The 58086 Vanquish came out at the end of 1988 only about 9 months after
the original Avante on a derivative chassis. It seems impossible
that it was a redesign effort accomplished in that amount of time, so I
have to assume it was planned from the beginning. The Vanquish
inherited the Avante drivetrain almost unaltered, but replaced the
complex, multi-part metallic suspension with one using plastic parts of
the same overall geometry. Gone was the dual deck FRP chassis,
replaced with a single part plastic bathtub. The glorious gold
metal shock bodies were replaced with yellow plastic CVAs. The
complicated "cam-loc" wheels were replaced with single part,
directional, tear drop slotted wheels. Larger and stronger front
and rear bumpers were used. The unique "breakaway" front
suspension mount intended to protect the chassis from impacts was
gone. Most of these things could be considered simplifications
and/or downgrades, but there were performance improvements as
well. A 15mm wheelbase stretch made the car more stable, the wide
front tires were replaced with thinner varieties with the same round
spiked tread pattern, and the front shocks were mounted at a much
shallower angle for more travel and strength. This was almost a
complete win allowing a buyer to acquire an Avante chassis for far less
money (24000¥ vs 34800¥ originally). Whether the Vanquish could be
considered a poor man's Avante or an improved chassis is somewhat a
matter of debate. Unfortunately the Achilles heel was part G11, a
plastic brace on the rear of the chassis that supported the upper
suspension arms and the shock tower. This part was made from ABS
and was over stressed and fragile, especially over time. Since
this was the only car to ever use that part, replacing it over the years
has become increasingly difficult. The weak cast front uprights
from the Avante were re-used in a slightly strengthened geometry that
was also used on later production runs of the Avante. With these
two flaws, running the Vanquish hard was always a risk.In 2020 this model was re-released as the 58686 VQS. It's interesting that it took Tamiya 9 years after the much more complex Avante had been re-released to get around to the simpler Vanquish. As for the name, I assume that since "Vanquish" is now copyrighted by Aston Martin the name had to be updated. For the most part, this model is faithful to the original. Like the Avante, the fragile cast front hubs have been replaced with gold machined versions. The G11 part hasn't exactly been "fixed" (the geometry is exactly the same), but the material has been changed from ABS to PC. Time will tell if this solves the problem. At the very least, it means that spares are now available for those intending to restore an original Vanquish. Like the Avante 2011, the plastic rear uprights are also strengthened compared to the originals.
Just how different is the Vanquish than the Avante, how many parts were new, and how many were re-used from other models? Based on the parts trees in the VQS kit, I've explored those questions below. As you can see, the Vanquish made a lot of changes and introduced a lot of new parts. These will be discussed in detail in my build journal.
- The A parts (front gearbox), B parts (rear gearbox), C parts
(rear uprights), and H parts (plastic gears) are from the original
Avante and common to the Avante
2011 re-release. The cast front uprights also came from the
Avante, and on the re-release were also replaced with the machined parts
from the Avante 2011.
- The D parts (front chassis and battery cover), E parts (bumpers and rod ends), G parts (shock towers, steering cranks, and rear chassis), J parts (front arms), K parts (rear arms), and chassis tub are new for the Vanquish and re-used on the VQS. The wheels were available as option parts for the Avante, but are otherwise new to the Vanquish. Most of these parts were then re-used on the much more upscale Egress, and later the Avante 2001.
- The short and long CVA shocks (T, V, W, and Y parts) originally came from the Lotus Honda 99T and Supershot, respectively.
- The driver (Z parts) is from the Boomerang and is much simpler than the Avante driver.
- The round spiked tires were originally from the Supershot, including the narrower front tires.
 Page 1: Assembly |
 Page 2: Final Photos |
| Description |
Manufacturer |
Model # |
|---|---|---|
| VQS (2020)1/10 Scale R/C High Performance 4WD Off Road Racer Kit |
Tamiya |
58686 |
| Sport Tuned 23T 540 Brushed Motor | Tamiya | 53068 |
| 21 Tooth 0.6 Mod Steel Pinion | Robinson Racing | 1121 |
| TBLE-04s Sensored Brushless Electronic Speed Control | Tamiya | 45069 |
| 2 Channel 2.4 GHz DSMR Receiver | Spektrum | SR215 |
| Budget Metal Gear Steering Servo | Savox | B-08KG |
| PS-5 Black Paint |
Tamiya | 86005 |