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I know the economy is flattening worldwide right now and everyone has to tighten their belts a bit financially since the pandemic...

 But was wondering if there is a sense that the overall group of people interested in the vintage styles is starting to age out?

Seemed to be much more excitement, activity, creative postings and movement -  both on Ebay and here - 5+ years ago than now around the classics. 

Do you think if the re-re wave had hit now, vs 11 years ago,  it would see the same impact?

Does it feel like more than a decade has passed already since the Sand Scorcher re-appeared on the dunes?

* Here's a nice POV photo of the Bug still going strong at the beach.. 

 

Untitled Project (1).jpg

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@cantforgetthe80s I am dumb and could not follow your post very well, are you asking whether the vintage cars are less exciting now.. or more exciting than before?  

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I'm just asking whether there seems to be less people interested in them overall... like a smaller group still active in them than say 5 or 10 years ago... and thanks, I edited the question to be more direct.  

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Can’t speak for anyone else but I have a lot of vintage Tamiya and 5 or 6 new Tamiya. I don’t get much out of running the new Tamiya stuff personally I use my Axials mostly but I’m always tinkering with my vintage stuff I never seem to loose interest I guess it’s nostalgic and brings back a lot of memories of opening my first Tamiya 32 years ago 

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Same here. I run the latest Associated once in a while, but generally just build,  run and then sell.  The vintage Tamiya for me are definitely nostalgic and feel like they're much more readily modifiable in terms of style and look.  

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I was taking a hiatus from RC 2016-2019 so I probably missed a bunch of rere's so can't really compare vs now.

I started RC in the early 80's, and my pretend RC shop is based around the M38 Willy.  This theme will never change. 

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Tough to say. I try to stick to the first 100 because I slowly found out newer stuff doesn't appeal to me. There's been temptations like the Konghead or more recently the Super Avante but I've managed to stay away from the newer stuff for the past few years. Since I'm all about vintage and re-releases, I'm the wrong guy to ask as I'll likely only stop doing this once I'm dead. Its a bit of an echo chamber in here too so forum response doesn't necessarily hold any clues either. I've been here since 2006 or so under both my screen names so I'm fairly familiar with the trends of re-release news. The news hits, a thread drops and depending on the level of importance of the re-re, a long discussion ensues. There's much talk about happiness of the news and recollections of the model from BITD. Then the models begin to creep into our hands (someday we'll all get our Optima Mids, someday...lol). Builds begin and people are elated and then it all dies down. The thread goes flat and we wait for the next announcement. The cycle continues.

I think a lot of the interest in the true vintage models and their minutia has slipped away. Many members who were up on that stuff have gone silent and I miss their input. They were real knowledge bases and I could only hope to be half as knowledgeable as they are/were. @Mokei Kagaku's recent early Grasshopper find was awesome and I deeply miss that kind of content. Mokei is a true expert and we're very lucky to have him around. I'd almost consider him peerless on Tamiyaclub now as most of the others with that kind of dedication to old-school are gone. I know my prattling on about MSCs and AM radio gear etc. has not been met with too much enthusiasm and that's fair as the new stuff is so much more reliable. Fortunately there are some here with great knowledge attached to specific models like the Astute or Egress.  

Tamiyaclub seems to have grown to encompass far more than the collectors of old Tamiya stuff that it started as. In some cases it must, as with a finite amount of cars to discuss (like limiting it to the first 50 or 100) would lead to stale discussion after awhile. With Tamiya still making new stuff, bringing back old stuff and folks rediscovering the hobby things can progress. Still, I miss the days talking endlessly about Hotshots, Frogs or SRBs etc. which come up less and less unless someone has a problem.

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48 minutes ago, Saito2 said:

I think a lot of the interest in the true vintage models and their minutia has slipped away. Many members who were up on that stuff have gone silent and I miss their input.

