Tamiya Vajra

The Vajra (58497) is a somewhat confusing release from Tamiya.  It arrived after the Avante 2011 (58489) and was generally looked at by most critics as a poor attempt to utilize the Avante chassis for the basis of a truck platform.  Priced higher than the Avante 2011, for both MSRP and street, it was viewed as a failed attempt by Tamiya to capture the short course crowd, if in fact that was what Tamiya hoped to achieve.  The use of plastic in many places where metal was found on the Avante kit further reinforced the viewpoint of a fragile chassis design, which was already a criticism of the Avante chassis.  While the Avante 2011 chassis was made stronger than the original through the use of machined parts and carbon fiber, it is still considered more fragile than other popular off-road chassis used in competition today.  Using the chassis for a truck with large wheels and tires seemed rather far-fetched.  Many critics also disliked the body styling which was based on the Super Levant. And then there is the name: Vajra. What?  The name does not roll off the tongue as easily as the Frog, Hornet, Avante or Bruiser.

To a degree, I agreed with most of the critical viewpoints.  The Vajra was certainly not on my wishlist of kits to buy, at least not when considering the exorbitant price that Tamiya was asking.  Still, the fact that it was based on the Avante chassis did have some intrigue.  It could be fun to bash around (lightly!) for some fun, if it was cheaper.  A lot cheaper.  

Enter rcmart.com.  Someone happened to mention on TamiyaClub that Dinball (rcmart.com) was having a sale on the Vajra. It was almost exactly half what Tower Hobbies wanted.  While it could be argued that even that price should not be considered "cheap", it was definitely more interesting at that price point.  Even with super coupons and free shipping, Tower could not come close to the Dinball price, even after adding on the shipping cost from Hong Kong.   At first I ignored the impulse to buy it, but over the next few days I kept going back to the site, adding the kit to my cart, computing shipping, going through the check out steps, and then bailing at the last second because I would start to have second thoughts.   Shipping was rather expensive, after all.  After the third time of doing this I finally relented by clicking on the Confirm Order button.

Three days later, I had it in hand.  EMS shipping is fast.

Ball diffs are included, but no torque splitter

No blister packs.  These stickers are the bonus item.

There are two large plastic bags full of parts.  One bag is placed under the front of the polycarbonate body, and the other bag is on the outside.  The wheels are under the rear of the body, with the tires on the outside.  The chassis plates, manual, and stock kit decals are on the bottom while the bonus decals are on the top, along with a large plastic parts tree and manual erratum regarding shock assembly.

Inner foams are already installed in the tires

These are the standard decals

Carbon fiber upper and lower plates (2mm thickness) plus antenna tube

GT Tuned motor is included, but no special label

Maybe I have a soft spot for unpopular kits.  After all, my first Tamiya was a Super Champ which many people dislike, and my most recent restoration was a Saint Dragon, also very low on the popularity scale, at least in the US.

Still, I predict this will be a very enjoyable build.  I have not yet built my Avante 2011, and in fact I may build this kit first.