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markbt73

Funny how times change...

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I remember when 1150 ball bearings were worth their weight in gold. I actually replaced the plastic bushings in my original Grasshopper because they were worn out and I couldn't afford bearings.

28 years later, I just threw out 7 of them because they were too crunchy to use... wouldn't go back even if I could.

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Well technology and manufacturing specs have gotten alot better since then. I use avid rc bearings in all my vehicles. They have different styles to choose from, ie all metal, rubber on one side to protect from dirt, and even ceramic. Plus its a dollar a piece(ceramic is like 5 bucks), and shipping is free over $50 i think. They ship fast.

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Agreed on the 'technology is better' bit - manufacturing tolerances are now easily attainable for ball bearings, which is part of what allows them to be sold so cheaply.

It makes me glad that I am an RC enthusiast starting in this day and age (that, and ESCs), even if I do own mostly vintage cars...

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I remember when 1150 ball bearings were worth their weight in gold.

BiTD most bearings were instrument grade & priced accordingly... German, USA, Japanese... yeah $10-20ea.

But if you knew you you could get factory rejects aka "hobby grade" for not that much $$$ but I suspect

your LHS wanted to markup a generous amt...

China got into the game in the 80s, Hongkers had decent priced bearing sets not long after.

Wasn't uncommon to stockup 2-3sets for like $20/set for every T kit bought from there

but yeah before Internet you had to go there yourself or have HK friends/family.

Australian LHSes were still asking $5-8ea for 1150s at that same time... :(

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BiTD most bearings were instrument grade & priced accordingly... German, USA, Japanese... yeah $10-20ea.

But if you knew you you could get factory rejects aka "hobby grade" for not that much $$$ but I suspect

your LHS wanted to markup a generous amt...

China got into the game in the 80s, Hongkers had decent priced bearing sets not long after.

Wasn't uncommon to stockup 2-3sets for like $20/set for every T kit bought from there

but yeah before Internet you had to go there yourself or have HK friends/family.

Australian LHSes were still asking $5-8ea for 1150s at that same time... :(

QA/QC; 6 sigma; or 7S for factory must be very bad to none existing back then if the rejects could supply the hobby industry in sizes of 850, 950, 1150 etc.

Cannot blame brick and mortar operation for higher markups due to much smaller client base and much higher operating costs.

New technology gave rise to new millionaire and sent existing milllionaire to the poor house if they don't change with the ever moving trend. Just look at Kodak, Best Buy, Jumbo Video and most print media.

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we are spoiled nowadays. you couldn't beat trying to drive a hornet in a straight line with worn out plastic bushes.

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..for just 4mins, before having to then recharge for 16hours.

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I remember saving up the $80 for a set of bearings for my RC10. Now they are cheap as chips. Got to love progress

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I think the internet might be a big part of it. When you can buy a handful of something from a supplier/wholesaler directly, without having to pay the retail packaging and marketing markup, it makes it a lot cheaper.

When I finally did get bearings for that Grasshopper, I want to say they were $28 for the set. Nine 1150 and one 850. Now they're $1 each, even from my local shop.

Servos are another example; remember when a basic standard Futaba servo was $25 instead of $10?

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I remember when I had three models (RC gliders, as that is how I started in RC) and one set of 2 channel radio gear that I swapped between them. I could build most of an airframe for the cost of one servo.

Now each of my models has their own servo, ESC and RX, and the servos usually make up no more than 1/5 of the total cost of the model, usually a lot less.

I also remember taking several months to fully ballrace my first hobby grade RC (a Tamiya of course), buying a few ballraces with each week's paycheck. Nowdays I could ballrace the same car completely with 2 days' worth of canteen money!

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I also remember taking several months to fully ballrace my first hobby grade RC (a Tamiya of course), buying a few ballraces with each week's paycheck. Nowdays I could ballrace the same car completely with 2 days' worth of canteen money!

I could get a starter car for 2 days' worth of canteen money, but then I'm a bit of a fat *******.

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I could get a starter car for 2 days' worth of canteen money, but then I'm a bit of a fat *******.

I am no lightweight either - we just have a very cheap subsidised canteen at work. :-)

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Yep I remember paying $10 a bearing for my first r/c car too.

R/C is so much cheaper now days with way better cars and technology . BUT it comes at a price though I feel. The quality of life is so different in today's world with a lot of families needing 2 incomes these days to make ends meet. Weekends were enjoyed with family times which now days a lot of people work through them.

