Tamiya Ford Mustang GT4

[Tom Geiger]

22 minutes ago, Rob Hall said:

Modern Jeeps have international appeal, 

Absolutely! Which is why Tamiya did at least two of them in the past. Last time u was abroad, in England, nearly all the US vehicles I saw were Jeeps.

[Rob Hall]

1 minute ago, Tom Geiger said:

Absolutely! Which is why Tamiya did at least two of them in the past. Last time u was abroad, in England, nearly all the US vehicles I saw were Jeeps.

Ah, yeah..I recall seeing a lot of Jeeps and Chrysler minivans in the UK, Italy, France on my vacations... also saw a few Sebring convertibles, Neons and Saratoga sedans (Le Barons) 20 years ago... 

[Tom Geiger]

1 minute ago, Rob Hall said:

Ah, yeah..I recall seeing a lot of Jeeps and Chrysler minivans in the UK, Italy, France on my vacations... also saw a few Sebring convertibles, Neons and Saratoga sedans (Le Barons) 20 years ago... 

Yes! Chrysler was predominant as well. Nothing like seeing diesel PT Cruisers. One of the managers at our facility had a Chrysler 300 shooting brake, which I got to ride around in. 

[Rob Hall]

Just now, Tom Geiger said:

Yes! Chrysler was predominant as well. Nothing like seeing diesel PT Cruisers. One of the managers at our facility had a Chrysler 300 shooting brake, which I got to ride around in. 

Cool...I remember back in '00 a few months after getting my blue Grand Cherokee going to the UK and seeing several GCs in the same color, except they are RHD diesels.    I've seen a few of the 300 wagons in France.  Saw the occasional Tahoe and Suburban in Italy and France also. 

[niteowl7710]

On 5/18/2020 at 3:57 PM, Tom Geiger said:

USA is a minuscule market next to the global market, and primarily the Japanese market Tamiya caters to. Note that this kit and other US vehicles they’ve done in the past have that global appeal. 

The U.S. market isn't that miniscule to them, besides the fact we have the only actual functioning international office (Tamiya Europe is a collection of vendors with no central office), we got this kit a full month in advance of the entire rest of the world.  You couldn't even pre-order it in Japan before it was released here as a matter of fact.  

Also while the Mustang itself is the best selling sportscar globally, the GT4 specifically has precisely three chassis (all being run by the same team) in British GT, and Multimatic made a one-off appearance at the Paul Ricard stop of the French FFSA series that was a chassis that was run by their IMSA team and returned back to the U.S. after that one race.  The other 27 or so chassis that were built are all running either IMSA or the GT4 side of what was the Pirelli World Challenge - which I think is currently branded "GT4 America" after Blancpain's title sponsorship with SRO ended and was replaced by Amazon Web Services.

[randyc]

On 5/18/2020 at 4:09 PM, Rob Hall said:

Modern Jeeps have international appeal, I'd love to see Tamiya do a current Grand Cherokee (maybe a Trailhawk or Trackhawk), or a Wrangler or Gladiator...like how they did 25 years ago... and the current Mustang is the top selling sports coupe globally, a street GT or GT350 would be great to see. 

Do you have the original Grand Cherokee that Tamiya did?  It was a nice kit.  I have a builtup I'll probably sell eventually.   Wonder how that one sold for them?  Yeah it would be nice to see some newer US cars kitted by the Asian manufacturers.   They assemble so nicely.

[Rob Hall]

10 minutes ago, randyc said:

Do you have the original Grand Cherokee that Tamiya did?  It was a nice kit.  I have a builtup I'll probably sell eventually.   Wonder how that one sold for them?  Yeah it would be nice to see some newer US cars kitted by the Asian manufacturers.   They assemble so nicely.

Yes, I have it and the Wrangler kits.   It's very nice. 

[stinkybritches]

My Volt Racing decals from Indycals are supposed to be delivered today. I will post a picture after checking them out.

[niteowl7710]

On 5/20/2020 at 9:37 AM, randyc said:

Do you have the original Grand Cherokee that Tamiya did?  It was a nice kit.  I have a builtup I'll probably sell eventually.   Wonder how that one sold for them?  Yeah it would be nice to see some newer US cars kitted by the Asian manufacturers.   They assemble so nicely.

Those 3 Jeep kits were kind of interesting insomuch as they aren't U.S. Spec, but rather European trim.  There was a multi-year period there in the mid to late 90s when Tamiya had handed the development keys to Tamiya Europe in Germany.  

