, I agree. I don't know why they changend Spacetech in Diablo. I like Spacetech more with the design of the body.

Maybe Tamiya changed it because of Copyright. Although Spacetech Engineering does not seem to actually exist, there are some very close matches for it. SPACETECH, Inc. is a real company ;-

http://google.brand.edgar-online.com/EFX_d...ByjiHqfwJUWUl77

Also Space Tech Engineering is a real company ;-

http://webcache.googleusercontent.com/sear...lient=firefox-a

"A new division has been formed by Space Tech Engineering Inc. of Emmaus to market the company's line of silicon wafer-handling devices. Named the Ultronics division, it will focus on the special research, design and fabrication effort required for creating products that minimize damage or contamination to silicon wafers, the company says."

It doesn't really matter anyway since Tamiya always change a lot of the other decals on nearly all re-releases so one way or another we were always going to need repro. decals in any case.

Cheers,

Alistair G.

[GTodd]

Thank you for the pictures of the box open. Can you take a picture of the contents under the blisters? Or atleast varify that the old school wheels are there. If they arent I need to buy from the bay. It is nice that the MkII wheels are there for fitment of modern rubber.

[Live Steam Mad]

Back in 1988 when my dad bought me my ThunderShot, the price of the Thundershot was $ 325 ( Still have the price on the box) and it included a Dash Control as a special deal, and the Avante was next to the Thundershot on the shelve and it went for around about $680 and also had a Dash control with it as well. That Rc Car was way over Priced and poorly manufactured by Tamyia and i hope that they get it right this time round. Hope that in does come downunder. MR HOBBIE 76..

Tamiya have never manufactured anything poorly that I am aware of. It's the design that was poor. And even then, the latter is a matter for debate. Some see it as a work of art, some see it as a very flawed, impractical design, and some see it as an engineer's dream design. All of the latter are true LOL.

Cheers,

Alistair G.

[JAnderson]

The original wheels are there, don't panic!

Correct, They will be coming up in the build.

[markbt73]

I like the build thread... one question, though: what's "Anti-Ear Grease"? Sounds painful.

[MrUnlimited]

Correct, They will be coming up in the build.

Joe

What is the gear pitch? Is it still 0.6 or 48DP?

[JAnderson]

I like the build thread... one question, though: what's "Anti-Ear Grease"? Sounds painful.

Only painful if you do not use it.

Joe

What is the gear pitch? Is it still 0.6 or 48DP?

yes

Now back to building...

[MrUnlimited]

Is there anti wear grease included in the kit?

[GTodd]

HOLD the phone, you already have it!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! Lucky man. Lets get that build thread started

[JAnderson]

Is there anti wear grease included in the kit?

Added it to the list of the build

HOLD the phone, you already have it!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! Lucky man. Lets get that build thread started

I work for Tamiya and doing this as requested. For those that want to see what is involved in the build. Not everyone has had a chance to build one in the past.

On to step 20...

[TenzoR]

Is there anti wear grease included in the kit?

I don't know how much you use but I still have mine from like 5 years ago that I bought. The small round tub.

Added it to the list of the build

On to step 20...

You need to live feed on the building

[JAnderson]

You need to live feed on the building

I'm building from home at night and writing this up during work hours. So the pics you see are generally from the night before.

[kyosho1]

I'm building from home at night and writing this up during work hours. So the pics you see are generally from the night before.

Hi Anderson. Great job on the build. Question - are the threaded rods titanium or steel? Previously they were aluminiums. Also, I had threadlocked those upper links 30 years ago. I regretted that cos' it couldn't be removed easily after that.

[JAnderson]

Hi Anderson. Great job on the build. Question - are the threaded rods titanium or steel? Previously they were aluminiums. Also, I had threadlocked those upper links 30 years ago. I regretted that cos' it couldn't be removed easily after that.

Steel

Build write is done for today. Almost time to go home and start building again. Camera is charged and ready to go.

[Champ85]

Steel

Build write is done for today. Almost time to go home and start building again. Camera is charged and ready to go.

Hi Joe, excellent re-re Avante build you have going on the TamiyaUSA site. Thanks for making it.

- Brian

[GTodd]

Ooooh, tasty pics... JAnderson comes through... And yes, the "bonus parts" are a set of DF03 orange/yellow wheels.

Source: Avante build page

- James

Sorry missed the link from a previous post, nice job. Wish I cold work for Tamiya on the side.

[WW-nut]

JAnderson is a lucky chap; so who doesn't want his job.

[Wandy]

What size is the Avante box? Is it the Hotshot/Frog sized one or the Buggy Champ/Scorcher variant? It certainly looks pretty hefty!

[TenzoR]

The build thread just makes me want the Avante even more

[HunterZero]

I was hoping the bonus parts would be those slicks that were on display at the Tamiya Fair. Bah.

Don't worry, they're included. Follow these simple steps:

1. Build car.

2. Run car until the spikes on the tires wear down (and they will do this rather quickly).

3. Admire your new slicks!

I have to say it looks like the blister quality is much better than those on the Buggy Champ & Scorcher.

Hmm, they look much the same to me actually. But the Avante has smaller/flatter parts compared to the huge metal parts on the SRBs, so easier to package.

- James