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I returned to the hobby after many years away and have been blown away by the amount of brands that are now out there. The vast amount of RTR models was another shocker.

I was even more blown away when I read on this forum that AE is now owned by another company. After that, I read quite a bit about quality going down hill...some in this topic have mentioned it as well.

So, is buying a new B4 not worth it? Will I see early wear and poor fitting parts?

My opinion on so many kits/products being made in China? It's too bad, for a lot of reasons. My hope is that the big names read these boards and take notice. I know that a complete reversal isn't gonna happen but maybe the quality will improve.

Another reason to maintain the kits we have, I guess.

MOmo wrote:Darren,
Do we all need to write RC Car and complain? I know Tony P personally. Who else do we write? I thought it was a nice touch to a mag. Sure some publications focus on pretty girls to distract the reader, I like looking at Vintage RC for my porn fix!
MOmo

[/quote]

Hey mate,

Thanks for the support.

Unfortunately the whole mag is gone - not just my articles!!

This is the result of a number of factors, unfortunately out of my control.

I am hoping my past seven years of work will help me be attractive enough to another major publication. I knwo Frank Masi went to RC Driver, and I hear that Stephen Bess is going to Car Action. I guess only time will tell. I have certainly received more than a few emails about it. Perhaps I should start a thread (potentially embarrasingly few post though - not many mayu care!! ) - rathere than hijacking this one.

Thanks again to all that have mailed me.

Cheers

Darryn

Start a new thread, add it to your CV, a little praise can't hurt

Darryn,


I misspoke. Tony P works for RC Driver not Rc Car. Either way I think educating new enthusiasts on the value of vintage cars is important. Best of luck sir.


Momo

sneako43 wrote: So, is buying a new B4 not worth it? Will I see early wear and poor fitting parts?

If you are attune enough to the car's up keep then it's no sweat, shimming a car to eliminate slop is nothing new ( although I was surprised it freed up so soon ) and I have had no real complaints
about mine otherwise-

This thread has been an interesting read. I'm sure that will continue too. Today I saw a bumper sticker on an American made truck today that read:


"Hungry, Out of work? Try eating your Import!"

It made me think.. Does this guy realize that many "Amercan" made cars are actually mad in Mexico? How about the fact that MANY "Import" cars are having final assembly, as well as major assemblies (transmissions/engines) done in the US. The fact is that world economics is changing, and has been for quite a few years. The "Global Economy" is here. I think it is not much difference in manufacturing being outsourced to other countries, than when people as individuals stopped homesteading and started specializing in trades. There are definite pros and cons to every turn of events. Division of Labor, Specialization, Economies of Scale... they all add up to one thing global interdependence, and if we (the world not the US) can keep peaceful relations between all countries, that interdepenence means global strength. (And NO, I am not in support of a global government. )

^ reminds me of my father in law. he wouldn;t let his wife buy another audi, had to buy american. they bought a caddy, i asked him how he liked his new "canadian" car.

he was miffed. lol

At least the Caddy money went to Detroit vs. Germany....

Speaking of Germany, they seem to be smart enough to keep their manufacturing jobs in country. Granted, they seem to specialize in high end, but at least they have jobs

German Unions have a very large part in that, BTW.

I was reading a recent interview with Noam Chomsky today and thought part of it was very relevant to this thread:


AMY GOODMAN: Your piece, Outrage Misguided. Back to the midterm elections and what we're going to see now. Can you talk about the tea party movement?

NOAM CHOMSKY: The Tea Party movement itself is, maybe 15% or 20% of the electorate. It's relatively affluent, white, nativist, you know, it has rather traditional nativist streaks to it. But what is much more important, I think, is the outrage. Over half the population says they more or less supported it, or support its message. What people are thinking is extremely interesting. I mean, overwhelmingly polls reveal that people are extremely bitter, angry, hostile, opposed to everything.

The primary cause undoubtedly is the economic disaster. It's not just the financial catastrophe, it's an economic disaster. I mean, in the manufacturing industry, for example, unemployment levels are at the level of the Great Depression. And unlike the Great Depression, those jobs are not coming back. U.S. owners and managers have long ago made the decision that they can make more profit with complicated financial deals than by production. So finance Ð this goes back to the 1970s, mainly Reagan escalated it, and onward -- Clinton, too. The economy has been financialized.

Financial institutions have grown enormously in their share of corporate profits. It may be something like a third, or something like that today. At the same time, correspondingly, production has been exported. So you buy some electronic device from China. China is an assembly plant for a Northeast Asian production center. The parts and components come from the more advanced countries Ð and from the United States, and the technology . So yes, that's a cheap place to assemble things and sell them back here. Rather similar in Mexico, now Vietnam, and so on. That is the way to make profits.

It destroys the society here, but that's not the concern of the ownership class and the managerial class. Their concern is profit. That is what drives the economy. The rest of it is a fallout. People are extremely bitter about it, but don't seem to understand it. So the same people who are a majority, who say that Wall Street is to blame for the current crisis, are voting Republican. Both parties are deep in the pockets of Wall Street, but the Republicans much more so than the Democrats.

The same is true on issue after issue. The antagonism to everyone is extremely high Ð actually antagonism Ð the population doesn't like Democrats, but they hate Republicans even more. They're against big business. They're against government. They're against Congress. They're against science Ð

AMY GOODMAN: Noam, we only have thirty seconds. I wanted ask if you were President Obama's top adviser, what would you tell him to do right now?

NOAM CHOMSKY: I would tell him to do what FDR did when big business was opposed to him. Help organize, stimulate public opposition and put through a serious populist program, which can be done. Stimulate the economy. Don't give away everything to financiers. Push through real health reform. The health reform that was pushed through may be a slight improvement but it leaves some major problems untouched. If you're worried about the deficit, pay attention to the fact that it is almost all attributable to military spending and this totally dysfunctional health program.

