Downsizing (and the Perfect Collection)

[Pylon80]

[warning: this is just me rambling and it might be utterly boring and pointless]

Downsizing... not as in the terrible Matt Damon movie  but rather downsizing as in, I think I own too much RC stuff - and that is all relative. Too much or not enough is all relative because I am down to 7 cars total when a lot of our members are running in the 100's.

I think how many is not enough or too much, depends on ones involvement with these objects. I have to accept that I am a deep diver, drown in a glass of water/trip on the carpet's flower pattern - pick your idiom - kind of modeler. When someone builds a perfectly functional kit in a weekend, I turn it into a re-design, fabricate, setup, dismantle, rebuilt, repeat... exercise that takes at least a year. In fact I wish I could build a kit from the instructions and be please with it; but I just can't. It's a wonderful hobby for many reasons and one of them is that anyone is free to enjoy it as he pleases. Hanging out on TC is certainly conducive to wanting things. I think most people will want to own every car, because unlike 1:1 hobbies where you are very lucky to even participate, with RC most people can afford perhaps not to have them all but at least to have a fairly large number of them.

Looking at my micro-collection of 7 cars, I get annoyed at not being able to run them all. It's just seems downright impossible. Even if I were tinkering and driving them full time, I would struggle to enjoy 7 cars at the same time! I also find that once you get quick at wrenching on a car and once you get confortable driving it (I won't claim that I am actually fast with any of them because I am not!), switching to a different car requires re-learning it all. So I am planning on putting 2 cars for sale. Sadly I don't think TC will be a suitable place, seeing the amazing and dirt cheap stuff that have been posted recently by one of our members and still not really attracting buyers as fast as they really should. So I might have to encourage the evil people behind eBay... We'll have to see. Now, I would keep the following:

Functional Cars:

- M-05 Golf. It is a small, FWD, modern-ish chassis with a very old body (Tamiya's 25th RC kit actually!), has loads of hop-ups and adjustability and a modern brushless motor.

- Jaguar Group C: the polar opposite to the Golf that therefore completes it perfectly. It's big, RWD, the barebone chassis is a 30 year old design, has an old school brushed motor and it's really the RC car I wanted as a kid... now I finally have it. I need to update the build thread for this one.

- Keep a TT-02 because it's a chameleon. It can accept several bodies that I worked hard to build, can do 2 wheelbases, can be high or low, on-road or off-road and can even drift a little. It can be enjoyed RWD, AWS, I even have spools, one ways, all sorts of differentials for it. It's easy to drive on any surface. Talk about a Swiss Army Knife toy!

- GLA v2: it's a 1:27 scale car which is basically a scale model of a 1/10 touring car, with all the adjustability of the real thing, brushless tiny little motor etc. And I have the RCP track for it! I want to keep the ability to run something indoors that handles just like the real thing. At least it does a good job of simulating inside the house the driving experience of a 1/10 scale RC car. Probably better than any computer simulator will ever be able to do!

Project in a box:

- Mostly complete bits-a-build project for a Ferrari F189 (F101 chassis). I will get started on this when I feel absolutely ready. This is another bucket list item from childhood.

I am curious to know if anyone else has a purposely small collection; what is in it and why!

 

 

[ThunderDragonCy]

Completely appreciate where you are coming from @Pylon80 Because i like mine as runners and don't have shelfers having more cars than i can run regularly definitely brings the guilt. Or rather, the tyranny of the unused toys under the spare bed! As much as Clod Busters turn my head and i have had comicals and monster trucks in the past i have definitely got an upoer limit and i am about at it right now.

Currently i am at

Thunder Dragon - will never sell. Triggers broom of my first rc car

Grasshopper 2 Ultra G - Love the shell amd love how it drives

Ultra Hornet - See above!

Hotshot 2ish - Built as something for winter indoor activity, actually really like it as a runner. 

TD4 - Got it for a great price off a member and its been fun, but not sure it's a keeper. 

DT03 Truck - Probs need to sell. Its great, but i never choose it to run any more.

TRF201 based rally car - Really fun. Just got it back running and realised how great it is

TB03R - Now i am not racing i really don't use it, and last ciupke of track runs gave been frustrating. It's lovely, but might need a new home

FF01 Alfa 155 DTM - My iconix class racer. Love it. Despite not racing much anymore i like it too much to sell.

