Good old days? Gone?

[FullTrackBlitz]

Forgive my ignorance. Let me preface this post with that firmly in your minds. I have been out of the RC biz for about 7 years and I just recently got back into it. One thing I'm noticing is the lack of "sticker sets" that used to number in the thousands. What I mean is this. I had a Bolink nitro pan car and I wanted to do a Nascar inspired body for it. This was as easy as going to my LHS, buying a Pro-Line Ford Taurus body, and then getting a sticker set for Mark Martin's #5 Viagra sponsored Ford. All the sticker were there to take a blank body, paint the thing half blue half silver, slap the stickers on and viola! A fully realistic scaled Nascar racer. At the time, you could go out and buy any set for any driver that strapped themselves behind a wheel on Sunday. This didn't stop at Nascar, though. It extended through every racing sport. If you had a favorite driver or sponsor, you could go out and get it. Paint the body a base color(s) and apply stickers.Google has revealed only existing, "RTR body decals"(i.e. Ass. Renezeder, Traxxas AMS, etc.) and the Search feature here is equally confusing. Now, it seems as if one is limited to doing it themselves with masking and airbrushes. I am just not talented enough to do this. I miss the cheap and easy way of getting the body I want. Has "homemade" stickers from personal printers killed this market? Am I just gonna have to get over it and learn to paint better? Or am I just a dinosaur longing for the "times gone by"? Thanks for the insight to this issue.

[derailed75]

I had the same issue trying to come up with a theme for my Proline Raptor. I ended up finding some Gulf oil sets on Ebay. In the process however my neighbor and I came across a program so you can print your own sticker sets on a PC printer and the glossy clear sticker paper to print it on. We have yet to make a set up will be working on it soon. I think this is why so few companies make them anymore. They can be made cheaper without licensing fees at home. BTW if you dont want to try it yourself there are a few guys on Ebay that make custom sets like driver names for above the doors.

[tosouthern66]

What do you expect the greedy Corporate Basterds got involved and are killing all our hobbies and for what? so they can make an all mightty dollar! Look around at all the things that we used to be able to get or do. For the most part we have lost it all! Thats why you see all the do it yourself programs and stuff.

[Antmax]

I haven't tried the DIY decal kits because I imagine you print on the outside and the prints wear off quickly where decals usually have the graphics on the back.
I noticed the same thing though. I bought a Sand Scorcher 2010 and did box art that used most of the stickers.

Bought a parma body for bashing and couldn't find hardly any authentic decals. Only a small traxxas sheet of really tiny ones that were more suitable for something like 1/12 or smaller. They had a bunch of decorative spidery junk decals, sculls and silly stuff as well as carbon and fake oversize diamond studded aluminium. But nothing authentic and decent scale.

Looks like you really do have to resort to printing your own or getting custom ones done professionally. My next kit that'd due today is the Exo Terra, another scale car. Not too keen on what comes with it. Might have to splash out on some vintage decal or rere decal sets on ebay.

[FullTrackBlitz]

Sorry to get your hairs up, tosouthern66. Not my intention. Did the big companies make a ton of different stickers in order to make a buck? Yeah. They are a buisness. It's kinda what they do.

I have been giving more thought to a personal print system so I can do it at home. I'd be able to print them in reverse, put them inside the body, and seal them with a paint backing. Might make them last a bit longer. Still looking into it as of now.

[tosouthern66]

You didnt get my hair up! It was allready up. lol
Im not against them making a buck. Its just the way they are doing it. they dont care if it coasts us our hobbies. Look at plastic model cars and diecast. You dont see many NASCAR kits you can build build and the coast of diecast cars are high. You, me and the others shouldnt be punished by killing our hobbies. Ford,Chevy,dodge and all the sponsors should not be demanding more royalties from theses small componies who used to make us our favorite decals. They make there money of thier products. I can see them getting something for there names but not try and make a mint on it and run the componies out of buisness and us high and dry. Thats whats wrong with our country today. That also the reason so many others hate us today. Just statting what I see. I served this country of ours for us and these componies destroy it. So all you out there please do not be mad at my coments.

[FullTrackBlitz]

Hey, No harm, no foul. I get where you're coming from.

[drunkenmugsy]

I would LOVE to see a kit that would let you put decals on the inside and paint over them! I bought a kit from a craft store that lets you do rub on stickers but I could not get it to work right. Maybe I just need to read the instructions better.
I would much prefer putting stickers on the inside though. You probably would also have to be able to float them on with water. It makes it so much easier to get them positioned right.

Update: after a quick look I found that they do make waterslide decal paper to use on inkjets. I was not able to find a reverse type decal though. Maybe reverse printing on clear paper then painting over would work? But then you run into the problem of inkjet ink being transparent. Painting over it can cause color show through issues.

[CheapTwin]

Originally Posted by drunkenmugsy

...You probably would also have to be able to float them on with water. It makes it so much easier to get them positioned right...

Use a drop of dishwash soap in water and you can float your normal stickers.

[saltygator]

Check ebay. Search under rc decals or 1/10 decals. You can find some old sets and new knockoffs.