I use to buy every r/c magazine that was on the market pouring through the pages of new products. More so in the 80's & 90's now I just hop on the net. Great stuff but the buzz is not there.

Progress always comes at a price.

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I could only dream of ballraces when I owned my first hobby grade RC car. I ran that car almost to death for a year or two without ever changing the plastic bushings in the wheels. By the time I was done with them, they were soft, black, and extremely worn. The wheels just used to wobble around. All four axles were worn too, with a raised area between where the bushings would revolve, wearing more material away with every run. (10 minutes a day, every day)

My first bearings actually came when I received the TTC gearbox for Christmas that year. Before then, I don't think I upgraded any of the car, and repairs were often home made. For a while, the back of the car was held on with a B.T. phone card! :blink:

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I think the title s/b..."funny how technology changes thing":-D

Just look at your work place where tech. has increase your productivity. Cell phone is now a smart phone with the power of apps and access to the web. For hobby...color printer, 3d printer hobbiest machinary...our toys just keeping on getting better from personal tinkering to better mfg toys.

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I think the title s/b..."funny how technology changes thing":-D

Just look at your work place where tech. has increase your productivity. Cell phone is now a smart phone with the power of apps and access to the web. For hobby...color printer, 3d printer hobbiest machinary...our toys just keeping on getting better from personal tinkering to better mfg toys.

Very true. I remember my first school project, laboriously hand-typed on a keyboard, saved on a big black floppy disk, and printed on a very noisy dot matrix printer. Quite archaic compared to my most recent thesis, which was mostly dictated using voice recognition software, saved in the cloud, and published online.

True, shift patterns have changed, along with financial expectations, gender roles and many other factors which mean that weekends are not always what they used to be. However with tech improving our productivity, I for one find myself with more hobby time these days than ever before. (It just doesn't necessarily fall on a Saturday or Sunday.)

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Yea so wish I had bearings and ESC when i was 12! I love the internet for ease of buying etc and speed of things but do miss the excitement of waiting for new things and releases etc in a magazine or to see it on the shelf!

Now only have one small local model shop and rarely go there due to location and of course prices are high.

Modelzone has gone to now doh.

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...and yet they stay the same. Tamiya still doesn't include a full set of bearings in the basic kits.

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The argument trolled out is that it keeps the cost down for people who're just intending to display them rather than run them... Yeah I don't buy it either.

I do like the idea that it encourages newbies and young builders about upgrades and how it effects performance, but TBH bearings and a hardened pinion are a basic minimum these days & should really come with all kits IMO. I mean if they really wanted to keep cost down why include an ESC?

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?...I mean if they really wanted to keep cost down why include an ESC?

T don't.

Its specified by your distributor.

Hence the sticker on box lid saying so, vs printed into the boxart.

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Yeah it would only cost Tamiya 5c to injection mold a set of plastic bushes, vs the $5 dollars etc for a set of bearings for a basic 10-15 bearing lunchhopper type chassis.

The bearings in my MAN TGX are 95% Tamiya blue shielded from a TL01 bearing kit that someone ordered in through my LHS, probably had a heart attack at the $90usd price that was worth more than the car, and they sat on the shelf for god knows how long...

s3003 servo's are $30usd...

4x1150 bearings are repackaged chinese bearings by Tamiya distributor and sold for $10.

Distributor also sells photocopies of Tamiya Manuals at $30 pop, pretty sure big T wouldn't be impressed with that. I bought one using the 7 digit part number and thought I was getting an original, you can imagine my face when a copy turned up! Promptly sent it back.

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T don't.

Its specified by your distributor.

Hence the sticker on box lid saying so, vs printed into the boxart.

Yeah hence why Japanese kits dont come with them. Buy from banzai etc = no esc

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Well that's something I didn't know about the ESC :)

$30 for a photo copied manual... That really extracts the urine!

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Which distributor does sell xeroxed manual copies? And could somebody please confirm where Tamiya ball bearings come from?

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Traditions are hard to change....

Look at new cars of today, cigerette lighter and ash trays are still included. How many people smoke or smoke inside the car.

Airlines still informs passengers the flight is a non-smoking flight.

Tamiya or any companies out there should take several pages from Apple , where Apple is here to meet what customers wants and expections and not where the customers are set up to serve the company. Just look at the customer service available from some of the large company, after sales services to their instructions and forms and one often wonders who designed this stuff or set the policies, is he / department from earth?

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