Kyosho Ultima 2019

[Wandy 1225]

5 hours ago, Reedydriver said:

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 :)

Likely to be at least a couple of variants of the Optima Mid. Would love to see the Gallop come back too but think that might be asking a bit much. 

[markbt73 3193]

5 hours ago, Reedydriver said:

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

What's funny is that I don't even remember the Optima Pro. It must have either just been a blip on the radar when the Mid came out, or else Tower/Great Planes didn't bother to bring it to the US. The Salute I remember, and I remember disliking the body style (never did like the cab-forward design, even back then). And there was an orange version and a blue version, if I recall...?

I would imagine that an Optima Mid re-re is an inevitability at this point. Probably the first Lazer too. What else was there in the Kyosho stable around that time? Rocky/Raider, I suppose; a re-issue of that architecture would be cool, as long as they updated the steering linkages. Pegasus/Icarus/Cosmo seems unlikely, just because they were all-plastic entry-level cars, and also-rans compared to the Tamiya Grasshopper/Hornet/Frog. Personally, I love that chassis, and I'd buy an Icarus re-issue in a second, but I'd be surprised. Monster trucks? Maybe, but again, all plastic.

Here's an interesting notion: Landjump/Mint/Vanning. With a cast-aluminum dummy engine head, and brushless power.

[Saito2 2820]

3 hours ago, markbt73 said:

What's funny is that I don't even remember the Optima Pro. It must have either just been a blip on the radar when the Mid came out, or else Tower/Great Planes didn't bother to bring it to the US. The Salute I remember, and I remember disliking the body style (never did like the cab-forward design, even back then). And there was an orange version and a blue version, if I recall...?

Me either (Optima Pro). I don't even recall the orange Salute, just the blue one. I just remember thinking as a kid the Javelin was a reskinned Optima and the Salute was a reskinned Turbo Optima. I remember 3 common variants of Mids, the Optima Mid, Turbo Optima Mid and the one we all wanted, the Turbo Optima Mid SE (because its long name must have made it better ).

Come to think of it, I don't remember seeing the Turbo Optima Mid Special, Optima Mid Custom or Optima Mid Custom Special. I did see a Kia Optima once though.

[Wandy 1225]

A little teaser...

 

[Reedydriver 145]

Yes, that puts me in a really good mood 

[Champ85 490]

Teaser 2

 

[Reedydriver 145]

That's the way I like it. That's offroad. No carpet track. 

[Wooders28 3148]

 

[Wandy 1225]

2 hours ago, Wooders28 said:

 

Cool....where did you find this?

[Reedydriver 145]

Fantastic! This video really makes you want this buggy!

[Wooders28 3148]

4 hours ago, Wandy said:

Cool....where did you find this?

All over the Vintage RC Facebook pages this morning 👍

[Wooders28 3148]

2 hours ago, Reedydriver said:

Fantastic! This video really makes you want this buggy!

Didn't take much to be fair, just the announcement has me hooked 🙄😂

(2yrs late, but better late than never!)

[markbt73 3193]

Mmmm... donuts...

[GTodd 905]

On 9/18/2019 at 11:06 AM, Wandy said:

Likely to be at least a couple of variants of the Optima Mid. Would love to see the Gallop come back too but think that might be asking a bit much. 

Man I really hope so, I always wanted an Optima Mid, but as a young teenager with limmited funds I had to wait until the Top Force was $99 before i could afford a modern buggy. 

[Wandy 1225]

10 hours ago, GTodd said:

Man I really hope so, I always wanted an Optima Mid, but as a young teenager with limmited funds I had to wait until the Top Force was $99 before i could afford a modern buggy. 

The big hurdle was getting past the Turbo Optima. Now that they have done that and have followed it up with the Ultima...which will surely be a big seller...then the path is clear for at least a couple of the Mids to come back. Especially since they have left a 5 kit-number gap between the Turbo Optima and Ultima. That suggests that they already know their plans for the next vintage kits that will come back.

[Wooders28 3148]

30 minutes ago, Wandy said:

Especially since they have left a 5 kit-number gap between the Turbo Optima and Ultima. That suggests that they already know their plans for the next vintage kits that will come back.

If they go in time line order,.was it not the Optima Pro and a couple of different body colour salutes, before the Mid?

[Reedydriver 145]

Anyway, it sounds very promising that we can expect great new re releases. 

...and now I'm really looking forward to the Ultima. 

[Saito2 2820]

There's other factors we can speculate about. It could be the skip in models was simply because they wanted to focus on the more popular/better selling variants. As I stated earlier, here in the States, the Optima Pro wasn't really seen in numbers (if at all) and the Salute (while available) wasn't as prevalent as the Optima/Javelin/Turbo Optima. We could see the Ultima and then the Turbo Ultima or Ultima Pro followed be the Mids. Kyosho seems to do up a chassis and then do variants before tackling the next model chassis. We saw a lot of Scorpion variants before the Optima came about. Debunking the popularity idea however, would be the Beetle though, which wasn't as prevalent as the Scorpions or even Tomahawk. Then again, this was all before the bank take-over. Now, the powers-that-be, might be leaping ahead to models that would be definite hot-sellers like the Ultima. Just speculation though.

[Wandy 1225]

2 hours ago, Wooders28 said:

If they go in time line order,.was it not the Optima Pro and a couple of different body colour salutes, before the Mid?

Yes. Personally though I don't see them bringing all of those back. Maybe the Optima Pro and then 2 SWB Mids plus 2 LWB Mids.

[Reedydriver 145]

That would be more than great! Dreams would really come true there! Back in time I chose the Egress. Now we will get the Ultima and possibly a Mid in the next years...Awesome!

[geniusanthony 360]

Something interesting about the Kyosho Re-re's is that they seem to keep making them. There was a time when the Tomahawk and maybe some others were shown as discontinued and I was only able to find one in stock at Tamico. 

Presently, all of the legendary series continues to be available. Hopefully people keep buying them and the new owners continue to bring back the classics.

[Saito2 2820]

7 hours ago, geniusanthony said:

Something interesting about the Kyosho Re-re's is that they seem to keep making them.

I like that aspect. With Tamiya, there seems to be a mad rush to grab a re-re model, never knowing if it will disappear shortly (the hop-ups are even more ridiculous). The Super Astute was supposed to be a limited edition prompting some panic, but it hung around, while the Manta Ray seems to have gone fairly quickly. I grabbed the Scorpion and Optima to have one of each chassis type to enjoy. Since there's less of an availability panic, I'll probably go back and get the Turbo Optima now that I've had time to save up more money.

[Wooders28 3148]

On 9/23/2019 at 9:53 AM, Saito2 said:

With Tamiya, there seems to be a mad rush to grab a re-re model, never knowing if it will disappear shortly

Are they following Ferrari's philosophy - "You only produce one car less than the demand for the vehicle. You just don't exceed that equation."  

[Saito2 2820]

3 hours ago, Wooders28 said:

Are they following Ferrari's philosophy - "You only produce one car less than the demand for the vehicle. You just don't exceed that equation."  

Seems like it, but I guess that's why I like "big, dumb" Corvettes and never took a liking to Ferrari (granted they are in different leagues). If I want something, I just want to go buy it and not worry about it. I hate exclusivity. I understand difficulty in procuring something old. That's more the "thrill of the hunt". Still, I understand Tamiya not wanting to be caught with overstock. Better to sell them all and leave some folks wanting than to make too many and have to sit on them from a business aspect. Besides having the "old" DF01 chassis around, outperforming the current TT02B offering doesn't look good  .

[Reedydriver 145]

Tokyo Hobby Show 2019