So, What Have You Done Today?

[alvinlwh 5895]

7 minutes ago, Willy iine said:

I use to live in Southern California over 2 decades ago and during my weekend drives, I always drove past this vintage gas station themed garage at a private residence in Malibu.   It was so cool.. that level of commitment is what I like to replicate in my hobbies.  

Unfortunately I don't have a garage to set up a track to test market with. What I can do is invite some of my kids' friends over for a bit of a "fun" weekend afternoon and see how much the parents will be wiling to pay for a car, etc... 

In fact, this 4WD question is another cause of a flare-up with that friend. As can be seen in the mini 4wd UK thread, it is impossible to buy a track for a reasonable price in the UK. I asked him to check out the price of such tracks (there are 2 types) at the Tamiya main importer in Singapore, which I will be flying out to hopefully next year, his reply? "Don't degrade yourself and play with such sxxx!" Well, mini 4WD can be a toy or can be almost as involved as a RC car (at a smaller scale) AND this is potentially a business idea, which I feel that will have a better potential in a small community (and therefore customer base) as it is easier to splash out "pocket money" on a car a month than once a year "Christmas present" cost of a full RC car. 

Will it work or not, only after I can get my hands on some tracks before I can do any market research. 😔

[Willy iine 18806]

32 minutes ago, mtbkym01 said:

I’m sure I’ve said before, but this is a great hobby space, what is your floor plan size? Looks like a very good size

Thanks, space is about 450 sq ft not including the pit area.   I'm going to be putting a tiny track in there for my comical cars with short wheel base down the road.  

[silvertriple 3557]

1 hour ago, alvinlwh said:

THAT is the excuse I uses, she is supportive of my idea of opening a 4WD themed café, so my reason is you cannot have a shop without some of your completed product can you? 😁 So darling, I need to have some products on hand to get a feel of the market first right? 

Sounds familiar

[alvinlwh 5895]

18 minutes ago, Willy iine said:

Thanks, space is about 450 sq ft not including the pit area.   I'm going to be putting a tiny track in there for my comical cars with short wheel base down the road.  

Wow! That is half the size of my house! 

[Willy iine 18806]

29 minutes ago, alvinlwh said:

Unfortunately I don't have a garage to set up a track to test market with. What I can do is invite some of my kids' friends over for a bit of a "fun" weekend afternoon and see how much the parents will be wiling to pay for a car, etc... 

In fact, this 4WD question is another cause of a flare-up with that friend. As can be seen in the mini 4wd UK thread, it is impossible to buy a track for a reasonable price in the UK. I asked him to check out the price of such tracks (there are 2 types) at the Tamiya main importer in Singapore, which I will be flying out to hopefully next year, his reply? "Don't degrade yourself and play with such sxxx!" Well, mini 4WD can be a toy or can be almost as involved as a RC car (at a smaller scale) AND this is potentially a business idea, which I feel that will have a better potential in a small community (and therefore customer base) as it is easier to splash out "pocket money" on a car a month than once a year "Christmas present" cost of a full RC car. 

Will it work or not, only after I can get my hands on some tracks before I can do any market research. 😔

That sounds tough.   I have never gotten into miniyonku so I don't know the details, but it appears to be the iPod of Apple for Tamiya which basically saved the company during tough times (?)..

 

[Willy iine 18806]

2 minutes ago, alvinlwh said:

Wow! That is half the size of my house! 

Yeah, but I'm in the USA in the suburbs in a single family home, so it's fairly common size.  

[alvinlwh 5895]

1 minute ago, Willy iine said:

That sounds tough.   I have never gotten into miniyonku so I don't know the details, but it appears to be the iPod of Apple for Tamiya which basically saved the company during tough times (?)..

 

No, it was a big thing in the Far East where I grew up, I was into those things in my early teens. Couldn't afford a Lunchbox or Grasshopper (or was it a Hornet? 🤔) back then, mini 4WD is the only way for many kids. It got to do with the lack of space for proper RC in many Asian countries (JP, HK, SG..., where parks are crowded and unsafe to run RC), easy to set up a small shop near where kids gather (schools, malls, etc) without them needing to travel great distance out of the way for a proper RC track. Oh being indoors and usually air-conditioned also help in the extreme heat of so of those countries. 

Being almost "pocket money", it is easy to get into it for the kids AND the wide range of options allows them to be customised. 

It actually died down in the 90s with the arcade and PS1/2 generation, but now with the Gen X in their midlife crisis (myself), it is making a come back (just the same reason as there are so many rere for the full sized ones). 

I used to only be able to afford a Lunchbox Jr that does nothing much, but now I can afford the CW-01, SW-01 and the Jr one to have an entire family of Lunchboxes! 😁

I live in a small Scottish island now, if I am to try and open a proper Tamiya store, it will never be successful due to the small customer base and high outlay of proper RC. However, if it is a café that also sells mini 4WD stuff, it might work, draw the kids in with the little racers, and also sell tea and cakes to their parents. Of course my RC cars can be proud shelf Queens in the café, along with some of my static models. 😁

[BJoe76 571]

2 hours ago, Willy iine said:

My wife said to get a cash register and a neon OPEN sign and I will be all set.  

 

Hahaha, I’ll have to tell him that!

[Willy iine 18806]

1 hour ago, alvinlwh said:

No

..okay, or not.  

