I feel frustrated at not achieving my self-imposed hobby goals.

[Truck Norris]

Do you think that some time, in the distant future, you might open that box up one day and re live July 1990!

If you mean crack open the shrink wrap I've already done that: http://www.tamiyaclub.com/forum/index.php?showtopic=76120

If you mean build it then I doubt it as I bought another part built to paint and finish.

[Wooders28]

That sounds like a great idea. With Autumn upon us and Winter on the way, my long shifts mean it is dark when I go in and dark again by the time I leave, but I will certainly bear this in mind for Summer!

I'm 12hrs and live in Scotland! lol

Just those odd couple of days in the summer,Sundays especially,when everywhere is quiet,it's awesome.

[chevelle]

I'm a Hunter Gatherer, Restorer Destroyer, Acquirer Hider, Finders Keepers, Require'r Sharer, Runner of toy's

[jeekelemental]

As in "Aargh, a spider!" (I don't like spiders)

And some japanese spider are much worrying, isn't it ?

Sorry for the massive cut.

Sorry for OT.

[lupogtiboy]

For me, its the collecting something that I always wanted when I was a kid but never got. RC is not my only hobby, I also collect Sony Walkmans (37 at the last count), Sony Discmans and Sony Minidiscs, retro games consoles, and a bit of vintage Hi-fi. They all bring me joy, I don't even really care if they work or not, I can tinker, take apart and try to fix, that's what I like to do.

RC was always going to be a hobby of mine as I love cars in general, especially VW's (even with their current issues!). I have a few projects I've started and not finished, lots I have finished, and plenty that don't get run, even though they all could be run if I wanted. I like looking at them, taking bits off and re-fitting, detailing and finishing off bits, or adding something that makes it unique. I like trying to find a bargain, making something if I can't find what I need (rarely ever works though!)

I wouldn't say I was a collector as such, if something catches my eye, I'll go for it, I'm more a hoarder! I too don't care what people think, its my hobby, my enjoyment.

[StrokerBoy]

Just had a fortnight off work. We weren't going away, just planned to have a few days out and get some jobs done round the house. But one of the things on my to-do list was to finally build my Unimog/Lunchbox, or maybe one of the other RC projects in the growing pile. Was really looking forward to it.

Now I'm back at work, reading through 2 weeks worth of posts on here (I try to avoid computers altogether in my own time). Let's list all the progress I made...

I popped into my local model shop to buy a driveshaft for an old Kyosho I inherited. They didn't have anything suitable. They did have a new Monster Beetle, but I wasn't tempted.

That's it. Pathetic.

[njmlondon]

My wife is taking the kids away tomorrow for 3 days.

Plans are:

1) complete ORV chassis for vintage Lancia - almost complete just a few bits to screw on and a steel pinion arrived this morning which will need fitting

2) complete SRB mix-n-match chassis for Scorcher - all in parts but ready to go

3) complete WR02 rebuild of chassis (currently stripped and cleaned)

Will report back and let you know how I did.

[XV Pilot]

Since my initial post, I have managed one really good outing with my MF-01X Jimny and TL-01 Evoque, which saw them successfully navigating several miles of woodland, and my M-05 has had a run in the street to test its new sensor cable. Not a great deal of RC usage I know, but it is an improvement over previous weeks.

[Nitomor]

I've built my Mountie chassis and run it around the house. Ordered a few bits for forthcoming builds which have mostly arrived.

Still to do before I allow myself to procure anything else (well, ish anyway);

Finish Bruiser body

Start and finish Mountie body

Build WT01 Blackfoot and paint (This'll take about 10 minutes after the others lol)

Build Avante (think this is a job for the xmas holidays) and paint

Build the Bruiser runner...looking forward to having a 3 speed basher Will deviate on this build and spec.

Paint Lunchbox shell (which I got last xmas) in A-Team colours with the two tone black/grey and red stripe. Not happy with my previous attempt.

Spray R32 GTR shell

Spray Impreza WRC shell

Somehow, not much of this will be finished this year!

The Sirens are calling out to me...

