Q: Whats the difference in optional parts?

I'm currently building this kit:
http://www.hlj.com/product/TAM24258

The kit comes with optional parts, break disks being one of those. The blue prints indicate what set of breaks need to be applied and indicates the other set is not going to be used. Then why were they provided? Size and a protruding center area are the differences. The optional (not used) break disks are smaller and its center protrudes about a millimeter more than the breaks the blue prints ask to use. Will using the optional breaks cause the wheel to stick out because of its protruding center area? Will the breaks indicated to be used allow you to align the wheel to the car's fender? Or are those spare breaks there in case you goof it up on the first set? What, if anything, would the end result be if I use the optional break disks?

I'd appreciate any help you guys can offer and thanks for taking the time to read my thread.

The most common reasons extra parts like that are included in a kit are because there are multiple versions of the same basic car, and it is easier to add a new parts tree to the box and leave a few redundant parts on the old tree than it is to make an entirely new parts tree just for that specific kit. I believe that kit has some optional wheels as well, might they be for that?

Two other examples from this from Tamiya are the Lancer Evo VI rally car and the 911 Carrera GT3. The Lancer is nothing more than the Evo V kit with new front and rear bumpers, and a raised gravel suspension & new wheels and tires. Tamiya left the original suspension and wheels in the box. On the GT3, most, if not all, of the parts to build the regular 911 kit are still in the box as well.

for your information and have checked hobbysearch, u get both normal smooth brake disks and drilled ventilated disks, choice of twin exhaust or large single, nismo wheels as well as standard wheels, and different spoiler supports

it doesnt matter what parts you use when your building it, the wheels will be within the bodyshell, i suppose the pins inside the wheels may be deeper or shallower - ie the standard wheels curves inwards, and the nismo wheels are straight (flat)? have a look

i have bought both the 911 carrera and the 911 gt3 with the extra parts and have built them both, with different suspension and wheels, and also have both (unbuilt) f40 competizione and skyline z-tune, both come with extra brake disks and wheels and a few other bits.
theres also the volvo 850 saloon/estate, honda civic both road and racing versions with different wheels and suspension and also every single rally cars tamiya made

dont worry about it, the parts are there to build the particular kit as described

A perfect example of this is Revell's new Corvette C6 and C6 Z06. These are two separate kits; the regular C6 was built first. The Z06 is different because it has a fixed roof, different wheels, a different displacement engine (visible difference is the fuel rail covers), different steering wheel, bigger brakes, different exhaust, and of course a different body. Revell made the C6 first with no extra parts. Then, they decided to make the Z06. They molded a new body, and made two new parts trees of Z06-specific parts. Then, they just took C6 kits, removed the bodies, and stuck the Z06 stuff in. You get both styles of wheels, both sizes of brakes, a roof panel, both styles of fuel rail covers, both steering wheels, both exhaust systems, both sets of exhaust manifolds, both oil pans; all extras. But it was much cheaper to make some extra plastic then to completely redesign their molds to make Z06-only kits. They had to cast a new body as is!

With the Nismo R34 GT-R kit, you can use any combination of wheel and disk/hub assemblies you want. In the kit, two wheels (stock and Nismo LM-GT4) are identical in size--the width is 13mm, and the depth to the base of the pin inside the wheel is 10mm. The optional vented disk/hub assemblies (part E-3, 4, 6 and 7) have a thinner hub, but the backside where it's glue to the upright is thicker to avoid any changes to the track width, so the wheels will neither stick out nor sit inward regardless of which wheel you use.

The optional brake disks sit further out from the center, but that won't interfere with the stock wheels either, so pick whichever combination you like, and you are safe.

With the Nismo R34 GT-R kit, you can use any combination of wheel and disk/hub assemblies you want. In the kit, two wheels (stock and Nismo LM-GT4) are identical in size--the width is 13mm, and the depth to the base of the pin inside the wheel is 10mm. The optional vented disk/hub assemblies (part E-3, 4, 6 and 7) have a thinner hub, but the backside where it's glue to the upright is thicker to avoid any changes to the track width, so the wheels will neither stick out nor sit inward regardless of which wheel you use.

The optional brake disks sit further out from the center, but that won't interfere with the stock wheels either, so pick whichever combination you like, and you are safe.

Wow! How do you always know all this stuff??? :eek:
I can barely ever remember anything about the kit I'm currently building :banghead:

I don't know it. I don't memorize it either. I just happen to have the kit in my room so I measured those parts.:)

I don't know it. I don't memorize it either. I just happen to have the kit in my room so I measured those parts.:) Ahh.... so in fact, it's a syptom of the "I've Got a Hugely Large, Mega Olympic-Sized Stash" syndrome :lol:

Plus the fact your just a nice guy who takes time to help people out with their questions ;)

Hey guys thanks a whole lot for clearing all this up. However, this time I think I have a tricky question for you. I built this kit here....

http://www.hlj.com/product/AOS03480

.... early last year and it came with only Japanese instructions. It was my first Aoshima kit with Japanese only instuction so I had to sit and study it closely. I managed to figure out what gets painted what or where the decals get applied. However, after finishing the model I had about an entire tree with parts still attached to them. I have the tree in front of me right now but the letter on the corner of the tree has been cut off. Basically piece #28 looks like it gets attached at the rear of the chassis and piece #4 is a substitute of the original piece that holds the front break disks together and rotates them together. But i remember setting them side by side and noticed this piece (#4) was shorter than the piece the instructions say to use. I means theres a whole lot of pieces left over on this tree. Its hard to describe because the majority are tiny and/or round shaped, and I dont have a clue what they are or could be. End result was alright. I would have liked the ride a bit lower from behind. The front of the car looks lower than the rear. Did any of you guys build this kit? If so, do you know what those left over parts were for. Its been over a year since i built it and im still curious as to what they were for.

Again, thanks for your help and time spent adding to this thread.

If you used correct parts shown in each step of instruction, you're ok. There's a chance that you might have used wrong parts of similar shape, but that's nothing to do with the language the instruction is written.

The extra parts are most likely be used for variations of the Skyline kit you have. It's very expensive to make a mold, so it makes more business sense to tool as many parts as possible on one mold at a time. (Extra plastic costs few cents more while a new mold would cost several thousand dollars more!)

Say, there's a street version of a certain subject, and the manufacturer want to produce a race version later. The company will probably make new mold for aero parts, stripped-down interior, race wheel and tires, etc., and just add them to the existing street version kit, instead of tooling a brand-new mold just for the race version.


For example, Fujimi's Z432 kit has butt-load of extra, because it's got two sets of clear parts from their existing short and long nose Z kits, plus extra wheels and a complete set of L24 engine.