FF01-LA Project - Not finished yet, so keeping!

I am fortunate (and grateful) in a lot of ways with rc, but the main one is regular track meets. I can easily run 6 or 7 buggies in a day and feel i got a good go with all of them. That means my collection is creeping a little again as projects i do for fun builds end up being kept as runners, but i am not too much of a hoarder. I sold my TRF201 and TRF211 and a couple of others over the last couple of years and really glad i did. I don't miss them and i had my fun with them. 10 is probably too many with another buggy in build, but there are only a couple that don't get semi-regular use.

[Kowalski86]

2 hours ago, Pylon80 said:

So I might have to encourage the evil people behind eBay... We'll have to see.

I would be very careful with eBay.

Unlike TC, eBay will take its cut of whatever you sell an item for, then you have to deal with crazy, impatient buyers who will PM lowball offers, or immediately try to use eBay refund system if an item is a day late.

I deliberately try to keep my collection small too, which means a mix of longer-lasting models with good part support, and models that don't consume much that I can run anywhere. Many of them work on and off-road so they're fairly versatile.

XV-01: If no one buys it, Im hoping to run it as a silver can rally car. It uses "good" plastic, so it'll never crumble apart.

Super Hornet: Its like all of Tamiyas solid axle buggies, simple, tires are dirt cheap, runs forever on a single battery, takes 5 minutes to diagnose anything. Re-res keep parts around forever. Drives fine enough on-road and in dirt.

TA02T: Silver can and 4wd so tires last forever, and like the Hornet, re-res and a good aftermarket keep it feasible as a runner.

TL-01 Stadium Raider: Currently for sale, but I could keep it if no one wants it, 4wd and it has all terrain tires on it. Important TL-01 parts are still around.

Redcat Gen 7: It's a crawler, so motors/batteries/tires last forever, and it'll go over just about anything. I definitely need to run it more often.

Kyosho Rampage: This one I'm on the fence on, its fun to drive, but there's next to no aftermarket and it is not great on-road. I like it more than any SCT I've owned though, it's not just a "buggy in a muscle suit".

T-Word Rustler: This one will likely be going on sale, I ran it maybe twice and it's sat for months. Wheels and tires are expensive for these things and they use a weird offset, I can't just throw whatever I have sitting around onto it.

WPL D12: Given to me in a trade, I can drive it whenever. Tires and batteries are cheap, too slow to really break itself or wear out. Ditto the C74, they don't take up much space either.

"Hot Trick" Fox: Shelf-queen for now, I've considered selling it to a collector who'd value it more.

[Nicadraus]

I have a small collection of seven cars only now (and a few helis).

Two FF-03: FF-03Pro-R as a track-only on-road FWD car. FF-03RR as a rally converted FWD car. Both cars are heavily modified and customized and took me over three years to complete their builds. I have two other full stock FF-03s that are disassembled as parts donor and many other sealed parts kept as spares.

 XV-01RS - My own version of XV-01 that is off-road/on-road tarmac spec rally car. Modified with aluminum and carbon fiber parts in and out for performance and looks. Lots of spare parts are also kept in stock for this car for future proof.

CC-01 CT - An original CC-01 (of my dad) from 1996 kept in decades in storage at my parents house and resurrected in 2018. I customized and modified heavily for light crawling and trailing. Most of the time, driven by my daughetr whenever we go trailing. 

Wild One R - From an original 1984 vintage car to a BH conversion and added with custom parts and modification for my personal spec.

FF-01R - An origial FF-01 car I bought in 1996 (same time with my dad's CC-01). Ran only a few times kept as a shelf queen for almost two decades and I decided to re-work on it. Custmoized some parts and modified it.

MST CFX - My only non-Tamiya kit that I also modified heavily with most parts that added to its performance and looks of course. Love this rig for light-mid crawling and a perfect trailer that I really enjoy driving.

All seven are runners, except that the FF01 and Wild One are mostly shelf queens but gets to run (behavely) on clean and open space pavement as I don't want either to get dirty or scratched .