CR01 Landcruiser

BigWig

Hotshot II

Toyota 4x4 (Original Hilux Rere)

Of course the last three aren't out yet so I have a little bit of breathing space. Don't want to rush it otherwise what will I do then lol!

[Mad Ax]

I've found myself re-evaluating my hobby goals this year. Especially over the last couple of months, if I'm honest. To the extent that, maybe, some of my collection will find its way onto the trades page here early next year.

I had a few Tamiyas in the early 90s (a second-hand and thoroughly wrecked King Cab which spent more time waiting for replacement parts from Riko than being driveable, a new Mud Blaster which turned out to be a poor performer compared to the old King Cab, and a very well used Grasshopper gifted to me along with a bunch of random spares from different cars), but they all went the way of the car boot sale as I turned into my late teens, and, apart from a brief and frustrating flirtation with a Kyosho nitro buggy, I had no RC cars at all.

My obsession began around 10 years ago with a chance encounter at a local hobby shop and the purchase of a Dark Impact. At the time I was living alone and under my own supervision, and my collection expanded with a Midnight Pumpkin re-re and a TT01 bought with the intention of making a drifter (it actually ended up being used for racing, if memory serves).

My real love has always been fiction writing, and my stories often have an iconic vehicle or two, so I saw RC as an opportunity to make some scale replicas of the cars from my stories. At around the same time I started attending Tamiyaclub bashes in the local area and met with like-minded RC enthusiasts, some of whom are still very good friends today.

A conversation with one of these enthusiasts rapidly evolved from a "let's make a video of our cars running around together" to "let's write a script and build a collection of cars to make an action movie." This became an obsession in itself that lasted several years before it ran out of steam, but its legacy still lives on in the "Minerva Dragons" collection of street cars that sit on my prime display shelf.

I think it was about 4-5 years ago when I realised that this film was never going to get made, but the script survives as the bones of a novel that I intend to write in the future, and I still kept on collecting cool 90s street cars in some vain attempt to complete the car collection for the movie that never was.

So my plan, in those days, was pretty much as follows:

Have a selection of runners that perform well enough without being overly valuable or fragile.

Have a shelf full of queens that belong to the Minerva Dragons collection.

Have a few interesting custom builds to showcase ideas I've had

The problem is, I'm useless at sticking to plan. I tent to buy new runners rather than improve the performance of the ones I have. I tend to start new shelf projects without finishing ones in progress. I got sucked into the scaler thing a long time ago but never properly finished a project; I'd get almost all the way there to find the world had moved on and I was way behind. (I find this with most things )

This year I've started looking at my mish-mash of custom-painted cars sitting on the shelf and thinking "what does any of that mean?"

Part of me is considering thinning out some shelfers and repainting or re-shelling some others to make a matching collection, or set of collections. I've always been against box art - RC is an opportunity to be creative, not follow the rules - but I am finally starting to understand the attraction of a shelf of vintage Tamiya buggies or 90s touring cars in their original livery. They mean something.

This year I also seem to have extended my runners collection a lot. Spare cash and availability of cheap, lipo-safe speedos and 2.4GHz radios has meant I can have a sizeable fleet ready to go at the charge of a battery. But a few fun events this year have made me ask: why?

Surely it's better to have just a few cars that perform really well than to have a fleet that can't manage an exciting pace or flip upside down at the first sign of a corner? I've been saying this for years, but I still get suckered into buying new cars instead of upgrading what I have.

So will 2016 see a big change in my collecting habits? Who knows. I do intend to arrive at some events with cars that can excite on track rather than wobbling around at the back of the field. I'd really like a core handful of solid, reliable, fun cars could replace a fleet of badly-performing vehicles that rarely get used. Perhaps I'll get out of the mentality that I need to have (at least) one car for every single possible purpose.

