In this edition of the JConcepts Friday5 we talk to Virginia team driver, Dan Plucinski!
1. We have to ask everyone this in our interviews, how did you get your start in RC cars?
I think like most I had some of those hilariously bad RC cars growing up that you had to use reverses to turn one direction from Radio Shack! However, they were a lot of fun and I enjoyed them. Fast forward from the 80s to the 2010s and my buddy introduced me to crawlers. I instantly got addicted and started buying, building, and competing.
2. Currently the scale realism for RC vehicles is at an all time high, especially for trail vehicles and rock crawlers. Why do you think we have gotten to this point, and do you see it continuing down the road?
I think we all secretly enjoy the barbie doll aspect of decorating our tiny trucks. Plus, how awesome is it to pull up to an event in your 1:1 and its mini me to drive around. The advancement in cell phone cameras may also have something to do with it. There is an entire culture around taking photos of scale trucks that look like a 1:1 vehicles. It is very impressive to see the artistic talent of folks and how creative they are. As for longevity of the trend, I think that scale build will continue to be healthy. Especially with organizations like SORRCA looking to create dedicated class 0 rules for trucks that are built for looks.
3. In your opinion, what needs to be done to make RC more “mainstream” and get more people involved?
I would argue that the anxiety around building, competing, and meeting people is what could be massaged. Folks like Harley Designs, Scale Builders Guild, and RC Review do a great job of “humanizing” the hobby. With that said, from the outside looking in the hobby is expansive and very competitive. Hobby shops like Key City Hobbies are also vital in reeling folks into the hobby. If someone walks in the front doors and sees folks enjoying the hobby, and can get some top tier support, they most likely will come back for more.
4. Name one JConcepts product that you feel is overlooked by many but you find it very useful. It could be a tool, tread pattern, wing, etc.
I’m going to go with a compound on the crawler tires. Sticky Green compound is the best tire compound out there. It’s hard to go wrong with any tire running it as long as you pair the tread pattern up with the environment you will be running in. With that said, I’ve yet to find somewhere my beloved Tusks don’t work!
5. Besides RC cars, what other hobbies are you into?
I’m an avid nerd, love my anime and video games. I also am a life long collector of Transformers!