What The Hell Is Going On! (UPSETTING EVERYONE FROM EU To AUSTRALIA) 

Why not just keep the vintage stuff in production, enough with the limited versions, people want to run and race these, and have spare parts.

I’m in the us, I preordered in late April. Mine is finally out for delivery today.

Ordered my Rc10 April 22 from Team Associated here in the US . May21 finally received a shipped date and due to arrive may 28th. I was getting nervous. But I am patient and as long as I get it I am happy. Didn't want to miss this re-release. I still have the magazines with these cars and drooled over them as a kid!

Rckicks I think you should open up a hobby shop. 😅

The RC10T was awesome in the 90's. I raced in that class for a few years in the early 90's and had a blast.

My local hobby shop in Calgary, PM Hobbycraft, got about 20 of them last week. Down to the last five today. I bought two; one to build and one to keep in the box. They had learned their lesson by being a couple days too late on the CC. So for the RC10 40th they ordered them as soon as they could put through the order.

Thanks for the video my order is IN!

Very insightful!

Funny, upon hearing about the 40th re-re, I thought about getting one. Then I realized the silliness surrounding limiting supplies and this kind of "manufactured rarity hype" that is rampant in the vintage market now and I thought the hell with it, It just drives up the price and saps all the fun. I'll just play with my '89 A stamp which works just fine. Not willing to play these silly marketing games for my next toy car. For me, the best kit is the one on the shelf at the store I'm shopping in. Simple as that. Not in stock? I"m not buying it, pre-order, waiting blah blah. Pointless. life is short. When I bought my rc10 in the 80's, I walked into my favorite hobby shop, saw it on the shelf and said "sold". Paid for it, walked out with it under my arm. Still have it today. If they didn't have it that day, I probably never would have got one. This kind of nonsense has ruined too many hobbies in the past. AE better be careful with their customer base. You can only piss off your loyal followers so many times before they abandon you. There are good cars out there that ARE in stock and available at stores. No silly games required. (of course for some, the "acquisition game" IS the fun and the thrill of the hunt for a rare piece is what it's all about. ) I guess as long as your hobby brings you joy. cheers.

Team Associated owned by ThunderTiger, based in Taiwan.

I hate this situation for everyone involved.... I work in supply chain, it's probably one skeezy salesman at the manufacturer who over promised, or a skeezy salesman at the distributor doing the same. It's almost never a problem with moving material, it's always a problem setting expectations surrounding how much material can realistically be moved. Sales people trying to make their metrics look strong, without actually considering what goes into the sale. I hate my life, I hate this for all y'all hard working people out there trying to enjoy a toy car >:(

I keep seeing this company selling re release at crazy prices and people religiously buying this crap for the sake of nostalgia..... if u want to pay 400 euros for an old design chassis with no part support and limited supplies that u already did a mistake

I love your channel. I'm gonna fly across the pond to come drive rc cars with you.

Thank you for bringing this issue up and explaining it simply! This distribution issue is worse if you live on the other side of the globe, and it's not just RC Model hobbyists that are affected. As a New Zealander who collects die cast models I have many stories about how my model orders for a nice new 1/43 car have often been at the mercy of the model shop's wholesaler. It took almost two years for a Minichamps Alfa Romeo I ordered to get to me! Associated, like Minichamps, are very much a specialist brand so go figure.

Mine just arrived today after a few months. It was a preorder, so all is well.

Thanks for this Gavin very informative 👍 I placed an order for the rc10 2days after release as was quibbling over the price and had been saving up for the optima mid 60th since that was released, so at least it will give me some more saving time now funds are empty following the recent purchase of the mid 60th!! I hope it will show up one day. Best wishes

This happens with all popular rc products. Not just vintage. I remember when the rc drag boom was going on, i got really into it. I loved drag racing and grew up drag racing at a local track with my dad in real cars. So, i was naturally drawn to it. When voodoo brought out their drag tires, it was the rave. And rightfully sp. They were awesome. One guy at our track had them and naturally we all wanted a set after seeing what they could do. Total bullshit trying to get a set. They wanted you to sit at the computer late at night, be on their website and ready to order when they released them for order. Sold out in seconds. This went on forever. I gave up after a while and the drag boom died but i just never understood why they couldnt keep up with demand. I can understand the first few orders being like that trying to find out how many units to sell, but this went on an entire year. All kinds of shady stuff was going on come to find out but still, pissed me off 😂

Just got my RC10 3 days ago. Ordered about 1 month ago. Southern CA

Communication is key. Just calm down, you grown men will get your toys 😂 after all of your dinner is finished.

