TOPIC:

I spoke to my local hobby store , one of the big stores that usually get everything, and they said they won't do any pre-orders . The fella on the phone was very helpful, and we had a good chat . His take was that it's not even a sure thing that we will get stock here in Australia ... so far I can't find anywhere in OZ to pre-order any of these. 

Well he must have a reason to feel that way, sounds like a seasoned RC operator. I can't anywhere state side to pre order any of the 3 Al mentioned in the first post. Wonder if it could be something similar to the &*&B where it is a specialized release for only some areas like the UK.

I'd rather not pay shipping from UK to US as its usually free but I will for a Countach.......

mirrorman wrote:

I spoke to my local hobby store , one of the big stores that usually get everything, and they said they won't do any pre-orders . The fella on the phone was very helpful, and we had a good chat . His take was that it's not even a sure thing that we will get stock here in Australia ... so far I can't find anywhere in OZ to pre-order any of these. 

 

Going off my own experiences this year I am not surprised (I live in Brisbane btw). I had wanted the Honda City Turbo, the Mini Cooper M05 and the Ford Ranger when released. I try and buy locally from a hobby store if I can (well, within Australia) and listed interest (didn't see a pre-order option) on a couple of hobby store websites for each. 
I ended up getting the Ford Ranger from RCJaz and the Honda City from an Australian based eBay store (and even then it was only briefly at the price I was expecting). None of the stores I had expressed an interest with ended up getting any in stock (that I know). I had a similar experience with the Hornet Evo too. And each purchase was several months at least after they were released to the rest of the world. 

I am guessing we are just not big enough of a market (and far away).
 

My daughter lived at Sydney and now at hobart in tasmania. She said us that delivery and shipping are very expensive when you find what you want. Several things are harder to find than europe. Maybe it's the same for rc.

stingray-63 wrote:

My daughter lived at Sydney and now at hobart in tasmania. She said us that delivery and shipping are very expensive when you find what you want. Several things are harder to find than europe. Maybe it's the same for rc.

yeah, shipping in and out of Australia is pretty expensive. Send anything larger than a small letter is a minimum of about $27 to send out.
The Ford Ranger, I ended up buying from RCJaz, which ship from Hong Kong I think, was about $170 for the freight, but I was able to add in a couple of things that brought the total to just a but lower than if I bought everything locally.

yogi-bear wrote:

 

Going off my own experiences this year I am not surprised (I live in Brisbane btw). I had wanted the Honda City Turbo, the Mini Cooper M05 and the Ford Ranger when released. I try and buy locally from a hobby store if I can (well, within Australia) and listed interest (didn't see a pre-order option) on a couple of hobby store websites for each. 
I ended up getting the Ford Ranger from RCJaz and the Honda City from an Australian based eBay store (and even then it was only briefly at the price I was expecting). None of the stores I had expressed an interest with ended up getting any in stock (that I know). I had a similar experience with the Hornet Evo too. And each purchase was several months at least after they were released to the rest of the world. 

I am guessing we are just not big enough of a market (and far away).


 

It does seem very hit and miss as to what we will and won't get available in Australia.  I'm not after a lot of RC kits anymore, but that fact that we don't even have the pleasure of walking into a hobby store and be able to have the chance to buy , let alone see,  one of the current release Tamiya kits is very disappointing . The same goes for Tamiya body sets and spare parts, basically NON to be found in this country now (those YT videos filmed OS make me almost cry with what's available). This was never the case back in the day - I could walk into Metropolitan Hobbies in Boxhill and have my choice on Tamiya RC kits , spares and body sets.  If not in stock they could I could 9 times out of 10  order the item in .  Now , I think much of this has to do with Tamiya Japan , but we will never really know. 

...

 

It does seem very hit and miss as to what we will and won't get available in Australia.  I'm not after a lot of RC kits anymore, but that fact that we don't even have the pleasure of walking into a hobby store and be able to have the chance to see , let alone buy one of the current Tamiya kits is very disappointing . The same goes for Tamiya body sets and spare parts, basically NON to be found in this country now (those YT videos filmed OS make me almost cry with what's available). This was never the case back in the day - I could walk into Metropolitan Hobbies in Boxhill and have my choice on Tamiya RC kits , spares and body sets.  

yeah, very hit and miss. Hobbyrama in Brisbane have a decent range of Tamiya cars, they even have a  Jun Watanabe Hornet for sale. And Metro Hobbies seem to stock some good range (but not everything and just checking their site, they have the Ford Ranger!, but only at one site). But neither seem to stock any spare parts. After a hassle trying to support a local hobby store ordering parts through them (delay wasn't their fault), I am just use to buying online now.

But with so much RC gear available now, it would be hard to choose what to stock as they they have to sell it in a reasonable time frame.
 

Very surprised (and sorry) to hear about the lack of availability of stuff like this in AU. I always thought of AU as a huge RC market leveraging lots of in stock stuff. I guess we are lucky here as I still go to the same RC shop since 87 and their in store selection is still very good, of course not like the old days.

Apparently UK only got 50% of the volume of Falcon they ordered said Tony of Tony's Tamiya Parts.

I will for sure get the Falcon and the Countach.
One site on FB leaked the manual for the Falcon and it has the the same front end as vintage, even has e-clip shock piston and not the modern casted thingy that is a joke.
Even has the base for the MSC as the vintage ones. So nothing is changed except driveshafts and stickers I belive.

I could order from Tamico but I think I will wait till they arrive in Norway.

I found out I can pre order the Countach and the Falcon at the end of this month here..