I still don't know what I'll do with my shelf, tho. I've at least half a dozen unfinished shelf projects that, when finished, won't mean anything to anyone but me. But I'm not sure if I have scope to keep them when they're done. And on that note, I can list another thing I've come to realise: when I'm not focussing on being ready for the next event, or finishing a shelf display, or seeking approval from the world on my custom building skills, I do actually enjoy building just for the sake of it. I've done a lot of that this year. The wife and I have taken to sitting together at the table, with a series of daft films on in the background, her making some jewelry or ornaments, me cutting up styrene and screwing together chassis parts, for hours on end.

Which is why, after all this, I'm still totally stoked to have a workshop full of half-finished projects to keep me busy until the end of 2016.

[Butler]

I've learnt you can only really focus on one hobby at a time.

[XV Pilot]

I've learnt you can only really focus on one hobby at a time.

True - my half-painted Warhammer army and decidedly sketchy guitar skills are testament to that!

[whahooo]

I've learnt you can only really focus on one hobby at a time.

But do you really have to focus one just one hobby?

A hobby is a hobby and I think its nice to have unfinished projects.

If you spend all your free time on just one project, the project will be finished someday...

...and then you need the next project! If I do not have anything at home to work on I would get crazy or would buy some expensive stuff.

I understand that it is nice to finish a project and to be proud of what you have archieved, but I just like to have some untouched projects in the backpocket .

I also think its nice to pause the hobby with another hobby.

For me its skateboarding. If I work a long time on a model and start to get unconcentrated and my vision gets bad, I stop and get out for a little cruise on my vintage skateboard.

[Saito2]

I agree. My interest in my hobbies rotate. I'm always mildly involved in all my hobbies (auto restoration-my job actually, RC, guitar/music, and art/comic books) but I'll go on "runs" where I'm hardcore focused on one of them. By rotating them, you can return to them with renewed vigor instead of gradually burning out. It's only been really tough in the last couple of years with the birth of my daughter to concentrate on hobbies but then again, she is the most important thing in my life.

[markbt73]

I've learnt you can only really focus on one hobby at a time.

Well, that's literally true; it's hard to paint a driver figure while you're, say, practicing the trombone. You just can't keep your hands steady enough.

But I keep thinking about those guys who used to go on variety shows and spin plates on the end of poles - get this one started, and then go start that one, then go back and spin this one a little more to keep it going, then start another one... it's a neat trick, but it's a terribly inefficient and tiring way of storing the plates. Much easier to keep them in the cupboard. Then, when you want to spin them, they're there for you.

[Mad Ax]

But do you really have to focus one just one hobby?

A hobby is a hobby and I think its nice to have unfinished projects.

If you spend all your free time on just one project, the project will be finished someday...

I had this conversation with my wife on Monday. Not about hobbies, but life generally.

I was saying that, if you truly want to excel at something, you have to focus on doing that and just that. If you want to be a chart-topping musician or a Hollywood actor or an astronaught, there's no point also trying to be a top-level cyclist and a world-leading surgeon too. The days when you could be on the national cricket team, football team and rugby team at the same time are long gone. Fields are becoming so specialised and competitive that, if you really want to be at the top, you have to focus hard from very early in your life.

I'm a web developer by day but my dream is to be a full-time writer, so that's what I've made my life all about. It's mean making lots of sacrifices along the way and will mean lots more once we start a family, to the extent that I might stop doing RC events almost completely. I used to write a lot of electronic music, people told me I had real talent and I should keep it up, in fact I sometimes feel I'm wasting it by not using it, but it's a very time-consuming hobby and I can't do that and write fiction at the same time, at least, not if I want to be a professional writer. I very rarely watch TV these days because I don't have time in between tying down a job, maintaining a marriage, owning a dog and trying to be a writer.

But then, writing for me isn't a hobby. Even though I don't get paid for it, it's a second job. I have to treat it as a second job, because if I don't, I won't put enough effort into it.

But when it comes to hobbies, we both agreed, there's no problem in having many. As long as your hobbies don't go rotten if you leave them on the shelf, as long as you've got space to keep them when you're not doing them, it's fine to have a few. I play with RC cars when I'm not writing stories, but sometimes I also play video games (badly), fix up my camper van and ride motorcycles. These are things I can pick up and put down when time allows. It might be different if my hobby was growing vegetables, as they'd spoil if I didn't look after them.

