hotrodchevy14

iTrader: (115)

have not seen hpi post here in quite some time....someone shake the tree!! wake up hpi more bodies please..!
i'd like to see the firebird and dodge dart..

snoopyrc

iTrader: (2)

I know I miss Andy H.

Waflet

iTrader: (35)

Hideeho
It's results are listed at
http://www.historictransam.com/Results.html
Along with a bunch of cool under 2l European cars that don't get mentioned much.

wwddww34

iTrader: (9)

Would it be possible to just make a replacement nose piece to convert HPI's 1978 Pontiac Firebird into a 1972 Firebird?

Geno-Machino

Is now. He realized that he grabbed the Camaro file at first but has since fixed it with the Nova file.

DontChangeUSVTA

That sounds very reasonable. Based on the picture below, the HPI '78 Firebird body comes with a spare nose piece in the bag, but the body itself looks like it comes with the nose already attached (unlike Protoform's J71 body where you have to attach the nose).


If there was a replacement nose piece to make it into a '72 Firebird, then you could just cut off the '78 nose and put on the '72 nose.

snoopyrc

iTrader: (2)

The rear window is different, but you could mask it to look like the 70. Honestly the hood and fenders are a bit different as well.

Flying Monkey

iTrader: (54)

Have an email into them as well.....nothing in return yet. Ive hit up a bunch of manufacturers in the RC community for more USVTA support. As I get responses Ill post like I did the others.


Like snoopy said, There is a considerable difference. I owned a 77 Trans Am and a buddy had a 74 Firebird. The 77 era bodies were alot more square where the Earlier 70's were more round. Same with camaros. Early 70's rounded and late 70's more square body lines.

Ed Z

iTrader: (26)

My track will be switching over to the usvta rule in the new year. Is there anything to watch out for? Have others had issues with systems out of the box?

Flying Monkey

iTrader: (54)

Good to hear. Always glad to see tracks running full USVTA rules.

"systems out of the box"?

shadowracer24

iTrader: (3)

I think he may be asking about the combo sets. I have run the novak combo system for about 4 months of hard racing and have had no issues at all. Just switched over to the hobbywing esc and very pleased with it after I finally got the brakes to work.

oceanhighz

iTrader: (49)

Yea, we are switching over, and had someone get a set out of the box that was DOA. Anything else to watch for? Been reading through all of this, but I could only come up with a few things I'm going to discuss with Ed when I see him this weekend.

IndyHobbies.com

I don't know if you guys have been keeping up with the problems the plastic model guys have been facing but the licensing issues from companies have become a nightmare in terms of cost and legal procedures. I read an article about it somewhere.

It used to be that manufacturers like Ford, Chevy, etc. were complimented that a company wanted to do a model of their vehicle. Back then, they looked at it as free marketing! Now, they expect a portion of the profits from the sale of the model and the ongoing licensing rights are not free either. Same with companies like Boeing (aircraft) and railroad lines, etc. As a result, the cost of plastic models is rising to pay those licensing fees. Some manufacturers are no longer including brand decals or using brand names.

So...my point is that its probably hard as heck for companies like HPI to get the rights to produce a new body. I assume they have to pay royalties too? I wonder...

jdeadman

iTrader: (41)

With the Edge (mongoose) and 25.5 is a great setup with tonnes of brakes.

snoopyrc

iTrader: (2)

I had a conversation with Dale Epp about this. Licensing is a brutal nightmare. You are dealing with attorneys and not the owners of the license in most cases and they fail to recognize that this is a consumable piece that will often be destroyed during the course of its use. It got this way in the late 70's or early 80s when Revel made more money on models of a particular car than GM made on the real deal. Granted Revel sold a ton of the model kits. Atorneys smell money and then they screw everything up. Its the American way. Thats why protoform often avoids any resemblence of an actual production vehicle in their touring car shells. So they call them LTC and give them other codes like that.

Mazda and Ford are pretty good about licenses. Notice that there are a lot of Mustang shells available? They are easier to deal with than other manufacturers. Anyway if you want more shells then you would be better off sending email to the maker of the car as well as guys like HPI and McAllister.

Off topic but we all know that Orange County Choppers makes more money from T-shirts than they do from selling bikes.