Humorous anecdote from the LHS

[Coelacanth]

In my city, we have at least one decent hobby store that sells mostly RC stuff, and they kept boxes & boxes of old/vintage parts. This LHS is like the rest with regards to its current for-sale offerings, mostly RTR Traxxas junk.

Anyway, I was invited behind the counter to poke through several sliding peg-boards of old parts, you never know what you'll find....and I overheard a customer talking to the shop proprietor (a woman who really knows her RC stuff, vintage and new) about wanting to buy an RC car kit.

He had looked at all the RTR crap and was asking "Don't you have any kits that you build?"

Heh...just kinda struck me as funny/ironic.

[RedScampi]

Yes, very ironic. Maybe the start of a trend?

[drbelleville]

Yeah, this is a bit odd, but cool. I used to work in a Hobbyshop years ago (lets call that time the 90s). We would get customers that would come in and look for upgrades, spares, bodies, etc. for their boats or cars. We would not see anyone come to drop of a car / boat for repair. If a customer did have a problem they could not handle with their Vehicle it was usually something like programming a radio, troubleshooting an ESC, and the likes and then explain the repair to thecustomer.

Now I walk into a "Hobbyshop" and people want prebuilt cars - of which the only thing they know to do is change the tires, motor and pinion (maybe a bit more, but not much). Then the same person would bring their car(s) into the hobbyshop for repair, along with their money, instead of DIY.

I would figure the Employees could simply show the hobbyist what needed to be done, and encourage them to do their own work. Unfortunatly it is not so.

But I think it is great when we here on this site are able to interact with kids or grownups that become interested in the hobby through us. We offer them one of our cars to get started on. And you know what before you know it they are wrenching on their "new" car and asking for tools and help - all while ... well eagerly doing it themselves.

[Kayne]

I love the building process. I would only get something prebuilt if it was used. If you build it then you have a working knowledge of how it goes together and can wrench on it yourself.

[THUNDERSTRIKE1]

And pre-built you dont know what butthead that didnt do it correctly or how hung over they were lol.Ive seen a bunch not done correctly sitn on the store shelves.DON

[lpddpd]

A few months ago I was looking for a new body to paint and the guy behind the counter said he missed the days when people painted their own car bodies... I thought it was odd at the time, but now I understand what he meant now.

[Bormac]

I remember back when the 1/8 nitro cars used to come in kit form and they looked uber cool to me. Then the REX X came out (well atleast the first that I noticed) prebuilt with engine included! Wow i was suprised that you could buy a nitro buggy ready to add fuel and go- LOL!

How times have changed.

[DerbyDan]

A few months ago I was looking for a new body to paint and the guy behind the counter said he missed the days when people painted their own car bodies... I thought it was odd at the time, but now I understand what he meant now.

I had exactly the same thing - I went into a model shop that has been in town for years & years, to buy some lexan paint, he literally had just the primary colours and maybe white & black and that was it... I wanted blue (which he actually had) & the guy behind the counter was suprised to be selling it... I commented at the time about the number of RTR cars that he had for sale & he excitedly showed me an Ansmann 2wd buggy, which he pulled out of the box & one of the shock absorbers fell apart leaking shock oil all over the box & counter

[Lowgear]

I remember back when the 1/8 nitro cars used to come in kit form and they looked uber cool to me. Then the REX X came out (well atleast the first that I noticed) prebuilt with engine included! Wow i was suprised that you could buy a nitro buggy ready to add fuel and go- LOL!

How times have changed.

It always blew my mind as a kid how not only did you have to buy the electronics yourself but the engine as well. Sometimes even the body! So essentially all you were getting was a dissembled chassis. Then to top it all off the cost of just that was through the roof. So in that regard I'm glad some things have changed.