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Kyosho Ultima 2019

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18 minutes ago, slimleeroy said:

Very true but 2nd and third place Ultimas were extremely close to the stock car. 

Yes, they did retain the ladder chassis, which I never quite saw as a detriment. It was at the beginning of the rush to flat graphite chassis which would soon be in vogue in the racing community. They did sport upgraded gold shocks though. I'm unsure if they had upgraded to ball diffs like Joel's car, but one would assume so.

I think a lot of Joel's win, in particular, dealt with the type of track in Romsey. Its was smooth and hard and not rife with jumps that Joel admitted being uncomfortable with. For someone coming from on-road, Romsey was ideal. To me, the 2nd and 3rd place finishes cement the fact the Ultima was a contender/winner. Its a shame much of that fell away at the '89 Worlds where it was very much an Associated/Stealth car/2.2 wheels show in 2wd with (what I felt) even higher levels of dedication to winning.

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2 hours ago, Saito2 said:

Yes, they did retain the ladder chassis, which I never quite saw as a detriment. It was at the beginning of the rush to flat graphite chassis which would soon be in vogue in the racing community. They did sport upgraded gold shocks though. I'm unsure if they had upgraded to ball diffs like Joel's car, but one would assume so.

I think a lot of Joel's win, in particular, dealt with the type of track in Romsey. Its was smooth and hard and not rife with jumps that Joel admitted being uncomfortable with. For someone coming from on-road, Romsey was ideal. To me, the 2nd and 3rd place finishes cement the fact the Ultima was a contender/winner. Its a shame much of that fell away at the '89 Worlds where it was very much an Associated/Stealth car/2.2 wheels show in 2wd with (what I felt) even higher levels of dedication to winning.

The '87 Worlds were really the last "fun" one, in a lot of ways. (Sad, because they were also only the second.) The '89 Stealth cars were really impressive, but it was the start of the formula that still exists; the period of experimentation was over, and after that it just became a matter of combining a talented driver with a big pile of money.

I even wonder if that's part of the reason (apart from the QC issues) that the RC10 Classic sold out very quickly, and the Worlds re-re languished. One was from the early days when race cars were interesting, and the other was from the time period when you only bothered to read the race coverage in RCCA after you had read everything else...

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2 hours ago, markbt73 said:

The '87 Worlds were really the last "fun" one, in a lot of ways.

So true in so many ways. '87 still saw some wildly experimental cars. Some RC10s even ran trailing arm conversions. Masami just showed up with his own SWB CAT. He was given the new CAT XL by Schumacher the night before the race and went on to win. That kind of wild card stuff was gone by '89.

In '89 there was the Associated Stealth Car car being hidden from photographers. The big 2.2 wheel argument/debate being an issue. Yokomo reportedly took soil samples form the track earlier for tire development and reproduced the track in Japan to practice on. That's over the top. It wasn't anybody's race by this time in my eyes. On the plus side, Tamiya did show up with the Egress and Astute ;).

Interesting theory on the RC10 re-res @markbt73. I can totally see that as a factor. Classic (no pun interned) short front arm RC10s had been gone for so long that they were a cool novelty to get ahold of. The Worlds was more or less like every long front arm buggy that Associated made millions of. Not so unique of an experience and not too far off what the last rear motor buggies were like.

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The original Ultima used hexes for the rear wheels, correct?  If so, this is great. Finally some new wheels and tires that I can easily buy and use for my Raiders.  The re-re Scorpion used the original friction style rear hubs and flat mounting wheels which were impossible to use on hexes.  And all of the axle lengths were different so swapping axles didn't work.  At least the re-re Scorpion tires fit original Raider wheels (front and rear).

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3 hours ago, Champ85 said:

The original Ultima used hexes for the rear wheels, correct?  If so, this is great. Finally some new wheels and tires that I can easily buy and use for my Raiders.  The re-re Scorpion used the original friction style rear hubs and flat mounting wheels which were impossible to use on hexes.  And all of the axle lengths were different so swapping axles didn't work.  At least the re-re Scorpion tires fit original Raider wheels (front and rear).

Yes, the Ultima used press-on 12mm hexes with tapered axles, same as the Optima series. I imagine this will have 12mm hexes with cross-drilled axles and screw-in drive pins like the Optima re-release.

