Big Squid RC

I have a few things I NEED to get off my chest this week.

Marshalling is bad for our sport. Yes, it is. Everyone hates to marshal. I didn’t pay my entry fee to run my ass off and still get yelled at by some F’n moron on the drivers stand, I paid to RACE. If I crash in a race, I am prepared to pay for it. If I am hacked in a race, I expect the guy that hacked me to be penalized (unless he stops and lets me regain my position), and my car to be righted. Having a lot of marshals on the track only encourages over driving and hacking. Reverse NEEDS to be legal, I mean, if it’s perfectly fine for F1, NASCRAP, and Indy cars to have reverse, it is perfectly fine for toy cars, and will cut down on the need for marshals. Small tracks need ONE marshal, big tracks need TWO, just to right hacked drivers and those that still insist on driving over their heads (albeit very slowly to encourage people to drive within their skill range). Oh and, the TRACK needs to supply the ONE or TWO marshals. YES they do. If you have a club track, you’ve got Plenty of members to pick from. If you have a privately owned track, perhaps you can trade a couple weeks race fees in exchange for “working” marshal duty.

Why do racers run multiple classes? To get more track time. Problem is, it costs a lot of money to set up two, three or more race cars/trucks. Guess what? You can give racers more track time without having them enter multiple classes. It is soooooo beyond the time to increase race lengths. Every race in the world should be no shorter than 10 minutes. Having longer races for one class saves the money of having to set up another truck, and also saves on a second entry fee. Make racing cheaper, get more racers, win/win for everyone. There are simply too many classes now, this will also help there.

I’ve flipped out about this several times, but there is no F’n need in the world to make qualifying 75% of a race day schedule. It’s called RACE day for a reason, to RACE. So how about 2 quals and 2 mains? Two quals are needed in case some jackass hacks you (and breaks you) in one qual, at least you have a second shot. Two mains doubles the current standard for actual racing. More racing, less jerk’n around with this p&ssy IFMAR qualifying crap, it’s something that needs to be done to help aim the hobby in a better direction.

I’ve said this many times before, but to be perfectly clear, realism is GOOD for this hobby. Sanctioning bodies should start encouraging, and promoting the short course classes. They are the future and they will help get more people in the hobby. Developing the short course classes should be the number one priority of any sanctioning body.

There NEEDS to be only ONE national champion. Yes, indeed, JUST ONE. Having 50 per year only waters down the meaning. It’s time to cut the b#llsh^t, and determine ONE national champion. All drivers with a good enough resume are allowed to compete for it, and it HAS to be a series, not a one weekend deal. It’s what’s best for the sport, and will help generate a lot of enthusiasm and perhaps even outside sponsorship (Red Bull, Monster Energy, Yamaha, Spy Optics, Fox Racing, etc) for the race promoters. Let the amateurs compete for regional “amateur” titles, let the pro’s add some much needed credibility to our hobby with a truly professional national championship series. (how about every regional championship race be a leg on the national championship tour? just say’n)

There NEEDS to be separate rules for the ONE national championship title than for local/amateur racing. Most local tracks just use “ROAR” rules for their local racing, and those are not the most conducive for keeping noobs in the hobby. The national champion rules can allow for some uber tech in the F1 of rc racing, the ONE national championship series, and the amateur rules can be purpose built to keep all those new faces that show up at the track in the hobby more than just one trip.

Since when is FAST a bad thing when playing with toy cars (or any car for that matter)? If you think there should be separate 21.5, 17.5, 13.5, and “mod” classes, you are an idiot. If you think 3S, 6S, 8S, or whatever high cell count batteries should be illegal, ditto. Separating by novice, intermediate, and expert ABILITY is the more responsible way of dividing classes. Brian Kinwald WILL beat you (yes, YOU) with a 17.5 or a 4.5, it doesn’t matter what motor you are using. Give a novice driver a 3.5 motor on a 6S Lipo pack and he’ll be far slower than a 21.5 on 6 cell Ni-mh. If you allow drivers to use ANY cell count or motor wind available, they will eventually end up using what works best for them (and it’s not going to be the 8S Lipo 9000kv motor combo I PROMISE you that). The “stock” class might have worked as intended for a short time after it was introduced 20 years ago, but it’s been a joke since, and it’s just F’n stupid during the brushless age. Separate by ability, not by the motor of the day.

