electricrcdude

I believe this hobby is the perfect size, and any kind of t.v. coverage would destroy it. My home track ( Ocala Radio Control Car Club) here in Florida is not exactly huge but is pretty big compared to other r.c. tracks around. Oh, and Slo-v Flyer, baseball cards are not that bad; they are said to be a good investment.

rymansl2

I don't see how a piece of paper is a good investment. Someday nobody is going to want to buy those stupid things and everyone whos kept a bunch in their closet will be screwed.

Always Dreamin

The day that baseball dies? That should be a long time from now... As long as baseball is alive I don't see why the cards arn't. Who knows, someday when the good current Baseball players are no longer playing, or something happens to them, their cards may be worth a lot..

It wouldn't hurt to save some. Perhaps not a very stable investment, but I don't see the problem with having them arround.

ELK

The most asked question for me at my local park is "how much does that cost" "and why can't you find it in toy stores". i usally don't go to the park to often because dogs like to get in the way.

under200

Cost and lack of intellectual/mechanical curiosity. No offense to any of the younger folks on the board but from what I see, most kids just want to sit in front of a tv now and play video games. They also want immediate results. The thought of sitting down and taking hours or days to build something is way too much for them. Not only that but I cannot blame the parents for not spending the cash on something junior is just going to crack up and then forget all about not appreciating the cost or time spent.
Back in the day it was even more expensive than it is today. My folks helped me buy a kit and my old man was as excited as I was. I always loved building the kit more than using the finished product. Using it was just a bonus. We enjoyed the whole mechanical thing and building something from nothing. It was sort of our pride and joy. This hobby was even more obscure back then and to tell you the truth I kinda like it that way.
But that is just my opinion.

Under200

Access

The "collectables" hobby (and market) that you see today is nothing compared to what we had in the 90's. Baseball cards, Collectable gaming cards (ie. M:TG), comic books, etc., since the 90's all these things have gone through cycles of growth, commercialization, over-exploitation / monetization, and ultimately a market collapse. Baseball cards today pale in comparison the hobby in the late 80's, early 90's. The same can be said of collectable card games in the mid, late 90's, and comic book collecting around the same time. Today comics have survived by going mass-market, but the collecting-for-value aspect is mostly gone, not the place for the individual collector; collectable card games pale in comparison to what they were then, and as for baseball cards, not much of an "investment", they never were, you were better off buying stocks, bonds, or even real estate. At least in these things you have a much better chance of finding a "winner". For ex., in the era I grew up in, there are two players whose cards are worth a decent amount, everything else is worthless.

Some of the posts above are right on, I agree on the key reasons we will never see this hobby go mass-market. You just can't have the level of performance we demand without the maintainance and the mechanical expertise -- crashes, breakage, all these things are inevitable as we thrill-seekers try to do more, go faster, etc.

nitrosportsandrunner

most people have only ever had a toy rc when they were a kid, and those memories of crappy slow weak cars stick with most people.
it would go a long way if traxxas, hpi and tamiya would have commercials. people buy dumb toy grade rc's cause commercials make them look cool, even though they are not.

people who see me running my pede think im acting like a kid, till they see the pede go 30mph and hit a jump, flying 15 feet through the air, tumbling 10 times, land on its wheels and keep going. that usually changes their tone.

sheograth

Part of it is that some of you seem to get so defensive about it. I mean, if you all react chidishly when someone accuses you of being childish - you just proved their point. To me a hobby doesnt need justification, I enjoy R/C vehicles, so mess around with them - thats the end of the story as far as I'm concerned. Theres no such thing as a "real hobby" vs "a childish hobby", if the person enjoys it then their hobby, whatever it is, is completely legitimate.

rlem00

When I was about your age (guesstimating by your response) My dad dug his cards out from when he was a kid, the ones he kept in his closet. Whatdoya know close to a grand worth of cardboard that nobody wanted was sitting there. Don't knock other hobbies as they will knock yours.

kistner

My Feedback: (10)

I think it is growing/does grow by word of mouth, the web, etc. I bought a TRU special for my kid last september, a Nikko I think it was. It broke on the first weekend. I recalled the hobby grade ones from when I was younger, I never had one but had a few friends that did. So I searched on ebay, found a lunchbox that needed a little repair for less than the cost of the TRU car. Also bought a box of someones junk on ebay, to have the parts to fix the lunchbox. Me and the kid fixed it up, painted it, ok I did the work and he held the tools, he's a bit young yet, but it was a cool bonding thing and he loves it. We run in the yard, the street, neighbors all laugh and smile when they drive by - no stupid comments yet. Ended up getting another hobby grade car for my other kid too. I have enough parts left over to build one for myself, if I can only find the time. For christmas all the nephews and uncles got the RTR Tamiya cars, the entry level cars that can't be hopped up, but still better than than the 'toys'. So there, 9 more people in the hobby.

nukervilletrolle

I have two hobbies, Halo and RC cars. The big difference is that I am not fuming with anger after I play with remote control cars. I wish I could play with them at 1 in the morning instead of Halo, but something about nuisance laws...at least Halo costs me less. RC is very relaxing for me, and whenever someone comes up to me about them , I usually offer them the controls. They almost always accept.