I think this is what I was getting at.  The innovative posts and cofabs, and the silence of many of the real knowledgeable members who ten and fifteen years ago were posting all kinds of innovative mechanical designs and paint tricks and trims has grown a bit, and I've not seen those particular voices replaced. I agree the hobby as a whole must move forward and grow. Like you and others in this forum I've always felt a fondness for the vintage class, and as with many of those members it defined my intro to RC years ago. And like you,  I'll not stop I think until death or health prevent me.  My wife has my Ebay sign info and I suspect it will be quite the one time deal when the time comes lol. I'll check out Mokei K, I'm not as familiar as it seems I should be. 


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1 hour ago, cantforgetthe80s said:

I think this is what I was getting at.  The innovative posts and cofabs, and the silence of many of the real knowledgeable members who ten and fifteen years ago were posting all kinds of innovative mechanical designs and paint tricks and trims has grown a bit, and I've not seen those particular voices replaced. I agree the hobby as a whole must move forward and grow. Like you and others in this forum I've always felt a fondness for the vintage class, and as with many of those members it defined my intro to RC years ago. And like you,  I'll not stop I think until death or health prevent me.  My wife has my Ebay sign info and I suspect it will be quite the one time deal when the time comes lol. I'll check out Mokei K, I'm not as familiar as it seems I should be. 

 

Zing!  We’re all bunch of losers.    :lol:   

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5 hours ago, Saito2 said:

Its a bit of an echo chamber in here too so forum response doesn't necessarily hold any clues either.

That's a good point, and unfortunately I think a lot of this stuff has moved over to Facebook like many other hobbies.

Glad to have this site so we don't have to feed the beast. Even if I don't post much (or very interesting things), I enjoy reading about what everyone's doing.

I have a bunch of ideas but very little money or time, so when I do tinker with RC, I'm usually not thinking about taking pictures of the process, although I've been getting a bit better lately :ph34r:

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8 hours ago, Saito2 said:

In some cases it must, as with a finite amount of cars to discuss (like limiting it to the first 50 or 100) would lead to stale discussion after awhile. With Tamiya still making new stuff, bringing back old stuff and folks rediscovering the hobby things can progress.

When I got back into Tamiya RC, which was when they re-released the Sand Scorcher, I was often on the Tamiya101 site, which, as the name suggests, looked just at the first 101 models. That site seems to have pretty much shut down now, probably because of exactly this - with no new content from newer models there ends up being nothing new to talk about. I can't say I'm especially interested in the TD2/4 models, but I find it really interesting seeing the creativity of people who have got them work out ways to make them better, and I say lets have more of it, it keeps things interesting, inspires others and keeps this hobby going. If there was no one buying the newer stuff Tamiya wouldn't exist, and certainly wouldn't be supporting (some) of the older models still. 

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I think this question came up a few years ago, or maybe, came up as a response to a different question about whether collections would continue to increase in value (or, indeed, refuting a statement that all collections would always increase in value).  Is it true that the demographic who are interested in 80s re-releases are broadly in a different life stage now than they were when the re-res first appeared?  I'm no marketing expert, but I'd bet the teams behind retro marketing plans would have timed the releases to take advantage of the period when potential buyers had the money, time and desire to buy such luxuries.

@Saito2's comment about the TC echo chamber is valid.  A few former TC members still exist over on Facebook, and are still active in the vintage racing scene.  In fact the vintage racing scene seems to be growing - every year the Iconic Revival has had more interest, and in 2021, entries grew so much (possibly driven by people returning to the hobby with home builds during the lockdowns) that the Revival has been split into 2 events to give more people a chance to race.  With various companies in on the re-re game, it looks like the marketing boffins still think there's money in the scheme yet.

But, at some point, it must come to an end.  There's only so many cars from the 80s and 90s that can be re-released, and only so many people who had their childhoods then.  By the late 90s / early 00s, there can't have been that many kids drooling over Tamiya's catalog - it was all about the games consoles by then, as far as I recall.  Will any of us get excited about a re-release of the Wild Dagger or a TT01?  Probably not, since both chassis are still in production even now, although they're both around 20 years old.

