TOPIC:

As some of you may know, I've been on a quest to build all of the re-re's. "All" is difficult to define, but I've come up with my own definition which is working for me. Many of them are still available and were quite simple to acquire. Others were harder and required eBay or overseas orders. I was surprised to discover that one of the hardest to find is the 58361 Thunder Shot from 2005. I never did find one New-in-Box. Instead I found one on eBay that appeared to be a collection of newly acquired parts and hardware by someone who was trying to cobble one together. I bought this collection and was able to place orders for most of the parts which were missing so I should be able to build a Thunder Shot now.

My question is what to do about the body. The pile of parts I ordered came with two bodies: an original 58067 in mint condition and a brand new unpainted TBG body. So which to use? The obvious answer would be the vintage body (with the real "Monroe" stickers) except that the canopy has been painted. That means you can't see the driver which is unacceptable. The next option would be to use the TBG body and order some MCI decals. This would result in a new looking model but I'd know that the body and decals are reproductions. The third option is to try to strip the paint from the canopy on the old body with some Tamiya Polycarbonate cleaner which is theoretically capable of the job.

1. Use vintage body. PROs: Original body. Original decals. Original awesome. CONs: Can't see the driver. I drive my models so I'll scratch it all up and destroy a rare original shell.
2. Use TBG body. PROs: Will look just as good. Clear window. Can probably sell the original shell for a decent price. CONs: Not Tamiya. Need to order MCI decals.
3. Strip paint from original canopy. PROs: Will theoretically produce a perfect original shell. CONs: High probability of screwing it up and having to revert to Option 2.

An ancillary issue is the wing. According to this database the original wing was an option part but it came standard with the re-re. However, the 58361 instructions I have don't say anything about a wing and it is not in the parts list. The TBG body does not come with a wing. If I want this to be an accurate re-re then I'd really need to try to find a 11825040 body shell which includes the wing. Seems hard.

Clean Window, just take your time for it.

+1 with first option.
But tbg did repro wing. Ask to natanael.
I saw this part on their ebayshop.

waterbok wrote:

Clean Window, just take your time for it.

stingray-63 wrote:

+1 with first option.
But tbg did repro wing. Ask to natanael.
I saw this part on their ebayshop.

That's one vote for Option 3 and another for Option 1. Now that I think about it, there is yet another option: do both. I could use the original vintage body for display, but then put on the repro body when I am running to avoid damaging the more valuable old body.

Didn't know there was a way to get the wing. I'll look into it.

Edit: I'm not finding it searching the eBay store. I see the Thundershot body which specifically says it does not come with the wing. I found a Supershot wing but not a Thundershot.

Edit 2: I just had a thought. Suppose that the body I am assuming is vintage is actually already a repro. It is probably more likely than me getting lucky enough to get a mint original shell. How can I tell?

I've heard that the original wing and the new wing have different mounting methods. The original connected with some wire but the newer one connects straight to the body. Does this imply the body shell is different?

No sorry strip the canopy...

Well, that was hard. It took me almost 3 hours of scrubbing and nearly a full bottle of PC cleaner to get through the two thick layers of paint. After that I used some polish to help remove the scratches I made scrubbing. Doesn't look too bad.





Of course after all that work I noticed that the original owner put some of the stickers on wrong and a few are missing.

Nice bit of rescuing

Now that I've got the body sorted, I have started the process of building this model from loose parts. The lot I bought I eBay had the majority and I was able to use the parts list in the manual to pick up most of everything I needed.
There is one thing that has eluded me, and that is this 3x14mm link pin. I can't find any reference to this part number anywhere on the Tamiya site or on eBay, and there doesn't seem to be any such thing as a 3x14mm link pin in spare parts. Anyone have any ideas? In the interim I've had to use a screw and a lock nut as a pin. This is not a good solution since the threads will score the soft plastic.

The Avante has a 3*15mm link pin, close enough?

waterbok wrote:

The Avante has a 3*15mm link pin, close enough?

I don't think so. The suspension link isn't captured between slots on the upright, they just sit side by side. With a millimeter of slop I think it would wobble quite a bit. I suppose I could shim the extra mm.