While I agree that the hobby should not be advertised on T.V, it would be classy to see small dirt tracks on every street corner...

Infamous

you know what i hate guys when people come up to me and go they are for little kids.. ok mate fair enough.. do you think a little kid could design and tune and run and do all this other stuff to my car?? NO so shut it lol..

yeah im just sayn what i hate hearing lol

chajones

I agree that people shouldn't bash other people's hobbies. Where is the respect?

Anyway, I don't want to get too far OT, but as a card collector I have to put in my two cents.

Sports cards were very poular in the late 80s and 90s but that was actually the downfall of the hobby. Companies overproduced and those who were looking to make money on cards rushed into the market and it collapsed. However since then, sports cards are on the rise. Companies now offer certified autos and swatches from actual game used jerseys all in limited print runs. Some individual packs of cards have a suggested retail of $300 per pack and Upper Deck and Topps are seeing record breaking profits!

And to make sure everyone understands, there is no one in the hobby that would suggest that cards are a good investment. Leave that to mutual funds. However that being said, it is encouraging that the cards do have some value after time.

I have 2 boxes of certified autograph cards in my closet. I also have sunk a bunch of money into the RC hobby.

If I were to pack them both away in the closet for 10 years, there's no question as to which one would be the more valuable.

bighound

for the hobby to get bigger i dont think you need tv commercials, i think you need more good lhs and tracks. you need to get people driving past when there is a race going on to spark the interests. i have 2 solid shops that are about 50 minutes away and i have a complete rip off "do it all hobby" shop about 5 minutes away. having those shops/tracks sparks interests in local kids and adults. i love going to the one shop and see what they have running outside.

iamnot

amen, amen, amen!!!!!!!!

besides why would you want to be in a popular hobby?
i golf, probably the most popular hobby ever, and i can tell you that the more people that participate the more expensive it is and the harder it is to enjoy it.
i've waited hours to play golf, with rc's it pretty much get-n-go
still i like golf so i put up with it but the complications that go with popularity can make it less enjoyable

ESB

People see us playing with our toys, they want one, they see the price and run the other way.
My brother in law is a great example. Ive been doing my best to make sure my 2yo nephew likes cars. He loves to see my XXXt run around his gravel driveway.
My brother in law decided he wanted one but flipped out when I told him I Had over $400 in truck, chargers, batteries, and stuff.

Butt my dad is a rc nut also and he got my brother in law an Evader EXT for christmas. He loves it. I think he will come around.


Also. I think the mini and micro market is a good thing. You get the fun in a cheaper package. I think that will help.
Even airplanes cost are coming down to get a good flier in the air. I just joined my local air field club last week. I think 4-5 people had joined in Jan.

1944GPW

In relation to advertising, there's something that hasn't been mentioned yet which I think is leading to a new 'golden age' of R/C (or any other hobby for that matter):
The rise and rise of viewer-driven on-demand 'TV' media - of course I'm talking about YouTube here.

Savvy R/C model manufacturers are already putting up short adverts and amazing demonstrations of their products at virtually no cost to them yet with potentially massive returns. Coupled with the new model of 'viral marketing', a good video can spread like wildfire.

I wouldn't be posting here if it weren't for the effect of YouTube. Ten years ago I bought a Tamiya Hummer kit which I built and ran around a little, then put away. A couple months ago for some unknown reason I idly typed 'tamiya hummer' into YouTube and was stunned by the exciting video clips people had done. Not big-budget commercial ads but just average people having fun with their models.

I recently got my Hummer out and blew the dust off it (looking to replace the MSC with an ESC now) and I'm keen once again. And maybe I'll video my own model and contribute back to the medium that I am convinced will be a saviour to both manufacturers and enthusiasts of less well-known hobbies everywhere. Big-budget commercials and expensive airtime on network TV can be completely bypassed by the man in the street (or R/C offroad park). Now that's exciting!