Part of the fun of being a Dad is that as my boys get older, they are getting interested in the same things I was at their age. I was into slot cars and now they are too. There were always RC planes around the house when I was growing up, bit I wasn’t much of a flier. Instead I terrorized the neighbourhood with my Tamiya Beetle and later on, The Frog. Thanks to the members of Durham RC, my boys are now clamoring to race RC cars.
In the lot of a local major tire chain, we noticed a giant race track had been set up and decided to pop in for a visit. About all I can say is wow! These little (and not so little) machines have changed so much since the last time I powered up my old Tamiya cars. They are now lightning fast, brake and turn harder than imaginable and they appear pretty close to indestructible. There are versions powered by little engines and the old standby electrics. The electrics bear little resemblance to the old cars though, as they are as fast or faster than some of the petrol powered cars.
One member scared the stuff out of me when he told me that most guys have about $3000 invested in their cars! Really, I could go regional racing in a Spridget or old Honda-Michelin car for less cash than that. I’ve already begun perusing the local message boards and it seems that pre-loved cars can be had for between $200 to $500, which sounds like a much more reasonable budget for a couple of young kids who are eager to start out.
There are birthdays coming up soon, with the guy in the furry red suit not too far behind, so I think there I’ll be haunting the local hobby shops over the coming months.
6 comments ↓
Gary,
All I have to say is be very, very careful. This is an extremely slippery slope. I can’t even begin to count how many 10s of thousands (yes, you read that right) I have into my RC addiction. Let’s see, at last count:
2 Nitro Trucks
2 Nitro Dune Buggies
1 Gas Dune Buggy (2 stroke motor)
1 Electric Motorcyle & 1 Nitro Motorcyle
4 Nitro boats
1 Gas boat
3 Electric boats
1 Electric hovercraft
3 Nitro road-cars
You get the idea. Then, once you start to upgrade… Carbon fiber parts, new suspension, better radios, faster tires, etc. Let’s not forget the tools and other accessories like batteries, chargers, glo-plug warmers, etc.
It’s a lot of fun!!!! But it’s as bad as club racing from an addiction and expense level.
I’ll send you a post in a few weeks when I’ve finished my latest Porsche GT3 RC car!!
Nice shot. The black truck in the first picture is actually my fiancee’s. We worked on that body together, painting etc over the last couple weekends just for this event.
I agree with the other comment that it can become expensive especially when you have to buy two of each (His and Hers). It is worth it though.
When I was growing a remote control car consisted of a go-kart tied to the back of my mom’s car with strong piece of rope. But during my son’s heyday he had a bunch of RC cars and he had the best. The fact is just like my wife in the mall it’s the accessories that killed me. Custom hand built carrying cases, back up motors, portable Longacre scales just like the ones for real cars and so on. Had I known up front what it was going to cost me I would have just bought the manufacture that made them instead.
But to this day there is one ambition with regards to RC that I still have. One of these days I want to take one of my wife’s old purses and cut the bottom of it out just enough so that it will attach over a remote control car giving the purse that it’s sitting on the ground. Then I want to take it some place like a shopping mall and make it look like it has been forgotten until someone reaches out to pick it up. Vroooooommmmm! Gotta be something the folks over at Candid Camera would love to see.
But then again, just imagine in place of a purse we use a blow up doll!
the ultimate toy that no man is ever too old for… you should check out the rock krawler scene of RC’s… I had a first hand experience of playing with one a month or so ago, and I do have to say… I WANT ONE!!!!! LOL
cheers
I got into this 3 years ago to find a way to get my son away from video games. since then we bought and sold over 15 of different shape and sizes of them. I love this hobby and found tons of good friends through it. Is it expensive, yes it can be…. however there is no price tag attached to the ability to spend time with your teenage son and find good friends in the process.
I think this is a great hobby, but personally I’ve always preferred the off-road variety of these machines. They’re even more indestructible than their street racing counterparts, so you can feel free to do serious stunts with them and not worry (as much) when they take a big hit. I also have to say that in my experience, larger scale cars (1/5 to 1/8) are more fun and easier to control since you can see them better in the distance.
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