Avante Jr.

* Avante Jr.
* Black Special
* RS
* 30th

The **Avante Junior** (Japanese: アバンテJr., *Abante Junia*) is a Mini 4WD car released by Tamiya on December 15, 1988. 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 December 21, 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 the 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, futuristic racing buggy body design. There are damper props on the front nose and the on the rear, with the tie-rod props accompanies the the front damper props.

### Original variant and Black Special

The original Avante features the Avante blue body color, with various manufacturer decals on over it. The Black Special, on the other hands, features the smoke body color.

Both were equipped with the newly-designed 6-spoke Teardrop-type wheels and the black, Avante-type slick tires, which sets the standards for any future large diameter wheels design for future Mini 4WD cars. The standard models has its chassis molded in gray, while the Black Special has its chassis molded in black. A re-issue of the Black Special variant released in 2019 has the ABS plastic chassis frame instead.

Unlike its R/C buggy counterpart, the wheels for the standard model were molded in white instead of yellow. On the other hand, the Black Special spots the neon pink wheels.

One later Avante models, the Aero Avante, would later reuse the original's Black Special variant's color scheme for its Black Special variant.

### RS variant

The RS variant features the similar color schemes as the standard model, but lost many of the original decals and are replaced by Tamiya logos and 'RS' marks. The RS variant is notable to be the first to utilizes the foil-type decals, which would later used in many future Mini 4WD cars.

It was 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 and was paired with the black Avante-type slick tires. The chassis frame and A parts were molded in black, and was equipped with the blue, 16mm ringless lightweight plastic rollers on the front.

### Special version

Released in 1990, the limited Special version variant features the same body color as the standard model, but with the chassis and wheels molded in clear and yellow respectively.

### Champion's Gold variant

The Asia-exclusive Champion's Gold variant, based upon the standard model, features the gold plated bodyshell and was equipped with neon green wheels and red tires.

### RS Purple Special variant

The Bunka-exclusive Avante RS Purple Special features the matte purple plated bodyshell.

It was equipped with the purple plated large diameter 5-spoke lightweight narrow wheels paired with the purple arched tires. The chassis frame and the A parts were molded in purple.

### Yellow Special variant

The Yellow Special (Clear Body) features a polycarbonate body and a white polycarbonate ABS reinforced chassis. It comes with black large diameter 5-spoke lightweight narrow wheels with yellow arched tires.

### 30th Anniversary Special Kit variant

The limited 30th Anniversary Special Kit is mostly the same as the standard Avante Jr., except it comes with an additional blue plated bodyshell, two sets of body decals and an ABS chassis frame.

## About the Avante 1/10 R/C buggy

Released on March 31, 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 were later fixed with the releases of new models based on the Avante, including the Vanquish, Egress and Avante 2001.

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. Later, the Black Special variant of the Avante 2011 (Based on the aforementioned Avante Jr. Black Special Mini 4WD car), comes with all the hop-up parts as standard, was released in January 2012.

## In media

### *Moero! Avante Kyoudai*

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.)

### *Let's & Go! Tsubasa: The Next Racers*

A gold Avante Jr. was made by Kitaro Kiba at the request of Professor Tsuchiya and was planned to be showcased at a race tournament in a Mini 4WD research center (Which is Professor Tsuchiya's lab). The bodyshell and chassis were made of pure gold and unfortunately due to this, it was targeted by the Phantom Thief Baron and later his son, Baron the 2nd.

The gold Avante itself contains a data chip which contains records of people playing the Mini 4WD cars in the 30 years period. Due to its chassis and bodyshell being made of gold, it is much heavy, so much so that it can't move. It was later equipped with high-torque motor to rectify this.

## Gallery

### Boxarts

Boxart of Avante Junior.Boxart of Avante Junior Black Special.Boxart of Avante RS.Boxart of Avante RS Purple Special.Boxart of 30th Anniversary Special.
## Trivia

* The Avante Jr. has the most variants and successors 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

* Avante 2001 Jr.
* Super Avante
* Avante Mk.II
* Avante X
* Avante Mk.III
* Aero Avante
* Super Avante Jr. (TD4)

### Related

* Vanquish Jr.
* Egress Jr.

## External links

### Tamiya Japan

* Avante Jr. at Tamiya Japan
* Avante Jr. Black Special at Tamiya Japan (Japanese)
* Avante RS at Tamiya Japan
* Avante Jr. 30th Anniversary Special at Tamiya Japan
* Avante Jr. Black Special (Reissue) at Tamiya Japan (Japanese)

### Tamiya America

* Avante Jr. at Tamiya America
* Avante Jr. Black Special at Tamiya America
* Avante RS Purple Special at Tamiya America
* Avante Jr. 30th Anniversary Special at Tamiya America
* Avante Jr. Black Special (reissue) at Tamiya America

### R/C buggy That the Mini 4WD Car is Based On

* 1/10 scale R/C Buggy Avante (2011) at Tamiya Japan
* 1/10 scale R/C Buggy Avante (Original release) at Tamiya America
* 1/10 scale R/C Buggy Avante (2011) at Tamiya America
* 1/10 scale R/C Buggy Avante (2011) Black Special at Tamiya Japan
* 1/10 scale R/C Buggy Avante (2011) Black Special at Tamiya America