A Letter to Duratrax:

This site may earn a commission from merchant affiliate
links, including eBay, Amazon, and others.
drbelleville

drbelleville

Well-Known Member
Messages
214
Reaction score
1
Location
houston texas
I wrote Duratrax about trying to get more option parts etc. Here is the letter, I will post if I hear anything.

To whom this may concern.

I was wondering first, if the Firehammer Platform sells well? The reason I ask is because I know that the chassis is shared with other Manufacturers. For example Smartech, XTM, Carson, Spider, etc. offer the same vehicle. Your Firehammer has great customer support, including the stresstech warranty. There are many Owners throughout the US of this chassis, even if being from other Brands, that need better parts support. If you visit a few largescale forums such as https://www.largescaleforums.com/forum/forumdisplay.php?f=32 you will see that they are all very happy with their cars yet have to resort to modifying them to accept parts from other brands that are more readily available (or not available in the US) usually being more costly. I know that you offer a few options from your line for the Firehammer, yet Carson in Germany offers a Larger Variety as shown on their site http://www.carson-modelsport.de/de/modelle/automodelle/tuningteilegrossmodelle.htm I believe that if more parts are offered such as the optional Aluminum Accesories etc. you would be able to help more owners and customers. I know that now with the increase in the Euro vs. the Dollar it is very expensive to upgrade with parts from Europe, when it would be easier if we had a source here in the US. I own a Smartech/Firehammer/XTM chassis as also a FG Groschl Marder Buggy. I believe I can speak for many owners in that there is a Niche' or desire to be able to purchase parts and optional accessories from the US, rather than Europe. We can rely on US Mail-order Vendors, US Postal Services and tracking, and most of all US Customer Service Support. Thank you for your time.
 
I believe that Smartech (who they probably purchase the Firehammers from) has hopup parts for the damn thing and Tower only chooses very few.

I wish I knew about CNC machining and stuff. I would have designed many new, updated parts for it. Sadly, I live in a cube farm 40 hours per week. :(

I can't even whittle wood worth a damn. :)
 
Somehow someway there must be a profit to be made on these models, its not as if you hear no one buying them. I also wish I had the CNC talent and a job that would let me run after hours.
 
ya it seams if we need a part it take too long too get it or it is on back order and .if you have a friend too do the CNC then you owe them I guess I am lucky that I work at a place that let me use the CNC on my owne time I just wish someone out there would listen too use it would be nice to put a 2speed trans with out changing everything or modifying everything .I guess I am just mad at Duratrax for NO support BUT they will support all the nitro's
 
Update

Well no reply yet. I think that although there is a profit margin to be made, this should not mean that they can not offer the parts cheaper than in Europe. I imagine that most Parts (Option and spares) come from China or Taiwan. Being so they are probably very cheap to begin with. So even if Tower or Duratrax sells these at a 5 dollar profit per part lets say, they would still be cheaper than in Europe. If you want an example of how over inflated the German market prices are do this, look up a Losi 8ight RTR price from Stormer Hobbies or A-main Hobbies, then look on Modellbau Friedels page how much they sell for, its crazy. So in the end I think that in the US we all need a parts supplier that can meet our demands as far as prices and availability goes. And now that the FG community has to pay more for FG parts because of the Euro, just shows that the Manufacturers care more about the money than the customer. I have since shelved my Marder until I either go to Europe on vacation and get parts, or the prices come down.

My two cents worth,

Good luck to us all
 
Well maybe there should be a poll, but I know that there are owners that are not part of any forum as well? So I cant say. But I am not focusing on the Firehammer Series only, but the platform (Carson, XTM, Spider, Smartech, etc.) And there are enough people that are willing to shop via Europe, which tells me that we need a US source.
 
Last edited:
Back
Top