Pretty lousy quality for $250.00

[Diamond Dave]

I agree, and I ordered mine. The down side of this is that my LHS got screwed by Tower/GP and we have not seen any here yet.

Anyone got a lead on a few kits? I will take a couple, if not three. I am looking forward to the tooling and fitment of the parts.

The fact that we can use today's BL motors and lipo's will make it a breeze to run and maintain. I have a few brushed motors and some period correct ESC's for the second runner as well.

I will be the owner of a few new ones soon. I hope.

[toyranosaur]

Qualitywise, my opinion, completely unimpressed. The 'Part of the Fun' is BS, an original kit was better- Its faults were due to 30 year old technology. No excuse now: What, folks are seriously thinking (And saying) AE purposely made imprecise parts, bad anodizing, bad chassis stamping/bending/countersinking, missing parts, etc. to appeal to 'Experienced Racers and Builders', to replicate the OG experience? Gimme a break: If you really believe that, how nice life must be for you.

I would rather have it than not, but that's about the best thing I can say about it. AE is only a company, not a deity, and my loyalty can be a capricious thing. If they're QC-passing these with so many very large (And many unfixable and/or cosmetic) issues, it will be my last AE product: If they want my business, they must earn it with reasonable quality and not expect blind purchases based on a company name, nor a feverish desire to go back in time. Sorry Chaps, no one is less happy about this post than myself. Takes the fun out of the build & introduces excessive work- Trimming, reaming, fitting, etc. is one thing and IS 'Part of the Fun", but having badly formed parts require re-anodizing and the like is not. Chris REC

[SteveK]

Qualitywise, my opinion, completely unimpressed. The 'Part of the Fun' is BS, an original kit was better- Its faults were due to 30 year old technology. No excuse now: What, folks are seriously thinking (And saying) AE purposely made imprecise parts, bad anodizing, bad chassis stamping/bending/countersinking, missing parts, etc. to appeal to 'Experienced Racers and Builders', to replicate the OG experience? Gimme a break: If you really believe that, how nice life must be for you.

I would rather have it than not, but that's about the best thing I can say about it. AE is only a company, not a deity, and my loyalty can be a capricious thing. If they're QC-passing these with so many very large (And many unfixable and/or cosmetic) issues, it will be my last AE product: If they want my business, they must earn it with reasonable quality and not expect blind purchases based on a company name, nor a feverish desire to go back in time. Sorry Chaps, no one is less happy about this post than myself. Takes the fun out of the build & introduces excessive work- Trimming, reaming, fitting, etc. is one thing and IS 'Part of the Fun", but having badly formed parts require re-anodizing and the like is not. Chris REC

+1

[knixdad]

Qualitywise, my opinion, completely unimpressed. The 'Part of the Fun' is BS, an original kit was better- Its faults were due to 30 year old technology. No excuse now: What, folks are seriously thinking (And saying) AE purposely made imprecise parts, bad anodizing, bad chassis stamping/bending/countersinking, missing parts, etc. to appeal to 'Experienced Racers and Builders', to replicate the OG experience? Gimme a break: If you really believe that, how nice life must be for you.

I would rather have it than not, but that's about the best thing I can say about it. AE is only a company, not a deity, and my loyalty can be a capricious thing. If they're QC-passing these with so many very large (And many unfixable and/or cosmetic) issues, it will be my last AE product: If they want my business, they must earn it with reasonable quality and not expect blind purchases based on a company name, nor a feverish desire to go back in time. Sorry Chaps, no one is less happy about this post than myself. Takes the fun out of the build & introduces excessive work- Trimming, reaming, fitting, etc. is one thing and IS 'Part of the Fun", but having badly formed parts require re-anodizing and the like is not. Chris REC

I must of gotten lucky, my anodizing is good, nothing was really warped or messed up. I did spend time shimming and sanding arms and steering but I always do that, from rebuilds to new 22s to re-re Tamiyas.

My biggest gripe with the whole kit was the rear shock spacer error and honestly, that's minor in my book. For a novice it introduce a wear and fail item into the rear that should not be present, but whatever. I rebuilt the shocks three times before I was happy. I showed my boys why I was doing it, how I could tell it was hitting, what it would do in the long run. That was worth the trouble alone.

