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Smirrors

Are young RC collectors rarer these days?

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I was having a chat with a person I met from a sales ad today and we were sharing about how our kids just aren't interested in RC as much. They will happily play but then also move on to the next thing just as happily. He's selling me his Corolla WRC that i have been after for a while now. I thought to myself anyone born post 2000 probably wouldn't have any idea what the Corolla WRC is, and probably wouldn't care. The famous Castrol liveries of the 90s are no longer seen these days. I guess its similar to the Lancia Martini liveries that I never saw but still appeal to me. To be fair being from Australia I don't know much of the mid 2000 WRC onwards and also care less about them and kids these days are being exposed to even less.

To date I have a small collection of vintage RC which I hope to pass on to my kids, but I suspect that when it happens, they will just sell it for cash. Which I am ok with as long as they know the values! I know plenty of kids play with RC these days from all different brands but will they ever evoke the same emotional attachment that Tamiya has successfully done?

This post is just a random thought that i was having so thought I would post it here :p

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I think computer games has pretty much killed off all the other hobbies for younger kids / teenagers at least based on by experience of my nephews and most of my friends kids. It seems its the 40+ adults wanting a dose of nostalgia that are keeping the hobby companies afloat at the moment and they will probably peg out when we do.

What you say about the Corolla is also true as motor racing doesnt seem to have the coverage it used to, aside from F1 which is a shadow of its older days. When I was a youth in the 80s BTCC was a big thing and was proper unmissable  saturday afternoon television - real cars being thrashed around inches from each other, then there was Group B, RAC and WRC rallying on sundays and one of my most vivid memories was seeing some Group C racing for the first time - these cars with their covered rear wheel arches and bubble cockpits were like space ships. Cars back then were icons because of their performance and style and all the big manufacturers had teams involved, the sponsership was iconic - particularly the liveries of the booze and stogies. Everything about it was Cool. I remember as a kid cutting out the silk cut and rothmans etc adverts from the sunday magazines and sticking them in scrap books as they normally had their sponsored racing cars in them.

Now days cars are nothing more than to be villified because of the environmental damage they susposedly cause. So its no wonder most youngsters growing up today would lack the feelings we get from seeing these vehicles.

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7 minutes ago, rwordenjr said:

What would you classify as young? I'm 26 and have around 60 rc cars B)

Your defintely an outlier!!! Which i think is a really good thing.

The birthday list at the bottom tends to paint the wider picture of the demographics.

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Well, I am 43 at the moment and already when I was young, there wasn't much R/C enthusiasm among my friends and/or the same age people I knew. I had two friends who joined me for two years. I was in it for longer, but mostly, because of my father and uncles.

I wouldn't blame PC/console games, because then I wouldn't have played R/C, too. Social media could be more of a factor. I takes a lot of time away. SnapChat and Whatsapp takes away most of the youths free time and never leaves them time to concentrate for long on one thing.

What I could also count into the less interest of younger generations, is the less technology admiration. For me it was like magic having control over a car without being connected to a cable. Today technology is so small, that most cannot imagine how a smartphone looks without case. Not even how it works. Still technology can do a lot more, like the drones that keep floating on the same spot in strong winds. For the younger generation, that is normal...

The interest just shifted. Today the expensive hobby is the mobile phone (1200€ plus internet...) for us it was one of the many hobbies available. The fascination is not completely gone though. The youths still becomes big eyes if they see the carbon and aluminum runners.

 

Becoming a collector is another topic. I came back to R/C with 30, but started collecting just recently during the lockdowns. Before I had my competition car. It was more like a tool to have fun and I didn't need more. You also need enough spare money and space to collect. All that comes later in life with house, a stable income and after the kids are born. 

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What I noticed in younger kids (including my teens) is that they seem to value virtual things as much as us older folks do non-virtual things.  Their whole concept of material is different.  They don't seem to need or to use their whole sense of touch in order to feel the same satisfaction we older folks do handling our cars or the weight of something.  

Without needing that trigger or motivation to play with a physical toy, they don't seem to care for RC cars.  They get the same satisfaction playing RC games or simulation games.. whatever.   Well, that's what it seems to me.  