I feel better, thanks for listening.

One last note for this week. It’s good working for BigSquid, we can say exactly what we think here, that’s what makes us different than “most” of the print rags. I can say good things about about a mag, but you won’t see them saying anything good about a website, that’s what really sets us apart. So this week, I gotta give props yet again to Stephen Bess at R/C Car. His “Drivers Stand” column in the March issue of R/C Car is worth every penny of the $4.99 newsstand price. The March issue also features a cool interview with HPI’s Akira Kogawa. So pick up a copy if you can find it. And no, I am not kissing R/C Car mags a$$, I am simply recommending a very well written (and very outspoken) article in one of the mags. If one of the other mags would grow some balls and write something worth reading, I’d be recommending it here too, but so far only Bess has the stones big enough to put some real hard core views in print.

Thanks for reading, and as always, support your LHS’s and local tracks.

YOUR Cub Reporter

For those of you that might not know, our Editor In Chief around this joint is Brian. Well, Brian is having a sort of “bromance” now days with Travis Pastrana and the Nitro Circus crew. Sorry to inform you Brian, but Travis broke his collarbone today while riding in Florida. Normally a broken collarbone is not a “huge” deal, but in this case, not only does Travis have a big rally race coming up this weekend, but the collarbone he broke was already plated. He’s scheduled for surgery on Monday, hopefully he recovers quickly and fully. Goodness knows he’s had more than his fair share of bumps and bruises.

Rockstar/Canidae/Suzuki (and Losi!) Supercross Lites rider Ryan Morias suffered a scary moment Saturday night racing in Anaheim. Ryan was landed on by another rider and ended up flying off his RM-Z250 and landing hard on his back. The crash was very serious, but luckily Ryan walked away with just some very sore insides. Hopefully we get to see him back on the track very soon. Click HERE to see the burly crash.

So… my rc convo of the week was with an old rc racing buddy of mine over the phone. The press release had just come out about Traxxas putting some marketing cash into the Monster Energy/Pro Circuit/Kawasaki team, and well, all I could talk about was how that was yet another step towards rc hitting the mainstream. Can you imagine a world where you can buy Associated trucks in Wally World? Can you imagine your LHS actually making a profit, then expanding in floorspace and also stocking a lot more inventory? Can you imagine a world where only a hundred racers show up on a slow weekend for a local club race, instead of the normal 20-50 to we get now days? Can the mags imagine the manufactures making record profits and then having record sized marketing budgets? Can you, the typical basher imagine driving down an average street and seeing several hobby grade trucks running around in yards and empty lots?

I always knew it was possible that hobby grade rc’s “could” be mainstream, I just never thought I’d see it in my lifetime. LOL. Right now here in good ole’ 2010, we are perhaps closer than we’ve ever been, and it’s hard for that to sink in to me. Yes, it will take some time for all the current marketing to kick in. And yes, we’ll have to work our way up to marketing in even more mainstream circles. And yes, it will take a lot of work (and luck) to get Associated/Losi/Traxxas trucks sitting on Wally World shelves. But, for the first time in my life, I can actually envision a world where hobby grade rc’s aren’t some obscure sub-culture, but actually a well known (and respected) hobby that mainstream America embraces.

There are a lot of LHSs, manufactures and tracks that are having a rough time keeping afloat right now. But the future is bright, perhaps brighter than it’s ever been. Huge props to Traxxas, Associated, and Losi for advertising outside our core industry to tap into the mainstream.

