Yey, the official Tamiya product shot has been released and boy does she look stunning!

The first thing any keen eye’d folks will notice is that the classic front shock set up has gone. So no more BF8 and BF9 parts! And in doing this, they have also changed the shock mount to accommodate the difference in height too. Hmm, I’m unsure if this is a good change or not. The shock mount was a defining feature that every Egress fan on earth knew and loved. But hey, these are going to be runners, not shelfers. So I’m guessing Tamiya have adjusted this to make it run/handle better. Visually it makes the Egress look more low down, more streamlined for speed, but I personally prefer the tall look she had originally.

You’ll also notice no blue rod ends…NO BLUE ROD ENDS! This again was a defining feature that always looked sweeeet on the vintage model. BUT, there is a valid reason for this. If you look at the front hubs, gone are the weak old matt grey ones in place of their re-designed rock solid gold ones from the last Avante RE-RE. I personally think these looks STUNNING. Now, anyone with an eye for colour co-ordination will notice that gold and blue really don’t work together, so this explains dropping the blue rod ends and I can live with that :) I actually prefer this look…by quite an extent.

And last but not least, the typography on the Tamiya logo (sides of the car) has changed to the new version.  Again, not fussed personally, it only helps keep the value of the original decal sheets in tact.

Tokyo Hobby Show Shots:

These just in are courtesy of Tamiya Blog and go on to detail the new front shock mount in close up…it looks A LOT stronger than the original, so for running, this gets a big thumbs up from me.

The Egress in all her gold hubbed beauty!

And the classic Egress carbon chassis, as sexy as ever before.

BRING ON NOVEMBER!!!!

Ooooooooh momma, they’re here!  The rarest parts of the Tamiya Egress are here, fitted and looking TOTALLY awesome…she’s completed! Well, the chassis is completed, but by the Gods that’s a great feeling, and its taken just over 3 months to do it, fantastic!

So, I’ve had a few mails regarding the BF8 (4305247)  & BF9 (4305246) front damper mounts, so before I go on, take a look at the photos’s below, you’ll see my lovely new mounts fitted and looking pretty darn amazing.

Now here comes the big announcement.  These mounts have (no surprise) cost me a small fortune, but not for the reasons you think.  I decided to take a leap of faith and looked into the feasibility of getting them reproduced at a local steel working company…which turned out to be pricey, but just about doable.  The only caveat to that, was that I would need to sell quite a few of them to make my money back.  I’m hoping that this isnt going to be toooooooo hard, as I know folks out there really want these, so hopefully I can shift a few sets on eBay and at least cover my costs.  As you’ll see that they’re as near as dammit to the originals.  There are a couple of microscopic differences to the originals, but I only spot these differences as I have an original set on another Egress to compare them too…and I’m a perfectionist, so I spot everything.  But once mounted, man, you’d never know.

Take a look at the comparisons below:

So please bear with me while the rest are made and when they are, I’ll post them up on here with a link to eBay.  And dont worry, I’m not going to try and shaft everyone with these, I’m simply going to be asking for £8.99 per pair with free shipping.  Which isnt bad to say the originals go for SILLY money when they appear on eBay.  I think the last one I saw was just BF8 and it went for over £30!!!  Crazy.

She’s ALMOST there now! I was waiting for some 3mm spacers for the upper front shock mounts and a metal wheel hub, which have now arrived!  So the only thing that this chassis is missing now is the lower front shock mounts, which will be here next week, wahoooooo!  Oh yeah, and the bodyshell and decals of course ;)

As you’ll see from the photos she’s resting her lower shocker arms on the wishbones, but for the shots, that’ll do nicely.  You’ll also spot that she’s sporting the closest thing to an old school Dynatech I’m willing to pay for, a Sport Tuned motor! Looks beautiful and I can almost convince myself that its a Dynatech ;)  And lastly, look at those beautiful front springs! Oooh momma they’re pretty.  They’re microscopically thicker, and wound up tighter than the originals, but the colour is a perfect match! Nice!

I’ll keep you posted on the BF9 lower shock mounts when all 70 of them turn up :)

I’ve been rather busy since my last post and should have done a few in-between steps really, but I got carried away ;)

Since the last post I’ve almost completed the chassis! And found a out a few handy things regarding hard to find parts too.  Firstly, take a peek at where she is now…

As you can see, she’s almost done now. Just a few bits left to bolt on.

The font end obviously missing the shockers…and the ever elusive BF9 front damper mounts…but I have some news regarding those! More to follow.

And the all important and equally rare, rear wing mount.

So, which parts have I found that are rare? You’ll notice the rear wing mount is now present which was never on the car originally.  This part is actually a genuine Egress mount, but what I have learned is that the Egress’s rear mount is the same as the Top Force Evo (which I’ve just bought myself, that’s how I found out) with the only difference being that there is no bend in the Top Force version…but a vice and hammer would fix that!  So if you’re on the hunt for a rear wing mount for your Egress, grab a Top Force Evo one and bend it yourself.

Front gold coated springs.  Yep, you cant buy these, anywhere as nobody has them, full stop.  The rears are available on eBay, but not the fronts.  Well, in a run of good luck and some random eBay searching, I found that Tamiya still make some springs in EXACTLY the same off gold colour!! They are slightly different in shape, but colour wise they are a perfect match! Photos to follow.

Aaaaand lastly, the dreaded BF9, damper bag exclusive front shocker mounts.  Well, you look around the web and you’ll see, these are THE rarest parts on the car, but I’ve managed to come across not one set, not two sets, but…35! And now your saying ‘how the hell?’ well, watch this space as I’ll reveal all real soon and will be linking to eBay where you can buy a set.

Ok, that’s all for now.

Mike.

This is the first exciting part! Staring to stick the chassis together.  Its only the main two plates, but what the heck, its nice to see some actual progress!

With my new rear carbon mount in hand, it was time to clean up the stabiliser parts and get that looking nice and new.  I pulled this section apart, grabbed the Peek (http://www.tripeek.com/) and started cleaning and polishing.  Man I love Peak, that stuff is the shit.  Just look at the photos below, beeeeautiful.

Shiiiiiiiney, mmmmmm, nice!

Mounted on the fresh new upper chassis deck, this is looking real nice!

In all its glory…man this car is going to be one shiny puppy when she’s done :)

Yep the chassis is in a right old state.  All those years of racing, dirt, grit, oil and abuse have left it rather tattered.  And worst still, the end tip where the under-cowl mount connects to, its snapped.  Arse.

A solid clean up did little to lift it, so I’ve caved in and bought a new one.  Top and bottom pieces, brand new, £25 delivered.  Steep?  Not sure, but damn they look pretty.  Add to this the big Egress parts auction I won, including carbon bits, I’m staring at some lovely new pieces to build this baby back up.  And yes, she’s turning into a veritable money pit…but boy is it fun!!!