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?