Dave ESPI

About a 1/2 year ago, I hit a plateau in my "toy" collection, and needed that one "over the top" WOW factor toy.
I've had Rc helis, planes, small electric cars, tanks and boats, but they were always looked at by non hobbyist as just "toys", and never really had any shock and awe effect on people. I've been reading alot, and seeing what people have as far as tech gear and cars, and across a lot of forums, I'm seeing banter that almost always says "I CAN'T BELIEVE I NEVER SWITCHED FROM NITRO BEFORE NOW!" or statements like "ONCE YOU GO GAS, THE REST SUCK *****" or "Want attention? Bigscale + Gas and jetpro is the way to go!".
I saw a video on YOUTUBE of a FG marder and was awestruck and said to myself.... YES ! I NEED THIS !
I went to LHS shops and inquired about large scale stuff, and they told me it was like 4 grand to start for quarter scale and was hard to find parts and suppliers and always "There is nowhere to run them " or some horse pockey like that.
I was determined to find this "FG mystery car company and came across it with google and the help of this forum, and the rest is history. I got the FGMT5 off this forum classifieds, and have really had a blast with it in all of it's troubles and woes as well as the amazing stuff I have done with it and it still keeps running despite the "bashing around" and very VERY rough play I've put it through. I have shown it to a bunch of people, and 3 LHS have only seen my truck, and before mine had no clue what a FG was. They do know what a Quarter Scale Legends and NEWAGE Models were back in the day as well as the RACO Jacrabbit, but they are out of date with the times. They just lastweek asked me about the HPI Baja and wanted to know if it was "worthwhile to cary one in the store"........

As I glanced around at all the cars and trucks they had on the wall and shelves and the bunch of racers who were there that night out on the oval, all looking and listening to me intently as if I was some sort of Large scale Guru..........
I told them I had next to no experience with one first hand, but have read a lot and seen a lot of stuff about the baja, and would love to have the oppertunity to monkey around with it................... but A million replies ran through my head.....

All I could muster as my reply was " AUH DAUH !!! this is almost a NO-BRAINER ! "

They laughed, then all agreed that big scale was badass and commented on how awesome the truck was when they all finaly got to see it run and in all it's top end glory and rip snorting sound. Will I have a few new local largecale buddies soon ?

Time will tell and so I wonder.... is this large scale forum and hobby aspect in general about to be blasted with a new wave of people getting into the "BIGGER IS BETTER" mentality?

sheograth

I dont know, for me its how it is for you - but there are issues wiht large scale.

Theyre more expensive, and mainly theyre hard to run in many places.

Theyre very loud, bothersome to others, and cant just be run in a local park or something.

But, I feel the same way as you.

Bratch96

Interesting thread. I was never made aware of large scale until one day a guy at work brought in his 1:8 scale cen gen 7.7. I was really interested in it and asked him a ton of questions. Then he told me about his friends HPI Baja that had a 2 stroke engine in it, and my eyes widened. I never wanted to mess with nitro, and never have, I've never seen a glow plug in person and cannot even wrap my mind around what a starter box is, and even more recently someone told me that there is more than one type on nitro fuel. oh good grief.
One day I saw some guys with nitros and they had the hood of their "real" car up with jumper cables out, I don't even want to know what that was all about. Anyway I did some hunting on ebay and sifted through the all the nitro cars until I found the FGMT. I thought it looked perfect for me.

tmdz28

well with all the new brand like smartech and such coming out, large scale RC is becoming more and more affordable.

However, I still have this believe that largescale RC is not as much as a toy as nitro cars/trucks.

They have bigger engines, and a lot heavier. I personally do not know about maintenance since I am still waiting for mine to arrive.

Looking at some websites that stock these parts, i can see that the price for parts is higher than nitro.

Given that fact, i believe that until we can see a drop down in prices for parts, largescale RC will remain a high end adult owned toys.

Sid.

sheograth

Having owned a few nitros and a few gassers, I gotta say the maintenance is no harder really. The parts are just larger, which for me is a good thing. Keeping the engine running is a lot easier than nitro, I dont have to retune everytime the wind blows. Damage can be more expensive of course, if you just look at the kinetic energy a 40 pound RC car has going at 50mph, that can result in a nasty impact.

I prefer the driving experience, they handle more like real cars, the weight really makes a difference to me. I drive a Jato 3.3 as well, which is considerably faster than most of my gassers but it doesnt feel as satisfying.

Bratch96

40 lbs @ 50 mph. What truck are you running?

hathi

Just like someone said, they handle more like a real car/buggy/truck. This is what has me hooked, yes I still have a side of me that wants to go back to nitro... then the other side says, do you really want to tune it ever time you run it?
Less monkeying around means more time having fun, I mean with my baja I have yet to run a tank empty... I'm still not used to the 30+ minutes run time without having to refuel.

