The Avante Junior (アバンテJr.) is a Mini 4WD car released by Tamiya in 1989. It is based on the famous R/C buggy Avante by the same company. It is also the first to employ the Type-2 Chassis. There's also the Black Special version which is based on the same version of its R/C buggy.
Tamiya would later release the VS Chassis variant known as Avante RS on 2004.
It was first featured in the manga Mini 4 Top as the racing machines for Hayato Takamura and Shuichi Saino. It was also featured in the manga and anime series Dash! Yonkuro as Yonma Yoshimoto's machine and later as a machine for Fujiyama of Team Heavy Metal.
Both the Avante Jr. and its R/C counterpart were also featured together in the manga Moero! Avante Kyoudai as the Ohzora brothers' primary machines, which were joined by Avante 2001s later in the story.
General info
The Avante Junior is the smaller sibling to its R/C buggy counterpart and feature the same body design, from color to decals. It is equipped with the newly-designed slick tires and large-diameter wheels. Unlike its R/C buggy counterpart, the wheels are white instead of yellow.
The RS version lost many of the original decals and are replaced by Tamiya logos and 'RS' marks. It is also equipped with the VS Chassis as opposed to the Type-2 and is equipped with the chromed large-diameter mesh-type wheels akin to that of the RS variant of the Super Astute Jr.
Special variants
Currently there are 3 special variants for the original Avante and 1 special variant for the RS model.
The Black Special has the black bodyshell and has different decals compared to to the original one. It comes with neon pink wheels.
The Special version of the Avante that was released in 1990 has the clear chassis and yellow tires.
The Asia-exclusive Champion's Gold variant has the gold plated bodyshell, neon greee wheels and red tires.
The Bunka-exclusive Avante RS Purple Special has the purple chassis and purple plated bodyshell. Unlike the rest of the Avante models, it was equipped with the purple plated large-diameter 5-spoke lightweight narrow wheels paired with purple arched tires.
About the Avante 1/10 R/C buggy
TAMIYA RC Avante (filmed in 1988)
The original Avante R/C buggy promotional video.
Released in 1988, the Avante 1/10 scale R/C buggy is the most advanced R/C buggy to be released by Tamiya at that time.
It features the double-deck fiber-reinforced-plastic chassis supported by four independent, adjustable multi-link, double-wishbone suspension that has been matched with the aluminum oil dampers. The use of an electronic speed controller is required, a first for a Tamiya R/C buggy.
The 530 motor and battery are both placed in a longitudinal position on the left and right side of the middle of the chassis respectively. It has a Mabuchi-made RX-540VZ Technigold motor. There's a center differential which distributes torque to both front and rear differentials which was then distributes power to all four wheels.
The Avante was intended to be more customizable than any other R/C buggy at the time. However, it suffers a lot of problems; The aluminum suspension and front knuckle parts are fragile, the front suspension can bottom out and its handling was subpar when compared to the other R/C buggies. Some of those problems was later fixed with the releases of new models based on the Avante, including the Vanquish, Egress and Avante 2001.
Tamiya RC Avante (2011)
The Avante (2011) promotional video.
Tamiya would later release the renewal version of Avante in 2011 which fixed the aforementioned problems. Some of those improvements were also carried over to the re-release of Egress, as well as the new Vajra R/C truggy. (which has the same chassis as the re-release of Egress)
In the manga
Shouichi, the older of the Ohzora brothers, brought the Avante R/C buggy using his savings (as the Avante itself is very expensive). Upon seeing the R/C buggy, Shouichi's younger brother Fuuta brought the Avante Jr. himself. Together, they were the Avante brothers.
Later in the series, Shouchi's Avante was crushed by the wood pipes while saving the uncontrollable 2001 test car from it. Although his Avante was busted, many of its salvaged parts were used in his new Avante 2001 R/C buggy, which was modified from said test car. (This is despite the fact that he already has a Avante 2001 that was scratch built.)
Technical info
Length: 128 mm (Normal/Black Special), 145 mm (RS)
Width: 86 mm (Normal/Black Special)
Height: 50 mm (Normal/Black Special/RS)
Chassis: Type-2 Chassis (Normal/Black Special), VS Chassis (RS)
Gear Set(s): 5:1 and 4.2:1 (Normal/Black Special), 4:1 (RS)
Gallery
Boxarts
Images
Trivia
- The Avante Jr. has the most variants and sucessors that were based on it.
- It is one of the two Avante Mini 4WD cars (The other is Aero Avante) that introduce the new chassis.
- It was chosen to be a cover car for the 2012 season of Tamiya Japan Cup temporarily before it was replaced by the Aero Avante.
- The later re-issues of the Avante Jr. has its decal design changed due to trademark issues. This is also true for its RC buggy counterpart.
See also
Avante series
Related
External links
- Avante Jr. on Tamiya official website
- Avante Jr. Black Special on Tamiya official website (Japanese)
- Avante RS on Tamiya official website
- Bunka hobby product page (Japanese)