I finally bit the bullet after years of missing out and snagged one, so I am ok with the limited edition status. 😂

Great discussion and really well explained. I think that there is another factor in big business now. Apathy! I think that there are a lot of these so-called product managers/developers heads of companies who just don't care and/or understand the passion of their users and the impact this sort of stuff has. There is a genuine feeling of being let down and to fill the void...Users look to other products. The biggest problem is that they just don't seem to care. This is why the smaller companies are making great progress into all markets. They are nimble and fast to react, they watch the market and pivot if needed. These big companies (yes you Tamiya, Associated, etc.,) have people that have degrees up the wazoo but think that that is all they need....Wrong, they need passion, continuous interest and monitoring of their respective industry. There is no innovation these days in the big companies, they just seem to go back through their back catalogue and say we will re-release or reissue this.... development costs money, we can't do that. All industries now seem to suffer from this. Look at the movie producers. ah... well just reboot a popular idea because it may be a risk to try something new. They wonder why Nextfix is a threat!! - RANT over but keep up the great work mate.

I preordered a 40th RC10 as soon as it was announced and about a month later I got it. I looked on the website and saw that they still had some in stock and I ordered a 2nd one. 3 weeks later, no shipping info from Team Associated. I emailed them and magically, the next day, I had a shipping notice. Still waiting for it to arrive. I've preordered 2 RC10T's and now know they will arrive when they arrive. If they come by July, I'll be happy.

Thanks for the video. I pre-ordered a RC10T on associated web site after watching this. Auto manufacturers do this limited run production tricks as well. Think Civic Type R, BMW M3 CS, GR Corolla Morizo edition and my list can go on and on. I agree w/ your assessment, they are being cautious given experience with last re-re attempt.

So is this issue just with overseas shipping for the rc10 GP 40th or in the states as well

It could be worse... It could be Arrma... They are terrible at putting dates back and not supplying enough units..

My local shop in the United states was only getting two units and never got them. I'll just wait and see if they get them.

2019-2022 we in the Usa had that prnob with tamiya with euro resellers wit tamiya kits rere's new kits to our usa distribtors amain tower horizon hobby u did a great review when it happened during covid and trade agreement situation blew up shipping and handling on a new kit

Those who missed out should know the CC is still available. Swap out some platics with reproduced ones and have some fun with it ✌️

I had no issue getting 3 40th editions and a couple cc’s here in USA

In Australia other limited editions like the worlds optima mid and the yokomo are still on shelves. So getting products numbers based on previous sales from yourself and of the competition is a gamble. Especially when the vintage market is clearly not their main business model. Im personally happy the rere the cars as ive never owned them and now i get a "chance" to. I enjoy a restoration but that can get out of hand real quick with intial cost plus parts availability

For the price of these re re's you can get a near mint original and actually have a vintage example that is made in the USA and not a Taiwanese copy, take it apart and reassemble it if you want to build a kit, the body, tyres and wheels were the hard part and these will be available through AE for years now cheap, just my 5c.

That was a fair stab at the situation. Unusually for me I got caught up in the hype for the Yokomo 870c and for whatever reason didn't get a kit as promised. On reflection it worked out okay and I managed to get a proper vintage version for less than £200 - the re-re was just too different form the original for my tastes. Manufactures need to do no more then look at eBay listings and social media etc to understand there is a good market for their older obsolete products both for collectors and racers alike and the target demographic for these products has decent disposable income. Just make the kits and parts and sell them and also make them backward compatible with original cars to maximise sales and allow those with vintage cars to be able to run them (take note Yokomo). There is also no need to release 'special editions' with silly marketing such as a sticker on a chassis , in clear plastic etc - if you are going to do 'special editions' do what Kyosho did with the Optima 87 worlds and make it special by upselling the specs.

All reasonable, another consideration is material and/or labour shortage. Since COVID (I know it was a while ago) there has been serious disruption to availability of labour. In addition demand on raw material such as alloy is also short of demand. It has also been impacted by the current war, Russia and Ukraine were the key supplier for aluminum in Europe and obviously that has been severely disrupted meaning the the global supply left has had to try and fill the gap. I am a buyer, I buy alloy for the aerospace industry and it is still an issue today. For labour there were a lot of people exiting industries to try and earn a living elsewhere, we now have a labour shortage that impacts production capacity. All in all the situation is still messy and it will take years to recover. If a company releases a new product and it over performs then it is very difficult to ramp up production quickly as many materials are on 6 to 12 month lead time and hiring skilled or semi skilled labour is much more difficult.

