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Tamiya King Cab. Why no remake?

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Why the heck hasn't Tamiya made a remake of the Nissan King Cab. Those things were awesome! Lets all call Tamiya and tell them we want a remake of it. I wanted one so bad as a kid.

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Yes, but it has to have a better diff and slipper like the re-re Super Astute...  I remember buying my 3rd Monster Racer on a clearance sell back in 1991 for $99.99 ;). still have the box.

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Still have my Unpainted but broken (little Holes little Cracks) Lexanshell witing for me for do the Paintjob :D.

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the King Cab was my first Tamiya.  My cousin owned it from new, he was one of those kids who was able to break everything.  Most of my stuff was hand-me-downs from him and a lot of it was very much broken by the time I got it.

In a year of bashing in the lane outside his house, he had managed to utterly destroy the lexan body (it came to me with no body) and the tyres were bald and paper thin.  It still worked, after a fashion, but it used to break a part every time I ran it.  Some I could bodge back together but often as not I'd be waiting six weeks for one tiny part to come over on the slow boat from Japan.  I took it on holiday once.  On the first day I got a 5 minute run out of the only NiCad I had.  Then my dad unplugged the slow charger to run the kettle, so the next day I didn't have a run at all.  On the third day the splined hex stripped itself after 2 minutes of running, so I had no RC car for the rest of the holiday.

I once took it to what I expect to be a seriously awesome local for RC car bashing, although it would be over 10 years before I actually got to bash there.  On that first visit with my King Cab, I found the transmitter had been left switched on and the batteries were flat.  This wasn't the kind of place you could just grab more batteries, so that was that.

I digress.  The King Cab was an awesome machine, even if my memories of it are of heartache and frustration.

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Yep great call, here’s hoping for one in the future

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I've seen a few on ebay now and then but always resisted because of parts - especially body availability.

I'd quite like one with the Toyota shell.

 

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I see no reason why the chassis can't be re-released, but a re-release of the body on any chassis is imho rather unlikely. Unlike the Monster Hilux body, it was blowmolded, and blowmolding of lexan bodies was a process that Tamiya never really managed properly. Not anyone else either, as far as I know.  Obviously a lot of scrap in the production and the bodies that passed the QC and found their way into the hands of customers, were often slightly flawed too. And even when not, they were so fragile that they didn't last long anyway.

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I wonder if licensing could be an issue - we've seen the monster beetle re-release but the blackfoot / pumpkin re-releases lost the Ford script. How many other re-releases of real cars have there been recently ?

I'd really like to see the Street Devil (58174) re-released, it uses the group C chassis so they could re-produce the sportscar bodies too!

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3 minutes ago, Mark_C said:

I wonder if licensing could be an issue - we've seen the monster beetle re-release but the blackfoot / pumpkin re-releases lost the Ford script. How many other re-releases of real cars have there been recently ?

I'd really like to see the Street Devil (58174) re-released, it uses the group C chassis so they could re-produce the sportscar bodies too!

Licensing is hardly an issue in this case. Tamiya doesn't seem to ever had any problems with licensing from Japanese OEM's. 

The Street Devil body was manufactured by Parma, just like the Daytona Thunder body. Parma PSE doesn't seem to do so well anymore, but as far as I know, they are still in business, and I can't imagine that they would decline an order from Tamiya.

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Hmm interesting on the street devil body, I wonder who owns the IP on it. If it was Tamiya they might not even need to involve Parma

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34 minutes ago, Mark_C said:

Hmm interesting on the street devil body, I wonder who owns the IP on it. If it was Tamiya they might not even need to involve Parma

I would believe that Tamiya has the IP to the kit itself and possibly also the name. However, the mold used for the body was used by Parma after the production of the Street Devil and was sold by Parma as a loose body and was also included in the Parma Good Times '37 Pro Chevy kit. Unlike the Street Devil, which included stickers and injection molded headlights made by Tamiya, the Parma kit included stickers and vacuum molded lexan headlights made by Parma. The Parma kit also included a lexan wing, parachute and "tray", which was mounted on the Good Times chassis as a base for the battery, radio gear and injection molded engine. A nice kit that I immensely enjoyed building and painting, by the way.

Parma doesn't seem to offer the body anymore, but I think it's fair to assume that the mold was (and is) Parma property. Also because it's not up to Tamiya quality.

(Btw, despite the similar looks, the wheels of the two kits are not the same)

166192d1157581002-wtb-parma-37-pro-chevy Tamiya_Street_Devil.jpg

 

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Prefer the tamiya version personally. There is a kit on uk ebay at the moment, I believe the seller has offered it several times before, but at £400 its a bit too rich for my liking.

Apologies to OP for derailing the thread - I think the King Cab or Hilux would be a welcomed re-release!

I wonder what other little gems are out there they could re-make, time for a browse on tamiyabase kit database!

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A couple of them along with a hilux just appeared on uk ebay, prices going daft already.

Tamiya could release and earn a packet on these two I reckon.

 

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22 hours ago, Mark_C said:

A couple of them along with a hilux just appeared on uk ebay, prices going daft already.

 

You know it's crazy when the BOX, just the BOX is selling for $89 USD!!

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Fragile body

A PITA to paint

Tricky gearbox

Expensive then and it would be even more so now if rereleased

Put my name down for one as well please 😉 

 

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2 minutes ago, KEV THE REV said:

Thanks mate . I have the body set too :) . It took a while to find

I was about to ask as I have a NIB body set..  Looking for parts and came across this (the good ol' days)

thumbnail (16).jpg

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I've seen a similar mag item with a Kyosho Outlaw Ultima shootout / King Cab if I remember correctly. The one you show here may be it . I have a K.O.U. truck too , and it is a blast This one wearing Tamiya Monster Racer wheels BTW

P7310008.JPG

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