The vintage race meets I go to are overwhelmingly attended by people like me: middle-class, middle-age, white men.  Pretty much every other demographic is under-represented.  Of particular risk to the future of the scene itself is the lack of younger members, but that problem exists in non-vintage racing too, albeit to a lesser extent.  On the plus side, racing isn't a hugely physical sport and there's no medical reason why we should stop when we get older.  I think the real questions are:

  • will we want to keep building and/or racing when our eyesight is failing and our hands are crippled with arthritis?
  • will we want to stand outside in cold fields and camp for two nights when age-related health issues set in?
  • will rising prices and fears of future healthcare costs vs projected pension values stop us buying kits or going racing?

There are probably others that I haven't thought of, but I'm personally not worried about any of the above just yet.  Personally, my reduced RC spending this year is far more related to the spiralling cost of living than to any age-specific issue, and that must be having an impact across the board.

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On 7/4/2022 at 10:41 AM, Mad Ax said:

There are probably others that I haven't thought of, but I'm personally not worried about any of the above just yet.  

Must be nice to have young eyeballs!  :D   My biggest regret is that I did not practice brush painting figure faces in my youth.  My wife is an extremely crafty person and has won several local awards for her paintings, etc as a child.  She taught me how to paint Willy's face (like my Avatar) a year or so ago.. I had a great teacher all this time and only recently I asked her to teach me.. well, only after she said my Willy's faces looked like huge disasters and I should be ashamed!  :lol:   Haha.   

By the time I started, my vision had degraded considerably and I have a very hard time seeing where I am painting.  Even with the aids I have like the light ring with magnifying glass, dark paint on dark colors I just can not see where I'm painting.  And don't remind how horrible assembling the Javelin was for me because of black parts with black screws.. couldn't see squat!   :blink: 

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This same question pops up every five years but with a different author. I think there are still the same, if not more people interested in the vintage stuff. Some of us are old enough to have kids that are discovering our old rc cars and are truly interested in the hobby's beginnings. I will say that most of us that have vintage stuff have already found cars, parts, etc. that we've been looking for.

I've noticed that it's sometimes hard to find info even with today's information overload. Facebook is absolute garbage for sharing information. The algorithm makes info stay for a blink then it's gone if you scroll past it...never to be seen again.

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Well, for what it's worth my youngest son still likes his RC's and if I still have my collection when I shuffle off it will be going to him.
I have a couple of nephews who are a bit young yet but I will encourage them to take my cars out and bash them when they are old enough.
Shame on me, I almost forgot, I have a niece as well who is quite a good driver, she has driven my TRX4 and the little WL Kei truck I have. So hopefully she'll keep playing with them too.

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@cantforgetthe80sFirst, great photo! Love it.

I've only just returned to the hobby so very limited exposure and experience but I think there is plenty of interest but limited ways in. t feels like the vintage racing scene is still pretty active. Maybe the pool of those involved grows and contracts over time but let''s be honest, this whole hobby is pretty niche. 

One issue is that the price of entry is high. I started looking at vintage again recently but in the end I could buy multiple kits to build and customise for the price of one vintage NIB. Of course I could buy pre-built but owning someone else's build just doesn't do it for me.

 

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Interesting thread:) with me I've had rc cars in my life since the mid 1970s but back then it was one rc car out on the street then Friday night local school hall club and anything goes to get it fixed when it went wrong (used it to death literally!) Roll on today and you forget about all those "hacks" you used to do but I still love anything vintage rc and I just love the re-re's because for me it's all nostalgia modern RC's are still very interesting its anything rc car related always gets my attention! I'm definitely ageing (losing sight and a bit stupid ) but definitely not ageing out.....I just love anything rc like I always have:D!

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14 hours ago, RichieRich said:

This same question pops up every five years but with a different author. I think there are still the same, if not more people interested in the vintage stuff. Some of us are old enough to have kids that are discovering our old rc cars and are truly interested in the hobby's beginnings. I will say that most of us that have vintage stuff have already found cars, parts, etc. that we've been looking for.

I've noticed that it's sometimes hard to find info even with today's information overload. Facebook is absolute garbage for sharing information. The algorithm makes info stay for a blink then it's gone if you scroll past it...never to be seen again.