In 2014, I paid my RC10 Classic (30th) 250 euros and there have been several batchs after (limited, but how much kits have been product ?). The 40th have nothing more, just a different box and a limited chassis. The real special kit is the Clear Edition (330 euros). And I run with it, absolutely no problem.

I speculate that with the 40th they had a number of them in California as well as at RC Mart in Hong Kong at the time of the pre-order. That’s why those of us in USA who preordered direct from Associated got them delivered early May. My guess is the ones that were preordered later were not made yet or were on a boat or a bit of both. They knew it was going to be a big deal so pre- producing and having 5000 available to go wasn’t any risk to them.

In my opinion it's a simple forecasting problem. TA underestimated the massive Demand for the RC10. As a result, it is taking a while for the entire the supply chain to react to the surge in demand.

More interested in the Kyosho Lazer rere than this. I still have my CE from back in the day.

Gavin I ordered directly from Team Associated for the RC10 classic it was delivered within 3 weeks, although I'm in the U.S. You guys in the UK get Kyosho before us, by my experience at least 3 weeks before we do. Somewhere there is a disconnect. I think some parts are made overseas for Team Associated and some in the U.S., whereas Kyosho doesn't, I believe. This may be the reason it takes longer for your distributors are lagging. Just my opinion.

I just pre ordered my 10T... keeping fingers crossed they don't screw this one up. They BETTER not!! I NEED this one! edit: btw, I completely stay away from Losi for these reasons. Started with the Mini T 1.0 ... bought the "Pro roller" (it came from factory with a different clear body, good oil shocks, MIP cvds, slipper clutch, titanium tie rods & links)... Long story short, I broke a shock and found out those were nearly impossible to get, and everything else it needed was "hens teeth", as well. THEN, I was convinced to buy a BRAND NEW Losi SNT, instead of the JATO (I just really wanted a 2 speed nitro stadium truck for some reason). That thing went into and back out of production SO FAST, I got to drive it a handful of times before breaking 2nd gear in the trans. Searched like crazy to replace the parts, broke it again a few runs later, and come to find out everyone else is breaking 2nd gear in theirs too (cheap plastic). Anyway... I have an almost new condition Losi SNT that's been sitting collecting dust for the past 15 YEARS with a broken trans that's impossible to get parts for. Even got burned TWICE by scammers, thinking I found the parts I needed, just for it to be a "scam website".

Thunder Tiger bought, Team Associated. That could have something to do with it.

Regardless of why this is happening, I am done with pr-ordering AND pre-paying. That is until of course I see Tamiya FINALLY re-release the first 20-30 models or AYK RX-1200, 2000, and 3000 miraculously resurrected.

I'll add a couple of comments I've heard there may be a problem with the RC 10 B7 there is another video on youtube explaining it. Also it's NOT just these two new models that AE has in short supply. Almost the entire range of short course trucks both 2wd and 4wd are out of stock at AE. So it's rather obvious that there are problems at the top level of AE

I agree with you 💯 percent Gavin. It is a complete mess! I haven't been able to Buy a 40th Kit yet. My local Hobby shop doesn't have any. Only the CC Kit. Which I'm not interested in. I've been wanting an Original RC 10 since I was a kid. Now that this one has come out I can't even get one.

Simple fix. We all need to boycott said manufacturers until they get their acts together. We all complain yet still but these

Or the massive over pricing of a lot of these re release kits.

They actually wanted to do a limited edition, which is a really strange idea for that important of a car. Anyway, they messed up and all distributors/vendors will be hesitant to sell the next associated car. Also with the rc10T i suspect they are only claiming "verry limited availability" to get rapid sales fast, but if or not i dont care, to expensive for me anyway.

Planned scarcity could be part of a strategy to make the brand more exclusive and prestigious. However, I don’t think it’s the case here. Taking orders and not supplying is not how you build a desirable image. I’d say it’s an actual mistake - like dropping the RC10T early.

Yeah I’m just tired of limited. Just make it full production.

Very insightful - thank you.

Loved AE stuff since I was a kid. Disappointing to see how this is going. Glad I ordered direct.

They’ve screwed me on my last 6 kit orders that were left unfulfilled

Seems to me they are short of money and trying to grab anything as quick as they can? Maybe wrong, but with all these quick releases , seems like its a make money quick? Maybe wrong, great video Gav ,very informative👍👊

It is a Ltd edition so surely there will only be a set number.

