Wolf Hobbies

Team B&B:

There is a reason why I did this instead of opening a hobby shop or track. That is I am just too thin skinned to take a lot of abuse. I figured, great! Here is an oportunity to help out a bunch of people (myself included) and it had good long term prospects as well. Aside from taking a huge pile of cash I could see no downside. What a crock of "dung" that was. Since starting this there have been two prominent dealer types. One never heard of Team Magic and doesn't want to carry another line. The second was the dealer that is mad as hell and yells at me for half an hour for stuff that happend on someone else's watch. Some days are pretty hard to take But then I get emails from customers (retail and wholesale) that go on and on about how happy they are that someone stepped up to the plate to get them the parts they need to get their favorite car going again. I got one that told me he knocked a full lap off his personal best with his E4 and it is the best car he has ever seen. That reminds me of why I'm here. Anyone who thinks that this is a way to make a quick buck has a good view of his own colon. I will not see a real profit until 2009. Thank God we have another company that is doing well!! It is normal to be cautious and I'm not asking anybody for a date with their sister and I'm not planning on moving in next door to you. I am not a threat so please at least give me chance to mess up. Then you can dump on me and I'll take it because I deserve it. To date the only thing I have done is sell a bunch of R/C parts to people that really needed (or at least wanted) them. We are (quietly) doing a lot of things to make this a premier brand and to support the US dealers. For example: One of the bigest complaints from hobby shops in the US is that customers buy cars cheap on the internet and then come into the store for support. To counter that when the E4FS came out we bought the entire production run. You want a car? Great!! The price from us is the same as from your local dealer so go to your dealer. When we sign a new dealer they have to agree that they will not undercut other dealers by putting the car on the internet for less than they have it for on their shelves. We have had sales on our site (two by accident when we messed up the web site and the cars were listed at our cost) but the only cars that we had on sale were models that were not for sale at any other active dealer. As soon as a car goes up on the dealers' shelf our sale ends. You also don't see any of our kits on sale at any of the big "box shops" (discount sites). That is because we have not contacted them. We want this to be as appealing to small hobby shops as possible. There are a lot of ways that we could have made some quick bank but we have our eye on the big prize. I have seen a reference to being like Losi. I just want to remind everyone that before Losi was purchased by Horizon they made themselves into a premier brand with a great product. They had a great product and name recognition. They did that by earning it on their own. My sons and I got our starts with Losi Street Weapons. To be honest (don't take this as a negative about Losi or Horizon) we never bought another losi product since then. There were people crying about how being bought up by a big distribution company changed them. There is no debate. It did. Some say for the better and some say not. I think that the best thing for Team Magic is to rise to the top on their own merits with a single minded advocate. Getting lost in the warehouse with a thousand other brands will make the brand cheaper. But will it make them better?

I can't send you a photo of me smiling today. Smiles are not coming easily today. But if you REALLY want one (be careful what you wish for) I'll send you a photo of me in the booth at the show this weekend with a bunch of cars and I'll even give you smile. As an added bonus I'll send you a photo of my now famous E4 making more laps on the track at the show. As soon as we get back I'm going in for rotator cuff surgery and plan on spending at least three days horizontal in a pain pill induced "stupor" (like usual but more drool) No photos of that. A week or two after that I'll send you a photo of me at the port of Oakland picking up another container load. A few hundred kits, about a hundred F8 bags and a bunch of parts. This is for real. Please let me prove it.

yyhayyim

iTrader: (26)

I got a sister, and an extra room for you...when are you moving in? Just make sure you bring some E4s and parts

yyhayyim

iTrader: (26)

Wow...really nice MJ. Looks like you've ran it in the house already...c'mon you know you ran it in the living room around the table and chairs

Looks like you're gonna go all out with that Orion 3.5BL

Did you get it from Wolf?

Jochim_18

iTrader: (10)

HMMMMM.... I Remember reading a post from MJ stating I'm not going to buy this kit it will not make it to the US... Well it's a very good car guys you will not regret it. The down side with first version is the shocks. I have to use my tamiya shocks so I can use different springs.

RCRIOT

iTrader: (29)

Hello Wolf Hobbies, I am not sure what your name is I apologize if I have missed it. I have been doing a lot of looking at new design touring cars.

I just opened up a new carpet track in Albuquerque, NM and to be honest am frustrated because I am losing. Ok so I am not that frustrated but I can’t keep up with our factory associated driver with his TC5 with my XXX-S. So I decided its time to upgrade after all I had the first XXX-S in New Mexico since then we have had a few different track and none for a few years.

It is very evident that the TM car is the best engineered car out there. The X-Ray is a piece of art and I don’t think that anyone can deny there quality, the JRX-S is a good design but just isn’t as refined as I would like, the Serpent is a nice car and so is the TC5 but there is nothing special about those cars. But the TM car brings a piece from all these cars and really puts out a nice piece of machinery.

Ok people may wonder why I confidently say these things. Not only am I running my own RC track but I am a pro racer in the Indy Pro Series (Indy lights) and am trying to get an Indy 500 ride this year. So I have seen toy cars and big cars and everything in between, and that is why I think I can confidently say that these are great looking cars.

