Thoughts on RCPress books?

[OoALEJOoO 3640]

Just found online this publisher with a good amount of RC books & guides. They have books on both vintage and current Tamiya, among others. They look to be aimed at beginners. I wonder if any of you folks has any experience with their work.

Books on legendary Tamiyas

Books on modern Tamiyas

Thanks for sharing any info

[toyolien 6640]

How apt you should ask this. I ordered the Hotshot book which arrived yesterday. I certainly wouldn't buy another. It's very generic and lacking of any real detail. Here's an example of the text. It's a mildly amusing read but not what I was expecting...

 

[toyolien 6640]

If I didn't know any better I'd say it was written by that ai thing.

[Superluminal 4187]

It certainly reads that way! Assume its probably been digitally translated and then not really proof read afterwards.

[Otis311 421]

Sure are a lot of parenthesis ( this symbol "( )" )

[Pylon80 4281]

Someone had an idea for a business I guess. Bonus points for the Comic Sans MS font 👌

I think 40 years ago books for niche hobbies might have been a thing. I remember my mum taking me to the local library so that I could borrow the two (2) books about RC planes 🤣 They contained the opinion of a handful of "experts" on the subject who had taken the time to put together a decent book. It was probably subsidized by some youth ministry or something similar and not a money making enterprise.

These days were have forums and social media... A ton of... unfiltered... information. As we know some useful and some not so much.

[MadAnt 859]

From what see in the description, everything is a "basic" maintenance guide for "beginners". Based on the prices for these "guides", RCPress and the writers selling these can shove these books up their a**. My negative outlook might come from my experience as an automotive technician and my years of experience playing around with things and figuring out how they work, so I am always on a quest for knowledge and have paid for it. So these books being showcased on RcPress just look like bad value.

Just ask us here for any basic information you need to know, or read any of the build threads on the forum, it's probably some of the best information you will find regarding Tamiya RC models 

[toyolien 6640]

6 minutes ago, MadAnt said:

Just ask us here for any basic information you need to know, or read any of the build threads on the forum, it's probably some of the best information you will find regarding Tamiya RC models 

I bought the book with an eBay voucher I had so ended up paying under £2 for it. I thought it may be a modern look at some of the hop ups and mods that can be done to the Hotshot series of cars. I now know that it's only fit for the fire !

[wolfdogstinkus 2063]

Not up to the standard of the now world famous 

"Epic RC monster truck build manual" available in all reputable newsagents who accept payment in lungs or goats.

Or you can just read it here.

[MadAnt 859]

1 hour ago, toyolien said:

I bought the book with an eBay voucher I had so ended up paying under £2 for it. I thought it may be a modern look at some of the hop ups and mods that can be done to the Hotshot series of cars. I now know that it's only fit for the fire !

Even at that price it's worthless, lol. You got robbed.

[OoALEJOoO 3640]

Wow, thanks for all the comments. @toyolien thanks for sharing some pictures!

The nicer part of me thinks that perhaps the author is a hobbyist trying to help RC new commers and perhaps get some income. However, the realistic part of me thinks it's hard to justify the prices of the book given their print quality, terrible pictures and indeed what appears to be worthless generic writing. I fully agree that much better information & content can be found online and here in TamiyaClub. Still, being able to have good information on a physical format has its charms .

Makes me wonder if a more serious hobbyist with better writing skills (one of us?) could author a better manual, with relevant information, building, running and modding tips. Nice color pictures too! I would love to give it a shot, but as always, too many things to do!

[yogi-bear 2771]

1 hour ago, OoALEJOoO said:

...

Makes me wonder if a more serious hobbyist with better writing skills (one of us?) could author a better manual, with relevant information, building, running and modding tips. Nice color pictures too! I would love to give it a shot, but as always, too many things to do!

I wonder if an online wiki or similar would work that different people could update.

[OoALEJOoO 3640]

2 hours ago, yogi-bear said:

I wonder if an online wiki or similar would work that different people could update.

That's a great thought. Did a quick search and found this: RC Wiki | Fandom

Seems mostly empty through

 

[Mad Ax 11388]

I the time for these sorts of books has mostly passed.  There is such a wealth of information available freely online now that it's hard to justify the need for a book like this.  Now if it was very well researched, written, had some great full colour photos (especially vintage photos) and some rare snippets of information that might not be so easy to find (for example, interviews with the drivers of the time - many of them are still active in the vintage racing scene now) then perhaps it would be a good coffee table read.

What I would really like is a go-to cookbook for car tuning, and I can't find one.  There was one published around 10 years ago but it doesn't seem to be in print any more.  I know there's loads of info on Youtube (Tonisport in particular have some awesome vidoes) but I want something I can refer to trackside without having to watch videos at 2x rate on my phone on a dodgy internet connection while listening to cars whistling past, air compressors, track announcements and charger bleeps.

What I really want is a long, detailed chapter on what each different tuning option does and what equipment I need to tune it, a chapter on which order to make the adjustments to best effect, chapters on pre-event prep and how best to "reset" a car after making wild setup changes for particular edge-case conditions, and then a go-to reference chart for different negative handling symptoms that will link me to all the tuning adjustments I should make, and the order I should make them in, to dial them out.

If I put enough time and effort into this I could probably write something based on Youtube videos, but as I'm not exactly an A-final racer it would be pretty worthless coming from me.

[wolfdogstinkus 2063]

10 hours ago, OoALEJOoO said:

Makes me wonder if a more serious hobbyist with better writing skills (one of us?) could author a better manual, with relevant information, building, running and modding tips. Nice color pictures too! I would love to give it a shot, but as always, too many things to do!

Have you seen the "Epic RC monster truck build manual"?

Some say, it's even better than the Tamiya manual and they would like to purchase a lifetime subscription but unfortunately their rubbish newsagents don't accept payment in lungs or goats???.

All we know is that the author is crazy.

[Otis311 421]

7 hours ago, Mad Ax said:

What I really want is a long, detailed chapter on what each different tuning option does and what equipment I need to tune it, a chapter on which order to make the adjustments to best effect, chapters on pre-event prep and how best to "reset" a car after making wild setup changes for particular edge-case conditions, and then a go-to reference chart for different negative handling symptoms that will link me to all the tuning adjustments I should make, and the order I should make them in, to dial them out.

Best I've found is the HUDY setup guide books. A little thin in places but a decent crash course. If you google them there are a couple PDFs, an on-road and an off-road. Their website is lackluster though.