Buying a 501x?

[ralphee]

Hey guys

So OK it seems i cant get a TRF in the UK anymore, at least i cant find them, so question is, if this is to be my ride of choice, are there any pitfalls from buying one from HK?
What i mean is are there any kit differences, i just really taken with this car and its been a long time since ive seen a Tamiya buggy that screams comp level!
Anyone?

lee

[woOdy]

The only thing different is the price. Its a dam lot cheaper. Thats what I am running and this is the review car. WOW what a car.

[BORMAC]

Lee,
I bought mine from ebay before I knew they were so cheap from Hong Kong.You couldnt have put it better-re,Tamiya buggy that screams high end competition.Im really happy with my car,its outlasted all the other cars as far as reliability goes on the track (and I run mod) so you wont go wrong with this buggy.Just make yourself some diff sheild decals and you'll do well.Cheers-Jason.

[Fiddybux]

Not entirely sure of this, but it seems that HK kits sometimes do not have labelled bags for the parts and UK kits do. I can't totally confirm this though, just something myself and a friend are pondering over. He got his in the UK (bags were labelled) and I got mine from HK (and bags were not labelled).

I think the review car is from HK as well, and the bags weren't labelled as it says.

Apart from that annoyance, the kits are identical and its a damn sight cheaper...so for the saving I'm willing to have unlabelled bags aren't you?

[jimmy]

A small point, but the review car was from Japan not HongKong. I am racing a UK car, though since I'm the 4th owner I have no idea if some part bags were labled or not. But the cars are of course exactly the same.

[sosidge]

Re: the parts labelling thing, I expect it is a production batch thing rather than a market specific thing. I would hazard a guess that the very first kits did not have labelled bags because the labels weren't ready, later kits would have them included. Since it is a failrly limited production car and a lot of distributors would only get one shipment it may give the impression that the labelling thing is country specific, when really it just depends on how far along the production run they were when sent out.

[Colinevan]

Tbh guys, i ALWAYS try and support the Uk model shop scene, however I chose to buy a Uk one and found virtualy no support from Tamiya ( Hobby co ) when it comes to parts etc. Why bother using a uk distributor that has no interest in having a good stock of std parts and no interest in supporting a Uk based race team. Its only via this forum that i decided to buy one and will experiment with setups from experienced racers who have links with this site

Mini Rant over lol.....

My advice is buy from abroad and at the same time buy the spares that you think you will break ( not many lol ).

Col.

[Funkymojo]

Well matey..if you really can't get one in UK...get it from RC Champ from Japan..awesome service, good prices, fast shipping and the guy in charge Masa speaks pretty good english...

[TRF_Tastic]

Very soon there will be a shop in the UK stocking parts and if past experience is anything to go by it they wont be a rip off either.