I sold one kit four years ago, an LRP S10, which I converted to a rally spec and ran as my primary 4wd rally car until I got the XV-01, because I didn't need two 4wd rally cars anymore. Although I'm still contemplating whether to still get a Kyosho Turbo Scorpion, but it is likely to turn out like the Wild One, a shelf queen most of the time with very occasional runs.

[Kowalski86]

41 minutes ago, Nicadraus said:

All seven are runners, except that the FF01 and Wild One are mostly shelf queens but gets to run (behavely) on clean and open space pavement as I don't want either to get dirty or scratched .

Generally I'm not a shelf-queen guy, but anything vintage and sentimental I completely understand. Especially the FF-01 where parts can be difficult to find.

[MICHAELs TopForce17]

I did have 20 a few years ago but a lot of them were not getting used and taking up space. Then I went thru this building and selling phase. Now I mostly keep my collection to runners. I am at 4 right now. With room for 1 or 2 more in the future.  My favorites are buggies and monster trucks. Below is my perfect(ish) collection for me.

Super clodbuster gray edition: Always wanted one as a kid. Tried making one from axles a few years ago but gave up and sold the parts. Purchased the gray edition kit and loving it. Upgraded with parts from ukmonsters. 

Top force: Had a 2017 kit but foolishly sold. Making a new top force evo out of parts. I am still building. 

Ultra hornet: Kind forum member who let me make one of their designs.

Kyosho ultima rere: My fastest buggy currently. Didn’t get a lot of run time last year due to leaky red shocks which are now changed out. Some upgrades are rb7ss shocks, Kyosho turnbuckles, speed gear set, 13.5 brushless motor, factory works shock towers. 

 

[JimBear]

"Hanging out on TC is certainly conducive to wanting things."

Are you kidding me, man? Wanting? It's more like "oh, man, gotta take a bank loan to get all this cool stuff!"

Well, seriously, I agree with you. My premise is that the want may be big but there are constraints in budget and time. That's forcing my hand, but I also have to acknowledge that I am more of a runner guy, rather than a collector (even though I suffer from ... uuh ... hamster tendencies). Too much stuff that never gets used bothers me; my "collection" is at the moment hovering at one M-03 Mini (need to let go), 2 CR-01 (need to let go of one), an M-05 (NIB, bits in bags, also need to let go) and 2 Axial SCX24s. The kid has two cars (DT-01 and the Rising Fighter) that I am trying to keep running too. So, a total of ... 6 + 2, that is 8 in total.

That is, exactly nothing in most peoples' eyes, I guess. But I have to admit (to myself) that I am getting slowly overwhelmed and need to find out where to go. I mean, it was "easier" back then, when all you had was the cars on the shelf at the LHS. So, perhaps, am I trying to find the spot where I have enough fun stuff to do, but not get overwhelm and stress.

[Mouc-RC]

I'm in a downsizing phase also, but because my brother is almost as crazy as me with Tamiya stuff, I try to have different but similar models "to race" (play) with him when have the chance to see each other. So, "we" have:

2 buggies "Quick Drive" (actually 3, should be downsized, forgot that. Yes, but there's one Mk.1 and two Mk.2. Oh.)
2 Monster Trucks from the QD Series also... Actually 4, but hey is it OK if we say it's for spares?
2 buggies from the HotShot family (SuperShot & Super Sabre, both Re-re and to be built)
2 Stadium Trucks: one TA-02T, one CC-01 based Stadium Blitzer. Oh 3 actually, there's a TL-01 Stadium Raider somewhere, to be re-built with mechanical speed controller for nostalgia. Should be sold after re-built and some light running. Promised)
3 WR-02: Kumamon RC-Tractor, Regular RC-Tractor (the red one) and Honda City Turbo. Gonna be hard to downsize, because all 3 are so cool.
2 SRB Buggies, Sand Scorcher + Super Champ Re-re. Oh, does a NIB Super Champ Re-re really counts?
2 big Monsters from Tamiya, one Juggernaut 2 + one TXT-2. Mmmmh. Yes, but what if Tamiya re-releases the BullHead? We might have a problem.
2 original Bruisers. Yes, but it's not only RC, it's Masterpiece.
1 GF-01 Dump Truck, one G6-01 School Bus. So it's two. We're good there.
1 BlackFoot Re-re. Mmmmmh. Hope my bro isn't considering a Frog, or an ORV cousin...

