The hobby is discouraging in general - what with a 'new'/re-hashed version of product XYZ coming out every 5 minutes, and everyone sees it as a 'must have' item because driver X is using it...then companies charge a premium in the process as well and what really gets me is that in a lot of cases there is usually no discernible difference in actual use to the model it replaced. It's due to the mentality that has been created in this hobby in recent years, especially amongst the forum community.

Some hobby companies are bringing on the demise of this industry upon itself with this methodology - sure, people will still buy the latest and greatest - but there really is a lot less people getting involved in this hobby at the present time than in previous years (GFC or not) because of this and the sometimes exceedingly high cost involved.

Kinda reminiscent of the computer industry - new releases cost a bomb, soon the be replaced by another 'upgrade' in 6 months rendering what you've got 'junk' in some ppls opinions (albeit - improvements in IT are actually more noticeable than in the hobby industry, kinda a placebo effect of sorts)

... X Ray seem to have a new Kit each year, at $500-$700 a kit landed now, thats a significant outlay just in itself, if you want to race two classes, it becomes two kits.

yep times have certainly moved on

hand up who started racing with a hand my down Tamiya TA01 and charging that battery with resistance leads and a stopwatch

The other reality is that most hobby shops don't sell the stuff that gets raced,
and then try to convince the kids that have forked out $500+ for a basher car, that they need to spend more money once they move from novice.

Couldn't agree more - it really is astonishing the mark-up hobby shops put on what are essentially 'no-name' rtr's, bashers, 7 year old models etc.

Search for the same thing online and they are always waayyy cheaper (eg HSP's, BSD's, Hyper cars etc)

...and people wonder why someone who goes to a LHS is talked into a TT-01, sold a Venom Nimh telling him it'll make it do 60, then drops another 300-400 hundred on hop ups, takes it racing and gets basically told his car is c..p!

There are some good Aust r/c online stores. Speedy, hoot rc and walter for example.

Haven't used Speedy or Hoot (I did check out Speedy a week or so but said owner was away, closed until April 9 or 10 or something, so may be a backlog after that as well, probably not the best time to buy from there! Will check out Hoot) Used to use Walter all the time, but email replies slowed from a few hours, to days, to none so have sort of ventured away from them at the moment.

I agree all three have good prices and service also MRJ racing is great to deal with.

I'd hate to think how much an Awesomatix would cost shipped at the moment.

The customers are the problem if they keep paying $$$ more for that particular kit that's just been rehashed as the V2 or something and all they done is change the wing and shock colour yet people will go out and buy it just to have it.

That really sucks, I never import so I want the dollar to be strong. I'm going back to the states in 3 months and I hate the worthless exchange. The mining, tourism and token remaining manufacturing companies are the only one's enjoying this collapse.

Mining? Commodity prices going same way as dollar, mining enjoying that??

but a Kyosho's will cost you more.



We buy what we can afford. We have had a few good year with a good exchange rate. Now we are complaining cause the aussie dollar is dropping. Time to start shopping smarter again.


April 2001 the Australian dollar was under 50cent.
Suck it up. The good old days.

I'm occasionaly making a small list of items and then buying it all in one go though I'm sure this is commong practice. I also try to make a bulk buy with some mates and then split cost on shipping, the savings may be a few dollars but it's probably more about spending habits than saving those $5. Luckily my LHS store stocks my needed Yokomo parts and I'm lucky where I live in my part of Sydney. I've found savings just as good such as sites like TowerHobbies vs Amain but obviously Amain has way more stock.

This is off topic but the problem is well know and talked about alot, yet absolutely nothing gets done! 21.5 TC should be a feeder / novice class, all racers should move on from this class not hang around and trophy hunt. The feeder class should be limited to cheap but good chassis' like the 3 Racing one etc and a motor speedy combo like the speed passion one and a samll grp of tyres and a battery limit. MAKE IT FUN & CHEAP TO START, and don't make it so you think you're an obsticle for all the drivers lapping you every four laps. Have new young and old drivers mixing it up and when you are judged good enough to move on to stock ..... you move to stock!

I know that a reliable source is parts is always the problem ...... but the 1st rule which always gets overlooked should apply, "the ppl in change should use common sense and everyone should have a good time!"

Then is this going to happen?

I see where are coming from.

It's not quiet that simple to do. I work in retail. We don't receive any forward notice of when prices are going up from supplies (a week at the most). We need to make money to pay for the everyday costs of running a business. For me, over half of our items have a preset RRP.

If you get a new delivery of tires and the cost price has increased by $1.00, you are naturally going to increase all of your current stock on hand by $1.00. Most of you think this is wrong. From a retailers point of view, it is not. Why, because the cost the next order we place is going to be higher to replace the stock that as been sold. My grudge is when the dollar goes up, the prices can take awhile to come down.

There is not one of you that can say you are a true loyal customer to any retail outlet or brand. As a customer, you all have the right to shop around. As a business, we have the right to make decisions that keeps our business doors open.