Please read.

[Kamikaze]

Let me start by first saying that I am always glad to see new people come in here and get involved with the hobby that I love so much. So before I get labeled as unfriendly or stuck up please bear in mind that I am not ranting here. I am only expressing my concerns, my concerns for the general attitude that I am seeing on the boards.


I guess I just miss the old days, when this was something that you couldn't just decide to do, and in one short drive to the hobby store have your hands on a truck to drive. You had to read tons of information, browse rcc for days to find the info you needed to get a plan together. Then it was weeks of ebay, and hobbytown, and walmart, then more ebay to find all the pieces you needed to put together a truck. Then after you waited for all the parts to trickle in, and after paying 14 different shipping charges, you got to start "assembling" everything. I use quotations because assembling usually meant lots of cutting and grinding and fitting and going back for more parts cause the ones you picked wouldn't work.

So after a month or so of scratching your head you had a truck, you drive it and it breaks....or something burns up, more often than not it doesn't preform worth a crap. So now its more parts, and time, and money.

I only point this out because I am becoming more and more concerned for the future of this hobby. I see everyday more and more people getting involved with the board, and all are welcome. Unfortunately the attitude that gets brought along with them is not.

Guys. Parts break.....esc's smoke, radios glitch, axles snap, tires suck, plastic doesn't last forever. There are manufacturing problems, fit up problems, screws strip, motors die, batteries are not included. Sometimes you even get something that doesn't work at all.

I'm not saying all new people are impatient or over demanding, far from it. There are many new people that have come up with amazing new ideas and offer help to those that need it. I applaud those people.

My concern is for those who demand to much from the companies that we are lucky enough to have that make parts and whole crawlers for us to have, most of the time within 2 days of when we want them.

To those people I would like to hopefully make you think for a minute about how good you have it. When I built my first truck, I spent well over $800 just to get something working. Then I figured out for myself that what I had wasn't going to cut it. I then spent more money and time only to have the same result. I would say all in all I have spent well over $10,000 in this hobby alone, and all I have to show for it is 4 or 5 good trucks, and a whole basement full of crap. But I am not alone, there are dozens, no hundreds of guys on here that have done the same thing as me.

While it is unfortunate that some companies don't seem to listen, or that some have made some simple manufacturing mistakes, or that there truck needs a little work to be a winner. Try and think about how far ahead you are because of there research and because of those that have come from this board to work for them, so that you can have a truck that is 10 times better and more durable than what we spent thousands of dollars on 5 years ago.

5 years ago, no one cared if your esc burnt up in your crawler, it wasn't supposed to be in there. No one cared if your servo craped out, it wasn't meant for that. No one cared if you broke an axle.....or if your wheel base was to short. You had to take care of it.

I say this because I fear for the future. What company is going to want to tailor to a bunch of whiny people (newbie og's and myself included) who quite honestly will never be 100% satisfied with anything. What happens when no one will make us anything anymore because its not worth the hassle? So what if a RTR truck has a crappy radio, or the suspension isn't soft enough. Or the axles break, or the wb is to short, or the motors get to hot, or the color is all wrong, or the tires suck or god forbid you have to tighten some screws.

If you don't want to wrench then you need to find another hobby. If it doesn't work right then see what you can do to make it better. I promise you that you are already miles ahead of where I and many other people started.

I think everyone should find someone who has been here for 4 or 5 years and ask them if they still have that old tlt laying around. I'm sure they would let you drive it, and I'm sure you would break it. I am also sure that he wouldn't go inside and look for the box to get the customer support number so he could get a free replacement........probably because there isn't one.

Just think about it. "thumbsup"

 

[Code454]

i totally agree with what you are saying.

nothing is ever perfect for anyone, not only in rc's but everything in this world, Well tough shit nothing was ever made to be perfect for one person and then the next person.

thanks for posting this because this is what is happening world wide with everything not just rc's."thumbsup"

Cody

 

[K_B]

All good points in my opinion. This niche of the rc hobby is a bit of a catch 22. We love the idea that you can get a killer crawler outta the box. But on the other hand, most guys aren't happy with "stock". So we add over a pound of weight to each wheel and strap in an 11.1V lipo for that extra wheelspeed. And then there's the guys that get pissed when the axle breaks. Companies can only account for so many scenarios. If you wanna do things out of the "normal operating range" or whatever you wanna call it, you do it at your own risk.

I don't think you see this as much in other aspects of the rc hobby because there isn't nearly as much shadetree engineering going on. Mostly just guys slapping on shiny parts...

 

[hexlink]

Very well said!! I have to commend you on putting down in a such an eloquent way what so many of the people that have been into this from the early days are no doubt thinking just haven't said. For the first time ever on this board I agree 100% with what someone has said.

 

[cato]

"thumbsup" Jeff, you nailed that on the head!! Thank you.....I've been involved in the sport for quite a while and remember those days of Head-sratching:?

