Love & Hate in RC

[kink]

Feel free to add your own



LOVE

Any model design which is simple, thus enabling one part to be removed independently of others. Prime examples of this would generally be older racing 2WD buggies. They naturally have less components than 4WD, but are sometimes made in key stages which are independent of others.



HATE

The over complexity of many (usually 4WD) buggies. If you want to remove one item you end up taking half the car apart to get to it. Over an hour and one hundred screws later you finally get there. But it should have been a five minute job at most. Annoying examples are along the lines of most 1/8 buggies, or a Kyosho Optima Mid in 1/10 scale (but there are others of course). Really lovely cars when made, but a real pain to work on! An example - you wish to replace a diff, so you have to: remove wheels, shocks, suspension tower, front brace, upper deck, chassis, diff housing, belts, swap diff, most of the car is a pile of parts, now reverse previous stages. A good example - Yokomo YZ10 is vastly better in this respect!

[RC10th]

Love - Good quality well built RC equipment. Kits and components. Almost all aspects of "Vintage" RC . Racing. Well built tracks. Good Hobby Shops. Building and making things. Tinkering.

Hate - Cheap crappy RC cars and RTR's. Forward cab bodies. Kits and cars that are only made for a year or two then a new model is released sharing nothing with the prior model. The fact AE got bought out by TT and discontinued support for older vehicles. Rebuilding shocks/changing oil.

[Charlie don't surf]

LOVE- challenging myself through competitive RC racing, challenging contemporary designs by trying or creating new ideas or approaches to the mold. Hobbyist level engineering. And the affordable nature of the hobby (even on a grand scale)-

HATE- Traxxas (regardless of how many "people" they bring into the hobby, one survey's raw data showed that less than 3% of Traxxas owners were active within the hobby after 1 year) Cheaters, racing is always about "gray" areas...but cheating is a joke (my favorite thing is to beat someone at a big event to find that they were cheating and still didn't win ). Lastly, I hate the "air of superiority" that can come with time in the hobby, it drives people away as the people in a hobby shop (for example) are "too good" to bother with someone. It's BS-

[Lonestar]

Love: the adrenalin of racing, which, when you take a step back, is ridiculous as it's just playing with toy cars against one another... The fact that you can still enjoy yourself kicking a VLB around in the yard with the kids running after it screaming in joy... The few climactic minutes just after you've put the finishing touch to a restoration project that has taken you weeks (and way too much money)... Getting your hands on the first vintage car of a certain kind in your collection (the first RC10, the first JRX2, the first YZ-10, the first Dynastorm,...)...

Hate: Most internet forums where incompetent posters do more harm than good by conveying improper information... The lack of time to get these dozens of projects moving like you intended... that little guilty voice in your heads that tells you the kids would like to have you around when you go racing instead (even if not often)... The kid who goes faster than you at the track even though he's only been running RC cars for 3 yrs when you've done it for 25... and... WOOD SCREWS.

[RC10th]

Lastly, I hate the "air of superiority" that can come with time in the hobby, it drives people away as the people in a hobby shop (for example) are "too good" to bother with someone. It's BS-

Good point.

I think personally as I've gotten older and done a bit of everything in the hobby I've begun to enjoy the "mentoring" side of things much more. I rather help someone and pass on the knowledge I've accumulated over the years. The responses of some people when you tell them tips and tricks is priceless, opening their mind to thinking outside the box. That brings a smile to my face.


Anyway.......

[CAT3K]

Love : Quality RC kits to build. Competitive racing against like minded people. Restoring old RC cars that some would see fit for the bin.

Hate : Rostrum rage really, there's just no need... Cheap plastic kits that are supposed to get people in to racing, until they break after 5 minutes/first crash and we lose another to the hobby.

[GreenHell]

Love - Building a new kit and getting it sorted out for the track. Restoring an old kit and getting it sorted out for the track.

Hate - Getting hacked-on while racing.

[Coelacanth]

Love - Finding off-brand hop-up parts that fit a vintage car that has otherwise hard-to-find, uber expensive or nonexistent upgrades for those parts. When I find a "recipe" that allows me to beef up or better bulletproof a 25-year-old car, I feel I've really accomplished something. Also love ingenuity, creativity, uniqueness, innovation...something that's a lot less common than people think. Love modding & re-engineering. Parts that move smoothly with no slop.

