This car is a model of the popular 'Aero Avante'.  The base body colour is blue as are some of the accessories provided such as the spinners, with a standard black chassis.

As with all 'starter packs' and 'advanced packs' that Tamiya produce as well as the basic car kit you also get a pack of additional upgrade (sometimes call 'hop up') parts and an uprated motor as opposed to the box standard 130 type. 

These upgrades are entirely optional and you don't have to use them on the car in this kit.  In fact in some ways purchasing these kits can be a very cost effective way of getting upgrade parts to be applied to other kits that use the same chassis type.

• Body: ABS plastic
• Chassis: AR
• Motor: Upgraded 130 with a single shaft which transmits power using a prop shaft to gears on both axles.

Myself I used some of the upgrade parts that comes as standard with this 'starter pack' including the carbon fibre stays (think bumpers) and screws, nuts and the balls on top of the posts.  Naturally, I also used the supplied upgraded motor.

To this I added some 3rd party aluminium parts including the spinners (with integral ball-races), spacers and aluminium wheels.

I still need to paint/decorate the body to finish this model off which I will do in time... 

23/07/2025 - Added this new model to my collection.  Will be updated when constructed.

**22/08/25 - Update** I've now constructed this model, very nice it is indeed.

• Body: ABS
• Chassis: Type II
• Motor: Stock 130 with a single shaft and prop shaft which transmits power to gears on each axle.

I found it had a few features I wasn't expecting for this kit, even though a 'Black Special'.  To start with the chassis and parts sprue is manufactured using ABS Resin which makes it stronger and stiffer but without adding any appreciable weight.  Also you get provided as standard with not just the usual 4.2:1 standard gears, but also optional 5.1:1 faster gears if you want to fit them.  I've not seen this on any other kits to date but its a welcome addition especially if you intend to mod the model and would have gone buying faster gear sets to replace the standard one.  The body is moulded in a translucent black ABS material which is nice and the stickers instead of the normal paper type are printed on clear plastic so they look much nicer and follow contours on the model easier.

Here we have another version of the Avante, this time a Mk III model designated 'Azure'.  This is a special edition with a clear polycarbonate body.

• Body: Polycarbonate plastic
• Chassis: MS
• Motor: Stock 130 with a dual shafts each which transmits power directly to gears on each axle.

So far I've only constructed and tested the basic chassis until I decide if I'm going to complete the model as a 'box' version or modify it using various upgrade parts.

Similarly I also need to decide on the colour scheme for the body, however as the car is designated 'Azure' I will probably opt for a blue colour of some sort.

30/09/2025 - 

Here we have another version of the Avante, Mk III model in a 'Red Special' form

• Body: Polycarbonate plastic
• Chassis: MS
• Motor: Light Dash Pro 130 with a dual shafts each which transmits power directly to gears on each axle.

This is the latest Tamiya 'advanced kit' version of the ever popular Avante race car.  Based on a bright red version of the MS chassis this is a nice overall design.  Personally I'm more a fan of the MS and MA chassis than I am of the VZ although I appreciate the latter is very popular due to its customisation options and low weight.

Being an 'advanced kit' this one like the VQS before it comes with a whole host of hop up parts.  The first and most obvious ones are the 'light dash pro' motor instead of a standard '130 pro', this delivers some additional performance and gives you something to build on.  As do the low profile Super Hard tyres, although they missed a chance and shipped it with just plain red wheels rather than some carbon fibre enhanced ones or a nice red plated set which would would have been nice.

In the extra bag you also get a bunch of carbon fibre stays as well as some low friction plastic spinners, front and rear weights and other hop up parts.

For my build I left off the additional plastic bumpers and used the carbon fibre stays directly onto the front and rear modules.  I also replaced the plastic spinners with red aluminium ones and topped the posts with red aluminium balls.

One other little change which I've not seen before on Tamiya kits is the usual plastic 'exhaust pipe clip' which secures the body onto the chassis has been replaced with a small specially shaped rubber clip.  This is very welcome as when you upgrade to the carbon fibre stays etc... and leave the plastic bumpers off you end up with very little room to fit the normal style clips on and you have to resort to something else which this rubber clip fits the  bill perfectly, although even that is a little fiddly to fit.

Overall I think this is a lovely looking model as well as one that is very adept on the track once you hop it up.  Get one while you can before the price starts to creep up as usual and they start to go out of stock from your favourite dealer...

22/08/2025 - Added this new model to my collection.  Will be updated when constructed.

Here we have another version of the Avante, Mk III model in a 'Red Special' form

• Body: Polycarbonate plastic
• Chassis: MS
• Motor: Stock 130 with a dual shafts each which transmits power directly to gears on each axle.

Bit of a delayed update, I've since constructed this kit, nice build although the display on the box cover is a bit incorrect as the tyres supplied are actually yellow in colour.  Although even if this was a bit naughty on the part of Tamiya I think it was probably a good decision as I think aesthetically the design is much nicer with the yellow tyres.

Performance is what you would expect for an MS chassis, fairly fast, quiet and with the low centre of gravity is actually a nice model even built as stock box which is what I did with mine - at least for now, I may update/upgrade it later.

21/07/2025 - Added this new model to my collection.  Will be updated when constructed.

• Body: Polycarbonate plastic
• Chassis: VS
• Motor: Stock 130 with a single shaft and prop shaft which transmits power to gears on each axle.

