Everybody’s Scalin’ – Getting the Kids Involved

I think the most overlooked positive aspect of scaling is how kid friendly it is. There always seems to be a youngster or two tagging along at nearly any trail run I attend, all with wildly varying ages. Heck, my 4 year old daughter loves it when Daddy takes her along to wheel a review rig.

The cool looks of a modern scale crawling truck combined with the relative slow speed make them a great way to get a padawan started in the hobby. The trucks are easier to control than say, a short course truck, and doing simple things like climbing a hill can be very rewarding.

The whole “outdoors” thing is another lure. Spending time exploring the local parks together is awesome. When running with a large group it’s also much less pressure packed than going to a race track.

I think the most interesting aspect of kids taking up scaling at a young age is the future.

Using myself as an example, I grew up around the r/c race track and reading r/c mags in my spare time. Up until the last few years it was all I knew and I traditionally gravitated towards race type trucks/buggies. That’s how the majority of people I know grew up on the hobby as well. With the exception of the lucky person who had a Tamiya Bruiser as a kid (I hate you), this whole genre wasn’t around back then.

A crop of youngsters now exists where scaling is their primary hobby interest. How will that effect things going forward? It would seem to bode well for the health of the genre. I’m already looking forward to the “vintage re-releases” of kits like the Axial SCX10 in around 15 years to capitalize on the nostalgia!

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