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I wonder if the Turbo Ultima or Ultima Pro (my favorite of the two, I like gold shocks better than platinum shocks) will follow?

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1 hour ago, Saito2 said:

I wonder if the Turbo Ultima or Ultima Pro (my favorite of the two, I like gold shocks better than platinum shocks) will follow?

The Platinum shocks were too clever for their own good. The Golds just plain worked, and are still just about the smoothest RC shocks anybody ever made.

BTW, there's a really nice Ultima Pro on eBay right now...

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3 hours ago, markbt73 said:

The Golds just plain worked, and are still just about the smoothest RC shocks anybody ever made.

I wish I could just order up some new gold shocks for some of my models. They really were great. It would be nice if Tamiya just kept Hicaps around too. Instead they make limited runs that sell out quickly, leaving them to be sold for stupid money after they are discontinued by sellers on fleabay.

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If this is the final version I don't think that a shorty will fit. Sorry to say but that would be a weak point. I use shorty in all of my buggys.

IMG_20190905_160142.png

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58 minutes ago, Reedydriver said:

If this is the final version I don't think that a shorty will fit. Sorry to say but that would be a weak point. I use shorty in all of my buggys.

 

Yeah, that's be a shame. The Optima buggies had adjustable mounts for the different battery sizes

Screenshot-2019-09-05-at-16.09.07.png

But on the photos it looks like the mounts are part of the upper deck, which I'd doubt would be duplicated? Option part maybe?

Kyosho-Ultima-2019-2WD-Vintage-Buggy-10.

 

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Open question guys - would you buy this or restore an original ? 

Two very different experiences - but which is more satisfying bottle to throttle ? 🤔

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9 hours ago, SuperChamp82 said:

Open question guys - would you buy this or restore an original ? 

Two very different experiences - but which is more satisfying bottle to throttle ? 🤔

Interesting question and one I wrestle with almost every time a re-issue comes out, from any manufacturer. And usually, much to the dismay of my wallet, the answer is "both." Original restored shelfer, re-issue to run and have fun with.

...Except the RC10. For some reason, I'm backwards on that one; my Classic is on the shelf and my pile-of-parts original is one of my most frequent runners. Probably because one is so pretty and clean and the other is scratched up, bent, and multicolored.

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regarding vintage or re-release it is actually a question that is not easy to answer. Vintage gives me the feeling of the past. I'm happy to own a fantastic Optima Mid and Schumacher Pro Cat and now ride 10.5 brushless in these buggies. (I need the power as I mainly ride on grass) However, I am aware that these vintage models are about 30 years old and therefore I am very cautious when riding, which means reserved. With the re release cat xls, optima, tomahawk, RC10 classic and worlds, even with the bigwig I don't have that feeling that I have to hold back. Therefore I will definitely buy the new Ultima, and if one day an Optima Mid re release will be realized, I will also buy it to preserve the old one. This gives me a distribution of how often I ride with which buggy. Estimated 30 % vintage and 70 % re release. I would never completely abandon vintage riding. There is probably no right decision what is better. Everyone has to weigh that up for himself and decide.

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Nice! Looks like the same good stuff they've been doing with the other re-issues. I'm really impressed, and really pleased that the change in ownership didn't kill off this line. More, please, Kyosho...

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Heh... well... so I was browsing around ebay, and I, um, found a nice original Ultima for a good BIN price, so I, um... bought it now.

So I guess that settles the "original or re-re" question for me... for now...

ultima.jpg

Bonus: has 2-stick AM radio and mechanical speed controller... smile when you say "luddite."

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13 hours ago, markbt73 said:

Heh... well... so I was browsing around ebay, and I, um, found a nice original Ultima for a good BIN price, so I, um... bought it now.

So I guess that settles the "original or re-re" question for me... for now...

ultima.jpg

Bonus: has 2-stick AM radio and mechanical speed controller... smile when you say "luddite."

Oh my, what a completely and utterly stupid thing to do......
Listen, I'll PM you my address and you can send it to me and I'll keep it out of the way. That was no one else will have to know.
There's a good chap.

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There are many specialists here in the forum who can predict with good arguments what can be expected in the near future with high probability. I am interested in the gap of model numbers between Turbo Optima and Ultima. The gap seems to be quite big. Optima Pro and Salute could fill part of the gap, if any. What else could fit in? The anticipation is one of the most beautiful moments, so let's dream a little :)

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