fhm101

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**soapbox deployment in progress**

Fairly new to flying, but I've been around r/c race cars for what seemed like forever before I got tired of the ever escalating drama from people who for some reason forgot this is supposed to be fun and decided satisfaction in life hinged on being #1 in a contest where grown men ran toy cars around a pile of dirt for bowling trophies.

I moved to airplanes because everyone I've met (so far) has had a good attitude toward their hobby/passion/craft, and seem to find enjoyment in most any aspect of flying model planes. But mostly it was the most drama free segment of the r/c market I've seen so far.

In my time in r/c car racing I never saw a single new release hit as promised. It was a running joke when those who couldn't exist without the latest and greatest would ask several times a day "When is the SuperGung XP467-C going to hit?" and the stock answer was "2 weeks, MuckiduDoCon promised it would hit in 2 weeks". I've seen new chassis designs go through years of testing with a promise every other month or so to expect a release date any day now.

And to you folks "in the industry", making your living on r/c flight or at least trying to pay for your addiciton, take it from someone who put in more than a few years on a different boat in the same water, it's rarely what you think it will be and it's NEVER what you want it be. If you are dealing with any offshore manufacturer it helps to be from Missouri, or at least live by their philosophy of "Show me" before you buy in to their program. If you take any other tack with our friends overseas, you are setting yourself up to fail. That's not to say you can't form a wonderful, profitable relationship with them, but it takes work, patience, and the ability to not hold a grudge when things don't go your way. As for having your feelings hurt because you are not getting what you think you were promised, get back to me after you've sunk over 20K of your own money and 2 solid years of your life into developing a completely new product for a major manufacturer, only to have them cut you out of the loop "2 weeks" prior to the release of their brand spanking new product line. In fairness, it was a change in company ownership and not a personal thing that gave me a very hard lesson in personal trust and "always get it in writing" where potentially serious money is involved, but I've seen plenty of similar lessons in this industry handed out for the same reason a dog licks it's privates so it pays to do your CYA up front. It may not keep you from taking one for the team, but it most certainly saves a passle of sour grapes, second guessing, and damaged egos on the back end.

**soapbox returned to the stowed and locked position**