So what the hell happened?

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AnubisBC

AnubisBC

The Professor ?‍?
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I've been out of the game for a while now, and large scale was never really huge in my part of the US, but it was still kicking about in other parts, especially California. There was a national professional scene and sponsored races/events. The whole nine! It looked like 1/5th scale was the darling of the RC world in many respects.

Now I come back, and it's a rarified thing. I looked for some of the most renowned tracks and they are all shuttered. There doesn't seem to be anything on the pro or sportsman's circuit. I see there's the West Coast Nationals still running this year, but couldn't find a track last year. It seems like our large scale brethren are fading into obscurity. Even here on this forum, I only see a handful of names on each thread.

I have been seeing a little more large scale love on youtube recently. A lot of RC celebs are pulling their 5th scalers out of retirement for at least a little while, which gives me hope that the hobby might get some new life. But there are no guarantees.

So I'm curious. Do any of you have any thoughts as to why 5th scale went from the coolest thing since sliced bread to hardly any mention in the more popular publications? Do you think it will come back again to its former glory?

I truly wish that I had a local track to play on. It's a lot of fun running my truck, but it would definitely be better with some mates around doing the same!
 
Not sure if it will come back to it's former glory, but I sure hope so. People like Botajell (on YouTube) have gotten alot if people into 1)5 so I hope he continues and grows and has a even larger impact. Now, I think it died off because of the brushless stuff and the fact that it's plug and play (appeal to lazy people and the younger generation which don't like to do anything and remotely hard/complicated), so there's alot more people who got into that and never messed with large scale becuase "it's too complicated" ? and there's some large scale guys who wanted more torque and speed and gave up gassers and went electric sadly.
 
A year ago here at lsf it was a little quieter
DDM had stopped posting D.O.D? ....So just in the last year here and watching utube I have noticed things picking up slowly ?? but Z right it's all down to lazy ass brushless EEEEE crap? but if we all here make as much content as possible
It will help . So visitors here at LSF can see we have fun and its easy?? and there is a community ??
 
dougstar said:
A year ago here at lsf it was a little quieter
DDM had stopped posting D.O.D? ....So just in the last year here and watching utube I have noticed things picking up slowly ?? but Z right it's all down to lazy ass brushless EEEEE crap? but if we all here make as much content as possible
It will help . So visitors here at LSF can see we have fun and its easy?? and there is a community ??
Click to expand...
When I first glanced over your reply I thought you were saying that I helped boost the forum and I was like "damn! I'm flattered!" ??? But that's not the case obviously ?
 
I just made my first DDM order in almost 8 years last week. I was so stoked to see that they still pack a candy and sticker in every order! Such a nice touch. I'm glad they're offering their DOTD again. I never knew they stopped. I thought they just kept on truckin'. I think no DOTD anymore would just make me all kinds of :bigtears:.

Back when I had to leave the hobby, Castle Creations was pushing their first-ish gen Mamba brushless kit for the HPI Baja out to consumers. Their motor was insane, but their ESC's kept catching on fire, and run times were around 10 minutes at best. The kit was $800-$1200 IIRC. Now I see they're no longer offering those products. So it seems while there is a small market for EE 5th scalers, but overall, the happies are in the brap! I'm totally okay with that.

I'm hoping that some of the online celebs will continue the newfound interest and keep things moving. Maybe they can spark some interest in the younger groups that actually want to wrench, and tune. That's what the hobby was always mainly about for me. Running the sucker and breaking it was fun too, of course!

And now, with HPI having new ownership dedicated to reviving the brand, that can't be a bad thing! Let's hope they put some R&D and marketing dollars into their large scale division!

Z, your antics are a constant booster to this forum! (y):ROFLMAO: You just keep on being you.:LOL:
 
AnubisBC said:
I think no DOTD anymore would just make me all kinds of
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No there was DOD but they were not posting it here ? the thread was dormant when I joined ??
I started reposting them ?? then I guess woodie or contacted steve....or something along those lines coz it just kicked off again ??
 
It seems to me 1/5 scale as with all rc in general goes in spurts of popularity. When I first go into it I was rather young and large scale flight was all the rage around here. That died and 1/8 and 1/10 nitro took over. Then came the brushless scene and the crawlers came along. The 1/5 was always a bashers choice in many of the places we used to be able to run at. Now rc in general seems like it's in the decline. I had 3 hobbies shops within a 20 min drive. One closed, one is flight only, and the other is catering so hard to the e vehicles I hate going there anymore. (The previous owner died some time last year and the kids arnt Into nitro or gas ?) they keep a dbxl-e In stock no spare parts. They really punch cheap model (traxxas). Although they did start a 1/8 scale spec class this summer to get more people into rc. It seems to be working. The lot is packed in Thursday night's now. Just give it some time and I'm sure rc in general will pick up and 1/5 scale with it (I hope)
 
I've not run mine in a month or so due to being busy plus I was doing diff upgrade/rebuilds on the front/middle/rear. I'm ready to go now but the downside of 5th scale is it being too loud for residential neighborhoods. I've got a few fields near me but seems like life gets in the way when I want to run...
 