[mongoose1983 3335]

Spotted some interesting vintage non-Tamiya insect type of buggy at the San Cristóbal this morning

Thank you for the lil big help @SupraChrgd82!

You all have a good week!

[Rider400 353]

Got this King Cab in a pile of stuff I picked up recently, very stoked on it. Mounted up a new body to it to see scale.

 

 

[silvertriple 3557]

Finished my leds holder for the rear end of the Turbo Scorpion

 

Part is available here : TurboScorpion Rear led lights holder by silvertriple - Thingiverse

[Badcrumble 4204]

Can't stay away from RC. 

MCI Racing have 20% off (not for much longer) re-ordered my custom Hornet decals, slightly scaled down as I'm sure the 1:10 set I have are too big and a couple of other sheets. 

[djmcnz 754]

8 minutes ago, Badcrumble said:

MCI Racing have 20% off (not for much longer) re-ordered my custom Hornet decals, slightly scaled down as I'm sure the 1:10 set I have are too big and a couple of other sheets. 

If only their shipping was remotely reasonable, nearly 20 bucks (Canadian) to send an A4 envelope with some cardboard is crazy.

[Badcrumble 4204]

1 hour ago, djmcnz said:

If only their shipping was remotely reasonable, nearly 20 bucks (Canadian) to send an A4 envelope with some cardboard is crazy.

I do wait until there is 20% off and rather than think about the postage, I look at the total cost and determine whether I think it is worth it!

[Willy iine 18806]

21 minutes ago, Badcrumble said:

I do wait until there is 20% off and rather than think about the postage, I look at the total cost and determine whether I think it is worth it!

Considering my primary car is the original WildWilly (which comes at a premium even for a junker), this is my thought process as well..  does the total cost make sense to me for that particular item.  Usually yes. 

[jonboy1 2943]

my rationale is: "Oooh - a discount! What can I buy so I save money?!"

 

[Nikko85 3454]

Took my Tamiya Heavy Dump to the park with the upgraded lunch box bumper. The car above is a Radio Shack 4x4 Intruder. It's very similar to the QD monster truck series, just with a prop between the two gear boxes and upgraded to modern electronics.

I gave them a race (as best I could driving both with one hand each) and they are pretty similar in speed on the flat. The Radio Shack has a tiny 2030 Brushless motor on 9.6 Volt AA batteries, I'm amazed at how much power they put out; I didn't think it would stand up against the Torque Tuned but it almost did. 

I also had fun on the BMX track, until the mini Clod took a forward roll and the front grill broke off and I bent a steering strut. That need a fix, although I may upgrade to ball connectors of they will fit.

The Heavy Dump did great on the BMX track - it's got that low gearing that's perfect for going up the hills and accelerating in the gaps.

Not RC related, but in the park I also met a massive dog which was super friendly.

 

[Willy iine 18806]

I got the 2 black side tables today so assembled them and test placed my military themed cars for initial look.  I'm trying to decide whether to vinyl wrap all 3 of them espresso brown wood grain, or just wrap the outer two and keep the center one white..
 

Special thanks to @Rider400 for his great idea of using monster truck tires as RC stands to keep the cars off the ground.  While I have custom RC stands I made, the WR02 tires as stands look better on black top.  

I ordered a low wattage under shelf light to illuminate the lower shelf.   

[Ferruz 11702]

  I went to check out the only LHS on Prince Edward Island. Definitely worth it. They did have a few yummy kits and my wife would have been all happy with me getting something... but I felt no real inner spark so I managed to resist, although I did buy some bright coloured body clips for support.

Thing is, they had a REAL RC track in their backyard!! Probably small and cute to many of you, but for me it was a first, and I got excited like a rich kid at the carnival 😅 who would have though I'd experience my first RC race track on an island... 

The weather was merciless, with strong wind and chilly rain whipping me from any direction, I got drenched (and my wife as well, since she took most of the pictures and footage!) but it was of course totally worth it.

I did wish I had more technical buggies like the Manta Ray or the RC10 with me, but still, The Hornet faced the track like a PRO!Relatively speaking at least 👊😜  but seriously, it doesn't handle as nearly as bad as they say! I had tons of fun at the track, with multiple laps successfully completed without any tumbling despite the multiple jumps. And once again, I'm amazed by the degree to which this car can be bashed and still come back in one piece. 

[toyolien 4682]

@Ferruz Great post. It makes me want to get a Hornet to add to my collection.

[Ferruz 11702]

5 hours ago, toyolien said:

@Ferruz Great post. It makes me want to get a Hornet to add to my collection.

You would not regret it👍

[nel33 870]

1 hour ago, Ferruz said:

You would not regret it👍

LOL i would regret it. i got enough kits at this point.

i did make a decision to get the manta build electronics settled then worry about the gearbox mounting points.

[alvinlwh 5895]

Placed a preorder for a Thunder Dragon, fingers crossed that I will get it. Thanks to being a TC member, it is the cheapest I can get one from FH. 

Question to members (I had already emailed FH and awaiting a reply), my payment failed at the 3D secure stage but I still got a confirmation email, anyone had experienced this? 

[Willy iine 18806]

@alvinlwh Congrats on the new buy.   I’m a bit slow.. what do you mean by “3D Secure” stage?   Is that a specific page at the store you bought from??