SAVAGEJIM

And I agree too here on the mark-up. It's been said before and it is true, the MCD clones will eventually compel MCD to drop prices. Especially now during this season, everyone is going into a price cutting with the chinese cloners leading the way.
MCD's mark-up margin will be exposed once they begin to drop prices, all we have to do is remember the old retail prices and subtract what the new discounted price is.

Unfortunately, in a price cutting war. MCD will be at a disadvantage because the cloners have other factors they can benefit from.

SAVAGEJIM

I have touched and worked on clones, granted not in 5th scale...yet, but clones none the less. A Smartech actually, though not this new hybrid one you linked, but a Smartech nitro called Magic Wheel (now called Minotaur King), a direct an illegal clone of the Traxxas T-Maxx. And Traxxas has spoken, the Magic Wheel was never authorized or allowed by Traxxas to be cloned.
When the guy brought to me his Magic Wheel, he tought he had a real T-Maxx and he complained that it did not keep up with other stock T-Maxxes his other friends had. He also had running poblems, the engine was rather erratic (actually, it just needed to be tuned more often because teh engine does not keep its tune very well. It requires more hands on to remain in good tune. Actually, even in good tune, the side exhaust engine of teh Magic Wheel is simply not as good as a TRX2.5R, even when in good tune).
The thing that tipped me off that this was not a Traxxas is because it had no EZ-Start and teh engine head was definitely not a TRX engine. Looking over the plastic bits, everything, down to even teh Traxxas indentions on some of the plastic parts, were copied from a T-Maxx. However, here are the faults I found as I examined it. The Magic Wheel's plastic was softer and bent more easily. And any screw screwed into them does not have as good a grip as if they were screwed into better plastics. On this particular truck, there were several screws I had to tighten down, but I didnt overdo it because I was afraid of stripping the plastic hole. I told teh guy to watch those screws and eevn to CA the screws into place if they keep on coming loose. On a real Traxxas, that many screws did not come out (unless the RC was in a particularly bad jolt or was run pretty hard for a long time).

Honestly, if you opened shop again and went back to being HellyaFGhopups, I would shop from you too. Right now, there there are several places I shop for FG parts, and I constantly look for original FG parts and buy from whoever has them. So, if someone is out of stock of a par, I will look at teh next guy to see if they have it. Additionally, if someone has a good deal, say discounted or free shipping, I will go to that guy. So I am not picky, as I tend to buy from everyone.

And why did you quit being HellyaFGHopups? Why the change in heart for that venture? Just curious.

mooman007uk

Come on now guys, it's christmas!....it appears that the clone thing is always going to be a dodgy topic and i think we can all agree that what we post is, or should be, conveyed as our own personal opinion gathered from both hands on experience and the experience had by others, that's what forums are for. We're here to help one another get the most out of our awesome hobby.
we can speculate as to how things may be as long as it's not construed to be the bottom line...after all everyone's expectations and hopes are different.

love that red belt drive porshe