Well, according to the the Tamiya USA website, the current status of the 511 is not "discontinued", its just "temporarily out of stock."
So it does appear as if they will be doing another run of the kits.
I doubt they will redesign the chassis, otherwise it would not be a 511 anymore, but a "512" or something new, which in that case they would show the 511 as discontinued. They might however add some hop-ups inside the kit of the re-release (possibly gear diffs and some blue aluminum parts, maybe even include a body). My guess is that they will do one more re-release of the 511 and then discontinue it for whatever belt driven 1/10 4wd buggy they have in the works to replace it (TRF512 or whatever they call it).
I'd love to see a Tamiya 2WD SC truck released. I'm in Southern California (as is Tamiya as well), and here over 90% of racers race short course. Tamiya knows what the racing climate in the US is like because California leads the way.
I'm lucky if one guy other than me shows up to the track with a 1/10 4WD buggy.
Tamiya already has a platform to release a 4WD short course truck, the XV01. All they have to do is extend the chassis and widen the wheel base, but they should do a 2WD SC truck first and then release the 4WD SC truck.
They have to come out with SC trucks because they are missing out on a HUGE market.
Even HPI, Kyosho, and Durango came out with SC trucks. I'm surprised Schumacher hasnt come out with an SC truck.
Tamiya is just really slow at getting things done becuase they have so many items in their catalouge.
If they had a more focused R/C division they would have come out with their SC trucks two years ago.
Hey, better late than never, but in racing that motto doesnt sound so good.
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