Garry Posted April 29 Share Posted April 29 (edited) A question for the folks who have been in the hobby for a while (5/10/or more years). How do you think the hobby is doing today compared to when you first started? I'm pretty mixed, I stated in 1998, I've raced for the vast vast majority of that and I've seen trends come and go, classes explode in popularity and fade away. It seems like prices have risen considerably but you get so much more for your money now. In terms of racing, you can get started at a sensible level spending very little and being on the pace, but the flipside of that though is clubs are closing through lack of members. Bashing groups also disappear too (anyone remember Team Modellinc?) It feels like the hobby to me is bigger than ever yet also shrinking? Its a weird time lately. Edited April 29 by Garry Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
MrCake Posted April 29 Share Posted April 29 It still feels super niche to me and my biggest headache is finding somewhere good to run them. In my own local area, a lot of the green areas are now new houses or industrial units. Any remaining good places are then usually popular with people/dogs and I feel like a spend most of the time with my head on a swivel looking out for any humans who probably don't realise the mass and speed of something 1:8 or even 1:10. This takes away a lot of the enjoyment for me. Other hobbies seem more straightforward and for instance if I was into fishing, I could find a local lake. RC bashing seemingly has to fit into random spots not necessarily intended for RC. 2 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Kpowell911 Posted April 29 Share Posted April 29 (edited) I think the hobby is more accessible and arguably more common and easier to get into than ever. However, its ‘different’ now. You will know far more than me about this @Garry but I dont think racing in the UK is anywhere near as big as it was? And Id hate to own a UK modelshop. That said, It seems more ‘popular’ than ever? Or is that just because you can get an rtr from Ali Express for pennies? I guess you could argue its a different hobby altogether compared to when I started in 1994ish with a kit M-01 Mini? Edited April 29 by Kpowell911 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Garry Posted April 29 Author Share Posted April 29 (edited) 57 minutes ago, Kpowell911 said: I think the hobby is more accessible and arguably more common and easier to get into than ever. However, its ‘different’ now. You will know far more than me about this @Garry but I dont think racing in the UK is anywhere near as big as it was? And Id hate to own a UK modelshop. That said, It seems more ‘popular’ than ever? Or is that just because you can get an rtr from Ali Express for pennies? I guess you could argue its a different hobby altogether compared to when I started in 1994ish with a kit M-01 Mini? Racing is super weird for me, I live central in the county of Lincs. The county has 10 RC clubs what I know of, running mostly electric cars Louth Boston Burgh Theddlehorpe Scunthorpe Lincoln Skegness Holbeach Spalding Coningsby My town has a touring car club which gets 40ish racers on a ''big'' Sunday meeting, Yet an even more niche Oval racing club gets 60+ for a ''regular'' Friday cub night. And a nearby 8th off road club gets ingle digit attendances despite running on a pupose built permanent venue whenever the sun shines. And 2 clubs have shut down in recent years. It feels like RC is everywhere and yet nobody is doing it in great numbers? I don't really know. Is the hobby too diluted now? Edited April 29 by Garry 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
wombat Posted April 29 Share Posted April 29 Only been in the hobby for 3years but I know where you're coming from. I am lucky enough to have a local club with a crawler course, astro turf buggy track, lake, lorry section, train track, quarry and farm area. I would love a basher but would be limited locally as to where to use it. I could see it being a problem to someone getting into the hobby with limited options to use RCS, but on the whole I think the hobby is growing Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Kpowell911 Posted April 29 Share Posted April 29 (edited) I am just stating a comment here you can take this how you want. The fact that you can buy a cheap RTR from a company like WL toys and get into the hobby extremely cheaply is now an option. It wasn’t there 20 years ago. however, is this a good thing for the hobby or is this just false growth? YouTube is now a massive massive thing that is influencing all areas of life. A lot of RC YouTubers really push these sorts of brands which makes them grow. I am not for a second suggesting that these are not good products but I think you’ll agree agree with me, they’re not traditional RC as in go into the local shop and buy a kit and build it or even pick up an RTR from there. Is the popularity that we are seeing because of this put in reality it is almost like a subsection of what we consider the RC hobby? I am just posting this for discussion. I am not getting into a debate about a WL toys vs a Traxxas or Arrma etc? Edited April 29 by Kpowell911 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Garry Posted April 29 Author Share Posted April 29 (edited) 27 minutes ago, Kpowell911 said: I am just stating a comment here you can take this how you want. The fact that you can buy a cheap RTR from a company like WL toys and get into the hobby extremely cheaply is now an option. It wasn’t there 20 years ago. however, is this a good thing for the hobby or is this just false growth? YouTube is now a massive massive thing that is influencing all areas of life. A lot of RC YouTubers really push these sorts of brands which makes them grow. I am not for a second suggesting that these are not good products but I think you’ll agree agree with me, they’re not traditional RC as in go into the local shop and buy a kit and build it or even pick up an RTR from there. Is the popularity that we are seeing because of this put in reality it is almost like a subsection of what we consider the RC hobby? I am just posting this for discussion. I am not getting into a debate about a WL toys vs a Traxxas or Arrma etc? Thats a topic! think a lot of pople now own RC cars because of influencers and social media advertising algorithms. But have no idea the hobby exists. My neighbours son has a little 1/14th truck with with 2.4ghz/brushless and lights yet had zero idea the hobby existed, it was just a cool little thing they saw on youtube and bought him for last christmas, seeing my race cars opened their eyes, they diidn't know a club to race at existed in this town just 3 miles from their front door. Its like a giant section of the hobby operates inside the hobby and is completely unaware they are in a hobby? Edited April 29 by Garry 2 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