Agree 100%.  Plus, for collectors like me, we want to make the classic as factory original as possible.. which means different restoration technique are used, but at the end of the day it's going to look like the out of the box kit car... otherwise it defeats the purpose.   Not so much one can do there.

But taking a look at the recent tech and talents by @nicherotors for example, he gave us this..a SWB 4WD WW2 that can accept both original and WW2 bodies.   I don't remember anyone having this 5-10 years ago..

There are newer members that are bringing new talent to the table; I think vintage cars and it's variants are still very well alive to the core interest, just got to know where to look on this site. 

IMG_Dec82021at63416PM.jpg.7a626de97234c7497c5db7a37d37488d.jpg

IMG_Dec92021at60046AM.jpg.36c95497736b72f44f77a91a741514ce.jpg

 

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Happens in all kinds of things.

Sure, there's young people who collect rare 78s or who consider the Atari 2600 to be the greatest video game console evah. But mostly, nostalgia is for the aging generation. 

What amazes me is how far back contemporary pop culture goes. There are plenty of kids today who idolize Led Zeppelin or Nirvana and it's not especially weird. Zeppelin released their first record in 1968, almost 55 years ago.

Can you imagine a teenager in 1968 whose favorite music was burning up the charts in 1923? A kid who dug the OJDB would have been seen as a freak. Even the country and blues tracks that Zeppelin and others ripped off left and right were mostly pretty obscure, even when they were first released. 

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@Mrowkathat's a good point. We were having this conversation just the other day. Of course plenty of people would look at our car collections and absolutely give us the freak label ;)

 

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Forgive me as I haven't read all the replies, but have been thinking for a while that if Tamiya's top years were, let's say no later than 1995 and the kids who brought them were around 10 years old. That would make the oldest nostalgic collector 37 years old. On that basis rere's could keep going for a while yet (maybe 10 years). But eventually those that remember Tamiya from their childhood will be too old and it will take a new generation to keep it going. 

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If it makes you feel better, I saw a kid about eight years old picking out a Tamiya on-road car at a hobby shop I visited today.

I asked him and his dad if they liked building, and told them that my little man loves to build and work on buggies.

Two future consumers down, 64 million to go!

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The official Tamiya Channel updates are very promising.. well at least in Japan.  They say there is so much young RC interest..  Another reason why I've been thinking about moving back to my homeland after retirement lately..  :D 

 

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interesting thread

The last 3 years have hit certain age groups, businesses and countries harder than others

With disease, idiotic politicians and war all playing their part 

There’s also now a scarcity of mint 70s / 80s kits, spares, hop ups and accessories - esp in Japan / which used to be overflowing … which suggests the bulk of remaining stocks have now finally moved into collectors’ hands ?

For me it’s a combination of both that’s lead to subdued input - not any loss of interest, value or knowledge in the cars ?

I recently moved on a lovingly assembled, restoration collection of 80’s Tamiya classics - not because I’ve lost interest but purely because I’ve run out of room 

I’m now regretting it - because there’s nothing fun to reinvest in + empty shelves remind me of it every day 🙄

All of this will inevitably change over time - and I’m certain better times will renew usual enthusiasm on here 👍

For now, it seems like fairly hard yards for all - and we shouldn’t be surprised if it flows down to our hobby 

SC

 

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22 hours ago, Hairyjon313 said:

Forgive me as I haven't read all the replies, but have been thinking for a while that if Tamiya's top years were, let's say no later than 1995 and the kids who brought them were around 10 years old. That would make the oldest nostalgic collector 37 years old. On that basis rere's could keep going for a while yet (maybe 10 years). But eventually those that remember Tamiya from their childhood will be too old and it will take a new generation to keep it going. 

I agree with this.  I'm in my late 40s and I think another ten, fifteen years is probably the max it makes sense for manufacturing the rere kits from that time.  But hey hopefully younger people get into them also.  Imagine a 100 year Rough Rider anniversary edition...

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