TOPIC:

Hi, recently i've travelled around looking for model shops that deal in rc cars. obviously i've been looking for tamiya stuff.
so i get to the shop & start asking about about if they stock or can get hold of tamiya parts/hop ups & such.
This is where the problems start. the shop owners look at me like theres something wrong with me & get quite rude & start talking to like i'm 10 years old. i understand old tamiya cars aren't the big deal any more but whats their problem. all they do is instantly tell me to buy a HPI car.
i have found a few tamiya cars in shops though, mainly the lunch box, holiday buggy & midnight pumpkin. usually over priced though but i did see a holiday buggy for

Tamiya's pretty alive in my country. Only get good response at the LHS.

Edit - I would have expected that to be even better in the UK. Seems to be quite Tamiya minded.

My experience in the uk is pretty poor as the only local model shop to me is Modelzone, they do stock the kits but no spares or hop ups a very limited range. I do have a couple of very good shops but they are not local and i have to travel an average 50 mile trip to visit them. The easiest option is always the internet as i find model shops over price Tamiya kits and they are far cheaper online and the spares supply is excellent online if a little expensive its almost treated like a specialist hobby now.

Well, just before it got bought out by King's Lynn Model Shop, Barney's model shop used to be really good for finding vintage spares, mainly cos they didn't know they had the stuff & didn't know what it was when it came to light! - I used to go in with a bit & say "Have you got anything similar to this?" & a big drawer of stuff would be plonked on the counter for me to look through - exciting AND it saved the day on numerous occasions! Nowadays though, KL Model shop's the same as everywhere else - "Buy this HPI nitro" "Everything we sell is sold through our website" etc.

I know Jonny hates them (Mainly due to their lack of ability on all fronts) but Snetterton Model shop still have some older spares lurking about, but don't ask for it by car or part number as you won't get anywhere. I visited recently, & they only had a few (Overpriced) Tamiya kits in, the main RC car shelves filled with, yep HPI nitro cars.

There's a toy shop in Norfolk Street, King's Lynn, who have started stocking QD/XB (Or whatever you call the RTRs nowadays). I asked if they planned to get any kits, but they said "No, cos when people don't build them right & they don't work, they bring them back for a refund cos they think their lack of ability is our fault".

Last local toy car shop I can think of (Local to me) is (King's Lynn?) Model Hobby.
Quite handy for generic spares, not for new Tamiya parts, although the owner has said he's trying to get some Tamiya kits in but they're messing him about. He's also got a bit of a thing for vintage Tamiya cars, but is a really unreliable source of information.... well just plain unreliable! (Like, took my money for some rod ends to order in as specials, then it took over a year of my constant nagging before he finally got them in! Had a similar experience previously with his brother, a year & a half to paint some bike bits that I was promised 4 weeks for).
Shame really, lots of people know him, shop's in a good location, it could be fantastic if he just go his monkey-nuts together!

If I need something specifically Tamiya nowadays, I HAS to be Ebay as my No.1 looking spot, falling back on other internet sites (eg Time Tunnel) if Ebay fails me

eddrick wrote:

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I know Jonny hates ... Snetterton Model shop ...

I think "hate" is a bit strong - my problem with them is that they have a great facility in the track, but it's rendered completely useless by their hopeless management support of events on it

Spotted this a while back about the former owner of R&D models in Cambridge ... can't say I really remember him, but all the same.