Saito2 6686 Posted January 9, 2021 You had/have transmitters with crystals You have to make sure you don't poke someone in the eye with your transmitter antenna You were blown away by the amount of capacity those yellow SCE NiCads had (1700mah!) Bearings for the car kit you just bought could cost up to half the kit price depending on how many you needed You were careful not to burn yourself on the hot resistors You avoided driving at low speeds too much because Tamiya warned you it might burn out the resistor You were puzzled the Tamiya guidebooks recommended against driving in sand but then promptly saw just that on the tapes playing at the local hobby shop You HAD a local hobby shop Tower hobbies put out a massive catalog every year You cleaned and keep your MSC lubed with Tamiya switch lubricant Tamiya Super Gripper pin spikes were tops in traction You actually raced a Blackfoot...on a track Holiday Buggy tires were a hot tip for the rear of your RC10 You remember Nikko showing up at the Worlds TOMY made a somewhat competitive buggy Traxxas made kits and became competitive The Clod Buster was just about the largest thing on Earth RC-wise They made ski kits for the front of 2wd buggies Thorp made driveline stuff for everything CRP made a lot of cool parts You had plenty of types and compositions of brushes to choose from for you motors and Trinity was king Orange suspension on the Race Prep AYK Pro Radiants Chain drive was common in 4wd You geared and prepped the car just to make it to the end of a race before the dreaded battery dump Flat graphite chassis were the best you could imagine Shocks came in cool colors I'm sure there's plenty for others to add... 19 Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
87lc2 2666 Posted January 10, 2021 Great post, my only reaction is that we have it soooo easy in this hobby these days. I actually think going through the early days gives us older guys that went through it even more appreciation for the modern advacements that so many take for granted. Every time I go for a trail run that lasts an hour or two I'm always amazed that I made the entire run on one 5000mah 2s lipo, it still blows my mind how far electronics have come. 3 Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
Re-Bugged 10145 Posted January 10, 2021 Just to add to excellent extensive list @Saito2, You also know your getting old when you no longer have to wait painfully for a monthly/bi-monthly publication to come out to see what’s hot and what’s not. Instead you can look up anything anywhere instantly on an unbelievable device you could only enviously dream about in James Bond movies. Jet Packs can’t be far off now... 4 Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
Matty36 267 Posted January 10, 2021 My local hobby shop had HPI or Protoform touring car shells for less than £20 ( I could actually afford one every month back then, now I see the crawler ones for over £100 ) Most of the things on the list I have encountered. 1 Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
markbt73 5316 Posted January 10, 2021 Sitting around waiting at a practice night at the track for someone else to finish their battery pack, because they have the frequency clip you need Having to make sure you got the right battery pack to go with your car's connector, because Kyosho connectors were "backwards" from Tamiya Popping the hood of the family car to hook up your charger to the battery, because it was DC-only Separate radio battery packs, on an electric car Connecting the two little wires on Novak ESCs together so you could run it on 4 cells John Gudvangen Manufacturing Twinn-K tires Chris Chianelli ... that's enough for now... 2 Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
c64orinoco 667 Posted January 10, 2021 Saving pocket money for 12 months to buy a Super Champ. Trying to make sure 50cm aerial doesn't tangle in your wheels. Using a multimeter to do your peak detection charging for NiCds because you can't afford a decent charger. Swapping radio gear / servos from cars to planes to boats because you can only afford one set of radio gear. 3 Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
yogi-bear 2321 Posted January 10, 2021 visiting your uncle in another state. Damage RC and need a new part. So you have to get out yellow pages book, flick through and find RC hobby stores. Walk over to the rotary dial telephone and ring each store until you find one that stocks your part. You work out you have enough save money to buy said spare part, hopefully someone can give you a lift! 4 Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