And also with the many new companies coming out with more and more cars at reasonible prices we will start to see more and more large scale cars out. All my friends that have max's want something large scale, I'm pointing them to the new smartech 4x4 coming out (I also will be getting one soon enough)

I'd like to thank HPI for opening peoples eyes to the large scale of things! (I know there were others, but HPI put out a good buggy for a fair price)

sheograth

40@50 was a bit of an exaggeration, but you get the point.

badz

My Feedback: (1)

Good post Dave, I agree the gasers do take you away from Nitro's. I never even imagined getting a gas rc car until after I bought my first RC plane big enough to handle a gas engine, after that I was convinced anything running gas was way better than the nitro's. MY first gas car was the Traxxas MB, then I bought 2 XTM's I hate those XTM's but I still have them and the Traxxas, even though they've turned into shelf queens I kept them around. But these car's are really just amazing things, the aren't nimble and don't seem as fast as the tiny nitro's but they are in all reality just as fast, every one of them got their own appeal to them, a FG MT near a Savage just makes the Savage look like a tinker toy, the HPI Baja aside of the smaller nitro sand buggies is just a funny sight to see...I always laugh when I'm at the LHS and have my Baja's in the truck and everyone is drooling over them saying they wish they could afford one, then I see them looking at a Revo or something and I tell them that for the price of fuel to run that Revo for 1 year and the amount of parts you need and then the replacement engine which you will need after 2-3 gallons cause nitro engines do fail fairly quick, you'd save money buying a gaser. I got a neighbor down the street from me just bought himself a nice used FG MT off ebay, it's not the greatest truck but he got a really good deal on it and he enjoy's the hell outta it, he told me he purchased it cause he always saw me shreding grass with the baja's in the backyard.

Gaser's are a load of fun, we all got our opinions on which we like best and all that but at least we all share the same enjoyment out of them. Whether ya own a FG,HARM,MCD,Carson or HPI, it's a gaser and gasers kick butt.

Only thing bad about gasers in the backyard I've found out is braking, my pooch was out one day ran in front the baja and I clipped him and dislocated his toe, of all things his damn toe. So wife screamed and yelled all the way to the vet's....anyhow that dang toe cost me $500 to get fixed, kept the wife happy and the dog, but bummed me out that was $500 I was gonna use on a 30.5cc engine and some more parts!

Someday I'm gonna buy myself a FG F1 though, I've read so much about them watched some awesome race video's on them, and they are just sweet looking machines....but costly.

OH I dunno if all of you have seen this site, but it's QuarterScaleLegends, he posts here sometimes, but man check out his collection of 1/4 scale items...it makes ya drool for sure!

[link=http://www.quarterscalelegends.com/]Quarterscalelegends[/link]

splcrazy

yeah large scale 2stroke is costly but its purchase price is the first and last thing you need to do to it , and most people have the baja5b cos its hpi and nearly every hobby shop sell them but its not fair that the shops dont show or want to sell any other brand of large scale . if the consumer dont see it on the shelf how on earth do the hobby shop owners tell if they want to buy them or not, its like the hobby shops are controlling and telling us what to buy instead of listening to what the customer wants and this angers me . i went to my lhs and said to him i want a large scale monster truck gasser , i already have the baja5b , can you bring in a titan smartech and when i said that to him he says no way thats just some cheap chinese copy import and we wont sell it . and that was the end of that discussion lol they dont even want to have any intrest in large scale .

screamin chicken

So true I have a FG Stadium and it is a blast to play with, with the gasser you get 30-45 minutes if run time, no tuning in fact my LST, Muggy, Revo just sit on the shelf now I have no intrest in the Nitro ones anymore.

mikeinoz

I've got a Smartech Titan they are awsome, like a nitro buggy only bigger and way more fun

mikeinoz

So which dumb hobby shop was this? What exactly is the Titan a copy of? Maybe you should remind them that there belovid HPI baja is also made in China, is imported and is the same price as a Titan and therefore cheap I assume? Take your business elsewhere

ttoks

i've considered getting myself a large scale truck, but the one thing that turns me away from them is the lack of space to run them, where i run at the moment is barely large enough for my revo and muggy to stretch out, with a larger car i would need more room again which isn't to be had around here, i've thought about the baja with a 29 and a ddm pipe (that would set me back about 2.2 grand aussie, my revos worth more), really i think large scale will take off int he next few years, but it wont replace smaller glow powered cars and trucks, because not everyone has both the money in hand to buy the large scale strait up, or the room to run them, and knowing your 4.6cc engine is as powerful as your 170cc lawn mower helps with the WOW factor with a glow engine, i can see me buying a baja in the coming months though.

