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Wandy

Bigwig re-release #47330

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This could be jumping the gun a little but it looks like the Wiggy is finally getting a re-release. http://metrohobbies.com.au/tamiya-1-10-the-bigwig-2017.html

A few thoughts, based on the link...

"Aerodish" wheels are mentioned. Taking into consideration Tamiya's previous form with omitting real life company names from reissues I'd wager that "Mooncraft" engravement will be missing from the wheels.

No Dick Cepek wing decal either, surely?

No Technigold. Not a surprise really.

Finally, it is getting a 2017 re-release. But why leave it a year late from the 30th anniversary? They do some strange things sometimes. :huh:

Overall though, assuming that the link is not a hoax, then this is a pretty exciting re-release. 

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Would be nice with all the original sponsor decals, but hey will I buy a rere Bigwig, no matter what the decals say, oh yeah ☺☺☺. 

I've been waiting a long time for Tamiya to wake up again, with one of the buggies from the eighties. This will be great.

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Talking of jumping the gun, maybe it's just me but I think that's a very poor show from Metro Hobbies; it's one thing verbally telling customers and giving them a heads up, but something else entirely to go posting info like that (release date, specifics that are not confirmed, part number) on their website prior to any announcement from Tamiya.

They are undermining Tamiya, the entire Tamiya dealer network by potentially stealing an exclusive/grabbing the early sales by taking pre orders, at the expense of the rest of the network who are behaving correctly and no doubt honouring the embargo if there is one, and then to put pictures up ripped off from iconic rc is a total mickey take imho.

It certainly gives us something to look forward to in 2 weeks, I imagine becasue it will be 'announced' in 2016 that counts for anniversary purposes ;) , although sales may not start until 2017, perhaps the boxes will have 2016 on them. Maybe they might even do a special limited edition run with some extra goodies :)

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It actually happens quite often though. The Monster Beetle and Honda City were leaked by shops before any official Tamiya announcement. Maybe some shops get specific authorisation?

I have only just sold my original example as I am no longer fussed about owning vintage stuff, but planned on starting a long term project of building my own "re-release" out of a mixture of vintage Bigwig and reissue Hotshot/Boomerang parts. Looks like I might not have to now, which is something of a bonus. :)

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53 minutes ago, Wandy said:

1. This could be jumping the gun a little but it looks like the Wiggy is finally getting a re-release. http://metrohobbies.com.au/tamiya-1-10-the-bigwig-2017.html

A few thoughts, based on the link...

2. "Aerodish" wheels are mentioned. Taking into consideration Tamiya's previous form with omitting real life company names from reissues I'd wager that "Mooncraft" engravement will be missing from the wheels.

3. No Dick Cepeck wing decal either, surely?

4. No Technigold. Not a surprise really.

5. Finally, it is getting a 2017 re-release. But why leave it a year late from the 30th anniversary? They do some strange things sometimes. :huh:

Overall though, assuming that the link is not a hoax, then this is a pretty exciting re-release. 

1. It's not a source with a wellknown history of being early with information about future Tamiya releases, but the item number is plausible. Tamiya has so far used up to 47328 in the 473xx-series, so 47330 is bound to be used soon. I don't consider the information to be be verified before it's confirmed by a credible source, but I feel rather confident.

2. I can't imagine that Tamiya will drop the Mooncraft wheels. After all, Tamiya paid Takuya Yura for designing the Bigwig body and he's the owner of the company Mooncraft. It wouldn't make sense to re-release the Bigwig with the original Takuya Yura design body, but not the wheels. I feel extremely confident that the Mooncraft wheels will be included.

3. Considering that Tamiya is generally using generic/fantasy sponsor decals, yes. But Dick Cepek has been an exception in the past. After having generally dropped original sponsor decals, Tamiya still used the Dick Cepek logo as late as with the Baja King (2002), and possibly even later? Sure, that's a while ago, but it was an exception then. It could be now.

(Maybe the guys at Dick Cepek are a bit more intelligent than most people responsible for licensing at other companies and prefer the use of their logo as free advertising and longterm benefit rather than the shortterm benefit and greed driven motivation of demanding model/toy-companies to pay for licensing?)

4. Needless to say, I fully agree.

5. Yes, 2016 would kind of have made more sense, but I still think 2017 is correct. Based on experience with previous releases, it would be too late for a 2016-release now as Tamiya hasn't yet announced it.

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All good points Mokei. I hope you are a right about the wheels. But just because they paid Mooncraft for the name 30 years ago does that really mean that they wouldn't need to again?