67CamaroSS 304 Posted January 10, 2021 How about, You remember what it’s like to troubleshoot glitching problems You saw the movie Dead Pool and immediately bought that 63 Vette body and BoLink foams for your RC10 You remember when the JRX2 came and spanked the RC10s right out of the box You bought a monster truck conversion kit for your buggy. You used Velcro on your ESC because you only had one no matter how many cars you had You thought Neon/Fluorescent paint and wheels were cool Your charger had a hand turn timer on it You have heard the dreaded clicking of a failed Frog/Blackfoot tranny/rear end. You heard about the MRP High Roller floating on water. You drilled holes in your RC10 Chassis. You know what a matched pack is. You saved your red SCR packs for race day. 2 Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
Grumpy pants 4485 Posted January 10, 2021 For me it was realising last year I needed glasses when I was trying to do the tyre lettering 🤦 7 Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
DeadMeat666 1675 Posted January 10, 2021 2 hours ago, Grumpy pants said: For me it was realising last year I needed glasses when I was trying to do the tyre lettering 🤦 Don't feel too bad. I need glasses for everything RC now. I had perfect vision until about 4 years ago. 1 Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
Pablo68 1049 Posted January 10, 2021 I resent the implication in this thread that Neon/Flouro colours are no longer cool. 1 2 Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
Biz73 603 Posted January 10, 2021 Staring the Grasshopper and Hornet in the Sears catalog 1 Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
Tamiya Fan 1 114 Posted January 10, 2021 I can relate! Bearings were about $4 each. BEC was just coming out. Clod Buster was the king truck. A 1800 MAH battery (nicad) had power. Saving money all year to buy your next kit. (tax refund) 4 channel radio was a lot. Light bulbs (glass) for lights not LED. Making most hop up parts by hand. Yes, Trinity was the motor to get. Futaba about the only radio available. 1 Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
Super ally 412 Posted January 10, 2021 You had to charge the battery on your dad's car battery just to get 10 mins run time. 2 Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
67CamaroSS 304 Posted January 10, 2021 7 hours ago, Pablo68 said: I resent the implication in this thread that Neon/Flouro colours are no longer cool. I should have said that you remember when they were everywhere! 1 Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
scottyboy 2 Posted January 10, 2021 This is a great topic. I remember charging my 1200mah hump pack for hours and hours just to get 6 mins out of my Pajero. The biggest revelation was the introduction of BEC....no more receiver batteries. I ran that car to death. Great times! 1 Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
moffman 5752 Posted January 10, 2021 Excellent topic! I remember finishing school on a Friday (3.30pm) running home getting my backpack ready with my transmitter, spare tyres, batteries x3, charger (which was heavy) and assortment of tools parts I think I may need the backpack was full so I used to tape my car on the frame of the bike then bike to the Friday night rc club at the community hall.......brilliant times! Charging my 1500mah batteries until they were baking hot so I could get the 6 minutes out of them! And like has been mentioned the invention of the BEC system was a game changer saving the biggest killer in rc back then!....weight! I raced my boomerang with mechanical speed controller which had so much bad soldering on it because the ceramic resistor could only take so much heat before it stopped working I honestly couldn't understand how it kept going? I wouldn't have swapped them days for anything😄👍 2 Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
El Gecko 1344 Posted January 10, 2021 Apparently I'm living in the past because I still do half this stuff? Especially make my own parts. 4 Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
moffman 5752 Posted January 10, 2021 2 hours ago, El Gecko said: Apparently I'm living in the past because I still do half this stuff? Especially make my own parts. If that's living in the past? There's nothing wrong with that! 1 Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
Pablo68 1049 Posted January 11, 2021 I do remember a time when Radio gear was all proprietary and not easy to mix and match with. Also buying a new servo if you cooked one was really expensive, like just get another radio kit expensive. Not too many radios has channel reverse either. Thankfully by the early nineties this had all changed. 1 Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
Dakratfink 967 Posted January 11, 2021 On 1/10/2021 at 11:02 AM, Tamiya Fan 1 said: Clod Buster was the king truck. The Mod Clod racing community might like to have a word with you ( not that there is a lot of stock clod left in one of those rigs) Share this post Link to post Share on other sites