Some of our older team members at work were worried that youths are not getting the same level of hands on training due to WFH..  well, they aren't getting the old fashioned training, but they seem to have a completely different way of learning something new in a more virtual way that works for them.  The thought of having to hold something to understand its weight is obsolete now.. kids have a different sense we don't have.   Of course some types of jobs still require hands on like at the factory using older processes..

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I think what you all are saying is very accurate, as I myself am a kid (teenager) of 16 years and am enthusiastic about the R/C hobby. I only know three kids my age in school/in the neighborhood who are just as passionate as I am about the hobby. Most of the kids are more interested in the shooters/criminal games like GTA V and Fortnite. As you guys have already said, kids these days are introduced, then get bored quickly and move on to something else.

I don't know if this'll surprise you all or not, but I have a friend which I sleep over with quite often, and in the mornings and evenings of the time together, we always sit down and tinker with our cars. Whether replacing a gear, installing a hop-up, or fixing/doing something involving the car. I remember one time we sat together (those of you who remember my old account, Tamiya_Cars_4_Life's failed Stadium Raider/TL01 paint job post) applying stickers over the dripping, ugly black paint, even with me being quite upset and wanting to quit the hobby altogether. We somehow made it look half-decent.

Another thing to add is the mentality of "everthing's online". Kids my age are only interested in doing things over the internet. I have one neighbor who refuses to leave his house unless necessary. He literally FaceTimes me from two doors down.

 

It feels quite upsetting, as the R/C hobby IS a lot of fun- whether building, fixing (other than my current "rebuild" (after gearbox maintenance) of my Hotshot. :blink: lost some goshdarn screws), and just straight bashing.

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Good reading a younger persons view @RC_FunLand . ;) 

Personally I'm not sure it is too much different than it's always been apart from nowadays imho the younger generation has even more choice of hobbies and things to keep them occupied than ever before. 
 

So maybe that is why it seems like less of the younger generation are choosing RC. 

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50 minutes ago, GMballistic said:

So maybe that is why it seems like less of the younger generation are choosing RC. 

I mean yeah- some people in my area don’t even know what R/C IS! If it weren’t for my best buddy, I wouldn’t either! I remember he got me into it with his DT03 back in 2017!!

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What I should do is for the sake of promotion, get an Inferno (nitro) and drive that up and down the street in the snow in the winter..  make a lot of noise while my neighbors are out with their snow blowers shoveling.. what's an extra RC engine noise, right?

Then maybe kids will see it and their dads will tell them that a gas RC car is for adults, but for kids like you, here is an electric truggy!  or whatever.. :lol:

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Yep, we're all ambassadors for our hobby every time we're out and about with our RCs. There are a few (much) older uptight types who have given me the stink eye out on the trails, but for the most part everyone is cool and just seems curious and supportive. Whether that translates to them joining the RC hobby is anyone's guess, but I always try to emphasize the fun in those encounters, because fun is a language everyone can understand.

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1 hour ago, El Gecko said:

Yep, we're all ambassadors for our hobby every time we're out and about with our RCs. There are a few (much) older uptight types who have given me the stink eye out on the trails, but for the most part everyone is cool and just seems curious and supportive. Whether that translates to them joining the RC hobby is anyone's guess, but I always try to emphasize the fun in those encounters, because fun is a language everyone can understand.

Well stated! I 100% agree with you! Sometimes I’ll get a 90-year-old man in the park asking if it’s a Tamiya, and if it’s the original or the re-re, whilst other times I’ll have a young couple giving me the stink eye and attempting to get in my way by walking directly down the middle of the path.

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There are many, many things competing for the attention of people growing up – it's easy to pass the blame on something new that hasn't been there when you weren't young. But even though RC cars have been more popular when I was young, anything above toy-grade was always a somewhat obscure and niche hobby. Truth be told I suspect the common puberty to be the single biggest contributor to people loosing interest in RC ;)

That being said if I had to choose a single new thing to bark at, I would point to racing simulators. The technology has made staggering advances and playing a modern sim game with a force feedback wheel is a fascinating experience, with or without VR. And it's comparatively affordable, too – if I would have had access to something like that as a kid I don't know if I would have gotten interested in RC at all.

On 10/3/2022 at 11:17 AM, Superluminal said:

Now days cars are nothing more than to be villified because of the environmental damage they susposedly cause. So its no wonder most youngsters growing up today would lack the feelings we get from seeing these vehicles.

