New Tamiya Spares

[JWeston 493]

Apologies if this has been raised before but I do wonder why body sets and general spares for Tamiya RC models aren't as readily available as they were back in the day.

If something broke on my Boomerang or Fox, I used to get on the train to Ace Models in Epping (RIP) or Model Land in Hainault (still alive but don't do Tamiya!) and pick up the parts tree that I needed. I probably could have gone to either shop and bought lots of Winger bodysets as well (time machine moment)!

These days it seems that most online UK retailers are out of stock, even if the part is even listed, so you resort to browsing around ebay.

Prime example: My Super Hot Shot arrives tomorrow. If I want a second bodyset for it, what do I do? Wait for someone to part it out on ebay?

I know the Super Hot Shot is brand new so here's another example: What if I want a Tamiya Montero bodyset? I've not got one so haven't properly looked but I assume you simply cannot get one. Seems to especially be the case for rere's.

Buggy Champ and Sand Scorcher bodysets are in abundance though...

Let's not get into people who part out for profit. I'd just like to know why Tamiya don't seem to produce as many spares as they used to. Especially bodysets.

There's probably a simple answer if someone can enlighten me.

Gracias. J

[Daves956 157]

Most of the younger generation don't do kits, they buy ready to run. That's part of it, Tamiya doesn't sell as well so why stock parts for something you don't sell. If you need X part and can't find it. First off is that your one of the few that even looked, second is if you wear out what you got then buy another and toss the old one. It's not a good practice but unfortunately most businesses think on those lines. I know it doesn't help but maybe explains it.

[Saito 5]

This is a curious turn of events. Back in the 80's, one of Tamiya's strong selling points was that you could get spare parts. My local hobby shops (yes, at one time there were multiple hobby shops locally!) were chock full of Tamiya spares, tires and body sets. Alot of other smaller manufacturers like Nichimo or Royal were hard or impossible to get parts for. If you had a RTR like Tyco, forget about it (although, to their credit Nikko made spares available through the post). Today, if it doesn't say "Traxxas" on it, it isn't there. Period. While I understand hobby shops not carrying Tamiya spares as the general RC public only understands RTR Traxxas stuff, the internet has me perplexed. Tower is lacking in many parts and Tamiya America more often than not has "temporarly not in stock, see your local hobby shop (ha-ha!)" where a price should be. I realize Tamiya America is at the mercy of Tamiya Japan but I do miss the support system completeness of old.

[speedy_w_beans 4272]

This is a curious turn of events. Back in the 80's, one of Tamiya's strong selling points was that you could get spare parts. My local hobby shops (yes, at one time there were multiple hobby shops locally!) were chock full of Tamiya spares, tires and body sets. Alot of other smaller manufacturers like Nichimo or Royal were hard or impossible to get parts for. If you had a RTR like Tyco, forget about it (although, to their credit Nikko made spares available through the post). Today, if it doesn't say "Traxxas" on it, it isn't there. Period. While I understand hobby shops not carrying Tamiya spares as the general RC public only understands RTR Traxxas stuff, the internet has me perplexed. Tower is lacking in many parts and Tamiya America more often than not has "temporarly not in stock, see your local hobby shop (ha-ha!)" where a price should be. I realize Tamiya America is at the mercy of Tamiya Japan but I do miss the support system completeness of old.

I agree with you. I've looked through parts listings on Tower and wondered sometimes why they don't offer a complete set of spares, but I think it has to do with inventory sitting around. They list red O-rings for dampers, E-clips, self-tapping screws, servo tape, and other basics for almost all the models, but when you want a hop up or a suspension arm it's off to the auction site or Tamiya USA to find the parts if they even have them. I guess Tower sells plenty of inexpensive O-rings, E-clips, screws, and servo tape, but they don't want to get stuck with high value inventory that takes a long time to turn. That's just one way a business tries to improve its financials. At a bare minimum I wish Tamiya USA would stock a more complete set of spares and lubricants for the modern (2005+) kits.

-Paul

[Yello 6]

Yes, after the Traxxas turn in the industry, the hobby aspect of building RC cars seems to have tilted in favor of RTR instead, and, hence, no Tamiya spare parts at the LHS and hence, collectively, few spares available on websites. I wonder what an in-depth analysis of the industry would reveal about the waning of Tamiya in America or in the UK. Although, frankly, Tamiya still seems alive and popular in Europe relative to what it is in America. The only folk in America who know Tamiya are the old-timers who grew up as kids lusting for Tamiya cars (myself included) -- all that iconic box art and increasing gradients of RC tech and pricing really does a number to a child.

- But that turn hasn't affected China, it seems, where Tamiya is still very popular and where lots of OE and aftermarket parts are available. Thank goodness, then, for the Chinese, huh? One doesn't think such a thing often.

[WillyChang 1814]

imho keeping stashes of spareparts @ LHS is a very inefficient business - nobody can afford to do it anymore

it should be possible in this day & age for all spares to be centralised in 1 location

and everyone accesses that location directly - order online & part gets overnighted out.

[JWeston 493]

Chaps, Thanks for the great feedback.

The situation is beginning to make a little more sense to me now.

It would be great if you could order whichever part number you needed, direct from Tamiya Japan. I'm pretty certain you used to be able to do that back in the 1980's. Maybe you still can..

J

[WillyChang 1814]

one always could, and still can... as long as you lived in Japan!

that's why the parts list & prices at the rear of kit manual

Foreign countries you go thru your local Distributor who's meant to do same from factory,

but one's mileage varys very differently between the various worldwide agents.

Best would probably be TamiyaUSA with online store but only if living in USA

[TomEG 24]

deleted

[No Slack 454]

On www.tamiya.de you can always check if there are parts available in Europe. They als introduced a "full service" system for hard to obtain spareparts. There is a downloadable list of parts still in stock.

http://www.tamiya.de/de/service.htm