AMY GOODMAN: Noam, you were continuing your prescription -- your advice that you would give to President Obama today.

NOAM CHOMSKY: Well, the economy is a disaster. There is 10% official unemployment, probably twice that much actual unemployment. Many people unemployed for yearsÐthis is a huge human tragedy, but it's also an economic tragedy. These are unused resources which could be producing to make the things that this country needs. The United States is becoming kind of a third world country.

The other day, I took a train from Boston to New York -- that's the star of the Amtrak train system. It took about, maybe twenty minutes less than the train that my wife and I took sixty years ago from Boston to New York. In any European country, or really any industrial country it would have taken half the time. Plenty of non-industrial countries, too -- Spain is not a super-rich country, it's just introducing a 200-mile-an-hour railway. This is just one example. The United States desperately needs many things: decent infrastructure, a decent educational system, much more pay and support for teachers, all kinds of things. And the policies that are being carried out are designed to enrich primarily financial institutions; and remember that many of the major corporations like, say, GE and GM are also financial institutions, that is a large part of their activities. It's very unclear that these financial institutions do anything for the economy. Some economists here -- mainstream ones -- are finally beginning to raise this question. They may harm it, in fact. What they do is enrich rich people, and that's where policies are directed to.

An alternative would be to stimulate the economy. The demand is very low -- those corporations have money coming out of their ears, they've got huge profits. But they don't want to spend it, they don't want to invest it. They would rather profit from it. Financial institutions don't produce anything, they just shift money around and make money from various deals. The public has some consumer demands, but it's very slight. We have to remember that there was an $8 trillion housing bubble that burst, destroying the assets for most people. Now they're desperately trying to keep a little to save themselves. The only source of demand right now would be government spending. It doesn't even have to affect the deficit -- it can be carried out by borrowing by the FED which sends interest right back to the Treasury -- if anyone cares about the deficit, which is actually a minor issue, I think. That should be the major issue.

There should be massive infrastructure spending, there should be spending on simple things like weatherization. We should have a substantial program to reduce the very severe threat of global warming. But that's unfortunately unlikely with the new Republican legislatures and with the effects of the massive corporate propaganda to try to convince people that it's a liberal hoax. The latest polls show that about a third of Americans believe in anthropogenic global warming -- you know, human contributions to global warming. That's almost a death knell for the species. If the U.S. doesn't do anything, nobody else will.

the u.s. economy may be in a huge downturn, but the worst will be over when chinese companies start thinking about shifting production from china and vietnam back to the u.s..

Even worse for the US will be when the rest of the world becomes as dependant on Chinese manufacturing and China quits devaluing (artifically) it's currency. It will no longer see/need the US as its prime consumer and will call in it's US debt obligations. This will either drag the US economy down to pre-industrial levels or start WWIII (or both)...which may be the point. I am not anti-global trade (my cars/truck are imports {2 VW's and a Nissan}), we just need to realize a day of reckoning is coming and plan accordingly. Just my $.02...but that's enough doom and gloom for a Monday.

scottmac you got it. there is a economical and financial bomb the world is sitting on.

Exactly my point Scottman. But sadly, I think Americans especially U.S. citizens don't realize this as 90% of them are lame and can't think for themselves. The rest of the 9.999% are too afraid to do anything and they wait to see what's going to go down. The .0001% who knows and realized this are already dead through coincidental plane crashes automotive trauma, or a heart attack. I tell you, the main reason why most citizens don't want to witness this is because they are the problem, they are the ones who's causing the problem. Many Americans think that the world revolves around them, the world owes them everything and they own the world. I live in the U.S. and I work at a company and it's all about growth, profit and gain. If you aren't making growth or gain for the company, they will determine if you should get fired. If you are a liability, they will make it so that they don't pay what is due for you...but you have already worked there for 20 years and concluded that is where you are going to retire you. You read up on my thread "Dumping your R/C" and you will find what I mean. As far as Melvins Army goes, he will just throw at you what Noam Chomsky is saying...it's his idol. There is definitely wrong things going around here, but I'm telling you, this site is not the place to discuss important issues because as we "speak" the homeland security of U.S. has the biggest budget to now...surveillance every move that one makes. I am not against this country that I love and work for....I am here to make it better by asking questions I don't understand certain things and see things that are obviously evil. The rest of the world thinks that September 11 was obviously a false flag operation, the rest of the world thinks that U.S. shouldn't have invade countries in Iraq, Iran, Afghanistan etc. Only in America that it's citizens and people don't see this because the news hinder certain truths, hide enough lies to manipulate the REAL picture. Okay, I'm done now and Last but not least, why does the U.S. government purposely take the WikiLeaks site down? Is it because the information were so overwhelmingly true that they have to hide it? Maybe, maybe not but one thing's for certain...your Social Security number is your private number and it is being sold at Wall Street on Stock. Yes, just as cattle and pigs and horses are sold at stock value...so are you. Bet you didn't even know that.

N2Deep wrote: As far as Melvins Army goes, he will just throw at you what Noam Chomsky is saying...it's his idol.

1. You don't know me from Adam.

2. You are a moron and you're starting to annoy me. The rest of the world thinks 9/11 was a false flag operation? Where do you get your information from? I'm still waiting to hear what you thought about http://www.debunking911.com/ but I'd almost bet the farm you haven't even clicked on it yet. It's much easier to believe a fantasy than it is to look at facts.

3. Back to Noam Chomsky. If you knew the first thing about him, you'd probably notice three words he says frequently: "see for yourself". It's all right there.