Rambling

The other night MikeG went to the Scale Squadron, meeting and came in the following day on cloud nine. Going to a club meeting, especially a really good club like ScaleSquadron, and being able to talk about airplanes, RC, flying, and everything related was a perfect evening. What you should know is Mike is one of the really good guys, who happens to passionately love the hobby. His father John, worked with us for 30 years, and in fact, was our first employee. John essentially brought Mike into the hobby as soon as he could hold a transmitter and Mike has never put it down. I received about 15 emails from Mike that evening telling me about the meeting, but more about the tremendous energy he experienced. So a big thank you to the club for the invitation, as well as for all you do to welcome new modelers!

I wanted to also thank all of the clubs that really make the hobby special and help introduce RC to so many. Although the hobby allows for private time, I think the hobby is about sharing, and clubs, tracks, flying fields, and hobby stores are the perfect environment to get involved. None of us live in a vacuum, so get out and share your passion, join a club, participate in some of your local hobby store events, and help others to find great experiences in the hobby.

Take good care,
Matt

PS: I am really excited as our newest catalog just mailed to our customers. I’m really proud of my art department, product development and buying teams, as there is so much new product. So for you on our mailing list, enjoy. For all of you that aren’t, sign up now and we will get in the mail soon.

RC General

I guess I am a bit scatter brained, as I have just been reminded by a customer in our store that I have never formally introduced myself.

My name is Matt Fales, and I am the President of Hobby People.  I started this blog to better communicate some of my hobby observations, as well as to ensure that I am better connected to modelers. I get many emails from customers and I thought my conversations and answers might be helpful to others, rather than just a one on one communication that I would normally have.

I hope this helps. Please see blog from Saturday if you have questions that you would like answered on the blog.

Take good Care

Matt

Questions

I know Blogs are supposed to be my thoughts, but yesterday in our FV store, a customer and I were talking, and he was asking a lot of questions about the hobby and new products.   So, today, I thought I would just say, if you have questions, leave them as comments and I will do my best to answer them.  Have a great weekend

Mark Engines, Made by Moki Engine Factory

I just received a call from a customer in Dallas to talk about Mark Engines. He had purchased one online from us, and was blown away by the craftsmanship. He has had many Mark/Moki engines and he believes they are some of the finest quality engines in the world, with unbelievable performance. During our talk, he told me that most people do not realize that the Mark Engines are made by Moki. We know this to be true, but we are working hard to get the word out. The long and short of it is that the Moki name was registered in their US agent, so they had to re-name their engines when that relationship ended.

We began importing the Mark engines within the past year, and are very excited to represent this factory.  We had been trying for many years to work with factory, and when the opportunity presented itself, we jumped at the chance.    The Mark engines are consistently powering the planes of top pilots like Hal Parenti, who need the power and performance that only Mark can provide. The Mark engines are some of the real jewels of RC and we are proud to offer them to you. The craftsmanship in the molding is amazing and is matched in its performance.

The call today made me happy as carrying the finest products is our goal, and clearly we have made another modeler more successful with Mark. Thanks to all of you who fly Mark.

Have a great weekend, and get flying!

T-28 From Bh Models

We just received an early version of the January issue of Model Airplane News. Unbelievable cover of the new BH Models T-28, a Hobby People exclusive. We brought in the BH line of ARF airplanes a few months ago after deciding they were some of the best flying, best looking ARFs we have seen. We sent one of our early production airplanes to Model Airplane News for review, and were stunned to hear they were going to put it on the cover as well as doing a full review.

I hope you all get an opportunity to see the cover as it is really fantastic, some of the best photography I have seen in a RC magazine. The review was very positive as well, confirming what our customers have been saying, the T-28 is just a great airplane. The good news is that we are back in stock, however, demand has soared for this airplane as so many modelers have discovered its great characteristics. We have stock now, but we are just about sold out. We have literally just about sold out of our shipment in the 10 days since it arrived, and we will be out soon. I am sorry for those that will have to backorder the airplane, please know we are doing our best to expedite shipments. Thank you again for your support, and great flying.

TV Strike

As I read the papers and websites, there is much about the writer’s strike. Although I do watch tv, especially late at night, I’m going to do the same as the writers, I am going to strike. Yep, I am going to strike TV. No longer will I sit and eat ice cream in front of some terrible show with terrible commercials. Its not that I don’t care about the writers, its more about I think I can find better things to do. The writer’s strike is just my motivation to improve my life! (btw, I am guessing the end result of the strike will be that prices for movies and tv shows are going up; the only re-distribution that will occur is from our pockets to theirs. I doubt George Clooney or Julia Roberts will reduce their 20 million dollar movie salaries nor do I think the CEO will take less shares to “help the writers”, so call me a pessimist!) No longer am I going to sit brain dead in front of my TV, and with that, no longer will my kids.

Tonight I am going to bring home a plastic model, either a car or airplane, and my son, and hopefully my daughters, will spend time building it. They will use their brains and their hands, and do something that is smart! So many things to do, we may play games, read a book, draw, and maybe, just maybe (you can dream? can’t you?), we may talk.

