More re-issues / variants: Tamiya 58498 Super Blackfoot III / 58497 Avante Truck

[kyosho1]

From the corner of the box, it looks like the Avante chassis.

Hopefully they beef up the front suspension & new shock towers.

Looks like Avante spare parts are here to stay for a while .... Phew 

[Falcon#5]

58497 should have been a ROAR approved 2wd SCT.

Tamiya are missing out on the current boom in this class.

I'm sure there are plenty of customers willing to buy something like this.

I for one would, but will be getting a Losi XXX SCT because Tamiya have nothing available.

Time to move forward Mr T.

[Champ85]

From the picture, I can make out the following on the lower right corner:

Carbon fiber upper and lower decks

Durable aluminum front uprights

Universal shafts for universalsmooth power transfer

Specially-designed ball differentials

Carbon fiber steering components

Includes polycarbonate body ?GT Tuned 25T motor included

Above the little chassis picture:

Front Rear

Ball Differentials

Below the little chassis picture:

Wheelbase

275mm

Edit: I can't read and type at the same time, it seems (universal->smooth).

[Toykid]

Noooooooo!!!!

I am so disappointed in this one. I have been checking daily hoping to see something special. Surely tamiya would have got more sales re re'ing the avante 2001 or a vanquish variant.

The only thing of interest to note is the suspension arms seem to be plastic.

I agree with everyone who wished this to be a true 2WD Short Course truck.

James.

[Wandy]

Apart from the ridiculous wheels I quite like it....putting more sensible wheels on will instantly make it look more credible...and the box art is certainly different if nothing else! Having said that I won't be buying one.

Seems like it is an Avante/Egress mash up...chassis & transmission an Egress donation with suspension from the Avante. How this makes it a £400 kit though I have no idea.

It's clearly a parts bin offloading exercise though. I don't see them selling these in large numbers anywhere except maybe Japan. Nothing for them to lose I guess.

[MrUnlimited]

From the picture, I can make out the following on the lower right corner:

Carbon fiber upper and lower decks

Durable aluminum front uprights

Universal shafts for universal power transfer

Specially-designed ball differentials

Carbon fiber steering components

Includes polycarbonate body ?GT Tuned 25T motor included

Above the little chassis picture:

Front Rear

Ball Differentials

Below the little chassis picture:

Wheelbase

275mm

I can read too but why do want to use ball diffs today? We have seen new cars in the cometition fiel with gear diffs like the team durango 410r and even high end onroad cars like the 3Racing Sakura Zero switched to gear diff because of the power of todays brushless motors. Another benefit you can increase or decrease diff-working by adding thick or medium or thin oil/grease into the diffs like we do in 1/8th scale buggies.

[DynaHead]

It's kinda cool, in a Frankenstein sort of way. Yet, it takes away from uniqueness of the Avante, which is annoying. At ~400-500 a pop, it's kind of silly. I don't know. Maybe with modern materials tamiya is confident the Avante chassis has reached it's true potential? I'm still hoping for a Vanquish down the road. I'm confident we'll get it.

[SB_Aust]

I won't be parting with my hard earned cash on the Tamiya Vajra, sorry Tamiya.................. I'll stick with my Traxxas Slash 4x4 thanks!

[DynaHead]

It's kinda cool, in a Frankenstein sort of way. Yet, it takes away from uniqueness of the Avante, which is annoying. At ~400-500 a pop, it's kind of silly. I don't know. Maybe with modern materials tamiya is confident the Avante chassis has reached it's true potential? I'm still hoping for a Vanquish down the road. I'm confident we'll get it.

It's just strange because the Avante / Egress re-re are loaded with carbon & alloy parts, but the Vajra box screams RTR brasher. Most non Tamiya fans will see the box art before anything else. Maybe this is a "trial balloon" for a future, more professional looking, TRF release? Clearly, Tamiya is trying to spread the re-re cost of the Avante & Egress. I don't have the numbers but it seems that the re-re Avante was a hit. Why bother? At least we will have plenty of spare parts for sometime to come

[DynaHead]

I won't be parting with my hard earned cash on the Tamiya Vajra, sorry Tamiya.................. I'll stick with my Traxxas Slash 4x4 thanks!

Exactly.

