I Just received this new beauty from RCJaz, I'd not mentioned it coming because I only ordered it a couple of days ago and figured there would be no chance of it getting here before Christmas.   I present the 'Heat Edge' IAB Studio Special, based on the 'Heat Edge' model with an MA chassis which normally produces a Le Mans 24 hour style car.   This one has been modified to include a transparent body with a slight purple tinge and comes with some specials as standard such as super hard tyres, an Atomic 2 Tuned motor and a bright yellow parts sprue with black wheels and chassis. Overall a cool looking car and limited edition at that.   Here's some pics of the kit, look forwards to building this one!

Literally just dropped off by the courier in the last half hour I have my 'Raizzan' kit which features the new split body design (basic body with removable panels) as well as the new ME type chassis.   This chassis is like the MA and MS a chassis that has the batteries running either side of a dual shafted motor that drives each axle directly through gearing. As such it carries the same 'Pro' label as the MA & MS chassis models.

Full details on my 'Events' page, and although somewhat short notice if you can make it this looks like it could be a blast of a meeting.  Just before Christmas as well this could really make your holidays!!

Now in stock at RCJaz the new Raizzan model kit with the new ME type chassis and new style body kit that allows you to decide which body panels to fit giving you different design options.  Get them while you can as this is likely to prove popular.

Today's arrival is the limited edition "Year of the Horse 2026" buggy complete of course with the Horse driver.     Bit of an interesting colour/decal scheme this one. It has a white chassis with gold'ish coloured parts to finish it.  The body is red which seems to be a tradition with the 'Year of the...' models as this is my 3rd one and they have all been red so far - although I believe on new years the tradition is to give gifts in red envelopes so...   It has a beautiful set of rims in a nice gold plate and the tyres are unusual in that they are translucent white, even more curiously there are stickers to go on the rims under the tyres so you can read the slogans "Year of the Horse 2926" and "Happy New Year" through the tyres.  The only downside is they are relatively soft tyres so maybe not the best for racing.  But Tamiya may have chosen this type of tyre as if they had gone Super Hard like with the other "Year of..." models I have the tyre would likely have damaged the sticker when getting them on the rims or maybe couldn't be translucent, who knows.   The rest of the decorations are a mix of red/white/silver/gold.   I intend to build the kit in the next day or two so expect some pictures of the finished kit then

Here's a heads up on a new limited edition release on RCJaz today. It is the 'Hong Kong Racing Taxi' which is based on the normal HK release of the Red/White Hong Kong Racing Taxi. But this limited edition model is made in conjunction with 'Waigo Hobby' and is made in a very striking bright Green, Yellow and White colour scheme including yellow tyres carrying the names 'Waigo Hobby' and 'Tamiya Mini-4wd' printed on the sides of them.

So, you live in the UK, you've gone to the effort of locating any buying some mini-4wd cars from either the few UK sites that carry them, or you've imported some from Asia.  But, like most people in the UK you don't have any access to a circuit as the UK Tamiya official distributor doesn't offer these items in the UK.

I've just come across the new Korean Cup Mach Frame kit on RCJaz.co.uk at a pretty reasonable price.  This kit features as previous versions of the Mach Frame model an FM-A chassis, but in addition to some special wheels etc...  However, it also comes with two different coloured body's as well as two sticker sets so you have some choice over the implementation even if you only go the stock box route.  Here's a direct link to the kit while it is still in stock; Philipine Cup Mach Frame Kit

Following on from other recent announcements we get to hear about a new car & chassis type.  This new car is called the 'Raizzan' and is a GT/Super Car type body.  One of the main changes here is that it comes with a black smoked colour body and the optional body panels which result in a dual Translucent Black and Cherry Red  body.  There are other new features as well which are detailed in the description below I found, although this is possibly of course always open to change as the release approaches.

You may recall a little while back there was a discussion about display cases for our lovely little cars. Well at the time I sourced an acrylic case made specifically for the Mini-4wd's from Ali, it was as you'd expect flat packed, assembled fairly easy and looked reasonably ok. However coming in at around £25 delivered was quite a pricey solution just for displaying 6 cars.   So, I've still been looking and have found a possible alternative that is far more cost effective and actually is better in many ways. It is available on Amazon.co.uk and is designed originally to be used by cafe's etc... to display pastries etc... It has 3 shelves, plus the bottom of the cabinet so effectively 4 shelves. Each of these is big enough to house 3 Mini-4wd side by side facing forwards, and quite possibly 4 per shelf if placed side on and 2 deep. Of course in this configuration you may need something to lift up the two rear ones a bit so they are viewed better, but I've not decided yet. It also has a door with a handle which is held closed by miniature magnets. This cabinet cost me around the same as the one from Ali.   I've also enhanced it by adding some lighting, this is in the form of miniature LED lights which are contained in little chromed steel tubes. They are twisted to turn them on and off. To secure them in place I've glued some small Neodymium magnets to the top of the shelves (and top plate) and the magnets hold the lights in place below the shelf. This allows you to get them out easily to turn them on and off or if needed replace the batteries. This works very well and illuminates my beloved cars very nicely as you can see in the pictures attached. Hope this gives you all some ideas...

For a change I've got some new non-Tamiya Mini-4wd car kits to add to my collection.  These are generally special editions that are probably based on older Tamiya releases which have passed me by before I got into the hobby.  So although not genuine Tamiya's they 'do the job' at least for display purposes.  This time I have 6 new cars, 3 from Da Xing and 3 from Jiepen.  The Da Xing are usually pretty good quality so I have no concerns about those.  My experience of Jiepen is limited to one car in the past and although I eventually did build it correctly it was when I first started the hobby and the very poor instructions you get with the Jiepen kits did hamper my ability to complete it quickly.  Now I'm familiar with most of the Tamiya chassis types it should not be such a problem, but we'll have to see as the instructions have definitely not improved.  Instead of a booklet like you get with any other brand I've ever had all you get are sparse instructions printed on the bottom of the box with similar for the decals printed on the bottom inside of the box.  Not great, especially for beginners...