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A few years ago we shot a feature length dramedy at The Hobby Stop in Rock Hill, SC. After a much-too-long post phase the film is finally finished. It's about a young man trying to get back to college and takes place in The Hobby Stop (the family business) and has the RC and other hobbies as cinematic and story elements. If you like the trailer and want to see more please help promote the movie by 'Liking' us and more importantly 'Sharing' us on facebook.com/TheHobbyStopMovie For the Tamiya contingent there is fairly good representation of the product. There is a war scene with 2 custom HumVees that were inspired from this site as well as a customized FAV. I also did a box art SCollins Scorcher that I posted on RC10talk.com. Bob

If they were to license the name from VW then you can bet they would have to sell a lot of them... If I were Tamiya I would start out by designing the SRB II chassis, which should have all of the same dimensions and body mounting points. The front would be very similar to the original, only made out of nylon based plastics with aluminum upgrades possible. The rear I would do differently altogether: To make it more practical I would take the gears out of one of their current production cars and make a plastic gearbox that mounts the motor up high, like the original. Instead of the rear swing arm / torsion bar setup I would do an angled trailing arm setup like the A&L kit for the vintage RC10 or the Cox / Kyosho Scorpion. This actually follows VW's evolution of the Bug to the Super Beetle. These components should be bolted to a chassis plate, not a plastic tub!!!. Finally, all the electronics must be waterproof, and the advertising campaign should have the bug at the beach, playing in the water. Here is a SCollins Scorcher with the A&L rear suspension: If the design were done properly it should be easy to deliver all the SRB models, but the Scorcher would probably be the only real seller... Bob

Novak Tempest MAX had leads to drive a pair of LEDs. They go out when you pull the trigger and come on in neutral and brake. Not the best setup... Bob

In a nutshell, competitive 2WD 1/10 scale RC cars have evolved into their final form. It was first established with the RC-10 and has evolved to the point where the latest version vehicles are almost indistinguishable from the last version. I personally miss the days of flat graphite chassis plates and backyard engineering. It was always so cool to transform your RC10 into a sprint car or late model oval racer by using your own ideas and imagination, and someone else was always doing something new that you hadn't thought of. The car manufacturers who evolved the design survived (Associated, Losi, Traxxas, Hyperdrive), the Big Japanese companies survived (Tamiya, Kyosho), and other lesser companies folded up. As far as the aftermarket parts companies, the designs became so integrated that there was not a whole lot of room for improvement. Most of what you see is the stock design done in a different matearial (aluminum parts or different formula plastics). I think the biggest problem with the hobby is that it was never advertised beyond the RC magazines. The Tamiya commercials ran a few times when I was a kid, but that was about it. At its peak, Associated could have afforded a nationwide advertising campaign here in the States, but they never did. If you are ever in a Hobby Shop when a true newbie walks in you'll notice they are overwhelmed by stuff they never even new existed. XBox, PS, and the rest of the computer / video game systems have multi-million dollar advertising campaigns, RC stuff is never advertised beyond RC themed mags. As far as Kyosho in the US, they were not happy to no longer be the top dog at Great Planes, so they started planning to self distribute. GP got wind of this and dropped the product and pushed rumors of Kyosho going out of business. And Gil Losi had gotten fed up with the bureaucracy in the company he had started; now he's at Kyosho. I think the next trend you will see will be 1/10 scale 4WD become more prominent OR 1/8th scale 4WD electric will catch on. The new combination of LiPo batteries and brushless motors is too powerful for 2WD platforms, and I see 4WD as the solution. I have an 11V Mamba system in a XXX4, and it's just about the fastest thing at the track, at any scale, but the size of the chassis limits what you can actually do with it. www.4wdrc.com The Legends design was sold to Xtreme RC Racing in York SC. http://www.xtremercracing.com/INFORMATION.cfm Bruce made them in small quantities but it really didn't catch on. It's just too easy to get a touring car or pan car from ebay and the local track is so bumpy that suspension travel is really required. He may have sold the enterprise back to the original owner, or he may be still building them for the old owner as you can now get them from www.bolink.com. Either way its just too easy / cheap to get a better car used from ebay. Bob

Cause a monster beetle is a monster truck, I'm suggesting a buggy. The Monster Beetle body fitment to the Frog chassis is a bit high for the wheels to hit right, so that would have to be tweeked, and a new design rear cage and exhaust stinger would be required to call it a SS2. SS/Grasshopper wheels and tires are a must. I just completed my take on the SCollins Scorcher. I built mine on an A&L swingarm chassis and I shortened the wheelbase by drilling and moving the noseplate back. I used the Parma body, painted "Box Art" with Re-pro decals in the mail. It also sports a custom brass basher front bumper and Grasshopper wheels and tires front and rear. Everyone I show it to wants me to make one for them, which leads me to believe that the Bug as a buggy still has a dedicated following. Bob

I can't see Tamiya re re-ing any of the SRBs. At their core Tamiya is a plastics company, and there was a whole lot of metal on the SRBs. Don't get me wrong, I know they do good detailed metal work, but I just don't see them going that far back in the way-back-machine. A FAV and Wild One pairing would be very well accepted IMHO. Tamiya already has the dogbone solution for the rear end (from the Frog series), and the Rough Rider crowd would be all over the FAV wheel and tire combo. Due to the Sand Scorcher's cultish following I could see them releasing a Sand Scorcher 2 maybe. Could be as simple as a Beetle shell on a Frog chassis or as complicated as redesigning the SRB in CF and plastic. Bob

RC10's came with a Blue Label Associated motor, not the Green Label Reedy. The Blue Label motor was the equivilant to a Mabuchi silver can / box stock motor, and was in the $12 US range. The Green Label Reedy was a $24 US competition stock motor which had to conform to the ROAR stock spec of that era: 27 turn, fixed timing, stronger magnets (not wet mags though), stand-up brushes, unlightened arm, sealed can, etc. It was a good motor for the day, but the current specification has evolved to include current magnet technology and a can that can be opened for maximizing the internals (turning the comm, polishing the shaft and bushes, shimming, etc.). The Green Reedy in this condition would be an attractive buy for an Associated collector. Bob