flipwils11 wrote:I knew about the RC10 from RCCA but I started with a Tamiya Hornet which I "modded" with aftermarket oil filled shocks, lol. After I got more educated I realized I had to have an rc10 even though I only raced once. I still knew it was a championship car and the metal and realism had me all hot and bothered. I finally got my rc10 around 1988 and I was predominantly a basher.
I bet there were others like me who bought an rc10 for the same reasons.
I'd say my early days in hobby-grade RC was similar, but I went down a slightly different path. My first was the Grasshopper. I put in a bunch of mods; better shocks, Thorp diff, better motor (can't remember which), blue alloy sideguards...and the car had a black paintjob with lime green & bright blue stripes, it was a real looker. But no matter how much I threw at it, it still handled like a turd. I sold it to a kid who was frequenting the hobby store I worked at, the car practically sold itself because it looked fantastic with the paintjob & blue sideguards. I think I sold it for $200 or something.
I'd been hearing how the Optima was kicking butt at the track everywhere but it was a lot of money! My goal wasn't all-out racing though, I wanted something that I could drive offroad everywhere and was sold on the 4WD. If I was more in the "racer niche", I probably would've looked into an RC10. Fate...
There was another reason I never got into an RC10; from looking at magazine ads and Tower Hobbies catalog, the number of kit options for the various RC10 flavors was a bit intimidating for me (at the time) and I was concerned about buying an incomplete kit. For most of the Tamiya/Kyosho models, there was the standard kit, and some upgraded kit with bearings and faster motor. It was a bit more understandable to the beginner RC hobbyist. Perhaps if the hobby store I worked at stocked AE, I would've been able to look into the box and seen exactly what I was dealing with, and might've gone the RC10 route...but alas, that wasn't the case. The only store selling AE stuff was WAY on the north side of town and it wasn't an easy place to get to; back in the day before you could just buy anything online, a convenient location for parts was a consideration.