RC10t is available now, preordered from Team Associated yesterday!

Why i am laying out and holdin onto my money. More and more it all seems like a money grab sellin nostalgia to a bunch of middle aged men tryin to turn back the clock. -U10 Also that chain all works well when the ships dont crash into and destroy the key bridge blocking the port of baltimore.

Alot of resellers buying everything up and reselling at crazy prices forget it TA

So this has to be a break between the US and UK, maybe customs... I had a pre order got my 40th buggy in the first run. I have an order for the T as well, and it's site is still up, says that it will be late June to ship out. I hope it gets easier for you all over there, We haven't seen an issue at least here in South Florida. Our local shops have them in stock, at least 10 or more at my LHS.

Associated: Made in Taiwan where there are a lot of earthquakes and Chinese maritime drills at a company that focuses on making drones when there is a war in Ukraine.

the gold pan 40th may be selling much better than expected in the usa and elsewhere. by the design of the serial number tag they were not planning to do more than 9999 units unless they make changes to that tag allowing more space. and in that case maybe a 2nd run later on? who knows. collectors will be more appreciative of them releasing collectable models in limited numbers, if there to meet demand and produce thousands more thats going to dampen the enthusiasm from the collector market. personally i like having #3838 in a 9999 series compared to a much larger number. i would expect the rc10t will go the same way though more will want to race a vintage T than the gold pan, imo. my real concern is there is no support for parts on these cars and to actually run them is risky business.

Note they referenced "suppliers" bad choices, not "manufacturers". I guess the distributors were caught holding the bag previously with unsold units, and are deliberately under-ordering and under-supplying. They may also have unfavorable payment terms with the manufacturer; if the suppliers are forced to pay up-front for the goods, they may simply be unable to afford the bridging finance given current economic conditions.

Anticipation only makes the acquisition of things like this better. Calm down and enjoy the game

I think AE knows exactly what's up and are happy to fuel the FOMO while restricting supply to only their direct channel. I too would have been interested in both but gonna let this one pass due to the slimy business practice. Limited releases are for suckers.

I got into RC soon after the first RC10. Within 6 months, every hobby shop was stocked with parts and kits. They only had a few employees and some parts had to be finished by hand. Now with modern manufacturing, you are lucky to get one and the parts are crap. I just bought a chassis set for the RC10cc for a build and the motor mount is all crooked and drilled wrong. It looks terrible on the buggy. Nice workmanship, associated. It's funny that my modern associated kits are top notch but they cant even get a more basic vintage kit done right and to the same quality as a kit made in 1985 that was made with a lot of home made jigs and fixtures.

I bought a Tamiya Racing Fighter because I bash my stuff.

I'm in the UK, paid a deposit for a 40th, and was informed i wasn't getting one because the shop only got half the kits they ordered,and they returned my deposit, I've managed to get one from Germany thats coming on Tuesday, I don't blame the shop or cml, it's totally down to associated, it's put me off buying associated products again

Exactly what has happened in the full sized car market in the last couple of years ! Over production kept prices keen before the plague, how many car tv programs did you see with hundreds of new cars parked in the background ?! Fast forward and manufacturer’s have slowed production and this has pushed prices right up and had a knock on effect across the field. They blamed everything from lack of chips to the war in the Ukrain, worked great as manufacturers are making more per unit now than they have in the past 25 years ?! Now if that businesses plan doesn’t flow over into the RC world then the bean counters are not doing their job ! If it’s an expensive product, that slight exclusivity keeps prices up and demand high. I bet if you ask everyone who placed an order and didn’t get a car in the first batch if they asked for a refund or just let it ride ??? If you want it you’ll wait. If everyone asked for a refund and bought another product the prices will soon tumble ! But they don’t.

I have one question. What wheels do you have on your Javelin Gavin?

Just been told no more rc10s for the uk.I placed an order a 2 days after the release, a 2days too late, that’s it all over ☹️.At least I got my deposit back!

Hello Gavin, I ordered an RC10 clear direct from Team Associated. I did not get one. They were sold out. They even apologized to me for not sending me one. I live in California so you would think that I would have a really good chance to get one. I did finally get an RC10cc from an online retailer. Team Associated then sent me another email about the 40th anniversary edition. This time, I got one. Did Team Associated feel bad that I did not get the RC10cc? Maybe. Maybe I was just lucky. I do now have a pre-order for the RC10t. I hope I get it. Thoughts?