That’s it for this week, as always, support your LHS’s, local tracks, and if you get a chance, give a thanks for those in the industry striving to pull us out of obscurity.

YOUR Cub Reporter

We get letters, tons of letters each month to BigSquidRC. For me to get that big fat increase in salary I’ve been asking for, I’ve been told I have to bust out more material. I have chosen to “answer” some of letters submitted to BigSquid, so here we go.
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“also i got a dumb question im getn the inferno ve its a brushless buggy n
can handle up to 4s i no 2x2s =4s but i was wonderin is it better to run two 2s or one 4s
thanks corey”
Corey, I must first say up front that my grammar blows, my spelling is horrible, but WOW, I mean seriously WOW.

To get to your question- a hard case 4S pack is preferred. Why? The top two reasons are- 1. 8th scale electrics pull a lot of g’s on impact, either with a curb, or casing a huge quad, either way a single hard case 4S pack will be less likely to shift or be damaged on the big hits. 2. You’ll have a lot less wiring (and less connectors) running around on a single 4S pack, and less wiring means less resistance, less resistance means more voltage, and more voltage equals speed. The uber pack to run in the Kyosho Ve? If it was my cash, I’d give MaxAmps a call, they are the best of the best.

Does this mean you can not use a pair of 2S packs? A pair of 2S packs will work, but use some good fiber tape to keep the packs from sliding around on the big hits, use good connectors (I recommend Traxxas), and be careful how you route all that extra wiring (keep it away from the spur!).

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“I have a jato 3.3 and I am looking to dump some money into it. I want to get the highest speed possible on a quarter mile dragstrip. I would love to break 100 mph with it or even more if possible. Any suggestions on parts?
Thanks for your time,
John”

Ya know, your question brings ME to a good question. My question is, where are all the really fast nitro guys at? Week in and week out, the electric cars at the top speed runs destroy the nitros. As far as I know, the fastest top speed ever recorded by a nitro was just slightly over 100 mph, a speed the electric guys are blowing by on 2S now days.

Now, if I had to try and break the 100 mph barrier with a Jato, just what would I do? The four most important things in my mind are range, tires, gearing and finally raw power.

It’s hard to get a good top speed if your radio range sucks. No matter how good you think your range is now, it will NOT be enough at 100 mph. Height is important, so try to get up off the ground to help increase the range of your radio system. Also, be sure and use a good quality radio system, and extend the receiver antenna as much as you can (don’t fold extra antenna back into the the receiver box). I prefer running the Futaba FASST system, and you can learn more about them HERE

For tires, commercially available rubber tires are not only extremely hard to drive at those speeds, but they like to explode above 70 mph. You’ll be looking at running foam tires on your Jato. The best place to get foams for your Traxxas is Jaco. Give them a call at 540-298-0446 and tell them what you are doing. I’d also recommend running a tire sauce on the rear for additional traction. I prefer the Grand Motorsports “medium” traction compound for an application such as yours. You can find it HERE

For gearing, I’m no gashole, so I don’t know what gearing combo will put your Jato to 100 mph. But what I do know is, start with relatively low gearing, and work your way up.

For raw power, once again, I’m no nitro expert, but if I were you, I’d be cruising the Traxxas forums seeing just how large of an engine I could shove into that Jato. The Jato comes with a good engine, but if you are looking to do 100 mph, more raw horsepower is going to be a must.

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That’s it for the first installment of “Ask Cubby”. Send your questions, statements, manifestos, death threats, etc to brian AT bigsquidrc DOT com, and he will forward them over to me as needed.