Also I generally agree about the short-sightedness of companies not allowing free advertising of their brand on model cars. On the flip side though, you could make a case that Tamiya would probably sell more kits if they came with real sponsors on the decal sheets, so it's easy to see why the companies ask for royalties.

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35 minutes ago, Wandy said:

All good points Mokei. I hope you are a right about the wheels. But just because they paid Mooncraft for the name 30 years ago does that really mean that they wouldn't need to again?

Whether Tamiya paid for the use of the Mooncraft name on the sticker sheet and the wheels back then or was allowed to use it for free because they paid Takuya Yura for the body design (or because licensing conditions were totally different back then?), is something I know nothing about.

Regardless of that, there are many strong indications that Tamiya struggles a lot less with licensing from Japanese than from foreign companies. Or maybe it's the same hazzle, but Japanese brands are more important to Tamiya and they therefore put more effort into it? Also, if Mooncraft now wouldn't allow the use or charge for the use of their name, then I guess the "re-use" of the body design would be subject to licensing or at least renegotiations of the conditions? Some might argue that Tamiya probably owns the Bigwig body design and can use it as they please, whereas using the Mooncraft name would need the approval of the Mooncraft company and that "Bigwig" and "Mooncraft" are two completely independent issues. If so, I wouldn't fully disagree. I still put my money on Mooncraft wheels in the re-re though.

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I have no doubt that the original wheel design will return. Whether they come back with the Mooncraft name is something we can speculate on for a couple of weeks. :)

I wouldn't be upset if they were engraved with something like "Aerocraft" or such like. The Dick Cepek decal however is a big part of this buggy's personality IMO and would be more of a miss.

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1 hour ago, Klausen said:

Would be nice with all the original sponsor decals, but hey will I buy a rere Bigwig, no matter what the decals say, badword yeah ☺☺☺. 

I've been waiting a long time for Tamiya to wake up again, with one of the buggies from the eighties. This will be great.

Yes, I have been missing the general frenzy of excitement around a Tamiya re-release. This is no 959 or Blazing Blazer but it will do for now. And at least it shows that the 80s re-release era is not over yet. :)

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18 minutes ago, Wandy said:

I have no doubt that the original wheel design will return. Whether they come back with the Mooncraft name is something we can speculate on for a couple of weeks. :)

I wouldn't be upset if they were engraved with something like "Aerocraft" or such like. The Dick Cepeck decal however is a big part of this buggy's personality IMO and would be more of a miss.

Thanks for pointing out that there also is the possibility of getting the original wheel design, but without Mooncraft logos. An alternative I didn't consider until now.

I agree on the Dick Cepek decal and the exceptions mentioned earlier mean I have hope for the Dick Cepek decal in the re-re despite the "sea of generic decals" in just about all re-re buggies and trucks. Pennzoil will surely be gone in favour of "Forward" and the re-re Grasshopper got "Tamiya" instead of "Weber", so I don't have a hope for "Weber" in the re-re Bigwig either. Same goes for "Simpson", "Facom" and "Jackman Wheels".

As for chassis differences, re-re drivetrain and suspension are imho certain. It will be interesting to see whether the re-re gets CVA or CVA II shocks though. Considering that the re-re Blackfoot and Monster Beetle got CVA II's, I reckon the Bigwig will too although some earlier re-res got CVA's (CVA I). Technigold, MSC and chrome hex nuts and screws will of course be gone, but the rest will probably be like the original release. Personally, I'd like to see the rear "body hook" improved though as it's prone to "unhook" while running on the original.

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56 minutes ago, Mokei Kagaku said:

Thanks for pointing out that there also is the possibility of getting the original wheel design, but without Mooncraft logos. An alternative I didn't consider until now.

I agree on the Dick Cepek decal and the exceptions mentioned earlier mean I have hope for the Dick Cepek decal in the re-re despite the "sea of generic decals" in just about all re-re buggies and trucks. Pennzoil will surely be gone in favour of "Forward" and the re-re Grasshopper got "Tamiya" instead of "Weber", so I don't have a hope for "Weber" in the re-re Bigwig either. Same goes for "Simpson", "Facom" and "Jackman Wheels".

As for chassis differences, re-re drivetrain and suspension are imho certain. It will be interesting to see whether the re-re gets CVA or CVA II shocks though. Considering that the re-re Blackfoot and Monster Beetle got CVA II's, I reckon the Bigwig will too although some earlier re-res got CVA's (CVA I). Technigold, MSC and chrome hex nuts and screws will of course be gone, but the rest will probably be like the original release. Personally, I'd like to see the rear "body hook" improved though as it's prone to "unhook" while running on the original.

