Sand Scorcher Part Numbers

[bjmulford]

Hi Guys and girls, I do apologise if this topic has come up before but i couldn't find an answer anywhere! Basically I'm giving a mostly vintage Sand Scorcher to a friend as part of a debt payment (the vintage bits are all mk2) he has asked for a parts list to say whats vintage and whats re-re. With regard to the chassis I cant find a vintage parts list anywhere for this model. And am wondering if actually all the re-re. parts (i.e. front arms, gearbox case,, gears etc) are possibly the same part numbers as the vintage anyway?  I'm aware of the differences between the Mk1 and Mk 2 models but seeing as the part numbers seem to be in the millions digits I really just didnt fancy writing them all out by hand!!!! and would be grateful for any info, or indeed if there is a parts list except for the re - re manual. many  thanks  in advance Barry

[max69vk]

MK2 has different parts to the 2010 rere, however there are several parts that are shared right the way through from the MK1 to the rere. 

I can't help you with the part numbes, but some things to look out for between the MK2 & 2010;

2010 Front suspension towers (different angle to vintage) also cleaner cast

Front arms & uprights (different/cleaner castings)

2010 dampers are 8mm diameter (vintage are 7mm) also slightly different casting.

Front body post - vintage is 2 part (2010 is single piece)

Ball joints are 4mm on vintage (5mm on 2010)

Radio box is smoked on vintage (clear on 2010)

Chassis plate is green coloured on vintage, black on 2010.

There are other differences I just can't remember them off the top of my head 😊

 

 

 

[Hibernaculum]

7 hours ago, bjmulford said:

With regard to the chassis I cant find a vintage parts list anywhere for this model. And am wondering if actually all the re-re. parts (i.e. front arms, gearbox case,, gears etc) are possibly the same part numbers as the vintage anyway?  I'm aware of the differences between the Mk1 and Mk 2 models but seeing as the part numbers seem to be in the millions digits I really just didnt fancy writing them all out by hand!!!! and would be grateful for any info, or indeed if there is a parts list except for the re - re manual. many  thanks  in advance Barry

Looking for original parts? - you have come to the right place :-)

Short answer: the re-re stuff is mostly different. If you want to keep the car original, you need original parts.

1. The first thing you need to know, is that all the earliest, original Tamiya spare parts for the 1970s/1980s R/C cars generally came with 5 digit part numbers. Tamiyabase.com has a whole database of parts, and the interface allows you to filter by "5 digit part numbers", which I have done with this link below:

https://tamiyabase.com/parts?limitstart=0

2. Scroll down on that page, until you see part number 50001. That was the first spare part Tamiya ever released for their R/C cars. It's a set of wheels for their first ever R/C car, the Porsche 934:

Lars (who runs Tamiyabase) has done a great job scanning all the original little square black & white parts images found in the Tamiya catalogues. Now if you continue to look through those parts, when you get to part 50111 you are seeing the first original Sand Scorcher part - the body set:

After that number, you will find more of the original parts that were for the Sand Scorcher.

When looking on eBay for the parts you want, note that the most common way that original parts were sold, was in packets with orange header cards, and with the part code on it. Looking for these packets is a quick way to identify genuine original vintage parts.

Below is an original vintage example of part 50116 - "1/10 RACING BUGGY REAR SUSPENSION". Back in those early days, Tamiya had no idea what the future held or how many parts they were going to produce, so you can see on the packet it says "116" (the "50" prefix was retroactively added a few years later, as the parts history grew).

In those early years, in some western markets (USA, Australia), parts were also sold in a couple of other types of packets labelled as "parts" or "replacement parts", rather than "spare parts". Looking for these packets is another quick way to spot original vintage parts from the 1970s/1980s. I believe these parts were packaged by the local distributors (not by Tamiya in Japan), and they sometimes contained things which were not available in the line of orange "spare parts", or included different collections of pieces. This is because these parts were taken manually out of actual new in box kits, by the distributor, then put into packets and sold. This was presumably done to boost the supply of available parts.

For example, in the USA, MRC was the distributor of Tamiya. They had their own "replacement parts" packets like this, featuring an illustration of a Rough Rider on them...

In Australia, our "replacement parts" packets had white header cards, with basic printing on them, and looked like this:

Generally, anything found in these 3 types of packets is guaranteed vintage (unless some scammer has swapped a remake part into a vintage packet - but generally they don't do this because collectors will catch them out very quickly based on the look of the parts themselves).

Best thing to do is look at the Sand Scorcher manual and determine the exact name of the part you need.

Then search for that name on eBay along with the word "vintage". And then scan through the listings for the types of parts packets, as shown above. Or look for sellers who can guarantee that whatever parts they are selling (such as loose parts, or used parts) are vintage.

When it comes to loose parts that are not in a packet, the vast majority can be identified as vintage either from the part itself, or in the case of plastic parts, via embossed stamps on the part, or the sprue the part came on. I have some basic details about embossed stamps here. (I realize I have not updated that page in a while, like I had originally intended... rest assured I will get around to it in 2018 )

Hope this helps.

cheers,

H.

 

 

[bjmulford]

Thanks Max and H. for all your help, very grateful, trouble is what my mate wants is an inventory of all the individual parts that made up the original vintage sand scorcher!  In hindsight (as you quite rightly alluded to H) I suppose if Tamiya had used the same designation of part number on the bags as in the manual and guide books then things would be a lot easier 30 yrs later! Cheers guys and happy modelling!