TOPIC:

This is a general restoration question for all vintage models, especially where vintage models feature as a re-release.

If you have an original vintage model, like a Cheetah... would you get the XR311 re-release so you can source/use the 'new' parts to aid with the resto?

And if so, does this render the vintage model "semi vintage"?

Like to know your thoughts!

Cheers

I believe we had a go at that in another thread.

edit: sorry cant find it right now

Must have been before I joined!

Before my time too... I believe it is okay to use re-re parts on a vintage resto if they are the same as the originals. No different to using (for example) a hotshot wheel on a boomerang. Although they both started life with a different kit they are the same parts. Part numbers can be used to cross-reference.
About the parts that are different - If you personally are happy to use them then why not? Surely it is better to have a complete useable car with a few upgraded parts than a car which may never be completed because you cannot find some genuine bits.

I say it depends what you intend to do with it.
Personally, the models I keep on the shelf are ones that I like for one reason or another, most are basket cases when they arrive, & although I try to source the proper bits for them, if they're unavailable I make do with what I can get or make.

The ones I run usually get heavily modified to sort out the inevitable design flaws, & make more resilient to my abusive driving habits. These also arrive as basketcases & the decision to modify & run usually comes from having declared it "too far gone" to make anything decent out of it, so I then get my enjoyment out of running it, or at least see what the vintage models are capable of with a bit of tweaking.

The ones I buy with a view to selling have to be as near as dammit to what fell out of the box in 198?. If I can't source the proper bits, I list them as "this is missing/broken" & leave it up to the buyer as to whether or not it's important to them - some collectors are REALLY fussy & would have a fit if you've repaired a cracked body or repainted it, whereas others don't care as long as what's there is in good condition.

I have trouble with "what's vintage" anyway - I was still racing when the original Hotshot came out, & still consider that a "new" model, not worth preserving, let alone anything that came after it! To me "vintage" is anything pre-Frog

Luckily there are no rules or regulations as to what is vintage or not.
I'm in line with vara351, but also with eddrick.
My point is, do whatever you feel is right for you, but be exact when describing what you have used if you are ever going to sell it.
A trained eye will in many cases be able to spot a re-re part on an original, even if the part numbers are the same. The type of plastic used now is often different from the original parts, and the molds are also usually changed slightly.

My approach is to use original parts as far as possible. But, if it's too hard or too expensive to get the original parts I use "identical" reissue parts.

-Lars

I think it's a very complicated subject with many views to take into consideration.
The subject has come around in a few topics...
Guess it depends on how much of a purist one is.

For myself, if I were to put the car on a shelf, I'd want it to be as original as possible.
If that's not an option, technically correct (also shape-wise) original spares will do.
But after that leap has been made, I'd probably tend more towards driving the car and modifying it to the max.
Especially if the chassis itself was used before...

If you are a purist like me for an other passion, You can't restore a vintage RC. Bearings you replace are not 80's models and tires to. I am a purist with militaria but not so much with RC.

Thanks for all your advice. Much appreciated.

Haven't posted in the forums here for some time, but this thread caught my eye

I suspect I am more a purist than most, and I've mentioned this too many times in the past.

What is vintage? Yes it is a relative term, defined by each person. And no, there is no "perfect" boundary beyond which Tamiya's releases cease to be vintage.

However, I believe there are some markers to follow in Tamiya's history, that help define "vintage", as a period - a period that faded away.

Vintage is a term closely related to (but not perfectly equal to) "collectibility". People who want vintage cars want them for nostalgia reasons, and/or to collect them. But why? Why are they SO collectible? And isn't that a relative concept too, so that after every 20 years, the stuff from 20 years ago is collectible?

Tamiya was massive in the mid 1980s when the RC racing world was reasonably aligned with the home consumer market - ie many of the same cars were popular across both markets, and RC magazines were packed with articles about regular "entry level" cars just as much as performance cars. The hobby was still young and easy to get into, clearly. This unified front helped make it massive. Everybody wanted to play with cars, and there were very few elite professionals.

But gradually it evolved and fragmented. Racers spent more and more on performance and advanced the hobby away from scale realism. What's more, your average kid couldn't afford to be involved in that world, even at a basic level. Club popularity faded. Kids turned to computer games. In summary, there were many factors, but the overriding one is that technology overcame the hobby. The brief, bright, golden era of enormous 1/10 RC car enthusiasm was largely snuffed out, as the world changed.

By the early 1990s Tamiya had fallen out of even the remotest relevance in off road competition. Thankfully, Tamiya stayed focused on the consumer market, enabling it to continue at least making cars that seemed fun and were affordable. But consumer type cars fell way behind competition race cars in performance. And the sheer "novelty" of the hobby also wore off, as far as the broader public were concerned.

Nothing past this point will ever, and I mean EVER be considered "vintage" in quite the same way as the classic cars that were huge during the peak popularity years of the hobby in the 80s.

Some people will say "oh, but when the kids of today are 40yrs old, today's cars will be vintage too!"

Yes, but...no, not really. It's just not the same. The difference is popularity. Cars and the hobby today aren't particularly novel or popular. Cars in the 80s were used in movies and commercials! heck - sometimes RC car hobby shows and events were featured on the evening news! They were a red hot item.

That era will never return.

IMHO, true "vintage" ended in the early 1990s. Somewhere between 1990 and 1995. Give or take

Cheers,
H.









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