Which discontinued (or re-re) kit would you restore if you could choose???

[CertifiedMike]

wtf, a Dewalt motor in a High Roller? man a silver can could destroy the gears in those things. think those gears were made of wet tissue paper and 7th century stained glass.

I think they upgraded to 2ply in the early 90's.
These trucks only went 20' at a time before they got a break and then it was more and more weight, usually til breakage or magic smoke.
I don't think any of them cared as long as they pulked the most weight and left with a trophey.

 

[Ramp addict]

A re-release needs to be true to the original with maybe options for brushless, slippers... upgrades, not a new platform.

For the Profusion I think a materials change to at least 6065 aluminum, a new way of retaining the input gears, and a receiver box would do it. It would be the hottest SCT on the market.

 

[CertifiedMike]

For the Profusion I think a materials change to at least 6065 aluminum, a new way of retaining the input gears, and a receiver box would do it. It would be the hottest SCT on the market.

I don't know if the SCT market is strong enough to support a re-re for this but it would be cool to see you ideas tested out!
Maybe technology will make it cheap enough for us to print and machine all our stuff at home to build our own kits. A plasma table in the living room sounds right.

 

[Panther6834]

For me, it would be all of the kits Kraken RC recently discontinued. We have plenty of kites hanging from 1/8 scale, down to 1/28 scale, but the large-scale market is sorely lacking where kits are concerned.

To the best of my knowledge, the only 1/5 scale kits currently being produced are the gas & electric versions of the HPI Baja 5B. Of course, the blame can't be placed entirely on the manufacturers...consumers are a HUGE part of the problem, especially those having gotten into the hobby in the last decade, and even moreso those having gotten into RC since the pandemic. Newer RCers just don't understand the concept of "build it yourself"...they just want RTRs that they can take out of the box, insert charged batteries, and bash them until they break. Heck, many of them don't even know how to repair their own RCs...they take them to local shops, and pay the shops to repair the vehicles for them.

In all this, they are missing out on (at least) 50% of the enjoyment of RC, which is building vehicles. The problem with producing 1/5 scale kits is that the production costs are higher...partly because the parts (being larger) are more costly to manufacturer, but also because the lower volume increases per-kit costs. If more RCers could discover large-scale RCs, and (to a greater extent) those newer to RC could discover the enjoyment of building kits, this could (would?) help manufacturers in releasing more kit versions of large-scale RCs.

 

[Lumikko]

i just remembered a few more.
the HPI Mini RS4 and Nitro Mini RS4. they were RS4's but Tamiya M chassis size, or "mini 1/10 scale".
i almost bought the nitro, but by the time i got the money together they had just discontinued it so i didn't buy it.

the Marui Big Bear.

and even though it was jump off the curb and break it weak, the MRP High Roller. but they would have to fix the majorly fragile drivetrain.

I had the RS4 Mini with the Polo body, and the Big Bear Datsun.

Don’t miss either of those. I have a Tamiya M07 now, and for more performance in the M-chassis size, I’d look at Xpress or Carten.

 

[KnowAir]

For me, it would be all of the kits Kraken RC recently discontinued. We have plenty of kites hanging from 1/8 scale, down to 1/28 scale, but the large-scale market is sorely lacking where kits are concerned.

To the best of my knowledge, the only 1/5 scale kits currently being produced are the gas & electric versions of the HPI Baja 5B. Of course, the blame can't be placed entirely on the manufacturers...consumers are a HUGE part of the problem, especially those having gotten into the hobby in the last decade, and even moreso those having gotten into RC since the pandemic. Newer RCers just don't understand the concept of "build it yourself"...they just want RTRs that they can take out of the box, insert charged batteries, and bash them until they break. Heck, many of them don't even know how to repair their own RCs...they take them to local shops, and pay the shops to repair the vehicles for them.

In all this, they are missing out on (at least) 50% of the enjoyment of RC, which is building vehicles. The problem with producing 1/5 scale kits is that the production costs are higher...partly because the parts (being larger) are more costly to manufacturer, but also because the lower volume increases per-kit costs. If more RCers could discover large-scale RCs, and (to a greater extent) those newer to RC could discover the enjoyment of building kits, this could (would?) help manufacturers in releasing more kit versions of large-scale RCs.

I dream of a 1/5 4x4 brushless race kit.. preferably truggy. I have the K8, and while it's great, not really raceworthy IMO. Something in the level of a Tekno would be so awesome.

 

[CertifiedMike]

5th scale cost, noise and a safe plce to run all come to mind as obstacles as a noob to 1/5th.
Ppl are frightened of gas engines and gas tanks.
The tools are bigger, need a bigger place to store it and a way to bring your kit around with you when its time to run "at a friend's..."
I think they are really cool and maybe some day I'll dive in.
I have gas motors all over and nitro is fun for me. Its the scale and the thought of having to clear an acre to build a track for it.
No matter what part of R/C, if its stuggling, its sad to see.

 

[Speed Chaser]

My 1/5 scale stuff gets neglected a lot, mainly because it isn’t as workable as my 1/10 scale. The 1/10 scale has the right weight/size ratio. Strangely, though, when it comes to flying RC, I’m the opposite. The small stuff gets neglected, and it’s the big stuff that gets the most use.

 

[CertifiedMike]

Isn't large scale flying generally considered easier and more forgiving in craptastic weather? I don't fly except minidrone. A sneeze sends it into a wall!

 

[Speed Chaser]

Yeap it comes down to 3 things:
Stability
Control
Visibility
I say ‘strangely’ because the trend lately with flying stuff has been to go smaller. For example, the 250g class quads have taken over the scene.