Ankle Biter Racing

I agree with all of you. FG is better. I have all the 1/10th & 1/8th scale nitro cars, trucks, & buggies, and I'm tired of messing with them. Parts on the 1/10 scale are harder to work with being smaller. Where with the larger scale they are bigger and easier to work on. I got hooked up with a guy who builds 1/4 scale grand national cars. I got my first one from him for $400. It came complete with the engine and servos. (No radio). I had that thing running in about 30 min. I have never had a problem with it. It fires up on the third pull every time. I loved it so much I bought another one from him. Then just a few weeks ago I bought an older model RACO GTP car from him.
Yeah it's old but he has all of the parts for it. He's trying to get more people intrested in the large scale cars again.
Got me hooked. I run my large scale cars in a school parking lot on the weekends. Plenty of room and I get lot's of attention. I usually draw a crowd of 5- 15 people when I run these things. But as soon as I bring out the little cars they don't seem as interested. I'm looking at getting the HPI buggy. On-road is cool, but I want to do a little "BASHING" too. Thinking about trading an on-road or 2 for an HPI Buggy. I got to run one the other day and was addicted.

Dave ESPI

ttoks, not picking on you, but I saw your profile Location... and had to laugh when you said you had nowhere to run it....

A street works just fine for me aswell as a big parking lot or huge football fields at the local school

You have an entire "outback" .. lol

TheFgMan01

Thats the awsome thing about Largescale.. They do draws a crowd like crazy, ofcoarse you know the questions come later. but i would never go back to nitro for anything. I do hope alot m ore people get past the price and consider a buying a large scale. I could imagine when they'd finally start publishing large scale magazine I'd have every months issue no lie

Foxy

Short answer... no. Simply because the majority of RC hobbyists can't afford them. That's why Duratrax and Traxxas are the leading manufacturers in the hobby despite their being not the highest quality marques.

Personally It's taken me 14 years of career climbing to decide that a gasser is something I can now afford. Also since it's a niche hobby, intended only for those can afford it, the engineering will keep increasing as the price keeps dropping, meaning that it balances out. These cars will always cost around a thousand bucks I believe, there's no motivation for the MFRs to lower it.

Large scale is certainly gaining popularity though, as the entire hobby gains popularity. Almost all hobbyists are on a curve, some curve upward sharper than others, I've been racing nearly 20 years before I decided to get a gasser, I was exclusively nitro, with a smattering of electric thrown in until now. Others will play with an electric for a year, move to nitro for a couple fof years, then go for the gasser, others may jump straight in at large scale (usually those with good jobs and of a 'maturer' status). Just my observations after many years...

hellya

it may cost the consumer $1000..... but U.S. subdealers get good deals.... when anyone pays $1000 they are paying a 30% markup from the price the subdealer paid the main dealer

The German manufacturer of FG sells them for $300-400 a piece when the Main U.S. importor/dealer buys a container full

There is plenty of profit being made....or should I say we are being squeezed at the wallet because the cars go through to many middle men

K-Spindle

hellya you are WAY off in regards to margin in large scale and FG is some of the lower margin cars there are!

I have been importing large scale RC cars from the early 90s I wish we made those kinds of numbers. Most of the time $100 profit is what the dealer sees and about the same for the distributor.

Example lets take a low end pile of a car the XRC
$225 Per unit FOB China
$295 Landed and all the fees paid to the broker and delivery fees
$ 50 Marketing / web site and warehouse fees say $50 per unit
$345 total

Dealer cost $450
shipping to the dealer $60
Retail $600

Your not going to get rich.

FG Sportsline from Germany $560+
NO body no tuned pipe no foam bumper (cant race with out it) no front brakes.

Retail $800

There is not enough in FG to really do the advertising from the importers point of view.

NitroBurn1

I have always wanted to get into 1/5 gas rc, but could never afford to drop $1000 on one. Then after searching the web for the best deal, I found a 1/5 Smartech buggy on Ebay for $425 + $75 shipping. Its a pretty good buggy in my opinion. I made a custom diff cover, added a Jetpro pipe, put my own radio gear in it, and as I go along I'll keep adding to it, and make it into my own personalized gas buggy.

ttoks

despite the stereotypes of Australia, we do have cities and towns, and on the east coast of Australia, it's all bushland and green, not outback, it's not like i can just go hey i wanna go to the outback and take 20 minute drive there, to get to the Simpson desert will take about 3 days driving from where i live, not having a go at you, it's not you that put the image in your head of Australia, the media takes the cake there , but if you ever visit here you will find the townships and cities much like the ones in the states, i don't have enough room to drive it around because where i am is all farmland to my east which is privet property, and bushland to the west of the town, and i'd rather not run 2 grands worth of gas powered RC car into trees, and the town i'm in is only small (5'000 people) there is only a BMX track which isn't that big which is where i run my trucks.

TheFgMan01

If it makes you feel any better about the cost. Both of mine were put on layaway plans at LHS's. the truck was a Gift from my G/F.. But layaway is your buddy only think that sucks is knowing it's yours and at the shop, waiting there.... juuust waiting and it's all you think about lol

Dave ESPI

ttoks, nah I know about Australia and the "reality" of what you have, I was just poking ya in the ribs [8D]

I live in the "city" and there is always a place to run.... you just have to look harder, or ask permission

Bratch96

To tell all of you the truth, I cannot afford all of this large scale stuff, but damnit man I'm only going to live once. Right?