We can safely rule out that theory – If there would be an appropriate public awareness about the environmental impact of cars we wouldn't see SUVs and trucks being the fastest growing sales category pretty much everywhere. And what is the "supposedly" supposed to mean? As much as I admire cars for their technology, and am fascinated by their design – the profound negative effects they have on the environment and our health are undeniable.

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I guess going back to OP's original question per thread title.. are young RC collectors rare?    From what I can tell, I think so.  I mean, collectors are a bit different breed, and need a pretty deep wallet to physically 'collect' them for display/preservation.   It's not like we're collecting Funko Pop dolls here.  :lol:

 

IMG_Dec102021at63421PM.thumb.jpg.35548db9ff6471cff5d8131bbd5efd38.jpg

 

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Simply this hobby doesn't have the exposure we use to have! a few years ago we had a good selection of rc car magazine and I remember they would organise racing and fun weekends to promote the hobby amongst other things and the amount of young people at these events was always very good even a big event in the NEC in Birmingham and one of those organizers was a magazine called max bashing! Now in the UK we have not one rc car magazine and no rc events:( apart from the rc revival but again that was linked to a rc car magazine and since that's gone I haven't seen anything about that event its probably still going but it's just not promoted like it used to be!

I think there is an abundance of young guy's and girls out there that would love this hobby but you can't make the people look at our hobby without promoting it! My local hobby shop decided to organize a racing club on a week night at a local school (like we did back in the heyday) he promoted it in his shop and in the local media and shop windows etc and he was inundated with enquiries and he kept the rules simple and restricted what you could race to make it as affordable as possible and it was massively over subscribed with the vast majority of would be racers the younger amongst us so I firmly believe they are plenty of enthusiastic kids out there we just need to let them know were we are:D

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13 hours ago, zuqbu said:

There are many, many things competing for the attention of people growing up – it's easy to pass the blame on something new that hasn't been there when you weren't young. But even though RC cars have been more popular when I was young, anything above toy-grade was always a somewhat obscure and niche hobby. Truth be told I suspect the common puberty to be the single biggest contributor to people loosing interest in RC ;)

That being said if I had to choose a single new thing to bark at, I would point to racing simulators. The technology has made staggering advances and playing a modern sim game with a force feedback wheel is a fascinating experience, with or without VR. And it's comparatively affordable, too – if I would have had access to something like that as a kid I don't know if I would have gotten interested in RC at all.

 

I think that's it. Let's be honest the experience of an RC (and particularly a Tamiya) car is pretty much what is was back in the 80s. A little faster and more play time, but it's the same thing. Compare this to computer games which are leaps and bounds better,. TV is better and there is more of it, and all that internet too (and that has naked men and ladies on it, or so I've heard). The is SO much to do to compete with a person's time, when in the 80s it was playing RC cars, go BMXing or poke that dead dog with a stick in a Summer Holiday. 

And look, we all miss those times, but does anyone look back to our parent's generation, when bikes for kids weren't a thing, there was only the radio and a Christmas present was a cup and ball game? No - because it's only the haze of nostalgia that makes what we had when we were young look better to what people have now. Why do we think the age of entertainment in which we were born was somehow golden?

In answer to the first post - I only know those two liveries well due to Sega Rally. But Sega rally is a good point. I remember going to the arcade and being blown away. If you were to tell someone in 94 that you could play that at home, in 4K with VR or on a 50" TV - would they still wanna drive an RC? Or hang in an arcade? 

I'm not being down on it, it's just I can see that there a lots more new options to compete, whereas we like RC cars because they've not changed. 

One thing I think is a shame, is that very few young kids seem to have them, or have parents that play with them, my nephews and nieces really enjoyed them - and I think even even if kids "grow out it it" I think there's a good age when lots of kids you enjoy playing with cars outside. I my kid does - but I'm not expecting him to collect Tamiya or know the details, it's just a good toy to play with children! 

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9 hours ago, moffman said:

I firmly believe they are plenty of enthusiastic kids out there we just need to let them know were we are:D

So you and I should buy nitro Inferno's (MP9) and drive them up and down the street?   :D

It'll definitely catch all the attention.. good and bad.. :ph34r:  :lol:

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Video killed the radio star....