[FullTrackBlitz]

I found a few, but nothing too spectacular. The hunt continues...

[STSDriver]

Both onroad and oval (even worse) have taken a tremendous dive in popularity in the last decade. As such products for them, such as nascar decal sets are rare, if exist at all anymore. NASCAR itself is also down in popularity from when you left the hobby. Did anyone really think back in 2003, there would be empty seats at the Daytona 500 in 2012?? Look at the companies you named, Bolink and Parma. Bolink is no longer in business, and Parma today, is known by most as that paint company for air brushes, with that rack of paints at the LHS no one buys... I really don't buy the corporate greed, just shifts in market demands.

Insiders say the hobby has shifted toward bashers, but I believe that the grown of the basher-crowd has outpaced racers. With the most popular forms of vehicles now Short Course, Monster trucks, with bodies that last maybe a month before they're thrashed, effort put into bodies isn't the same as it used to be.

[STSDriver]

Both onroad and oval (even worse) have taken a tremendous dive in popularity in the last decade. As such products for them, such as nascar decal sets are rare, if exist at all anymore. NASCAR itself is also down in popularity from when you left the hobby. Did anyone really think back in 2003, there would be empty seats at the Daytona 500 in 2012?? Look at the companies you named, Bolink and Parma. Bolink is no longer in business, and Parma today, is known by most as that paint company for air brushes, with that rack of paints at the LHS no one buys... I really don't buy the corporate greed, just shifts in market demands.

Insiders say the hobby has shifted toward bashers, but I believe that the grown of the basher-crowd has outpaced racers. With the most popular forms of vehicles now Short Course, Monster trucks, with bodies that last maybe a month before they're thrashed, effort put into bodies isn't the same as it used to be.

[FullTrackBlitz]

I see what you are syaing and I totally agree. Back when I was into RC, I had a Bolink oval car with a Nascar body.That is what you had to have. It was either oval, Touring, or a Stadium truck. You really didn't have too many options. The I saw the release of the T-Maxx. In my opinion, this was the start of the "basher." For the first time, you didn't need a groomed dirt track or a super smooth patch of asphalt. Your own backyard became your track. I agree with your statement about the decline of oval/touring in RC and the rise of basher vs. racers. Great points made there. I have an article in an RC mag that I will try to get posted up here. It is the most insightful and honest article about our hobby I've read in a long time.

[FullTrackBlitz]

Radio Control Car Action - Short Course 2012

Found the article. I can't agree more with this.

[rjwalker]

Originally Posted by FullTrackBlitz

Radio Control Car Action - Short Course 2012

Found the article. I can't agree more with this.

I totaly agree.

[Antmax]

On the other hand we are starting to see more scale looking RC cars. I just bought an Exo. Maybe if this trend continues we will see a return to more realistic looking vehicles becoming popular.
If bashers mean that more people get into the hobby that is a good thing, more people buying the gear and potentially more people getting into the more competitive serious side too.

I just came back from long hiatus when my neighbor bought a Traxxas SCT. First thing I bought was a Sand Scorcher for nostalgia and now an Exo too compere with the neighbors more modern car. I suspect we will be racing out by the American River Parkway where we live and will try and attract other people to join in see if we can get enough people to form a club. I love realistic scale looking vehicles and think the Exo is fantastic. Can't say I'm a big fan of the decals that come with it. Most of them are a bit meh! kind of like the scale firearms that come with it lol.

[Nitronut]

When I first got into Dirt oval racing I always prefered the more realistic looking cars, and preffered to have a car that looked like a popular racer I had seen on TV or in person, but you could take a set of NASCAR decals and a simple 2 color paint job and have a good looking car. Then these decal sets disapeared, and we found out that when Winston left NASCAR the new sponsor wanted way to much money for them to continue to have the rights to make these any more. I for one think this is BS because it not only helped the RC racer but helped them by advertising for their sport as well. Now if you want something to look good you have to go to a custom decal maker and pay through the nose.

[FullTrackBlitz]

Nitronut, I was wondering if the sudden departure of stickers had to do with a licensing agreement that went bad. Sounds like i may not have been too far off.

I think the only people that still do a NASCAR type racing is QSAC and that is just a bit too much for my wallet.

I need to find someone in my area that is just a backyard basher with a backyard track. Seems as if everyone I talk to around here is a "Friday night at the track" racer. I just want to drink a beer and make a little truck go round in circles on a Saturday afternoon. Is that so wrong?

[henry]

One thing to keep in mind is that you can actually get stickers for off-road vehicles to make them look like the real thing or a variation thereof since R/C manufacturers actually sponsor the real thing.

The way I look at it, if the big auto companies are jacking up their price for officially licensed products then they are just shooting themself in the foot. I kind've looked at officially licensed R/C items as just an extension of merchandising.

I always thought it was silly to overcharge for merchandising like that. Because you essentially pay them to advertise for THEM. It would like if they kept their licensing costs down then they'd get a bunch of cheap advertising down the road.

Just my 2 cents.