This is another of Tamiya's excellent starter packs which gives you a car as well as a bundle of upgrade parts as standard allowing you to dip your toe into the world of modifying your Mini-4WD cars.

• Body: ABS plastic
• Chassis: MA
• Motor: Upgraded 130 with a dual shafts each which transmits power directly to gears on each axle

So far I've constructed and tested the basic chassis until I decide if I'm going to complete the model as a 'box' version or modify it using the included and/or additional upgrade parts.

Similarly I also need to decide on the colour scheme for the body, I'm still undecided on the base colour, but want something colourful and will probably use the stickers as they are pretty nice metallic type.

**Update 1/9/25 **

Like the Cartoon Cat racer, this model is again a serious racing model except it uses the VS chassis rather than the Super II as used in the Cat version.  Again it features super hard racing tyres so is intended to still potentially be competitive.

The colour scheme on this car is very nice in my opinion with a good balance between the green, yellow and white components.

This like the cat racer is currently stock box build, but still has the potential to have hop ups applied at a later time.

This model looks quite a bit like some of the other cartoon styled cars that Tamiya produces and as such fits into this group in my collection very nicely indeed!

It comes like most (if not all) cartoon themed cars with super hard tyres and a nice sticker set.

Having decided that this model like its sibling from 2024 is going to be uprated I decided to add ball race bearings to the wheel axles and the differential gear.  I also decided to swap out the standard 130 motor for an Ultra Dash motor.

I've not yet decided upon the final upgrades to be added, but will update the images with some of the hopped up car when its done.

This car deviates from the other cartoon racers currently in my collection and instead of opting for an off-road buggy type look has instead gone for a speedster type look.

This has been produced in a primarily red and white colour scheme, including the driver model which is a primarily white  character with separately painted details such as the eyes etc...  In this instance I decided to deliberately 'hop up' the car as it is quite an attractive model anyway.  I replaced the original white 'dish' type wheels with some nice green plated wheels with a 5 spoke sweep design (so be careful to get the correct wheel on the correct corner so that the patten rotates correctly.

I also added some new and different red carbon fibre stays (not using the supplied plastic bumpers) then added some green aluminium spinners, and spacers along with red aluminium post stoppers.  The engine was similarly upgraded to an Ultra Torque type making it a very fast car which can be tweaked further to make truly competitive.

13/10/2025 - This truly beautiful new kit was designed and released by Tamiya to commemorate 30 years of Mini-4wd racing in Korea.

• Body: ABS
• Chassis: FM-A
• Motor:  Rev Tuned 2 Korea 30th Anniversary with a single shaft and prop shaft which transmits power to gears on each axle.

This was a must anticipated car which I was very eager to get after having seen and ordered it a week or so before from RCJaz.

The special Rev Tuned 2 motor was supplied as standard with the kit as were the low profile light blue super hard tyres with the 30th anniversary slogan printed on their rims.

As a first for me I decided to add sliding stays to the front and rear of the car. These are designed to absorb any initial impact from hitting the track walls for example when you enter a corner.  They then straighten up the car's travel using the built in spring.  To make them more robust, but at the same time keep the weight reasonable these are made of aircraft grade aluminium.  I added some 13mm red aluminium spinners to front and rear and topped off the front poles with high level stabilisers and the rear with UFO style spinners.  Both the stabilisers and the UFO's are intended to help ease the car back into the track if for example you hit a jump and as you land the top edge of the posts would foul the wall if you had standard spinners located on them.  This way the theory goes that combined with the sliding stays you should end up always finding a way down onto the track within the walls rather than crashing out.

Future updates will be to include some mass weights once I decide where they are needed, I'm currently waiting on (no pub intended!) on some narrow mass weights specifically for this purpose.

24/07/2025 - Here I have another interesting special edition kit from Tamiya.  In this instance it is the Japan Cup 2025 winner based on a 'Cross Spear 01' kit.

• Body: ABS
• Chassis: VZ
• Motor:  Standard 130 with a single shaft and prop shaft which transmits power to gears on each axle.

From day one I decided this kit was going to have 'hop up' parts added to make this into a true racer bearing in mind the heritage it is representing.  So on this basis I did not fit the standard plastic front and rear bumpers, instead opting to mount carbon fibre stays directly onto the VZ chassis using the bumper mounting points.

I then added dual aluminium spinners to the front outer posts and some medium mass weights to the middle of the front stay.

Extra carbon fibre stays were attached to the side mounting points to allow some blue aluminium mass weights to be added to give some centre body stability and finally in terms of mass weights I added  a single medium bar to the read upper stay.

A pair of 13mm blue aluminium spinners were added to the rear stays along with some aluminium spacers.  Finally all posts were topped off with red aluminium balls for safety and also to act as small stabilisers if the top of any track walls were hit when taking air.

The motor was uprated to an atomic rev tuned 2 motor with a carbon reinforced pinion gear, carbon fibre differential gear with ball race of course as are the axles which were swapped out for reinforced 60mm ones.

I didn't paint this car, but wished I had after I'd finished it as getting those little orange strut stickers in place was a true pain, won't make that mistake again!!

I also left the driver white and just added his visor sticker, after all I'm sure the Stig prefers to look that way.

This all makes for a pretty fast and stable car.  About the only components not uprated were the wheels which were organge to match the body colour scheme and came fitted as standard with low profile super hard tyres.