Yes, I am 100% certain that the actual wheel design will be unchanged. It is a huge part of the buggy's make up ( although I am not a fan of them in reality).

I think they will merely raid the Super Hotshot parts for the dampers. So that means CVA I in my opinion.

It will be interesting to see how the values of original examples are affected. My guess is that NIBs and new builds will be virtually unaffected as the kit was quite special since it was the first to come with the Technigold, with the motor seemingly being designed specifically for this buggy along with the 8.4v power.

I would say that the days of tatty runners, usually without a Technigold fitted, going for silly money are over though.

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I know for a fact that Metro have done what they were asked not to do by publishing that. Don't be surprised if it is taken down next week. The distributor advised that Tamiya requested that the flyer not be published on the internet at this stage, and metro have done exactly that, Agree with Nitomor that it is poor form

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6 minutes ago, mtbkym01 said:

I know for a fact that Metro have done what they were asked not to do by publishing that. Don't be surprised if it is taken down next week. The distributor advised that Tamiya requested that the flyer not be published on the internet at this stage, and metro have done exactly that, Agree with Nitomor that it is poor form

Yep, I am fully expecting that page to disapear very soon. When that French shop leaked the Monster Beetle early last year it didn't affect the release date so hopefully that will be the case here too.

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Wouldn't it be nice if the 'Aerodish' wheels turned out to be Tamiya's own beadloock hop ups and the launch kit came with these and Moon Crafts? 

The Avante BS came with the lightweight wheels and not camlocks so they have form with this. The motor is no surprise really. I think Dick Cepek will remain, and I can't see them dropping moon crafts. I imagine penzoil will go and the usual Tamiya in house sponsors will be present as per the other rere's.

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TamiyaBlog are now reporting on it, referencing the Metro Hobbies link. Quite unusual for them to do something like that as they normally wait until there is conclusive evidence from Tamiya HQ.

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Haven't logged on for a while but have been keeping watch,  all nay one last thing for me to say ....... GET IN!!!!!!!

chris

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3 hours ago, mtbkym01 said:

I know for a fact that Metro have done what they were asked not to do by publishing that. Don't be surprised if it is taken down next week. The distributor advised that Tamiya requested that the flyer not be published on the internet at this stage, and metro have done exactly that, Agree with Nitomor that it is poor form

It was for this very reason that I woke up today thinking this was a blatant hoax.

Excited?  Hmm, not sure.  The BigWig never featured in my childhood but it's an iconic symbol of Tamiya's heyday and it's always been rare enough that it's special to see a good one racing around.  Do I want one?  Dunno.  Maybe.  Initial pricing suggests it'll be up there with the Super HotShot and, if it comes to it, I'd rather have one of those...

Will be watching how this unfolds with great interest :)

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I for one am very excited as I never owned this back in the day. I had all the others and my buddy Jonas had a BigWig so I've spent time running one. Can't wait to hopefully have my own that I can run. :D

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Whew... another one I don't have to worry about. I will enjoy the spate of build threads vicariously, but I don't feel the need to find a way to cough up for this one. I'm excited for those who are excited, however.

(I'm dreading a Blazing Blazer re-re. With my luck it will happen the same time as Kyosho repops the Javelin. That conversation with SWMBO is not going to be any fun...)

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Being a relative latecomer to the hobby, I have no childhood memories to relive or youthful longings to satisfy, so I won't be getting one for sentimental reasons. I therefore have to ask - are people excited about this re-re because of sentiment, or is it really a good model that is worth buying on merit alone? I seem to recall reading that it was considered a bit big, heavy and fragile the first time around?

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I will be getting one , no sentiment to me really , bit before my rc time lol but still its a must have to complete the shot series .

Some may see this as a cheats way but i cant justify spending the kind if money needed for a vtg example for something to sit on a shelf, close enough is good enough imho im not overly worried about have a new built example of every car i own as i prefer to restore and have a story to tell

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2 hours ago, TurnipJF said:

Being a relative latecomer to the hobby, I have no childhood memories to relive or youthful longings to satisfy, so I won't be getting one for sentimental reasons. I therefore have to ask - are people excited about this re-re because of sentiment, or is it really a good model that is worth buying on merit alone? I seem to recall reading that it was considered a bit big, heavy and fragile the first time around?

Only positive when i was a kid regarding the bigwig was the technigold motor it came with and a bigger battery pack. I knew someone who had one and i think it handled like a heavy lug lol

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