Now I am sure that most of you are thinking I should have sent Wolf a PM talking about this but I want to give Wolf Hobbies a chance to show everyone how the deal with potential customers, track owners, and questions from that person. I am also willing to put my name out there in support of Wolf Hobbies if they deserve it.

I would like to know what Wolf Hobbies can do to help there sales and my track. We are putting on a two day show and would like to advertise for them and I would like to buy a car, and help them sale more cars. And in return all I want is support.

I can not afford to buy enough parts to support the cars. I am not a hobby store just a track owner but I already have every single part for the XXX-S and most for a TC4 (90% of our racers run these cars). That overhead along with the track and the facility is a lot, and these parts are getting used. I know drivers will switch to the TM car but I have to prove it is worth it and there is support for it.

So here is the question, if I did everything I said above what will Wolf Hobbies do to help me support there cars.

Again I know that this is more of a PM then a post but I believe that people need to see how Wolf Hobbies works and they deserve that opportunity.

RCRIOT

iTrader: (29)

Double post

mrrcguy

iTrader: (25)

"let you prove it"? Ok, Contact my shop...
I have tried to pick up the TM line a time or two over the last year, lets see if the third time is a charm.

870-933-0479

Ask for Quinton.

J.Gonzalez

iTrader: (16)

How about an unbiased review of you kit on rctech?

I am willing to offer my services for free! I will even return the kit after testing.

I am an accomplished club racer in the northeast and I offer to build the kit, test it and report the results on rctech in a 100% unbiased review.

Sort of like an rctech blog for the kit.

Most people that read the mainstream rc magazine come to the conclusion rather quickly that the test are pretty plain jane. Basically just switch the name of the kit in the article and you would never know the difference.

It appears that you believe strongly in your product line and this would be a great chance to get some feedback from a racer. It would get the car out to actual hobby shops and your potential customers. (4 tracks in a 2 hour radius).

Feel free to contact me by pm or email.

Off to work...cheers

Jamie Gonzalez
Home track-Rc Madness Enfield, CT
email: [email protected]

billjacobs

iTrader: (65)

I actually wrote a much longer reply in my previous post on this thread and then removed it. Given the apparent sincerity of wolf hobbies, here are my thoughts:

1) the r/c racer marketplace is largely a gathering of smoke and mirrors companies that only compare to the spam emails for male enhancement
2) products are usually released with hype and the "buy it and try it for yourself" slogan accompanied by the least information possible, even when the product is $500
3) money seems to be meaningless in the pursuit of toy car world domination and the companies gladly push this philosophy
4) a company's promises mean next to nothing in the world of r/c, with a handfull of exceptions

It seems that most r/c companies gain traction by:
1) sponsoring races and giving away product
2) sponsoring racers and giving away product
3) very rarely producing a better mousetrap that is then copied (spintec with the original battery manager, orion with the 4800 lipo, etc)

In my mind, a company can succeed by:
1) having a better product (most important, otherwise you use smoke and mirrors to sell your stuff,)
2) getting that product exposure (send big hobby stores who order some kits a built sample kit (racers will buy an unproven kit they can hold versus see on the side of the box), sponsor some talented racers,)
3) not following the typical r/c product release (best thing since sliced bread, will take 5 seconds off your lap times, indestructable, etc.)
4) standing behind your product and keeping your word

Unfortunately, at this point, team magic is still in the "try it and see for yourself," "trust us it's awesome," stage.

Again good luck and I will consider the car when some racers at my track have one and like it. (I know this is a catch 22, but so is life.)

billjacobs

iTrader: (65)

Wolf hobbies -> if you have a thin skin, boy did you go into the wrong industry. The internet lets 1 crackpot do a lot of damage to a company's reputation because the crackpot's words carry just as much weight as the company's word (especially since most don't believe companies anyway.) (Hell, maybe I'm the crackpot.)

I can say with a high level of certainty that most r/c product issues (outside of defective design and bad production (happen occasionally) are the user's fault. I have seen racers do stupid things with electronics and kits and then complain that the product didn't stand up to the abuse. The old saying that if you make a product idiot proof, a better idiot will come along and break it is 100% true.

Instead of making claims like bullet proof, and we have never broken a part, make claims like - "durable." If someone buys your kit thinking it's bullet proof, and then they break it (a racer can break any car,) they will blame you and spread the word that the car is fragile.

Marcos.J

iTrader: (239)

all i have to say is thanks Wolf Hobbies for supporting the Team Magic car and products in the U.S.

Marcos.J

iTrader: (239)

yes i did state that before and I ate my words yes Tamiya shocks are on the way

Marcos.J

iTrader: (239)

the battery is the Core R/C 3250mah

Marcos.J

iTrader: (239)

yes 3.5 in it now no i didnt get it from Wolf but I will be buying all my spares parts from him

olhipster1

iTrader: (102)

I say give them a chance. Just my opinion of course.
The hobby is going thru a bad spell as whole.
Let's see what happens, maybe the car will do well. That is what counts isn't IT?

As far as a PO box or mailing address, I don't care if a company has a PO box, APO...or a 30 bay loading dock as long as they can satisfy my need as a consumer. Support your LHS if they want to try and get the TM parts (if terms are agreed upon) if not then find other options.


Good luck to all....
let's be nice to each other.....we need this hobby to survive.