Your Cub Reporter

Ever notice how there just aren’t any “concept cars” in the rc world? You know, like the uber exotic cars shown at the big auto shows to “wow” consumers and create marketing buzz? Wouldn’t it be trick if some rc company busted out an uber esoteric “this is what you will be driving in 2020″ concept car/truck? I’m officially calling out AE, Losi, Traxxas, X-Ray, Mugen, Schumacher, and the rest of the manufactures to produce such a vehicle. So many of todays base platforms have gone virtually unchanged for decades, perhaps some true concept cars will not only create new excitement in the industry, but might just help push technology to the next level. How do you know how to get there, if you don’t even know where you are headed? Lets see some “2020″ concept vehicles.

Ever notice how you rarely see any youth classes at your local track now days? I’ve always judged the health of a track by the size of it’s youth class, and judging the last dozen tracks I’ve been to, I haven’t seen any “healthy” tracks. I say this because- how can you expect to have big turnouts twenty years from now if you aren’t helping young racers get started today?

If you are a track owner, you need to take a long hard look at why you might pull 20-80 adult racers a weekend, and zero youth racers. If you are a local track owner, you should ask yourself if selling out and putting in a hard track for the local hard core racers is better than putting in a less challenging, but fun track, that would attract and help keep noob and youth racers. If you are a local track owner ask yourself why do you keep putting up with all the crap the hard core guys give you about every little detail of your track and facilities, crap you wouldn’t have to endure if the majority of your racers were youth or noobs. If you are a local tack owner ask yourself would you rather have 40 hard core entries a week, or 40 entries of new and youth racers that are just there to have a good time.

If you are a local racer, you should know your biggest goal at a club race isn’t to “win”, it’s to help new and youth racers learn, and to help them have a good enough time that they come back again next week. If you are a local racer and think that winning a local race is more important than building the future of the hobby, you straight up need kicked out till you get your priorities right. If you are a local club racer and do not realize the MOST important people at your track are the new and youth racers, then you don’t know chit about your chosen hobby and you are the one looking like a buffoon. If you are a local club racer and think that each club race is more important than winning an IFMAR world title, you have manure between your ears. Most local “hard core” racers have no idea that even the most elite racers in this sport don’t bitch, moan and run off noobs as much as they do. They have no idea that someone can win the biggest championship this sport has to offer and 100 yards away from the venue the mass population does not give a crap who you are or what you may have won.

Above all in this hobby what really matters isn’t how many “S” your electric car runs off of, how many national titles you have under your belt, or how many trucks you sell a year, it’s actually all about people. When your racing career is over, and it will be someday, what people will remember the most about you is how much you helped out others, particularly the noobs and youth.

That’s it for this week. Support your sport, hit your local LHS’s, tracks, and bash spots, and lend a helping hand to the noobs and youth that show up.

Your Cub Reporter

The Top Ten RC Cars You Should Own Before You Die.

2009 is nearly over and done with, and as such, it’s that time of year when all sorts of lists get made. Top ten news makers of 2009, top ten songs of 2009, and well, in the case of your much loved yet often litigated Cub Reporter, The Top Ten RC Cars You Should Own Before You Die. This is a list of the cars that I think everyone in our hobby should own, wrench on, and drive before they die. I didn’t come up with this list all on my own, as I consulted some of the other BigSquid contributors for input, so special thanks to them for helping me whittle down the list. Some of the cars/trucks on the list can be bought brand new at your LHS, others can be bought new as re-issues, and all the others can be found NIB for around a grand on E-pay.

Our original list contained well over 20 cars, eventually we worked it down to 19, and finally to the top 10. Here are some of the honorable mentions that narrowly missed making the top 10 cut.

Honorable Mentions-

Schumacher Menace- a 4wd 10th scale truck, insanely overpowered with a .21 nitro engine and 3 speed tranny.
HPI 5B- a 5th scale 2wd buggy, that looks fairly scale, is a blast to drive, and it’s marvelous engine starts every time.
BoLink Legend- 10th scale on-road car that’s easy to build, tough as nails, affordable, and really shows the essence of what our hobby is all about.
Tamiya Grasshopper- 10th scale off road buggy that was uber cool in it’s day, and the buggy that thousands of hobbyists learned to drive with.
Traxxas Revo- 10th scale nitro monster truck that defined what the next level of design and quality was in our hobby.
Tamiya Mini FWD- 10th scale on-road car that’s affordable, dependable, and extremely fun to drive.
Team Losi JRX-2- 10th scale off-road buggy with unique rear suspension that was Gil’s answer to the RC10.
Serpent 960- 8th scale 4wd on-road car that is ridiculously fast and is perhaps the highest form of racing in our hobby.