Oh and that Street Rover... Too cool to be downsized!
There's also a Robbe Jeep but it doesn't drive much... And an old french nitro buggy from the eighties. I have to think about those more often...
...
..
.
But downsizing is a really good idea, I agree!

[F-150]

Go ahead and downsize....   I'm upsizing, because I love these little cars and this hobby keeps me sane. 

Behold, one wall in my toybox(hobby storage room) with controlled heat and humidity(I keep expensive drone and camera equipment in there.)

All my unbuilt kits there....well....wait to you see the other side of the room, hahahahaha.

 

[GToddC5]

59 minutes ago, F-150 said:

Go ahead and downsize....   I'm upsizing, because I love these little cars and this hobby keeps me sane. 

Behold, one wall in my toybox(hobby storage room) with controlled heat and humidity(I keep expensive drone and camera equipment in there.)

All my unbuilt kits there....well....wait to you see the other side of the room, hahahahaha.

 

Hear, hear! Since Dec. '22 I count 137 as of today, but the day is still young, LOL

[ThunderDragonCy]

Fair play to the big numbers collectors. It's not for me, but i salute you. 

[Pylon80]

2 minutes ago, ThunderDragonCy said:

Fair play to the big numbers collectors. It's not for me, but i salute you. 

Collecting is not for me either; RC cars that are not run regularly make me kind of depressed.

I think we had a thread once that was discussing how many "runners" one could own at any given time. It wasn't uncommon to have members boast dozens of cars that could technically be run ...but never were. Interestingly these dozens of cars each had their ESC, servo, even receivers! For all I know the shocks would have been filled with oil too. But I do remember that those folks actually running their cars and maintaining them regularly could not really go beyond the magic number of 10 cars. There are variations depending on how much time one devotes to RC cars; from "I tinker and drive once in a while" all the way to "RC cars are all I have". The entire spectrum is probably a wonderful way to enjoy the hobby. Being on the lower end of thia devotion spectrum I sometime wish I could get away from the reality for a few days (or weeks 😁) and take an RC vacation... Something along the lines of "Tinker, drive, [drink expensive Scotch], sleep, repeat."

Bottom line is the two cars I can't run regularly annoy me tremendously and must go, while the unbuilt Ferrari project is actually nice because it's the only one in its unbuilt condition and as such it's something to look forward to.

Interesting to know my fellow members better through the replies I read so far 👌

[F-150]

I'm just the type that enjoys building them more than driving is all and **** tamiyas are so addicting. 

I have a few runners that I like to play with, and a mudboss racer/Sprint car that I race. I'm gonna get into buggy racing as well, pretty soon, so I have my PR S1 RM ready for 2wd and my associated B74.1 for 4wd, season starts in two months on an outdoor dirt track can't wait.

In the meantime I'm getting a Neo Fighter together so I can practice chassis tune ng, gear selection and tire selection and see the effects, before I run my "pro" buggies.

I thought the neo fighter is a perfect race trainer l, very cheap and it mimicks the pro grade cars...  I'm gonna love it and it's gonna get run hard lol. 

I do enjoy my static models to.... Most will be shelf queens. Some will be put away for later on after I retire from my job...an old man has to have something to do right?... I'll look forward to putting them cars together in my golden years.

[Rinskie]

Dude I totally get what you are saying. I do this with other hobbies but I am trying super hard to avoid it with toy cars. Historically I have never had more than one running car at a time simply because I never bother to buy another receiver. Right now I have two runners. My TT02R and my GF01FT. Obviously they are chalk and cheeses which means it's easy to decide which one I want to play with. I still have the M08 roller but like you I want to sell it because I never really got along with it despite trying super hard so it needs to go. I will end up getting one more kit and stopping there as I know my tendencies. If left to my own accord I will wind up in the same position where I have more than I can use, appreciate or store. 

With other hobbies I have fallen in the trap where I end up getting the best or most high tech doo-hicky and end up taking it way too seriously. I don't want RC to be that way. The M08 reminded me that the "racer" side of me is a pipe dream and the "just playing with toy cars" side is attainable and quite frankly a lot more fun. Now I find myself looking at things like the Dynaking over a TRF421......even though the racing cars scream out like a Siren dying to see me crash my ship on the rocks. 

