Originally Posted by
MULMZ2
You see a lot of kids in the crawler scene for the same exact reason you see a lot of kids having fun flying. It's family oriented, there is no pressure, and it requires skill. And crawlers just like planes rarely break and neither require much maintenance, so once you're invested that's that.
Regarding Mini-Z's. Have you driven one lately, because they are really fun and aren't much different than driving a 1/12th scale. The micro scene is growing and for good reason. There is so much cool product out there and you can race at home, so you never have to worry about a track closing because the track is in your living room. I have a course taped out on the floor of my studio apartment. My tracks open 24/7, 7 days a week. You can also race against people around the globe in the comfort of your own home if you participate in Mini 96. What other RC scale is capable of this? Another reason why that kid probably walked out with a Mini-Z is because like the flying and crawler scene, it's a family friendly environment that is low key and free of bad attitudes due to the fact that you can race at home.
Oh I understand the appeal of the crawler thing for families and I love the fact they have that niche in RC and it is growing....and I clearly understand the appeal of being able to take your crawlers to damn near any state park, back yard etc and "do the thing", it just isn't my thing. I went through a full scale rock crawling and off-load phase which may help explain why the small scale Rc version doesn't really flip my switch. Again, stoked to see kids and their parents excited to do something like this together, especially good in the winter to get them off the couch.
As far as Mini-Z, I have attended a couple races to support the local shop, it just doesn't do anything to excite me....yet. That being said, I fear 1/28th may be the only on-road scene remaining in my neck of the woods before long. For me, it's just too small. If I am being honest, a lot of what I love about RC is tinkering and working on things then taking it to the track to see the improvements; while you can certainly tinker with and hop up a 1/28th car, working on something the size of my hand doesn't appeal to me. It's a me thing, not and indictment on 1/28th.
As for the stereotypes of RCers, well we were all considered dorks in the late 80s for playing with toy cars and it wasn't something I recall advertising to my varsity sports team buddies for fear of ridicule as a teenager. I can't speak to what people think today, but since a high % of people 50 and under spend time playing video games etc. today, I would think it isn't AS dorky as it was considered "back in the day". When I was the 10-13 year old racing against adults most of those adults were all early computer programmers, engineers, etc. intellectual types that weren't running from beer league softball games to run their RC10 in a parking lot.......but again, that was just my experience in a given location.