Tamiya re-re-re-release Avante

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Coming to a shop near you imminently. Already new ones on the bay for £300. This time it's just like the original proper one, but with some subtle engineering improvements for a change - CNC alloy instead of that cheap cast alloy. Everyone that was buying and selling the old ones (even the dodgy 2001 versions) for a £1000 on ebay are now dumping them in droves! Why people pay over RRP for Tamiya is beyond me when they have a track record in multimple releases of every model. Looking forward to the Bruiser next...

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I'm not convinced as Tamiya are a marketing led company, so will do whatever it takes to make those sales.

Have you seen the 4x4 Frog? This will be another way to redo those all the old kits with a modern twist:

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I always wanted my Hornet to go round corners properly. So I modified it as a kid, back in the day. I managed to get it quite a bit lower, but it was still pants handling. It was better when I put the Hornet body on my Mid Optima chassis!

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The new Avante are £300 on ebay. Why pay more?

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£284 on the bay now

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Just do a worldwide search as they sell daily. Yes it's the 2011 best version to date. Postage only £36 too. No need for rip off UK...


http://cgi.ebay.co.uk/Tamiya-58489-RC-1-10-Avante-...

Or:

http://cgi.ebay.co.uk/New-Release-Tamiya-58489-RC-...

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They seem to be pretty random with import taxes. Sometimes I've paid the import and other times there's been no charge. To be on the safe side you can always ask for a low value to be placed on the parcel. Or even have it marked as "used goods", or "returned to customer after repair" to avoid it. Even if you do pay there will still be a lot of savings to be had.

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Take some snaps of the key stages: box, contents, half built, all done. Then post them up

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Your right. Tamiya are the best at the surface impressions - box art, themes, body design, overall packaging, easy instructions, even the names. This is why they are so popular with first timers. None of this is relevant to racers of course. But an element of these details help. This is where the Optima Mid was superior to the early CAT's for example.

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I'd buy a few sets of the hard black plastic items which are prone to cracking while you can. May as well get a stock of other general spares in case they stop production. Stuff like bodyshells, wheels, you name it. I have enough spares to build up two brand new optimas.