[markbt73]

It's funny this thread should come up now, because my wife and I are in the early planning stages of a cross-country move, and I'm beginning to look around my workshop (and the house in general) and think seriously about how much stuff I want to pack up and move, and how much I want to get rid of beforehand.

When it comes to RC cars, currently I have 40 complete cars that could be driven within, say, half an hour's notice. Some are missing a speed control, or need motor wires soldered on, or something like that. I have another 14 that are disassembled or halfway-finished or not started yet, mostly already packed away in plastic tote boxes. And I have a box of scale crawler components - axles, gearboxes, etc - that could yield another 2 or possibly 3 scaler chassis. I've also got a stack of probably 20 body shells that were either old shells that came with a car, or botched paint jobs, or just old and beat-up. And several drawers full of parts, wheels and tires, hardware, and the like, not to mention a big box of scratch-building materials like styrene and aluminum sheet that I have gathered over the years.

Oh, and there's the small matter of the 100 or so unbuilt static model kits, some of which are 1/8 scale and have boxes bigger than NIB RC models, the couple dozen built models I want to keep, and 40 or 50 Hot Wheels and Matchbox cars (which don't take up much room, at least).

It's a lot of stuff, and obviously with this impending move, I'm in a complete buying freeze until afterwards. And honestly, there isn't much more I really want, at least for now. I can't stomach the thought of dropping $400 on any new or re-release kits, as interesting as they may be. I've had Mids and Avantes in various online shopping carts over the past couple years, and never pulled the trigger. I guess I just don't want them that bad, which is probably for the best.

But the tough part is going to be figuring out what, if anything, I'm going to sell. I hate selling RC stuff, it's always a hassle, and I'm never satisfied with the money I get for things, and half the time when I sell something I just want it back in three months. So I have a feeling most if not all of the complete cars (finished or unfinished) are coming with. The stack of old body shells I'll get rid of, along with a big chunk of the scratch-building material. I've already thrown out several sets of old worn-out tires, tons of broken parts, and other useless stuff.

The one wild card in all of this is that many of the houses we're looking at have great places to run off-road RC cars, but basically no place to run on-road. I only have a few cars that are strictly on-road, so maybe those should find new homes. You can always drive an off-road car on-road, but not vice versa. So maybe that's one place I can thin the herd a little.

I do worry slightly, though, that in a new and almost certainly bigger house, my RC collection's ranks could swell to truly preposterous numbers. Let's hope this "not really wanting anything new" feeling lasts a good long while.

[F-150]

On 3/2/2024 at 6:18 PM, ThunderDragonCy said:

Fair play to the big numbers collectors. It's not for me, but i salute you. 

I have collected most of the cars I had or wanted as a kid, but the things are so fun to build and look at.....I mean.... The BBX... I had to get that!..  the blockhead Wild one....had to get it!... Clodbuster grey edition...oh how neat....yepp got it!  After a while my collection has indeed become a blessing(I walk into the room and get a huge smile...I'm literally 7 years old again surrounded by brand new toys, lol ...my new set of MIP tools with the yellow handles ...how lushes.) I love that, but....

I see where you're coming from.  As of now I am running out of room, my collection would be a burden if I died right now, I spent a holy ton of money on it...try 5,000 dollars the past year and a half) also the problem of what cars should be shelf queens, how many can I actually use and run?...  Oh and the Tamiya boxes....should I keep them? Should I cut them up and toss them? Sell them? They take up a bunch of room, but they are Tamiya boxes, one just does not throw them out , but what the heck good are the taking up all this space?.

So I get what you're saying and I have indeed been a lot more strict on myself for buying cars ...  I'm now more I to modern, racing with cars I can actually run without worrying about the vintage aspect. I believe I'm done with collecting vintage, I have a nice collection that makes my hobby room look nice and I'm content with that. 

I just wish Tamiya would stop making such cool cars lol .. don't make a Dyna Storm....you guessed it.... I'll be the first to pre order that! 

It's all good....there will be a day when I decide I have no interest in RC cars anymore and ready to pass my collection to the next deserving people. 

Until then...I'm loving the relaxing aspect of building....and watching another car brought to life 

[ThunderDragonCy]

@F-150 If it makes you happy then that's amazing. 