wombat Posted April 29 Share Posted April 29 @Kpowell911, I can see your point r/e people buying a cheap Chinese rc and just using it to get into the hobby as opposed to buying a kit or rtr from the LHS, all too many times recently people are turning up at the local club with no idea how to mend anything when it breaks, then when you try to help them they have no tools and no idea how to get spares 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
wolfie1 Posted April 29 Share Posted April 29 When i first got into rc back in the 80’s, you went into your local model shop, there used to be 3 in aberdeen, now there is none but there is online shopping, it was a lot more face to face, before you only knew about it from the model shops so folks were more willing to meet up and go for a blast, nowadays with online folk see it on youtube, reddit, forums, facebook and the likes so dont meet up so much, for example there is a local facebook page for aberdeen and folk do post up on it on a daily basis but see trying to organise a meet up on a Saturday afternoon for example, if your lucky 1 person will turn up, its a funny old thing as its easier than ever to organise a meet up but folks are less willing to turn up 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Red MG Posted April 29 Share Posted April 29 Just to throw in a curveball, here in Spain theres still a massive following for RC, in fact anything with an engine is fine. The local track has as many nitro as brushless classes. The local RC shop also sells as many X-maxes🤦🏻♀️ as the next youtuber but they still love racing here. Indeed the kids can throw as many traxxas/arrmas off a ramp/skatepark as they want but the racers also have proper tracks etc too enjoy as well🙂. I Went too the local track last Sunday and all sorts was going on, its more oldskool here, you can bash or race or show up with shelf queens, its all accepted plus the bar b que is amazing 🙂. 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Ziggy122 Posted April 30 Share Posted April 30 Sooo take me in my early teens 2004-2013 Nitro was King Nitro was fast Speed runners were bolting 2 - 3 - 4 engines to gear up and go mega quick! Model kits were available from savages to Touring cars, Rtr was just a handy way to get going!! 27mhz / 40mhz were getting quickly considered old tech as 2.4 spektrums ruled the market! Electric was cheap with Nimh/brushed but wasn't that fast Brushless was coming in - expensive Lipos were coming in but the whole dangerous battery chemistry thing made people sceptical... Ballooning tyres was considered cool and sign of Raw power!!! Forums were the DOGS! the lit place to be when owning RCs Only tutorials were text&guides, YouTube wasn't really the place for them? I left the hobby due to women/money/jobs/time Fast forward to now 27/40/ Separate failsafe? wtf is that? 2.4ghz is KING! and now very very cheap! Brushed is slow, but it's often joined with a Lipo to get longer run times! Brushless is cheap - common - fast Ballooning tyres is annoying... Belted tyres are a thing! Nitro is dead, Byron/Tornado sadly have gone, Force engines are gone! Lipo/Brushless are now been 2 - 3 - 4 motor combos by the speed runners Lipos are common as hell!! Model kits are out there, just not as common People want RTR to get out there! Forums are now fighting social Media groups Guides are all on YouTube now, 1000s of examples too something! Has the Rc hobby changed Yes in many ways, But not in others I'd love to get going at full speed with an Army of working cars again and attend a big gathering! just to enjoy what I remember from the early 00's! ziggy 2 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Kpowell911 Posted April 30 Share Posted April 30 I know things move on and improve, but I remember a period where I had a brushless (Novak SS5800) on NiMH Stampede. It was an incredible RC to have back in what 2005? I also around this time had a Brushless E Maxx (Hacker ESC, Plettenberg Motor, 18cell NiMH. Those RCs cost my entire employment at that age. As In, I went to work and did overtime to build them. They cost mega money to build up, importing various parts, upgrading every part to build. I was asking questions about parte on US forums at 3am to build this. It was a huge effort, and a huge expense. Fast forward to 2025, you could walk into a hobby shop with £500ish as a complete newbie and walk out with a set up (say a 3S MT10, or 4S Armma?) that blows that out the water in every way. Cheaper, faster, stronger. Its even ready built. All of that sounds perfect and a great example of evolution. Yet to me thats actually quite sad that thats the “current state of RC”. Does that make sense? 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Red MG Posted April 30 Share Posted April 30 (edited) It seems so different now in England? I cant comment from experience as been in Spain for 13yrs now but I can remember going too bashes and there would be loads of people with different models but very few RTR's, it was all modified and early home made brushless set ups etc. The scene here is very much like that still, yes there are RTR's all over the place too be fair but the oldskool vibe is very much still active 🙂👍🏻, theres even people racing Hyper 7's and 8's at the track and yes they've been modded to the hilt, it's very funny watching them compete with the Mugens/Kyosho/Losi's etc 🤣🤣 The other side is getting spares over here is still easy and cheap, I'm currently restoring an old Hyper 7 TQ thats seen a "proper" life 😉 and yet I can pretty much still buy everything for it without having too import etc, makes things so much easier 👍🏻 Edited April 30 by Red MG 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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