After a few nice runs at the outdoor RC track in SeaTac, my spur and pinion gears started to shriek, necessitating immediate replacement. Once I arrived home, I called around to see if any shops carry my parts. Unfortunately, I found that the majority don’t. Fantasy World Hobbies in Tacoma, HobbyTown USA in Tukwila and Remote Control Hobbies in Covington do not keep any Tamiya parts in stock. Luckily, I can find the items I need at Galaxy Hobby in Lynnwood and from few key online retailers.
Galaxy Hobby
Galaxy Hobby has a small a selection of Tamiya parts in the aisle and behind the counter. The parts I noticed are generally for the TT-01, TT-02 and XV-01. I was able to find my spur and pinion gears there for immediate purchase. Unfortunately, this shop did not have the hop up parts I was searching for (XV-01 slipper clutch and universal drive shafts).
Online Retailers
Amazon
Although Amazon carries Tamiya parts, most of the suppliers are based in Japan. As a result, you may be waiting for months for your part to arrive. If you can wait, however, the price is often quite a bit lower here. I went ahead and purchased the slipper clutch through this site for $36 total with free shipping, rather than over $50 from other retailers. Since I’m not in a hurry and wanted to save a bit of money on the purchase, this deal worked best for me.
Tower Hobbies
For reasonable prices and quick shipping times, I head over to Tower Hobbies for my Tamiya parts. This site lists most of the stock and upgrade components for my cars. Small parts under $5 ship for free, while larger parts orders are given the $1.99 shipping rate. You can expedite shipping for $4.99 total. There are even one and two day shipping options available for quite a bit more.
Tamiya
You can buy your parts directly from Tamiya, but the listed price sits firmly at retail. You cannot apply discounts on your parts, but you can rest assured you are receiving official factory replacement or upgrade components. Shipping costs vary from region to region and order to order. If your order totals more than $50, however, the parts ship free. I often use this site to confirm part numbers or learn about hop up components I didn’t know even existed.
If you know of any good place to find Tamiya parts, please share them here.