Finally, with all the honorable mentions out of the way, we can get down to the nitty gritty, the top 10 cars you must own before you die!

10. Associated RC18T (18th scale, electric, 4wd off-road truck)- There are many reasons the RC18T is a true must have truck. First might be it’s low cost, second might be it’s incredible durability, third might be the fact that you can drive it nearly anywhere, fourth might be that you are a Mamba system away from it busting out over 60 mph, fifth might be the 20 minute plus run times you will get from even modest battery packs. Did I mention it’s the only one in the top ten that you and a few of your buddies can easily have room to race inside your garage during the cold winter months?

9. Kyosho Optima Mid SE (10th scale, electric, 4wd off-road buggy)- During it’s day, the Optima Mid SE was the most uber piece of racing equipment you could own, and ate the 2wd RC10′s for breakfast. Agile, easy to jump, insanely fast, and above all, it oozed “trick” from nose to rear wing. Now days, NIB examples go for around a grand on E-pay, and for good reason, it’s one of the trickest racing machines of all time, and very easy on the eyes.

8. Associated RC12 (12th scale, electric, 2wd on-road car)- One of Associated’s first cars, and one that has defined hundreds of designs since. Elegantly simple, bulletproof design, and lightening fast are some of the attributes the original RC12 is known for. It’s also a true history piece for our hobby, an important enough design that if you consider yourself a true hobbyist, you need to wheel it at least once.

7. Tamiya Bruiser (10th scale, electric, 4wd off-road truck)- This truck sets all kinds of standards, both in it’s day (85′), and even today. The Bruiser was one of the most realistic designs ever sold, featuring a shiftable 3 speed tranny, lots of real metal parts, and a highly detailed Toyota Hilux body. Today, it’s easily one of the most sought after old school trucks, with NIB versions going for insane amounts. What puts it on this list is it’s incredible realism, detail, and quality. The Bruiser is truly a must have at least once in your life.

6. HPI RS-4 (10th scale, electric, 4wd on-road car)- The RS-4 has been around for years in many different versions, and all of them have been solid cars. The original RS-4 was a great design, one of the first designed to present a touring car look, and was perhaps one of the best looking cars of it’s day. The RS-4 is also rock solid reliable, drives incredibly well, and is actually fairly easy to work on. If you haven’t blasted an RS-4 up and down your driveway, you are truly missing out on a gem.

5. Kyosho MP 7.5 Kania (8th scale, nitro, 4wd off-road buggy)- If you are still one of the few people that have not driven an 8th scale buggy, it’s simply a MUST do. Quite simply, 8th scale buggies are the king of anything dirt. While many 8th scales look remarkably similar, there have been many stand outs over the years, and after consulting the other staffers at BigSquid, if we were to recommend one 8th to keep forever, it would be the MP 7.5 Kania. The Kania version of the 7.5 is a not only a great buggy, but truly showcases what 8th scale buggies are all about, and is destined to be one of the most sought after designs 20 years down the road.

4. Traxxas Slash (10th scale, electric, 2wd off-road truck)- Who would have thought the once highly maligned Stampede would have morphed into something like this? The Slash is simply a home run in every area. It’s affordable to buy and maintain, rock solid dependable, drives incredibly well, comes with decent enough electronics, and most importantly, re-opened many peoples eyes that our hobby grade rc cars/trucks should look like their full size counterparts. This is one of the trucks you probably own right now that you should Never sell off, you’ll appreciate it 20 years from now.