The junk that goes on when a new car whatever comes out over mabe one part...Kills me....Gotta let it slide at some point, customer service will come through for all I used to be part owner of an IRL team, we'ld buy a new body for the car, made for the car, About $30,000!! Do you think it would fit "NOT"...another couple grand and it might then fit. So RC guy's we've got it good!!!

Again, THANKS JEFF, very well done"thumbsup"

 

[Skeeno]

I do miss the hoopty fabrication that myself and others did to make their crawlers better. Now I'm lazy and just wait for someone else to make it for me.

 

[canadianbacon]

I do miss the hoopty fabrication that myself and others did to make their crawlers better. Now I'm lazy and just wait for someone else to make it for me.

Unfortunately a lot of people are like that now. They wait for companies to make everything they need then they buy it and put it together and then say they built it themselves, when in reality all they did was assembly "X" store's and "Y" store's version of a crawler. I really have nothing against that, it's a lot better and less frustrating for people not as mechanically inclined like some and still gives them the satisfaction (to a degree) of assembling something and having it work, but it's still not the same as when people scratch built damn near everything on their rigs.

 

[dezfan]

Tell it like it is brotha man!"thumbsup"

 

[gunnar]

I hear you, Kami. Some crybabies think that everything will be perfect the first time, and everything will fit just right, it just doesn't happen like that all the time. In the few months I've been into this hobby, I've pretty much learned to just deal with whatever comes up, fix or fabricate myself, or buy whatever I need to solve the problem, and not cry like a little bitch just because something blew up or a part doesn't fit right. I don't care if a manufacturer is at fault, or it's mine, just change it and be done, Then go out and have fun!

 

[62PYRO]

I couldn't have said it any better."thumbsup"
Please take the time to know your rig and don't be afraid to experiment.There is no such thing as a "perfect rig,just one that's right for you.

 

[ROCKEDUP RICKY]

Amen Brother, if it don't work like you want it fix it."thumbsup"

 

[Rockthrasher]

Very well said."thumbsup"

 

[rnpnick]

This hobby is in its infancy. If you maintain the attitude of accepting what ever a manufacturer sends down the pipe now, just wait until later.

I can hear upper management now: no dont worry about it, those crawler guys will buy anything if you hype it enough. Oh and if it breaks it still doesnt matter as long as we act like we care. Haha we can keep doing this over and over until we are Rich.

All im saying is its alright to bitch, as long as its worth bitching about. Im pretty sure you guys feel this side of the hobby is worthy. Its really not fun dropping 3 bills just to run 10 minutes and break. I dont care if its scratch built or a purpose made crawler that had issues in proto stage but was released any how.

 

[Duuuuuuuude]

This happens with every sport or hobby known to man that has seen any kind of rapid growth. Go find someone that built hotrods before they could be bought off the dealers lot. You'll get the same story.

To be fair to the noobs, spending $300 or more on a RTR that ends up being broken fairly soon does seem like a ripoff, but this is the nature of the sport. True, crawlers don't move at anything near blinding speed, but the stress put upon them is incredibly great.

The good news is that those that fail to understand this will go away. Those that do learn to understand will either decide its not for them and find something else to do, or get with the program and be it in for the long haul. Consider it a weeding out process. "thumbsup"

 

[microgoat]

Preach it, brutha "thumbsup"

I kinda miss the old days of cutting & drilling a piece of aluminum for three days, posting it up only to have Digler say it looks like shit.

 

[eron]

Yeah Jeff, I know exactly where your coming from. Very well said, I agree 150% "thumbsup"

 

[Nate08]

Wow. Very very well presented and some excellent points. I remember the crawlers we were putting out in my area in 04 and 05, either a locked and modded maxx base, or a locked and stripped clod always shooting for 100 degrees of flex or more. In a way it's sad that those days have by and far gone by the wayside, but in other ways it's encouraging to see a hobby grow and become more and more accessible to more people who lack either the time, tools, or skills to do the serious one-off fabrication. The down side of making anything accessible to the masses however is that you're going to pick up allot of new people who don't have as much of an appreciation for what's being handed to them as the ones who've been in it longer and remember when "locker" was synonymous with "jb weld" and "lathe motor" actually meant motor meant for lathe.



But you have to take the good with the bad in all things. It does seem to me though that for every new person in this hobby who expects the world from the vendors, there are probably at least 3 who "get it" they're just not the ones who post all the time to complain so they get overlooked.



My two cents on the topic

 

[Robbob]

Perfectly said! "thumbsup"

 

[axman2010]

Guys. Parts break.....esc's smoke, radios glitch, axles snap, tires suck, plastic doesn't last forever. There are manufacturing problems, fit up problems, screws strip, motors die, batteries are not included. Sometimes you even get something that doesn't work at all.

I think this is what people have a hard time comprehending the most. Come on guys, shit happens. I only let it piss me off for a minute or so then go take care of it. And you know what? When I get it fixed and go play again, that smile comes back, every time!



And Kamikazi, very well said"thumbsup"

 

[Duuuuuuuude]

Here's a thought...why not start a "vintage" class? Allow only stock or home built parts, no high tech electronics, crappy tires, etc.