All video and no RC made Jack a dull boy. All video and no RC made Jack a dull boy. All video and no RC made Jack a dull boy. All video and no RC made Jack a dull boy. All video and no RC made Jack a dull boy. All video and no RC made Jack a dull boy. All video and no RC made Jack a dull boy...

 

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I dropped out of rc for pc gaming in the latter half of the 90s so i guess thats one datapoint.

Another is that when i visited a local rc club that has multiple tracks, dirt, astroturf and asphalt, the few kids-to-teens i saw were there with dads.

They were all driving techy looking buggies, losi or similar brand i would guess, on the astroturf track (called green hill off-road).

The adults i saw were driving touring cars on the asphalt.

Didnt see if there were anyone over by the dirt track.

I can sort of see why kids get into and stay on computers, i did for almost 25 years :P

If they had no prior rc experience the biggish way in would probably be drones, it techy, looks cool, flying in fpv is reminiscent of flying and/or racing games.

My way back was actually getting into Elite: Dangerous on the occulus dk2 back before the more general release of home VR, no had 360 tracking or tracked controllers yet and elite is best played with a fligthstick, trottle and pedals anyway.

Got me to want to try fpv rc flight, built a few drones and planes, figured out that the wrench minute per flight minute ratio is pretty skewed against flying unless you are one to not crash.

Hopped over to cars.

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5 hours ago, Juggular said:

All video and no RC made Jack a dull boy. All video and no RC made Jack a dull boy. All video and no RC made Jack a dull boy. All video and no RC made Jack a dull boy. All video and no RC made Jack a dull boy. All video and no RC made Jack a dull boy. All video and no RC made Jack a dull boy...

Banging that out on a typewriter while snowed in at the Overlook (Stanley) Hotel are we? ;)

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8 hours ago, Willy iine said:

So you and I should buy nitro Inferno's (MP9) and drive them up and down the street?   :D

It'll definitely catch all the attention.. good and bad.. :ph34r:  :lol:

Actually mate back in my nitro buggy (mugen mbx6 & mbx6t) racing days I sort of did that:lol: the Friday before a race weekend I used to do final race prep and did a little testing up and down the street probably annoying the the street folk but the kids loved it (it was only a few minutes up and down the street)

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My little man isn't a collector, but he does want a "4WD Kyosho buggy". I personally think a Traxxas Slash might be a good choice. It's tough and fun, parts are plentiful and he can race with comparable truggies.

He'd probably be less interested,  but my wife runs our house like a maximum security children's prison. No computer, no TV, no games, no phone, no tablet. No sweets or junk food. Lots of educational activities and free range vegetables (broccoli gets very sad if it is kept in a cage!).

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3 hours ago, Mrowka said:

My little man isn't a collector, but he does want a "4WD Kyosho buggy". I personally think a Traxxas Slash might be a good choice. It's tough and fun, parts are plentiful and he can race with comparable truggies.

 

I also think (and bear with me here) is being a collector something to aspire to? To spend thousand gets to NOS vintage rarer-than-a-unicorn's-fart pieces of something that was popular in the 80s and is now drooled over mainly due to it's rarity and not function, do we want our children to do that? Look outside ourselves and the hobby - would I want my little chap to grow up spending thousands on vintage valve radios, stamps, model trains or vintage guitars or trainers? I'm not sure. I'd rather he spend his cash on a slightly better quality of home he'll shove me into. :D

To create, enjoy, run, tinker and play with, awesome. But a collector with a barn full of builds? My dad is a bit more of a collector of things, and I've caught it too, but I envy my brothers who both seem to have very little need for more. We all play musical instruments, but whilst I've regularly made, sold, bought and lost money on dozens of drum kits, my older guitarist brother just bought Mexican telecaster 20 years ago and never looked back or wanted more. He doesn't flip through guitar magazines wondering how much better the next one might be, he just has what he has, knowing it's good enough. He couldn't tell me if it's maple, ash or mahogany, he doesn't care - he's just good at playing it.

****, I need to re-evaluate my life, cheers post. :D

 

 

 

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On 10/3/2022 at 10:59 AM, Smirrors said:

... as long as they know the values!

And thats the answer in my opinion. Look at the prices of post Millennium RCs. Nice models cost a fortune and spares are not available.
 

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