1Coopgt said:
Just my opinion.I think part of it has to do with how expensive it can get .
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it is expensive:unsure: but only if you go for custom motors and loads of up grade parts(y) my little fg has a stock motor i put alloy engine mounts alloy diffs and the rest of it is pretty much stock (y) and you can do tank after tank with no issues. But maybe for some just that first outlay could be a leap too far?‍♂️
 
I live in South Florida, I haven’t found any tracks for 5th scale Rc’s.

There is also no hobby shop within a 50 mile radius that stocks anything for 5th scale... it would be awesome to have a cool local hobby shop that caters to 5th scale rc’s...

I buy all my Rc parts online mainly from DDM, for the past 15+ yrs DDM has always been amazing!
Plus they give discounts with every order. Which makes it so worth it. Plus FREE shipping is icing on the cake.

I also haven’t found any other 5th scale owners.
Just a bunch of guys running brushless & nitro rc’s Around my way.
It sucks running with those little guys, I feel like a bully because my 5iveT always smashes them out the way LOL and then they get all in there feelings and don’t wanna race or bash with me ??‍♂️???

Also like some of the fellas mentioned 5th scale Rc’s are pretty loud.
Then you have people that put custom engines and exhausts which makes them even LOUDER.
(it’s ME I’m those people) LOL.

I can’t play with my 5iveTs around my neighborhood. Someone always calls the cops!
I still go out and play with them around my neighborhood but I keep it under 15/20’min run times.
It sucks really but in a way I understand, I get super annoyed when the landscapers are outside making noise ??


South Florida has a few RC race tracks but only for 1/8 & 1/10 scale.

There is one track I’ve heard of for 5th scale Rc’s in central Florida (about 4hrs away from me)
but they don’t allow Rc’s with custom exhaust on site ??‍♂️

I’ve also tried getting my friends involved into 5th scale.
They always get excited and talk crap like yeah I’m totally getting one!
Then they see the retail price of 5th scale Rc’s and end up with a either a brushless or nitro like wtf this ain’t what we agreed on man!!! LOL ??‍♂️??‍♂️???

Always the same excuse too “ I want to see if I like the hobby before I spend $1,000+ I’ll on a 5th scale “ total bs !


Back in the day over, on HPIBAJAFORUM.com
we had a group of over 20 5th scalers from all over Florida

One of the fellas even built a small 5th scale track in his backyard, we were there pretty much every other weekend ???

Good ol times man, wish I could find a group of fellas to Race/Bash in my area! It will make this hobby even more fun!
 
Yeah, I can totally understand the expense sentiment. You can surely dump an obscene amount of money in one of these puppies!

RC is definitely cyclical, but I'm just surprised to see the scene having gone from sponsored nationals races to near complete obscurity in just a few years.

@Basher5iveT420 I remember when I got my 5T. I had a friend who raced 1/8 scale buggies semi-professionally. We had one bash day on a baseball diamond. My stock (with tuned pipe) 5t smoked his super hopped up Mugen buggy in every way. I think it hurt his ego. We never had a bashing session after that. Large scale is just an entirely different beast!

HPI really revitalized the large scale off road scene in the US with the Baja 5b. Before that, it was a rather obscure Euro concept. I think only the Raco Jackrabbit was the only large scale widely available in the US prior to that, and that was back in the 80s. FG was still big for on-road, but you had to order overseas to get one. I'd love to see HPI come back and breathe some fresh new life into the hobby.

It looks like the off-road grass track scene is still alive and well in the EU. I just wish we had more going on stateside.

Luckily, I have a private place on my company campus to run without any concern for cops being called, or other people getting in the way. It's just a grassy spot with a couple dry rock streams to skitter over, but it's nice and secluded.

I found a BMX track nearby as well this year. I won't run it during the summer, because I don't want to disrupt the kids, but I'm looking forward to running on it during the school year when it's empty.

I'm only 90 minutes away from the Oregon dunes, so I plan on setting the 5T up for those this fall as well. I just wish there were more people in my area that I could run with! The entire population of large scalers in the US seem to reside on the Eastern side of the Mississippi! You guys need to relocate so we can all bash the BMX track together!
 
Were all rather spread out here too.(in the eastern US) I think the closest guy I could hook up with is close to a 2.5 to 3 ish hour drive. I'm trying really hard to get one of my friends or brothers into 1/5 but the up front cost is what kills it, nearly, every time.
 
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