FineDesign RC

I know that there is a fair bit of buzz about this vendor (most of it bad), but has anyone actually dealt with Chris Fine?

After having done my buggy conversion, my buddy was really anxious to get one too. The only problem was that he's been busy lately and didn't have the time to do his own conversion. He found FineDesign on the net and saw that they were advertising a "drop in" conversion kit for the Losi 8ight, which is what my buddy has. After a few seemingly informative phone conversations with Chris Fine, my friend went ahead and ordered the kit and a couple of other things and paid over $700 for the order. This was on a Friday. My friend wanted to have it shipped second day, but Chris Fine assured him that he didn't need to because his order would be going out that day and that he would be getting it on that following Tuesday.

Well, Tuesday rolls around and no kit. We call, and call, and call and finally get him. It turns out that the kit hadn't shipped at all. My buddy got all bent out of shape because after having been told that he'd have it by Tuesday, it wasn't even shipped yet. Fine finally agreed to ship the packed by overnight express. It got in today (Saturday).

When he opend the box, all I could think was "what a piece of crap." The motor mount looked to me like boat mounts that were cut to fit the existing motor mount holes in the chassis. There is no room for adjustment. The only thing that works is a 14T pinion, which is what the kit comes with. You have to start hacking on the chassis to get any adjustment.

The next thing was that my friend was told was that the kit came with a battery tray. The battery tray turned out to be a 1/2" by 1" piece of aluminum angle with a few stand offs and this wire springy thing. We couldn't figure it out, so we called Chris. And call, and call, and call. He finally answers his phone. The sum and substance of the conversation was that he was having dinner, there are no instructions, and "you are hobbyists, figure it out."

The final thing was the motor. If you go to the FineDesign website and look at the motors that he is using in his "kits," they are designated as being XLT motors and he rates them by horsepower. Well, the XLT seemed to imply (to me anyway) that the motors in the kits were XL can motors. They are not XLs. The motor was an L can length motor.

After spending hours putting this "drop in" kit together, we finally got to the track to run it. We couldn't get more than three laps before everything overheated. The motor, the battery, and the esc. This is from a kit that was "designed" to be a drop it in and race kit.

My point is that FineDesign will rip you off. He's great on the sales end, but once he has your money, lord help you. From what I've seen, what he sells is nothing but trash.

After having spent $700, my buddy needs to get another motor (at the least) to make his buggy race worthy.

I just wanted to share this experience with the hope that no one else falls into this pit.