PB Diamond

And the PB roll continues.

This particular example is a PB Diamond, the last 1/8 on road car produced by the PB company. From what I understand, the Diamond was the longest standing model in the PB range.

The model itself was elaborately made utilising CNC machining techniques on the suspension arms to ensure minimal flex. A very expensive technique, this was considered a very elaborate chassis.the car also utilised what is now a relatively common design, the floating rear body mount to keep the shell at the same height on the track regardless of suspension travel. No piece was left without full machining and detail, this was truly a work of art, and to me was the precursor to the SMP Slide. In many ways this car was really a machining work of art.

The example I managed to source was a new built kit that has never been run. Clearly this example was stored right as there are zero signs of Aging, even amazingly on the foam tires. A true time warp piece that goes with the Nova in my collection in terms of quality. Another example I will never sell, this is quite possibly the best PB Diamond in existence today. Looking through the instructions I still can't imagine having to build one of these cars back in the day.

The last in the line of the Diamond was the Black Diamond, which from what I understand had additional changes to it beyond the black anodising but am still trying to seek out exactly what these differences were. Have found someone who actually raced one of the Black Diamonds back in the day and will hopefully in due course be able to find out more information on this variant compared with the older model I have :).

Unfortunately finding much more information on this car is pretty hard so please do contact me if you all have more information on this or any other items I have on my blog.

PB Nova X5e

Seeing as I am on the PB trail I may as well continue on that theme. Soon after the Alpha 83 was released, it was determined that a new design be introduced. At first glance the Nova was revolutionary rather than evolutionary in design when compared to the Alpha.

For starters the trademark red plastic was now gone from the car. But therein lay somewhat of s deception, as the suspension mouldings remained largely unchanged. However, introduced into the car was the monoshock suspension front and rear. The concept at the time was that monoshocks ensured that the damping on the car would be exactly the same side to side.

The chassis was the main change though on this car, and the key thing that caught my imagination all those years ago. Much like I was captivated by the Serpent Veteq so many years later, this was the first truly inspired design to emulate the formula one concept of the monocoque chassis. But what was really different was the fact that this chassis was one piece of aluminium unlike the modern Serpent which was bolted together.

The original Nova appeared in 1984. The X4 variant with minor changes was introduced in the year 1985 with the X5 coming in 1987. Of note is the fact that the rear shock set up of the X5 went to the now modern conventional upright inclined shock set up whilst the front remained faithful to the monoshock design first introduced into the Nova. I am still trying to identify where the designation "e" comes about on the actual model that I acquired.

I had been looking for a Nova 4wd for some time, but would either find a two wheel drive car or an incomplete basher. Finally spotted a unit for sale on eBay that was mint straight out of the box... And I mean mint out of the box example. This unit was of the last version of the Nova (the most desirable to me), the X5e. Complete with instructions, unpainted shell and s box in good condition, I decided to bid heavy on it. Unfortunately there was another couple buyers also hitting the auction that pushed the price higher than I thought but this is a purchase I will never regret as it's absolutely perfect and quite possibly the absolute best Nova left in existence that I have seen. This one will never be sold (actually none of my collection will ever be sold come to think of it!)

PB Alpha 83

The first time I was exposed to 1/8 scale on road racing was during a Perth Motorshow in Western Australia. I remember they whilst we had gone to the motor show on the pretext of seeing the new models of cars that year, the reality was that I had pushed my parents to go as I had heard that there would be on road gas radio control cars running at the show.

The short races themselves were broken up into short outings for the cars onto a makeshift track that was guided by wooden barriers if my memory serves me right. What a sight it was though seeing those machines screaming around the track, and the smell of the exhaust. At that time it was the all conquering PB Racing machines that I remember seeing at the track side the most, and of those it was all the red on those cars that stuck in my mind. I knew that one day I would have to track down one of my very own Alphas, and this was further reinforced over the years as I saw the PBs feature in Model Cars Magazine (from the UK) in each issue that I would buy.

The Car featured that I have is the version from 1983 (the Alpha first came out in 1981). This was if I understand correctly, the last incarnation of the Alpha before the Nova came out in 1984. What is interesting is the fact that PBs are really not that easy to track down. I had been looking for sometime (I seem to always be looking), when I stumbled upon a French website maintained by enthusiast a4roues, http://a4roues.jimdo.com. Via contact with him, I managed to find out that he had an example of the Alpha for sale that I subsequently managed to acquire from him. Since then I have not managed to see any other examples for sale unfortunately but the example I obtained was heavily restored hence I am very happy with the sole example in my collection.

Interesting in the example I have is the fact that the shell was painted on the outside compares with the fact that nowadays all our shells are painted on the inside of the shells. This example lead me to decide to collect a few other later PB models that I will post up soon.

The RC12 Obsession Continues Unabated

Well I have now taken to collecting nip spare parts for the early RC12 series. Over the last couple weeks have found some brilliant guys that had an amazing stash of RC12 parts dating back to the RC12e. Also variations include packaging from Japan with co branding by Yokomo. These items will not be used for restoration but rather kept nip. Parts are rare as heck let alone nip so will just clean up my various RC12 cars and combine cars to make better examples if necessary rather than digging into this stash. It's truly so strange but seeing these parts in their package leave the strangest sensation within me. They truly bring me back to a very specific time in my life when RC was really my obsession. It's these feelings of time travel that make all these little purchases so valuable. Won't ever sell these parts. They are really like a time machine to me.