For you hobbyists, I hope you spend more time with your hobby, and that you share it with others. Maybe turning off the TV will give you the most important life changing product back, TIME! Time to build, time to play, and time to enjoy life. That’s really what makes the hobby so worthwhile, the fact that its fun! So enjoy your time, and get back to your hobby project!

Building or Flying/Driving

Today, we had a round table discussion about the hobby. In a nutshell, the topic was building/innovating vs. flying/driving.

Over a meal today, we had a very interesting topic come up, as to whether most modelers prefer building and working on their planes/cars/helis, or rather flying and driving. With so many RTRs and RTFs, it would seem that most modelers would rather have their products finished so that they can just use them. However, all 6 of the hobbyists swore up and down that they prefer working and tinkering and that flying is just the icing on the cake. During a walk through our Fountain Valley store today, I asked 10 of our customers what they preferred, and 8 out of 10 said they really enjoy working with their hands and minds and the hobby is more about working on their projects. I asked why then they mostly bought arfs and rtrs, and all responses were time, limited time. The hobby is about using your brain to get the most performance out of your project. In many ways it is a brain game, and there is great satisfaction in making something good into something great.

It is amazing that in a very informal survey, most everyone likes and prefers the upgrading, modifying and fixing more than actually using their hobby products. So tell me, what do you prefer?

AXE CP (Collective Pitch)

Over the past year, I have become a big fan of the Heli-Max Axe CP helicopter. This is one of those rare products that I think is the best in its class, RTF CP helicopters, and that is very aggressively priced. When we received our first sample almost a year ago, we were impressed with the superb design and Heli-Max’s dedication to quality materials, as the product was simply the best we had seen. The heli had a modern design, with excellent blades, good motor, and really clever use of technology to allow great performance for a RTF.

Looks matter in some things, but performance always trumps looks, and the Axe CP was excellent. We had 5 of our pilots test fly the heli and the results were fantastic. The heli, right out of the box did the basic aerobatics, and did them well. Controls were rock solid, and the heli was durable. We intentionally crashed it to test breakage, and we were impressed with the durability and the intelligent design which limited parts breakage. We knew we had a winner, and our customers confirmed it, as this is the best collective pitch heli we have ever stocked. Amazingly, word of mouth has created greater demand, and our sales continue to grow.

If you are interested in a truly great CP heli, check out the AXE CP, you will not be disappointed. This heli is a winner!!!!!!!1

Great Concert

Ok, this one is really off RC topic, but…….

Last night, I went to the Springsteen show with my 2 of my kids, Payton (10) and Janey (7). I have been a fan for about 20 years, I am getting old, and thought it would be a great experience for me to have a concert night with my kids. We drove up to LA around 3:30 and had dinner at the Original Pantry. The Pantry has been the same forever, and is a LA institution. My kids had pancakes and french toast, I know, very nutritious. I had the beef sandwich. The food was fine, but I have to say, the place didn’t have the same effect on me as it did years ago. I just think its old, and has lost its frenetic feel.

After our early dinner, we drove to the LA Sports Arena. We played tag outside the show for about 30 minutes, as that is what the kids wanted to do. At about 6:30 we went in, grabbed some water, popcorn, and red vines, and went to our seats. Over the next 90 minutes, we people watched, talked about music, school, and candy. The crowd was definitely more middle aged, so my kids were a source of conversation for the people around us.

Now to the show. Springsteen came on about an hour late, (which bugs me), but once he started, he rocked. He played a fair amount of new material from his new album (cd) and music from earlier in his career. From the first guitar chord, to the end, the band rocked, and there were no breaks. I am a big fan of early Springsteen, so I can never get enough of the E Street Shuffle and Greetings, but I was really happy to hear Badlands and Reason to Believe. My kids danced, and sang and smiled a lot, so I know they enjoyed it. As any parent will understand, I am glad they liked the concert, but it meant more to me just being with them and sharing good times.

Keep rocking Bruce, and thanks for the memories.

Family Fun

Yesterday my son and I had plans to meet with another family and race electric trucks around a dirt field, unfortunately, my son’s friend was sick, so instead, we asked another friend to join us and we went to the park instead, and they took turns driving the electric xcellerator. What was amazing is that our friend, Ryan who is 10, had never driven a real hobby RC truck, only using the toy cars. He could not believe the speed and jumping ability, especially when we launched the truck off a small skateboard ramp. Me, I just watched and was happy to spend time with my son.

What was equally interesting was watching the number of families at the park, some playing frisbee, some shooting off air rockets. We were at the park for about 90 minutes, and there had to be 14 families coming and going. Really cool actually, as it is nice to see. And no, this was not a perfect scenario, as these are families, and there was a fair amount of yelling to go get the rockets, or fighting on who was able to stomp on the rocket launcher, and yes, there was some crying. Yep, this was real life, families spending time together and working, fighting, and crying together, and that is really the most important aspect, together. Its always better to be together.