3. Tamiya Clodbuster (10th scale, electric, 4wd off-road monster truck)- While the Clodbuster was released in 1987, you can still see many of them in use to this very day. This was our hobby’s first real “monster truck”, and was a runaway sales hit for Tamiya. The Clodbuster featured a very simple yet dependable drive line, and incredibly tough looks. Back in 87′, if you showed up to the local bash area with a Clod, all the RC10′s and Grasshoppers would pull off for fear of your truck running them over. It was, and still is, a beast of truck, and a must have.

2. Traxxas T-Maxx (10th scale, nitro, 4wd off-road monster truck)- Volumes upon volumes have already been written on the T-Maxx. Was it a great truck when it was introduced? Well, that’s arguable, as it’s engine was temperamental, and the one way bearings in its starting mechanism seemed to only last one quart of fuel, so keeping one running was a true test of ones temper. But, it looked like nothing else before it, and busted all kinds of sales records. It was the main reason that nitro powered cars started outselling electrics for the first time in our hobby’s history. The T-Maxx’s 8 shocks, uber trick looking wheels and tires, and sweet looking pre-painted body helped the truck destroy all sales records before it. Dozens of aftermarket companies sprang up overnight because of this truck. It was also the truck primarily responsible for turning the tide from building kits, to buying RTR’s. Many a father and son spent hours spinning the needles on their T-Maxx carbs trying to keep it running, and the sense of accomplishment they both got once it fired up are the kind of times many people will cherish forever. The T-Maxx was cool to drive, cool to own, and perhaps more importantly, brought many a family together. The T-Maxx also perhaps introduced more noobs to our hobby than any other design in history.

1. Associated RC10 (10th scale, electric, 2wd off-road buggy)- So just why should you buy an original gold tubbed, 6 tranny geared RC10? Not because it’ll spank everything on the market today, because it won’t. But, what it will do is show you just how far our hobby has come, and how far ahead of it’s time that the RC10 was back in 84′. When the RC10 was originally released, it was not only the best looking car ever released, but also it was easily the fastest car on any track in the country. The RC10 is the buggy that basically set all the standards. From looks, to speed, to sales, to how many people one car can bring into the hobby, the RC10 set the original bar, and set all those standards damn high. If you were to pick up an original RC10 in good condition today, you will still be able to find parts, still be able to put in some decent laps or passes around your favorite bash spot, and I promise that it will put a huge smile on your face. Yes, the RC10 is that good, yes, it is that special, yes, it is the single most important rc car you should own before you die.

Thanks for reading, support your sport, hit your LHS’s, hit your local tracks and bash spots, and try to pick up at least a couple of the cars/trucks on the list above. You will thank me for it later.

Your Cub Reporter

This week I guess I went a little long with all the industry quotes, so the boss man has asked that I break the report up into two parts… look for the second part to be posted in a day or so, it’s on some different topics than this part anyway.

Last Cub Report, we crushed the record for hate mail received at the BigSquid offices. Much of the email addressed the issue of me going off on the manufactures that did not display at the iHobby show a couple weeks ago. There are two sides to every story of course, so here’s part of an email we received from a west coast industry insider regarding the reasons why some west coast companies didn’t show at ihobby this year. West coast industry guy- “Simply put, the big manufactures did not attend not because all of them band together and decided to boycott the event together….. they have decided not to attend simply because for the $$ spent vs. the exposure they get, it is not worth it” This west coast industry insider went on to say- “iHobby as an industry representing show has really gone down hill over the course of the past 5-6 years and for what they charge, it just doesn’t work out for these big manufactures.”