If you do not have a legal agreement with the supplier you should not be pre-selling anything... You can't sell what you don't have unless you're being greedy and want to take a gamble.

Its a sad situation, isnt it. Ive always wanted an RC10T, and was really excited about the new one. However, with all the issues ive been hearing about, and that you've raised in this video, im out!! I might try to find a vintage one, but TA have already sold that, so they wont get anything extra from me! Its the old issue of the triangle business model. Buile the base and the business will be strong, but turn the triangle upside down and dont have that solid base, and the whole thing will come tumbling down!! 🤷🏻‍♂️

They need to just release so new racers can enjoy it.....I loved mine.......then went back to TLR.......😎👍

TA did a run for XX units. They took preorders on their own website and took as many as they could get away with. They make a lot more $ selling direct vs. through distribution. They screwed the supply chain for profits.

This is why Team Associated hate the vintage scene 🤣✌🏽 These kits should also be limited in numbers instead of flooding the market .

Anyone dealing with Associated should not be surprised. I'll never buy from them after dealing with warranty.

Team Associated is also not interested in offering spare parts either. That should tell you the whole story

Hopefully they sort themselves out as I pre ordered an RC10T. I'll be pi$$ed if I miss out.....

That's not how it works but good guess.

Buy the best, buy British, buy Schumacher 🇬🇧🇬🇧

i dont know but maybe they just dont have production capacity to afford to stop producing other good selling models to run a re re for a extended period. plus we still experience parts distribution issues in the usa and have not recovered since covid and California is one of the worst states in that respect.

Why so serious…

Or maybe they’re only making 9,999 40th limited editions, given they all have 4 digit IDs

Just preordered 2 RC10T's directly from AE to Sweden.. i am looking so much to get them, build one, and put one away for value increase ;)

These are rare? I see two sitting at my local hobby shop and don’t expect anyone to buy them. Been there for weeks.

Assosiated b like ‘hey we got a 30 min free marketing with 2 of our models in the background for free ;) ‘

I’m sorry but the hobby shops are no blameless. They don’t *have* to take pre-orders but they do to reduce risk of buying in too much stock. If they simply waited until the distributor had units before taking money off people they wouldn’t have so many disappointed customers with cancelled orders like myself.

I understand from the comments that TA's manufacturing comes from Taiwan? If that's the case, I just saw a video about Taiwan being surrounded by the Chinese Navy and facing a potential invasion. I can understand if that causes some shipping and manufacturing issues. Is it good for business? Absolutely not, but there may be other factors at play is all I'm saying. Hope it all works out soon for the better!

Why people would spend money serious money to buy this old technology is beyond me. I’m no spring chicken and I do remember when these cars were out there but there’s other way to relieve my youth, if that’s what I’m looking for. the newer the better, if u like to bash then ok i guess.

I buy from TA but I’m in the USA the country with a geriatric as a president, that one.

Might be just a UK issue

I'm upset about the stategy AE. They created a wonderfull RC10CC, which no one can really use (it's not supposed to be driven). Then you present a 40th annyversary RC10 with a "special" golden pan: very nice, limited and allmost not available everywhere but the US. This one is in my oppinion allso not ment to be driven, because you will ruine the chassis and the value of the car. I do not understand, why they didn't made the silver pan of the CC-Version as special als the golden 40th and the 40th as a regular version (not limited, but some special things) where you can have fun with. Now you have 2 (with the allso limited RC10T 3) versions, you maybe don't want to drive for over 1000$.

It says made in Taiwan right on the box. Nothing against AE but this is the 2nd time it has happened. The CC was exactly the same. They should have sooo many more ready to ship before starting and making people upset that preorder and then have to wait half a year to receive it.

I still have my original associated RC10GT, still running and lots of upgrades. I bought the Kyosho optima mid release and finding parts is impossible, kinda sucks in regards to that, but I do prefer the older cars.

For all the people complaining, Team Associated didn’t have to re-release anything.

26 Minutes of guessing without having real inside and reliable information ... solid!!

RU-vid is buffering the hell out of this 1 video.

long story short, they are jerks

what a waste of video space this is just be patient they sell all over the world and the product is popular we have to wait for all different cars not only team associated and this guy is talking what think has happened waffle waffle waffle

Team Associated makes super RC cars. However, what a bunch of fools must run their sales department!

It seems Asso went the usual way…. en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Artificial_scarcity BTW: UK got a master in this art: Games Workshop.