Axial - Back in the day

[Arctic Fire]

Oh Axial, back in the day, when you were an independent company, long before hobbico bought your soul. putting out Metal bead-locked, Pro-line tired, castle esc'd scx-10s with all metal links. You were an edgy company, the "little guy" in a sea of RTR traxxas bashers.

How I miss the days when you were less concerned about putting an SCX-10 under ever tween's Christmas tree, and you focused your efforts on things like this.

[EeePee]

Originally Posted by Arctic Fire

Oh Axial, back in the day, when you were and independent company

Forgot one word. Desperate.

[tedo]

Mom?

[Dostradamas]

Originally Posted by EeePee

Forgot one word. Desperate.

Independent businesses like the term "poised for growth" rather than desperate.

Desperate sounds like




I would like to see more advertising like this too.

Damn feminazis!

[JohnRobHolmes]

Nothing has really changed since they were purchased. All the RTR rigs with lower dollar ESCs and molded plastic wheels have been available for years now. Hobbico hasn't really done much except change the distribution channels and got Axial products into more hobby shops, and increase production levels so certain items aren't out of stock as often.

[Dostradamas]

Originally Posted by JohnRobHolmes

Nothing has really changed since they were purchased.

Axial Universals.... Mysteriously breaking....

Universals have changed IMO

[JohnRobHolmes]

To my knowledge the factory and specs have not changed since the original design. I would suspect that the materials used were either substituted without Axial's knowledge or had a lower quality forge than it should. It's the same guys working at Axial, and they know better than to mess with a proven product.

If it was an intended change to pinch pennies, the supply wouldn't have been interrupted like it has been. The time spent tracking down the root issue has caused a supply chain disruption and they haven't had fresh imports for quite some time now.

[Dostradamas]

Originally Posted by JohnRobHolmes

To my knowledge the factory and specs have not changed since the original design.

Do you work for Hobbico or axial?


To my knowledge Jay Z has never tapped Beyoncé.

Don't make it the truth.

[street.terror]

Well according to that thread people seem to be getting ones that are fine now. Every single axle broke in the exact same location. That's an issue with a single run. not an over all decrease in manufacturing standards.

muffin top isnt sexy, Trepador's, WildPeak's and Krawler's on the other hand.

and they still use castle ESCs, it may not say castle on it but that is a damn castle in it!

[The Violator]

I am not sure a fat chick posing with an rc car makes a company edgy. Now if she lost about 20, had several hours under a laser where they burned the fly off her lip, and the rest of that shit off of her we might have something.

[dikun19]

AXIAL you talking about, but why more photos of sexy women, rather than AXIAL photo

[JohnRobHolmes]

Originally Posted by Dostradamas

Do you work for Hobbico or axial?

I happen to work in the same industry and know most of the employees from years of attending competitions. When I call they pick up and talk freely, and the last time I asked they were trying to find the problem.


But you can blame Hobbico for a long con involving these driveshafts if you really want, I'm sure the first thing they do is try to ruin the quality of a company they just purchased. It saves SOOOO much money to deal with customer service and returns vs the pennies per shaft they saved switching to a lower grade of steel.

[Dostradamas]

Originally Posted by JohnRobHolmes

I happen to work in the same industry and know most of the employees from years of attending competitions. When I call they pick up and talk freely, and the last time I asked they were trying to find the problem.


But you can blame Hobbico for a long con involving these driveshafts if you really want, I'm sure the first thing they do is try to ruin the quality of a company they just purchased. It saves SOOOO much money to deal with customer service and returns vs the pennies per shaft they saved switching to a lower grade of steel.

Buying good names and turning their products to shit is a business in itself.

Losi sure improved didn't it.

[street.terror]

But axial isn't shit. A bad run on a part makes a company shit? Then I guess every company is shit.

[Dostradamas]

Originally Posted by street.terror

But axial isn't shit. A bad run on a part makes a company shit? Then I guess every company is shit.

It will take a few years.

Think
Craftsman

Once a great tool with a no question lifetime replacement guarantee, now shit.

Losi when it was a small independent challenged (and beat) The juggernaut of the time Team Associated now........ well not as great....

The reality is a small company has more control (and reason to care) the bigger they get, the lower the quality & customer service must be.

Maybe JRH is trying to get Hobbico to buy his company so he can retire and they can use the name & reputation he has built.?

[Dad,Canyoufix?]

Let's see more axial girls....

Only new thing that is bothering me is the lack of a bumper on that new power wagon. I cut it off and remounted it to the chassis myself, but I can only assume axial knew most would not keep the stock apron and choose something more suited to their application. So with licensing fees and all in hand maybe it was better to cut that and try to keep the cost as reasonable as they could. Due to people hacking them up to add after market products as they usually do anyway, doesn't seem to be an issue with most.

[meatmonkey]

I too long the the days of exclusively machine thread bolts, all metal links, beadlock wheels, metal balls in the rod ends and crisply molded parts.

I think many of the original molds are getting worn out. I was not to pleased with the poor fitment of the axlehousings mold line, or the number of shims the transmission required on the last couple SCX's I assembled.

I still can't believe it is excusable to use self tapping screws and plastic balled rod ends on a "hobby grade" R/C. Thank goodnes I can assemble my kits with my own hardware and rod ends.

[JohnRobHolmes]

Originally Posted by Dostradamas

Maybe JRH is trying to get Hobbico to buy his company so he can retire and they can use the name & reputation he has built.?

As romantic as it sounds to "cash out", I couldn't handle life without production of some sort. I may sell off intellectual property or contract engineering, but retirement is to drive meaningful companies until I die.

[Arctic Fire]

Originally Posted by The Violator

I am not sure a fat chick posing with an rc car makes a company edgy. Now if she lost about 20, had several hours under a laser where they burned the fly off her lip, and the rest of that shit off of her we might have something.

That's pretty harsh lol. I am always happy to see healthy girls posing in the media. Something I hope my daughter sees a lot more of in the future.

And yes, I do think releasing photos like this to announce your new T-Shirts does make your company "edgy". It's branding, it's how you want your company to be seen, target demographic, main stream acceptance or rebellion. JRH as a company owner would probably agree (I may be wrong). That simple photo set actually says a lot.

As for all the other talk, I am not getting involved, except to say JRH, let's get an "Edgy" T-shirt campaign going for some new holmes hobbies thongs!

[Meatwad]

While production problems will always happen, as well as lean manufacturing issue arising (read: cost cutting measures). Returns and unhappy customers are not issues desired by any company, rather they prefer riding the fence of quality vs cost. Its always tested.

Whether you like it or not for this niche of our rc hobby, axial will have a decent market share for awhile to come. Every crawling event or gtg I've attended have upwards of 90%+ axial rigs or the very least some parts. I'm not a fanboy but am grateful for the amounts of kits/parts they have in customer hands to make crawlers as popular as they are.

That chick was always hot... curves and tats are a beautiful thing.