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GTodd

New Tamiya USA Website

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It is about time. Tamiya finally updated their USA site. It looks good I like. Some links are not working, looks like it is an active roll out.  Good job guys!

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Seriously ? I thought it looked awful.

Active roll-out - maybe - should have done it properly before making it live.

R/C tanks section has 1/16 static tanks in it.

Seems a bit amateurish...

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2 hours ago, Tamiyabigstuff said:

Seriously ? I thought it looked awful.

Active roll-out - maybe - should have done it properly before making it live.

R/C tanks section has 1/16 static tanks in it.

Seems a bit amateurish...

I'm sure your constructive critiques will come in handy! This is what will help Tamiya USA dial it in, our expertise. I'll be seeing Fred M at the TCS finals and will inquire if we can be enlisted to help them out.

Cheers, Thompson

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No manuals on site that I could see... looks like a step backwards.

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@GTodd - Possibly suggest, start a check list of items that need addressing? This must be super detailed so Tamiya USA can implement.
 

@netsmithUK - possibly pin this to the top? (also, I need to pay it forward and renew mate!).
 

I have a direct line with Tamiya USA marketing director - we raced together in the 1994 #2 Tamiya Championship Series race - sort of TCS alumni - will be talking with him directly in several days, I'll pass these fixes on.

Cheers, Thompson

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15 minutes ago, Disco said:

No manuals on site that I could see... looks like a step backwards.

A lot of them are missing the manuals that they had on the old site. Here's a link to one that has the manual, so you know where to look for it.

https://www.tamiyausa.com/shop/-road-buggies/rc-neo-scorcher/tt02b/

I agree, the lack of manuals is a step backwards. I guess they want us to pay for those too. 

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If you looka the specific product the manual is  there. I was able to pull up the Egress manual while I was out!

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As far as I'm concerned the new website is a good step in the right direction, we just need to help them out with all the little details.

For example, I did a test on the chassis I'm going to be racing new week at the TCS finals in SoCal, TT02R.
- Manual PDF link is there on the right side, red circle with download arrow.
(screen shot of new website is below for ref.)

I'm an Art/Creative Director and also develop websites, so here's my take on a few items. I'm sure we can find more to help fix.
Positives
- Fully responsive, from the testing I've done, looks to work on all platforms, major improvement.
- Fits Tamiya Japan corporate identity design new website roll out from last year (this is very important).
- BIG images of products! Which in the end, make me want to buy more =)

Needs adding
- Optional parts listing tab, link or button for each kit. This also should include a "KT" label for cross-reference on other kits the parts fit.
This could be a simple left side menu addition under ...
DESCRIPTION
SPECIFICATIONS
OPTIONAL PARTS

43901788252_a3aa60acb8_b.jpg

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I like it, I think it shows that the company still values the good old USA. It does need work but as stated above it's a very good step on the right direction. 

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Just looked at the 1/14 truck section - default pic for 2 trucks shows the 3-speed gearbox !

Obviously the new site was not properly checked before being put live.

I used to work in IT - people would have been fired for basic mistakes like this.  

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I very much dislike the new website, no longer is there cross reference parts for discontinued models. It’s difficult to find out anything about products they don’t have stock of anymore. 

What makes a company’s products feel like quality and worth more money is when they don’t just dump and forget there old models. 

The mechanism of having all those old models listed, with parts and manuals is what maintained my interest in new models while helping me understand connections between old and new models.

The feeling your investing in something that will still be there in 30 years time is what gives Tamiya a quality over and above the rest because it doesn’t forget its past. 

The new website feels cheap and uninteresting. It also makes it look like Tamiya doesn’t make hardly anything. It’s just boring and pointless now. And it feels like the products are just as temporary as a Chinese ebay special. 

I can appreciate Tamiya might be struggling in a changing market, but dumping the loyal followers in the dark doesn’t feel like it’s the best way forward.

ill admit the old site had its issues, but just deleting it all and replacing it with 1/100th of the information just feels like a disaster.

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1 hour ago, Juls1 said:

The mechanism of having all those old models listed

I thought they only had a small fraction of old discontinued models listed before. eg. Barely a couple from the first 100. It was never close to being comprehensive or anything.

Just looking at the site now, the listings have been pruned back to only those models currently available, or those which are “sold out” (but presumably not entirely deleted yet).

Which is much like other sites.

But in a perfect world, either this site or tamiya.com could have (by now) been fleshed out with a full back-catalogue history and specs area. 

Tamiya loves their own history. But despite this, the websites have never been what they could be. 

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The spares support on the new site is dire.

We used the USA site to cross reference which spares fitted which kit (as did the UK importer Hobby Co) - there is no cross reference on the new site which means dealers have no way to be able to tell their customers if part 12345678 that they have in their hand will fit kit XYZ123 that they are enquiring about.

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Seems a bit information-poor overall. Most modern websites don't have nearly enough text, and that problem applies here as well, but there aren't may photos either, strangely. Particularly in the static model section, which we keep hearing is the company's bread-and-butter. One assembled photo of each kit from the 1/24 sports car series?

And I only looked at one RC listing, chosen more or less at random: a TT02 Alfa 155, but all I see is one photo of the painted/assembled kit, and a bunch of generic TT02 chassis photos, a two-paragraph blurb about the car, and a list of "features." Not much to go on, considering it's now supposed to be a $200 kit.

The "About" page is pretty sad, too. Hire some writers, guys; you have all this history, and it would be interesting to read! Let us read about it. 

Overall, it looks like every other bland "responsive design" website these days: a couple of great big photos, and a whole lot of nothing.

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Another thing I've noticed - search for a part number and the site displays a load of large thumbnail images - but there are no part numbers with the images unless you click on the image and go to the next page. Not user friendly at all, the website has a dated feel to it already.

 

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Shopping cart system has been down for a few days now. I'ts too bad they couldn't just improve the old site and not made a whole new one. 

 

Quote

The CART SYSTEM is currently undergoing maintenance. It will be back up shortly.

 

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Over a year on from the last post, and having just returned to RC after a break, I was looking for the manual for an old car so went to where I often used to find them (beyond TC), Tamiyausa. Oh dear, what a backward step for the enthusiast! Then I found this thread and it’s a shame that now more than a year on, the site is still as others described it above in many ways. 

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