[kyosho1]

Looking very hard at the right corner, it has Avante double deck & Egress plastic suspension. To launch a racing truck in this period, vajra must clearly be designed to clear triple jumps with big wheels/tires & aggressive styling, & for first time (correct me if I am wrong) a 20 yr old design has been recovered & revamped/refurbished into a "new" vehicle. Maybe they had already designed a 4wd racing truck for the Avante 20 yr ago but due to Avante poor sales, it was abandoned. So now it might actually be their "re-release" of their unreleased Avante truggy Astute had the racing truck version right? I have high hopes for egress.

[bjr250]

I think the bonus parts must be the ugly stick that it was hit with.

AHHH my eyes! BURN IT WITH FIRE.

[SteelRat]

I won't be parting with my hard earned cash on the Tamiya Vajra, sorry Tamiya.................. I'll stick with my Traxxas Slash 4x4 thanks!

Utterly, totally, and completely this.

[Wandy]

Looking very hard at the right corner, it has Avante double deck but Egress plastic suspension...

Wheelbase is 275mm therefore it must have the Egress double deck? The Vajra seems effectively to be an Egress truck, not Avante, and that may be the reason for the high price. This is also reinforces the suggestion on the 58500 thread by Antony that the Egress will also be expensive, ie more than the Avante.

[SRB Bloke]

"Somebody call the DEA the guys & girls at TAMIYA are taking some drugs"

"What the badword is going on with the VAJRA"

Obviously I didn't realise Tamiya were in competition with all the Chinese TOY shops, why pay lots of money for a rubbish truck when you can buy cheap rubbish.???

Not sure if any of you have realised how disappointed I am with this latest release.

The static kits are always so realistic, if only they'ed get back to realistic looks and then give it some great perfomance.

And we wonder why our kids won't be inspired in to RC like we were.?

[SteelRat]

"Somebody call the DEA the guys & girls at TAMIYA are taking some drugs"

"What the badword is going on with the VAJRA"

Obviously I didn't realise Tamiya were in competition with all the Chinese TOY shops, why pay lots of money for a rubbish truck when you can buy cheap rubbish.???

Not sure if any of you have realised how disappointed I am with this latest release.

The static kits are always so realistic, if only they'ed get back to realistic looks and then give it some great perfomance.

And we wonder why our kids won't be inspired in to RC like we were.?

I do agree with you to a point, but I think kids are inspired into RC, just not so much by Tamiya.

[matman]

They go on about copyright & look at the traxxas revo they have made sort of .

All i can say is that atleast i WILL be saving money & not buying this revo look alike .

[nvxwax]

I think the bonus parts must be the ugly stick that it was hit with.

AHHH my eyes! BURN IT WITH FIRE.

Looks like the ugly tree fell on that POS lol

[PsychoAtom]

LOL ... hence the high price ... wonder if it comes in BLUE only ...

Gonna roll the dice here and predict that it will be a modified Avante chassis (wider track?) with a Super Levant body.

Hmmm ... maybe I should quit my day job ... clicky

[Badboy]

PsychoAtom! Spot on!!!

Badboy

[Bigwheels_inc]

Hopefully this is the nearest tamiya will come to an Egress Re Re, wonder if it will break as quickly as the egress and avante's did ?

[markbt73]

I, for one, am delighted to see this. Please, Tamiya, keep making expensive models I don't want, so I can afford more of the cool inexpensive ones! My wallet will thank you.

[volksrod68]

The 'Viagra' or whatever its called looks awful!

If they want to do something like that, why not put it on a cheaper chassis?

Even Nikko make cars better looking than that.

It's a shame they can't just stick to how they started out, by making good cars that look realistic. Would it have been so hard to make a nice lexan shell with abs front and rear detailing (like the Audi) and some decent wheels/tires? Maybe a Nissan Kingcab? Surely they know the Kingcab is a sought-after model with great looks. Plus it would go nicely with the re-re Baja truck.

Poor, Tamiya, just poor.

[EddScott]

The 'Viagra' or whatever its called looks awful!

I'm liking "Vajazzle" as an appropriate nickname. Probably feel like one forking out that sort of cash for a pumped up Egress

Still, reinforces the Egress Re Re rumour.

Hopefully the chassis is the same as the Egress because the top deck on mine is very tatty - who uses superglue to fix ESCs in place?

Google Vajazzle and The Only Way Is Essex for explanation

Might be wrong but could the Vajra be offered to offset the cost of re re Egress? Make the parts for maybe the more popular monster truck to support the release of the Egress on a limit basis?

[eriknyg]

Well, it's not that bad. But, if it had other wheels, other tires, a different body shell and another name, it should look a whole lot better.