 

[CertifiedMike]

Yeap it comes down to 3 things:
Stability
Control
Visibility
I say ‘strangely’ because the trend lately with flying stuff has been to go smaller. For example, the 250g class quads have taken over the scene.

Gotcha.
I never thought of a group of flyers all running similar scale planes. Would be much like going to a 1/10 scale r/c track which makes perfect sense to me!
I have only been to a few BIG flying meets where they just flew EVERYTHING!
Scale jets that you wouldn't have a CLUE were scale once they were 10' above you! HOLY REALISM!!! Very cool to watch!

This was at an airport. No drone racing that I saw there for instance.

I'm not good at flying and my r/c time is spread thin as is the r/c budget. I hope I'll get into flying more now that I've mastered crashing my mini drone!

 

[Hobbydude2]

I'm curious to know what kit from the past everyone would pick to build or restore. Let's say parts are still avail...
If you could dial up 1-800-FAV-R-C-KIT and order anything at all, what would you choose and why?
Would you want it to be re-released so everyone could run it too or do you love it because its rare?
What OG electronics would you use???
Trick upgrades for your build???
Fav tires or a body to finish???

Had a rc dune buggy in the 80s, it was cheap and ran great.

 

[CertifiedMike]

Do you remember what it was at all?
There were a couple dune buggy r/c's that I've heard ppl talk about from back when but I don't have much info.

https://www.amainhobbies.com/parma-pse-1-10-short-course-dune-buggy-body-clear-par1236/p158341

They might not be super popular like they were but this dune buggy body makes me want to head to the beach for some fun!

 

[Speed Chaser]

Gotcha.
I never thought of a group of flyers all running similar scale planes. Would be much like going to a 1/10 scale r/c track which makes perfect sense to me!
I have only been to a few BIG flying meets where they just flew EVERYTHING!
Scale jets that you wouldn't have a CLUE were scale once they were 10' above you! HOLY REALISM!!! Very cool to watch!

This was at an airport. No drone racing that I saw there for instance.

I'm not good at flying and my r/c time is spread thin as is the r/c budget. I hope I'll get into flying more now that I've mastered crashing my mini drone!

With airplanes, you typically won’t find uniformity in scale, but most turbine jets are in the 1/8 to 1/6 scale range. Also, I do not recommend turbine jets . I have been holding myself back from turbine models because their rebuild time is only 25 hours before you have to send them back for maintenance. One of my favorite airplanes to fly is a common Cessna. It has a great engine sound and is super easy to fly.

 

[CertifiedMike]

With airplanes, you typically won’t find uniformity in scale, but most turbine jets are in the 1/8 to 1/6 scale range. Also, I do not recommend turbine jets . I have been holding myself back from turbine models because their rebuild time is only 25 hours before you have to send them back for maintenance. One of my favorite airplanes to fly is a common Cessna. It has a great engine sound and is super easy to fly.

I always thought the idea of flying a 200mph plane was slightly intimidating.
The Cessna seems more my speed at least for now!
25 hours of flight does seem a bit short to me.
I'm not sure how long a typical r/c jet flight is (to empty a tank and land it I mean).
I think the intimidation would go away once i got some good fight time in though. Maybe I'd blow right throygh those 25 hours.
I bet they aren't cheap to service on each of those intervals though!!!

 

[Speed Chaser]

Average flight time is around 6 to 10 minutes and rebuilds are anywhere from 200 to 500 typically. I don't know if those numbers have gotten better it has been a few years since I last looked into rc turbines seriously, so maybe rebuild time has gone up.

 

[CertifiedMike]

Average flight time is around 6 to 10 minutes and rebuilds are anywhere from 200 to 500 typically. I don't know if those numbers have gotten better it has been a few years since I last looked into rc turbines seriously, so maybe rebuild time has gone up.

Yeah and @ those prces per turbine plus other expenses... Its def not cheap!
I can't imagine how disheartening a crash would be with a plane with 100's of hours and thousands of dollars would be!!!
I cringe when I brush a curb after I finish setting up my bashers!
Its funny how opposite the spectrum is there... bashing for fun vs avoiding a crash at all costs!

 

[Speed Chaser]

Yeah and @ those prces per turbine plus other expenses... Its def not cheap!
I can't imagine how disheartening a crash would be with a plane with 100's of hours and thousands of dollars would be!!!
I cringe when I brush a curb after I finish setting up my bashers!
Its funny how opposite the spectrum is there... bashing for fun vs avoiding a crash at all costs!

Yeah, turbines are pretty cool but personally from the few turbine jets I flow I think I will most likely end up with a turboprop on something like a 1/3-scale Piper Cub with floats. Doing aerobatics and not having to worry too much about g-loading a wing is already enough for me to go with a turboprop

 

[CertifiedMike]

There was a guy from Tom's R/C in Chelmsford MA who used to fly his float plane in front of my fam's place on Lake Winnipesaukee.
He would pull up in his boat and lean over the side and drop the plane on the water.
He was an excepionally tallented flyer.
I could have watched him fly all day.
The lake would get choppy though. No good for takeoff/landings so he was off after a couple tanks usually.
That was fun!
Boy didn't I want to fly back then!
I didnt have the building skills required or the knowledge to maintain a nitro.
I didn't have money to throw at crashing planes into a lake either!

 

[JerBear]

Associated RC 10 DS . I have the rereleased kit. Just have to build it. RC12i my first car would be cool too!