The bases have grids so you can set your camber, caster and toe just right both at the front and at the rear. As you can see with this BMW Z3 GT racer, getting the alignment perfectly set just like on a real drift or track car, is key. Not surprisingly, the hottest selling item on the day was the RC sticker sheet, with some guys picking up a couple or more each! I guess we’ll be seeing more JDM RC cars getting stickered up this year! #MiniMaximumAttack True masters of detailĪs ever, preparation is key before the event starts. Hearing these kind of stories sure makes it all worth the hard work we put into the site! As many told me, they all check out the site religiously, getting a lot of inspiration for their projects and at times downloading hi-res pictures so that they can get a better look at details, helping transfer them in miniature onto their polycarbonate shells. It’s probably unusual to see a Speedhunters merchandise booth at an RC event but the sheer crowds circling it throughout the day hinted at something. For 2014 they also had an awesome set of laser-etched glass trophies made up which they’re proudly displaying here. The Hobby Garage guys once again teamed up with Johnny from Weld who also heads up the Overdose RC parts brand and organized this year’s competition. Of course even the military theme we’ve seen in the Volklinger S14 and Tomcat S13 couldn’t possibly escape the skilled hands of the Japanese hobbyists that came up with this 180SX.īelow in the display cabinet, were the winners from last year’s events if you recall the incredibly detailed engine bay of the S30 Fairlady and the Subaru BRZ that at a press of a RC button could drop its top! Check out the detail in the over fenders, side skirts and front spoiler – all parts that are hand -sculpted out of plastic. Take the whole unstoppable Rocket Bunny movement – that’s obviously one style that has been embraced open-handedly as this Toyota 86 shows. Now considering most of these guys are actually into cars themselves, it’s not surprising that they can pinpoint trends, draw inspiration from them and create something impossibly unique. But what separates the RC drift guys that compete in these style competitions from the norm is their knowledge of the scene, the way in which they can recognise popular trends and replicate them faultlessly in miniature form. Realism has always been a top priority for any sort of model car builder, be it from static plastic model to remote control versions. Stepping inside the shop I was greeted with a pair of human-sized Gundams guarding a nice little display of RC drift cars. Think of it as a stance-oriented meet in miniature and you aren’t too far off from the whole atmosphere of it all. This massive hobby shop, located in an equally massive shopping mall in Saitama, was once again to be the host of an RC drift contest like no other, focusing only on the car’s polycarbonate bodies, the imagination of the hobbyist and of course the execution of it all. So with all this said, it’s not a surprise that I found myself back at the Hobby Garage shop this past Sunday. As you can imagine, the Japanese have taken this little hobby and truly transformed it thanks to the sheer dedication of the most die-hard RC drifters out there, pursuing that same individualism that for a lot of us car guys, pushes us continuously to make our cars better and more focused – not to mention cooler. And just like in the real world, there’s a massive hop-up scene propelling it all, because nobody in their right mind would show up to an RC drift track or event with a stock, entry-level remote control drift car. RC drifting’s popularity in Japan continues to grow – actually, evolve would be a more suited term – as makers continue to come up with interesting new solutions to make the cars easier to control and at the same time faster. Well, ok, so that’s not exactly true, it was about scaled versions of cars wearing tiny little plastic tyres so they can drift smoothly around a carpeted track. Thinking back to last year, I’m still amazed at the fact that our most popular post of 2013 had nothing to do with cars.
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