TOPIC:

Hi gang

I'd like to start a proper project instead of all these 'easy' re-res ..

What I want is a car from my youth that I never had the money to own, but spend loads of hours looking at

I'd like not to spend more than 1500USD and no more than two years finding parts

What I want is a car in decent condition to start with, but I also want to find a new body/decals as that is half the fun. I also want a good set of (rare?) spares + vintage servos and electronics (only thing that can't be vintage is batteries, I know)

It will, as with all my cars, be a 'runner', which I think is the proper term? I have also seen the term 'shelf queen', but as I'm allready married to a queen and she willingly dusts off my shelfs with cars, I guess that's not what I want

This RC lingo is still a tad confusing

So, I've narrowed it down to these :

BigWig

959

Avante

Vanquish

Terra Scorcher

Egress

Thundershot

...

The BigWig is number one, the 959 is next. The others very much third or fourth ..

Do you think it's possible to make a project within the frames I've outlined? Are there other cars I should consider?

Looking forward to your comments

Cheers,

Ole

If that's your budget then I think getting a "new in box" (NIB) example of any of those is easily in reach, possibly even two even at the most expensive (older) end.

Bigwig parts are drying up, for example there used to be a reasonable supply (both in quantity and price) of the "sub chassis" (the part that clamps the battery in & adds stiffness to the tub, but I don't remember the last time I saw one (although I don't need one & haven't looked recently). Thing is, they've got popular and the finite supply of parts is being/has been used up, so what is left is getting increasingly expensive. The body is no problem if you don't mind a reproduction, decals too if you don't mind an "under the counter" transaction It'll cost a lot more and you might need to wait if it all has to be genuine.

The 959 has got increasingly popular so the same thing is happening, ditto body & decals, can't really comment on the rest as it's not a car I'm that in to, the Avante a bit less TBH.

The other cars you listed I've really no interest in TBH, anything after 1989 or so is a "plastic whizzy buggy" to me ... I guess it comes down to what interests you - and what was around whe you got in to RC in the first place. I remember seeing Holiday Buggies, Sand Rovers & Sand Scorchers, but the first car I had was a Grasshopper, I upgraded that to a Hornet, friends had those, Frogs, & maybe the odd older car like a Super Champ, later things like the Fox, Hot Shot, Bigwig, Wild One, later I also had (on sale cheap as it was an "old" kit at the time) a Willy's Wheeler, so that & the Wild Willy also make it to my list, but the the pinnacle at the time was considered to the Bruiser - it was so out of reach you only saw it in Tamiya catalogues, I don't remember the local hobby shops (LHSs) having one on display, I don't remember seeing it in magazine adverts either.

You also need to think about what you consider a restoration, your tolerance for used, repro, home made, reconditioned or re-release parts is, and what techniques/tools you have, for instance for instance I'm quite happy to do extensive stripping, rebuilding & filling of hard bodies + repainting, I'm quite happy to use small parts I've made myself where they'd be otherwise difficult or expensive to get, ditto for repro parts, I don't mind seeing the odd bit of wear/damage, I'm ok at refinishing plastic & metal parts ... and so on. I don't have a problem with that because I never try to pass anything off as original when it's not.

Other people might only be happy with using only brand new parts so their car looks in just built, time warp condition - or it could be they don't have the tools, skills or whatever to do anything else, or lack of time, or they like the chase for parts, or they like recreating the building from new experience they had as a youngster ...

TBH I think you can do what you like & it be a valid approach to the hobby ... but like most things, if you can throw money at a problem, life is a lot easier



One more thing - budgets can be a problem, it that you never know what something is going to cost until you add it up at the end & (sometimes) wish you hadn't - for instance, "upgrading" from a Super Clod Buster to an older model, complete with period radio gear & alloy wheels, refinishing the body & new genuine decals cost me less than 50 GBP, but that was very lucky - the Super Champ I finished recently after getting it "cheap" came to nearly what an NIB example would have cost, and probably 3 times what a release would have cost, and it still has flaws. if you can afford it (and I really can't in one hit) NIB kits hurt (badly) once, restoring a used car just spreads the pain out.

Thanks for the info Jonny (as you seem to be the main man here, your input is much apprciated!)

You made a post that I want to take some days to digest, as those old catalogues + redwine have gotten the best of me, but so far :

Yes, my budget might seem reasonable, but I'd rather spread that 1500USD over those two years. It would be just too 'easy' to buy a NIB car for me. I really wan't something 'difficult' as in having to hunt down parts until my head turns blue. I want to do it for the fun, you know

And yes, those 'new' "space buggies" have not peaked my interest like the old ones

I'll get back to this in due time ..

Cheers,

Ole

I think (like Jonny) that for 1500USD, you can find a nice NIB 959. It's a big budget.

shot wrote:

Thanks for the info Jonny (as you seem to be the main man here, your input is much apprciated!)...

I wouldn't say that, maybe I just have more free time than some

Remember it's Lars' website, he does all the architecture & is responsible for the overwhelming majority of the database content, and pays for all the bandwidth

Jonny,
Lars, you and Andy are the running trio. Without you, I think that it wouldn't be a so good forum.

... 1500USD ...

Ummmm... just had a thought, is that your entire RC budge for the next two years? If so I have to warn you that may be hopelessly optimistic - this is easily a 5-10K USD per year habit ...

For me it's a little than 100€ per month.
(thanks to be discreet with my wife...)
Officialy I have a lot of gifts

stingray-63 wrote:

I think (like Jonny) that for 1500USD, you can find a nice NIB 959. It's a big budget.

Yes, but like I said, that would be too easy

Jonny wrote:

... 1500USD ...

Ummmm... just had a thought, is that your entire RC budge for the next two years? If so I have to warn you that may be hopelessly optimistic - this is easily a 5-10K USD per year habit ...

Oh, no. I want a Willy, Fighting Buggy, Frog, Hilux, Supershot and Lunchbox also. I'll get that during next year. The 1500USD would be for that ultimate project

I'd like to keep my collection at around 10 cars

Cheers,

Ole