[Nikko85]

I have tried to downsize, but I often look at project I've sold (or since dismantled to do something new) and kinda miss them, so I end up buying back or doing again anyhow, which costs more in the long run. 

For example I now longer own any of these which I regret (most had new bodies put one or moved to something else...). I really regret the King Cab, I think I sold it to someone here, but enjoy it!

I've got around 16 cars - (2 x MF01x, Pumpkin, 1 x RadioShack, 2 x Nikko, 2 x GF01, 2 x QD MT, 3 x QD buggy, Carrera Mario Yoshi, 1 x Mardave and a WIP monster truck).

How many could I happily play with and that be enough? Probably just the GF01 Jeep, MF01x Stadium Truck and QD FJ45. Everything else is either not quite as nice as those, or not quite as fun. If I want to crawl the GF01 is good, the MF01x is fast and the QD is an old school solid axle basher and lovely to drive.

Most are in the loft, where I could do with some shelving, but they don't take up any useful space. Could I cut down? Perhaps, but selling on eBay is horrible and I know if I sold some of them I'd be tempted to just make them again. Actually thinking about it a couple of the QD buggies and the Mardave really could go - but I'd end up selling for less than the parts cost - perhaps I might see if there are any takers here.

There's not much out there that now tickles my fancy - a 1/12 style King Cab/Monster Racer is probably about the only car I think I'd really want to add.

 

[gogsyfinnie]

I really only started 3 months ago before Christmas, but already there are 4 complete cars in the house (two of them belong to the kids though, their CW-01 mad bashers), and I am constantly pondering "what’s next" 

For me, I spent a lot of my childhood dreaming of getting Tamiya cars (monster trucks in particular) so its almost like the floodgates have now opened and Ive got a back catalogue to catch up on!

Next on the list is my son is saving for an 037 as he loves Lancia, I fancy a Delta XV-01 too as I really enjoy the TT-02 rally car.  Finally I'm hoping to get along to a track meet and if that goes well maybe join in some Euro Truck racing this year!  So maybe 4 cars for me, 2 for my son and 1 for my daughter (although I expect if big brother gets another she will soon follow!)

If I dont settle down then I'm sure a lack of funds will force me to!

[Juls1]

I think i’m only around the 70-80 mark, but hey who’s counting (clearly not me i’ve lost track) i think there isn’t a right amount, i’m quite happy to sit on something i might not do anything with this year, next year, next decade, maybe ever. But i have them cause i like them. Ultimately ones either financial situation OR financial sensibilitys come into play with whats the right amount of rc kits to be sitting on. I know when i was younger  that selling a used project was always to partially fund the next project. As times gone on and financial situation improves as you age, well you can find yourself with new projects piling up as the old ones you either couldn’t bare to part with (or couldn’t be bothered). 
 

for the OP,  i can only say that often these tamiya cars can become rare and valuable with time, if you have no real attachment to what your going to get rid of, and you need the funds for something else you want to do more then its a easy choice to move them on. But if you kinda like them all, don’t need the money, have the space. Leave em on the shelf. I dunno how many cars i’ve sold i’ve then had to buy it all again later at great expense and effort, thats not to say i didn’t enjoy doing it all over again. 

[87lc2]

I've been downsizing a bit lately, actually sold a few trucks in the past month which is a big step for me   I'm losing a bit of interest in the hobby to be honest.  I still enjoy racing and that's what I will focus on, but the hobby itself and having tons of RC "stuff" around is just not my thing anymore. 

I have about 6 on road cars that I race regularly now and around 12 monster trucks that are my main competition trucks.  I'll keep 5-6 crawlers too and probably about the same amount of park runners - Tamiya stuff mostly like the Grashoppers, Blackfoot, Mad Bull, Monster Beetle, Hummer, etc.   Going to slowly start moving everything else.  Might end up parting out most of it since it would be worth more than way anyhow. 

That'll leave me with around 30 I guess.  Currently have around 60 (I think?) all running/driving with motors, ESC, and everything else.  I don't really have anything sitting around that couldn't be run without a charged battery on hand. 

I think having much less will let me focus on what I have and also leave me time to enjoy other stuff.  There's just no reason to have so many and I'm not really a collector so they don't have much value to me just sitting around.  I can certainly understand the appeal of having so many around, I've been doing it for years and rarely sold anything.  Will take some motivation on my side to actually get around to doing it though.  I haven't worked on much lately and just don't have the interest so getting out there to take stuff apart and box stuff up is not a priority at the moment. 