So there ya go, the other side of the why show up for iHobby story. Yes, it’s expensive for any manufacture that has to fly people in and ship booth hardware to the show. There are a lot of reasons to not attend the show, yet, there are a lot of reasons to make it. In the end, I feel you only get out what you put into something. If you don’t show, you save some cash, but you get nothing out of it. If you do make the show, you may make that one industry contact that doubles your sales next year, or you may talk with lots of real world consumers that help you make smarter marketing decisions based upon your chats with them. In my mind the “real” best reason to be at iHobby is getting the chance to eat some authentic Chicago deep dish pizza. Awwww, the best pizza money can buy.

Seems we also started a firestorm in the last Cub Report with the mere mention of the “Asian Invasion”. The iHobby trade show cemented the trend of overseas manufactures selling straight to American consumers via the internet, bypassing the normal distribution chain in the industry. Here’s a hodgepodge of quotes from various email and phone conversions I’ve had about the subject of direct overseas selling over the last week…..

“the idea of American companies acting “shocked” by this is laughable. They were just trying to squeeze as much low-labor cost $$$ out of the deal as possible before the other shoe dropped…”

“the writing was on the wall for this one. You can’t be an American company sending your blueprints overseas to take advantage of “bowl of rice a week” labor, and then acting surprised and shocked to see your designs being sold under someone else’s brand name in a few months… ”

“HK (Zippy) works with factories over there to purchase all their “old stock” lipos. Basically they buy the cells/packs that have been sitting on the shelves for several years. They buy them in bulk at a very heavy discount because the factories are trying to unload them and can not sell them to any reputable companies. They also will take all of the ding/damaged/low voltage cells. They send the packs out without paying any import duties here to the USA by laying on the import documents and calling them a gift. Therefore, shafting the American tax payer and getting a tax dodging advantage on the US Companies…”

“(American manufactures) Need to figure out a reason for American consumers to buy from them, instead of a comparable product from an overseas company… Maybe it’s service, reputation, something… But the cost difference is SO great between the “direct” products and the “Brand Name” versions that people EXPECT a slight decrease in quality or service.”

“I have LOOONNNGGG said that the US Hobby Industry needed a REAL cohesive industry organization to stop (or at least discourage) these practices, but what do we get instead? The iHobby people gladly selling these companies BOOTH space, LOL!!!! It’s like nobody’s paying any attention.”

“Yeah, this is trouble.”

“Their (the overseas direct marketers) customer service is horrible. If you don’t believe that, just look on their own forums at complaint after complaint.”

“They are trying to establish themselves in the market with very cheap prices, but they will have to raise their prices to be a sustainable business model.”

“Now, it seems to be pretty much the EXACT SAME PRODUCTS that are showing up, not even Clones anymore!!!”

“Unless we here figure out a way to “add REAL value” to our brands, figure out something that would be difficult or impossible for the overseas manufactures to do, we can expect the loss of the American RC Hobby Industry as we know it within a decade.”

“Calendar year 2009 has been devastating to the Chinese factories. After years of ramping up production via manpower and larger facilities, the sudden sales slump took their feet right out from under them… late 2008 into 2009 saw orders drop so dramatically that the factories had excess stock for the first time, well…ever…. the ideology behind direct China factory selling is in my opinion, about 90% the direct result of simply having to move overstocked product somewhere else, and keep the factory workers busy by any means necessary.”

Those are just a few notes from close to 50 email exchanges and phone calls I’ve had over the last week on the subject of direct overseas selling to American end consumers. American manufactures can’t just say “Buy American!!” because American consumers will buy from who they see fit, you have to look no further than the full size auto industry to see proof of that. Time after time I’ve seen overseas manufactures screw over American companies that are sourcing product from them. In my eyes, it’s just a matter of time for them to start screwing over American end consumers as well. Once the American consumers lose trust in the dirt cheap overseas direct sellers, it won’t take long for it to spread via word of mouth. Screwing over just a few people here in the internet age will prove very costly to all the overseas direct sellers. The clock is ticking…

That’s it for part one, hate-mail is gladly accepted and appreciated, and support your hobby/industry in any way you can. Watch for part two soon.

Your Cub Reporter