Quote:
Originally Posted by nitrojunkie
I would imagine that due to the popularity of RC in the US it would be just the opposite and more would be interested;due to the I can now race year round if I want to crowd.I don't agree with the it wasn't meant to be hopped up thought if that was the case they would have not offered the OEM hop up parts.I believe it was meant to be raced due to the way it has been constructed.It is a really robust product or at least mine has been.
|
This is an interesting thread. Firstly, I'd like to note that I apparently stripped my stock differential, or some other way caused it to stop consistently spinning, in the first three days of ownership, but, I agree, it's awesome, and pretty damn durable, as I've smacked it around quite a lot (first ever R/C). No worries, I wanted to try a ball diff anyway...
As an American I think dNano has great potential as a niche hobby. I certainly hope I'm wrong and the kids snap them up like Transformers, but I doubt it. As cool as racing is and as undoubtedly popular as it is, I think that to reach overwhelming momentum in the US would take either an intensely lucky marketing campaign, or a way to have more fun
without friends. dNano is the perfect city racing platform -- I head to the track and can always find at least two or three people to chill with, talk about parts with, and to laugh at my racing/learn from.
But for children in the suburbs, the scene is much different. They can't drive to the racing track, and although an RCP or Real track is a cheap investment to us, it's not so easy on parents. Most of use posting are adults or young adults, and I think our perceptions are a little skewed by this.
These cars are convenient and durable -- pop them into a briefcase or other bag and you're ready to race whenever (NOTE TO KYOSHO: MAKE MINIATURE TXz - even if they're gimped they'll be huge sellers). But if you would throw one into a kid's backpack or god forbid, a pocket... well, you must have a $150-bill tree in the backyard. Plus, kids want to race
anywhere. On the back porch, on the kitchen floor, over the roots of the trees in the backyard -- the kind of stuff Mini-Z buggies can handle so well, completely gums up dNanos.
So of course I'm not busting on dNano -- I love what I'm getting for my money. I do wish that Kyosho weren't so traditional about its business model. They'd get more of my money from licensing fees on other companies' bodies then they'll ever get from me buying more bodies from them. I just don't really like Le Mans and GTR bodies that much. So instead, all my money is going to Heller, some guys on ebay, and Tamiya (for modelling/painting supplies). I do wish I didn't have to wait for my local dNano shop to restock so I could buy hopups. I do wish that I could buy from dozens of US shops online. For the reasons listed above I doubt dNano will ever be as big as 1/18 in the US. But it's perfect for me!