Is it perfect? No. Is it truly worse than other kits out there at the same price point? I would say it's little pricey but for a limited edition item it's not too bad. Look at the price of an Avante.

[jwscab]

I would bet that since they had to make all new molds, that they need to revisit each on to tweak the designs. I'm sure the originals started as drawings and then the mold makers 'tweaked' the dimensions as the production occurred, maybe very early in the process, maybe not. With a so called limited number of units being built, maybe the newer parts will be improved as they make the new spare parts. Maybe they haven't made enough to get a statistical analysis showing they need to tweak a hole diameter, or width of c-hub.

i don't actually see anything REALLY wrong with any of the complaints so far, other than the tub stampings being pretty wide in QC acceptance. could be from the fact that they made so many, and weren't spending any more capital on more, so the 'scrap' pile was artificially low. minor fitting of molded plastic parts is common, and why make tolerance zero-plus when you already know the dimension is part of a wearing joint and will just get sloppier?

I'm not defending poor quality on AE's part in any way, I'm just saying it's really NICE to say your parts are plus minus zero, but that's not real world mass production. You don't really know the how's and why's of the manufacturing process and limitations. I'd also believe it if some of the problems are due to them trying to get these product built quickly and out the door.

Just to give you some more information, nylon parts are very 'soft' as well as hydroscopic, which means they can and will move around and change dimensions with temperature and humidity.

[GoMachV]

I don't know about everyone else but this is the first associated car I have built that I didn't need to ream the hinge pin holes. I did have to play with the caster blocks as they were warped, but all my pins fit great. The anno was blotchy in places but it didn't put me off, as the anno on the old chassis was bad as well.

To me the biggest disappointment is the instruction manual as it's lacking the feel of the old manual. It's silly that shock spacers were overlooked and same with the shock tower holes- they were both present on the original kit, someone overlooked it. You have to figure they built a few kits, did nobody notice? The attention to detail was lacking.

There again, they did give is screw holes and screws for the lights...that's a nice touch

Also glad to see no suicide cable for lipos hahahaha

[RichieRich]

Guys, we're not dealing with precision surgical instruments here. We're not out saving the world or lives for that matter with these cars. If you get a subpar part, call AE and get a replacement. It's not rocket science. Why the incessant whining about having to do a little filing or making a phone call? How do you react to adversity in "real" life? Stand around and bitch about it or do something about it?

[marlo]

How do you react to adversity in "real" life? Stand around and bitch about it

Well..............being a union man, we do tend to do that a lot.

[Charlie don't surf]

I kinda understand the idea of voicing your opinion on the "flaws" and all, but I can't believe this is still going- is everyone taking estrogen pills? Is you wife sick of listening to you about how AE "wronged" you?

Man-up, break out some tools, use your caveman brain to figure it out. Too bad they left 30 year old technology as it was, because 75% of us figured this car out when we were kids....so what's the problem doing it now?

[mikea96]

I think the funnest part of building something like this is making everything fit just right and work nice and smooth! And as others have said just call AE if a part is not useable and they will replace it.

[clm]

Manufacturer defects like the warped parts are one thing... but expecting a 30 year old design to fall together like a modern Tamiya kit is another. They could have re engineered everything to be perfect fit, those parts likely would not be direct bolt on replacements to the vintage cars then however. They will likely make their money on replacement parts for older cars instead of the already sold out kits however.

What we got is what we got because the parts were designed to bolt onto that 30 year old kit so they could make some money selling parts. If the parts were different and didn't fit those kits... then there would be some complaining going on... well that is other then just about the phrase 'new vintage'

Chris - happy with his box of parts designed to fit onto a 30 year old buggy that just happens to be able to be assembled into a car

[Charlie don't surf]

Well, at least i've only read (3) complaints about the silicon shock oil....being non-AE CSC approved or something-

[JK Racing]

DAMN YOU SILICON SHOCK OIL!!


Having built one last night, I have NO/ZERO complaints. I like it the way it is. Pics later.

[toyranosaur]

YOU GUYS GOT SHOCK OIL?!? Just kiddin' on that one.....Chris REC

[GoMachV]

I didn't even open mine. I used motor oil like the good old days