[randyc]

16 hours ago, niteowl7710 said:

Those 3 Jeep kits were kind of interesting insomuch as they aren't U.S. Spec, but rather European trim.  There was a multi-year period there in the mid to late 90s when Tamiya had handed the development keys to Tamiya Europe in Germany.  

Been a long time - not sure if I knew that or not.   Was a nice kit for certain though.  I built it and the Satco/aoshima 4Runner and Pathfinder as well.  All enjoyable builds.   This Mustang looks interesting to me, but hte paint scheme ruins it.  So I'm looking to see if there is a decal set that excites me.  

 

 

[Dave Van]

I have the Indycals Motorcraft decals.....hope he does the Degan car at some point......

[martinfan5]

6 hours ago, Dave Van said:

I have the Indycals Motorcraft decals.....hope he does the Degan car at some point......

 

https://www.indycals.net/decals/lemans/2020fordperflsjmustang.html

[Dave Van]

1 hour ago, martinfan5 said:

https://www.indycals.net/decals/lemans/2020fordperflsjmustang.html

I was NOT checking the Indycals site on purpose!!!! Now that I know they are out there......?

[martinfan5]

11 minutes ago, Dave Van said:

I was NOT checking the Indycals site on purpose!!!! Now that I know they are out there......?

Well sorry then?

[64Comet404]

On 5/14/2020 at 3:53 PM, Jhedir6 said:

Yes, I was always a bit surprised that Tamiya never went after more American cars to sell. NA is a HUGE market, and no disrespect to anyone, but American's love to buy American things. The C8 would be amazing to see as would the Viper. 

We may start seeing more Corvettes from Asian companies now that the C8 is available in RHD. The Viper would be nice, but it may be too late now that it has been discontinued.

[martinfan5]

21 minutes ago, 64Comet404 said:

We may start seeing more Corvettes from Asian companies now that the C8 is available in RHD. The Viper would be nice, but it may be too late now that it has been discontinued.

The Mustang as well is available in RHD now.

[Dave Van]

17 minutes ago, 64Comet404 said:

We may start seeing more Corvettes from Asian companies now that the C8 is available in RHD. The Viper would be nice, but it may be too late now that it has been discontinued.

GM is VERY....VERY different to work with concerning model kits. Ford WANTS a kit made and finds someone willing.....Ford gives lots of data (of back in the day drawings and photos) We got all those Ford road racers from Monogram because Ford wanted them made and Monogram was willing. (didn't hurt Monogram had two die hard Ford guys in control at the time) So while I'd buy a mid engine Vette kit, I'd like a race version over street, but either will find a few in the stash.  

I have not worked with FCA but understand they are not big on models either. 

[64Comet404]

16 hours ago, Dave Van said:

GM is VERY....VERY different to work with concerning model kits. 

I have not worked with FCA but understand they are not big on models either. 

That is why is used the word 'may', instead of 'will'. 

GM is GM, and they have tried their hardest to ignore that they are no longer the masters of the universe they were through the 1970s. Unfortunately, they did not learn humility when they needed to be bailed out by several governments. I don't know as much about FCA, but it's telling that most of the models tooled over the past 20 years were created back in the DaimlerChrysler days.

 

[vintagerpm]

On 5/22/2020 at 4:24 PM, Dave Van said:

I was NOT checking the Indycals site on purpose!!!! Now that I know they are out there......?

Haha! Kind of what happened to me. I was resisting the kit until I saw the Volt decals. Now I have one on the way.

Mike

 

[Dave Van]

1 hour ago, vintagerpm said:

Haha! Kind of what happened to me. I was resisting the kit until I saw the Volt decals. Now I have one on the way.

Mike

 

I will not have to buy another kit unless he does decals for this one.....hint hint.....

[Luc Janssens]

Just saw that today my local store shows it as in stock, one month earlier as they were told by their distributor, Think I'll pass there next week to pick up my reserved copy.

[Rob Hall]

I like this livery...the dark blue is striking.

[niteowl7710]

15 hours ago, Rob Hall said:

I like this livery...the dark blue is striking.

PF was at one point racing three of them across both series.  There's an orange one with Shelby stripes and a hot pink one too.

[Ben Brown]

21 hours ago, vintagerpm said:

Haha! Kind of what happened to me. I was resisting the kit until I saw the Volt decals. Now I have one on the way.

Mike

 

Me too! I was only going to buy the sprue with the wing for another project until I saw the Volt decals. I now have the kit, paint, and decals. I’m trying to force myself to finish my current project before I start the Mustang.

Ben