King Motor T1000 Truck

Hello all,

There is a lot going on in the 1/5th scale hobby nowadays and I am getting involved in the biggest battle! (in my opinion) If you are in the R/C hobby then the title tells the story. For those not in to R/C I will give you a quick brief on the Baja drama...

A few years ago HPI shocked the R/C world by releasing a 1/5th scale Baja buggy called the 5B at a whopping $999 (cheap compared to other 1/5th scale models on the market). This buggy created a major buzz and people all over started going crazy for the 5B. Me personally, I didn't like the Baja at first sight; not sure why but it surly wasn't on my must have list!

Anyway with this buzz sweeping the world, it wasn't long before the after-market for the 5B took off. Existing companies and new startup companies started making and moving parts. With the buzz it was only natural for people to start speculating on what would come next from HPI? Well HPI's follow up to the 5B was the 5T a Baja desert race truck on the 5B chassis with some added plastic protection and new Body. Not exactly what I was looking for but again this is the industry, add on to an existing platform and work it to death!

With all great things, one must expect that their product will be copied; so enters King Motor. KM was the first company I knew of to copy the Baja and market it as a cheaper alternative to the HPI version, like half price! Soon the war of words would start about buying a copied product and how it hurts the industry? Well since I have been in R/C that's the way it is for this industry? I mean look at the 1/8th scale buggy market it is the largest racing market in the US and I can't tell one buggy from another.

So the battle today is the HPI ONLY racing going on all over the country. HPI and a lot of the after-market companies setup and sponsor 1/5th scale racing events and they do not allow any other vehicles but the HPI Baja 5B & 5T. Looking at this from a business point of view it makes sense for HPI, but not the after-market guy's looking to move products. How do you turn away business?

More importantly if someone wants in on the fun and only has a limited budget how can you turn them away from joining the race...

This hobby is suppose to be fun, right?

E-Buggy / E-Truggy

E-Buggy / E-Truggy, a look into this new segment?
or just for the moment class?

Coming soon......

1/8th Scale Electric?

Electric 1/8th scale is gaining momentum fast right now but is this for real of just a phase? With all the improvements in the electric power market brushless motor systems and LIPO batteries this segment is hot!

In today’s current R/C racing scene in the US 1/8th scale nitro is the top class of racing. As mentioned before the improvements in the electric power market 1/8-E is on par with the speed of its nitro brother and sometimes more powerful.

Right now we have E-conversion kits to choose from to turn your nitro breather into an e-monster. In addition there are also a lot of new brushless esc/motor systems, and new more powerful LIPO batteries, so getting started can be confusing. I want to take some time to look at this growing segment and do the conversion vs. ground-up debut; when will the first e1/8 th scale chassis design come out and who will be the first company to do it!

One of my new favorite classes in R/C racing is the Short Course (SC) class started by the Traxxas Slash and now adopted into ROAR specification. This class is also growing quickly with a number of 1/10th scale electric chassis to choose from, now we have 1/8th scale nitro (SC) chassis as well.