Don't get me wrong, if you like to run the old cars (Which I do), re-issues are handy for spare parts (Providing the re-issue hasn't been updated so far that nothing fits), but if you're a collector (Which I'm not, well not seriously anyway) it really sucks that you rob yourself the fun of 'playing' just so you don't drop the value of your model that just sits on the shelf doing nothing, just for some monkey to release a 'fake' copy of it so everyone can own one. Yeah the Mona Lisa is priceless & everyone wants one, but would it be so desireable if anyone could have one? In my opinion, Tamiya should provide 'specialist' spares back up for the vintage models/collectors, & concentrate on coming up with something different for 'tomorrows' classics as their new stuff. They need to make their minds up whether they're making collectors high detail scale models or just 'toys' (Or both & keep them seperate). As far as building your own stuff goes, yep I'm all for it if you can! I scratch built a 1/5th petrol buggy last year, & I'm just in the final stages of completing a 3-speed TXT-1 based crawler with hydraulic steering & remote diff locks. Next project is likely to be something using bruiser axles & gearbox (Sitting in the loft), maybe a more-to-scale Hilux/landy/american 4x4 or something