Hate - Cars that are cheap; clones; box-art; RTR; cab-forward bodies; unoriginal copycat paint techniques, garish "neon vomit" paint schemes; parts with stripped threads; trimming Lexan bodies; painting bodies.

Geez, I sound like a grumpy old man!

[kink]

I am seeing a theme here. Glad I am not alone in hating cab forward bodies!

I also remember when the 1/10 buggies almost died off and were replaced across the board with Truggies. I confess to thinking they look stupid! IMHO

[bxlt]

Love:
Love the hunt for the next project, love opening that box from ebay and seeing what I got and what I will still need to make it a runner. Love that my kids always want to help me. Love the trip down memory lane when seeing a car I always wanted back in the day. And love this site as it has really rekindled my love for the hobby.

Hate:
Like most of us on here I hate having to deal with ebay as the primary source to find cars and parts. Having to bid against 20 other people for the same car (sadly I got back into this hobby about 5 years too late!). And I hate my crippling fear to drive any of my cars as I'm afraid to break a part that would take weeks to find and replace.

[markbt73]

Love:
Complex, intricate, mostly-metal cars, especially 4WD.
2.4 ghz radios, ESCs, and modern batteries. Makes old cars reliable and user-friendly without changing their character.
Conversion kits and body-mount kits that let you turn one vehicle into another.
The smell of new foam tires (don't judge me).
Looking up at the clock and realizing I've spent 3 hours at my workbench without a care in the world.

Hate:
RTRs, Chinese clones, pre-painted bodies, "Beat Your Truck," oversize wheels, modern off-road tracks. All easily avoidable, thankfully.

[Y'ernat Al]

Love: Super soft tires, lipo, 25 minute run times, 2.4ghz, all very different than 1983. Making or moding parts to go faster and have a car that works different than the one next door, just like I did in 1983. Helping kids at the track (I've accepted they drive much better than I did in 1983, or ever will). 2 and three piece wheels - where did these go to?

Hate: Gluing tires - there has got to be a better way. Wait, I got it, a two or three piece wheel!

[longboardnj]

LOVE

"Any model design which is simple, thus enabling one part to be removed independently of others. Prime examples of this would generally be older racing 2WD buggies. They naturally have less components than 4WD, but are sometimes made in key stages which are independent of others."



me too.. plus i love stuff like rtr brushless sc10b $300 . you get $50 off at tower hobby so its only $250. the reason i say this rc is cause its a great example of whats good about new rcs to me. the car is full hex wheels (older non rs sc10s had a t4/sc wheel set up ) comes with the better esc and now has a 6 cell radio(4 cell would be best but 6 cell is better then .. always good when a company makes a new rc a little better for the same low price.. i also love cars like b4/t4/sc10/sc10b that share alot of the same parts and i dont fear parts will be discontinued in 3 months .. this is the other reason i like traxxas, i bet most traxxas parts will be available my whole life.. other thing i love about rc is some of the new electronics.. water proof stuff has been a dream come true. brushless combos from castle great highend stuff not to crazy priced. brushless ae stuff is cool cause you can get motors for only $50. traxxas brushless and brushed is cool with me too. also new 4 cell 2.4 radios are great. tactic is nice cheap and no antenna on the receiver is cool too cant wait till all radios are 4 cell and no antenna on the receiver or radio

[longboardnj]

HATE

The over complexity of many (usually 4WD) buggies. If you want to remove one item you end up taking half the car apart to get to it. Over an hour and one hundred screws later you finally get there. But it should have been a five minute job at most.

me too .. im just going to have fun with this and do a top ten list

top ten things i hate in rc
10.odd parts
9. parts trees ($16 for that bodymount )
8. parts bags. ($24 parts bag for that 1 screw i need )
7. discontinuing
6. parts on back order
5. setting up escs for no lipo cut off (blink what how many times?)
4. traxxas old tq radio blink this traxxas, put more knobs on your remotes
3. traxxas new tq radio no not the tqi. you may think the newest slash has a tqi but it has the new crappy tq the tqi look alike. at least the tqi you can buy the doc and a iphone and adjust the settings like a real radio.
2. BLINKS !!!!!!!!!!! YOU WANT ME TO TUNE WITH BLINKS !!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
1. RC10 REAR ARM MOUNTS.

[MOmo]

LOVE: RCs in general

HATE: NOT having the $$ to buy them all!