 

[naturbo2000]

I have 7 shelves. So the rule is 7 cars. No shelf queens.

1) Super Madtute. Was my second RC. Isn't ever going anywhere, even if now more of it is something other than was it was 2 years ago. 

2) Avante Black. The car I always wanted. The no shelf when rule means I race it, as expensive as that gets. I don't care that its not a performer.  Everyone loves seeing it run. Surprisingly good on a polished wood surface.

3) Top Force Evo. The car I bought in case my Avante Black pre-order fell through. My official race buggy. A lot of use, a lot of abuse,  but so easy to work on and easy to get parts.

4) 2005 Impreza TT02S. Everyone needs a TT02. Mine was for the rally build off the other year, but pulls race duty with another shell and is about to also run as a Fat Fox for truck racing.

5) Tamtech Ferrari 288 GTO on a shortened <205mm M08. A joyful project to make something I shouldn't.  It turns out that this is my favourite part of the hobby.

6) UDIRC Ford Focus. Raced at a local club on polished wood. Tweaked well enough that I'm actually good!

7) RWD TT02D with a Yeah Racing front end.  Bought on the back of purchasing a really nice 180SX shell from ebay. Was a fun build process,  but I am terrible at drifting. 

7 shelves, 7 cars. 

But even before I even had the shelves,  I also had

8) GMade GS02F crawler. Loved building it.  _Still_ not actually properly crawled it (!). Really like having it as a trail truck.

So 7 shelves 8 cars. 

But then I've been building stuff slowly over winter. 

9) Alfa 33 on a TA03F chassis.  Plan is to run this mostly FWD. Is painted to match a banger rally car I had many years ago. 

10) Tamtech Vaillant 934 on a shortened 190mm MF01X chassis. Fun build. Same kind of challenges and result as the 288 GTO.

11) Ivan Stewart Monster Racer on a stretched 255mm M06 chassis. Another really fun build. 

So 7 shelves 11 cars. 

I'm already feeling that I need to slim down,  but deciding what to let go is tough.

Mentally, I'm close to letting go of the TT02D. But the local club is about to start a drifting evening as a social event. I'll give that a go before I drop it entirely. 

My Tamtech bodied M chassis are the ones that will get run least,  but they've been real fun building and they're completely unique.

The Ivan Stewart isn't even built yet. My plan is that it'll be a second trail truck for me or the kids.

I think most likely I'll let the TA03F go as a rolling chassis. I'll keep the shell and see whether I use it for drifting.  The paint job is suitably amusing.

Most likely I'll get perspex stands or similar to double up the cars per shelf.

No idea what I'll do when the XM01PRO is released. I already know what body its having...

Oh and I also need a big wheel for racing.

[Sogogi]

Interesting topic yet also resonate with what I think.
Definition of Perfect changes all the time (at least for me).
I have more than enough cars to run, but this weather (PNW) doesn't let me.
Also got onroad / FF car bug which I ended up getting more than I expected (as you can see on classified section).
I want to run what I have, if I don't run for a while, I will let it go.

I try to apply that logic (or thought, or whatever you call it) to stuff in my life in general.

 

[gogsyfinnie]

23 hours ago, gogsyfinnie said:

I really only started 3 months ago before Christmas, but already there are 4 complete cars in the house (two of them belong to the kids though, their CW-01 mad bashers), and I am constantly pondering "what’s next" 

For me, I spent a lot of my childhood dreaming of getting Tamiya cars (monster trucks in particular) so its almost like the floodgates have now opened and Ive got a back catalogue to catch up on!

Next on the list is my son is saving for an 037 as he loves Lancia, I fancy a Delta XV-01 too as I really enjoy the TT-02 rally car.  Finally I'm hoping to get along to a track meet and if that goes well maybe join in some Euro Truck racing this year!  So maybe 4 cars for me, 2 for my son and 1 for my daughter (although I expect if big brother gets another she will soon follow!)

If I dont settle down then I'm sure a lack of funds will force me to!

Just to add, as of last night that XV-01 Delta is ordered, BNIB so helping someone keep their collection in check!