On the other hand, it's also true that you only get out of something what you put into it. If I'm trying to spread my attention between 5 hobbies, I might only get one fifth the return on each. Sometimes having lots of hobbies that I don't have time to do (or lots of things sat on the shelf that I don't have time to finish) can feel like having a big anchor around my neck: I think there's something in the philosophy of shunning material possessions and only owning that which is genuinely necessary. I do wonder if I would be a much happier human being if I sold my entire RC collection, my motorcycle, my camper and my TV, and just had a wife, a dog and an ancient laptop for writing stories on...

...and then I remember that I live in England, which is dismal and cold and wet and miserable for five months at a time, so how can I occupy myself when I'm taking a break from writing?

[Saito2]

Its good you treat your writing like a second job. I was just listening to a famous comic book artist who did the same thing and you know what? He made the big time. I too, have considered the minimalist approach by reducing material possessions. I just can't bring myself to do it though as I'm a bit of a hoarder. What I do however is try to buy used items or repurpose/refurbish old items as a means of avoiding feeding the corporate "machine".

[Nobbi1977]

Its good you treat your writing like a second job. I was just listening to a famous comic book artist who did the same thing and you know what? He made the big time. I too, have considered the minimalist approach by reducing material possessions. I just can't bring myself to do it though as I'm a bit of a hoarder. What I do however is try to buy used items or repurpose/refurbish old items as a means of avoiding feeding the corporate "machine".

Clearing out can be very cathartic. I went a new direction with my motorcycles this summer and am just listing and selling everything associated with the old direction. I was tempted to just box it up and store it away in case I swing back that way but sometimes it is better to just focus on the future and do what you are doing well, without distraction.

I still have to many hobbies but each is getting more narrow. Apart from RC where I have not found my groove yet...

[Wooders28]

But do you really have to focus one just one hobby?

A hobby is a hobby and I think its nice to have unfinished projects.

If you spend all your free time on just one project, the project will be finished someday...

....

My 2 hobbies are RC and 1:1 cars.

'luckily'(??) the 1:1 is American,so parts I need to move forward can take weeks or even months (ordered body panels in June,still somewhere floating about on a boat) to arrive,which gives me a fighting chance for a bit of RC tinkering.

Although the tinkering this week,has been sorting out RC cars to sell,projects that seemed a good idea at the time!

[Nitomor]

My hobbies are/were 1:1 cars/motorbikes (driving/riding/tinkering/spannering/modifying), photography (amateur), RC and that's about it. Lately the 1:1 stuff is out of favour and I've spent the last 12 months really into RC neglecting the rest to the point that I have them sat there thinking I need to do something with them and have a purge. That said I'm sure I'll come back around to them but not enough time for them all at the moment.

My old man told me that every ten years or so you find your tastes change. I've found this to be true, the things that used to interest me in a hobby do so far less now, so while I still enjoy the same hobbies that I always have, I enjoy them differently and different aspects and genres appeal to me than perhaps once used to.

[Leethal Driver]

That's an interesting view your old man's got there Nito but spot on I think. I'm spending more time getting back into rpg's and gaming, and I haven't touched it in years. Feel a bit more comfortable having sold a few rc's recently, so I don't worry my collection is sitting there doing nothing. Need to shift a couple more and I'll be well set to split my mantime between running, gaming, rc and the Porker. Saving my big F350 nib build for the new year, and looking fw to it.

[Grumpy pants]

It's a good thread this one and it gives us all a chance to reflect, regroup and then carry on!

I'm carving up my collection as I have more than I will ever get to grips with...some models I've owned nearly 3 years and they are yet to see any daylight.

I like them and it is no hardship owning them, but it's a waste and I don't like having large sums of cash tied up doing nothing.

Cars, parts and equipment, sitting in boxes in the garage and now the loft for the foreseeable future doesn't sit well with me, it in fact bothers me.

I work too hard for my income and I like to get some form of value for money in return.

I'm hoping that by reducing my collection down to a hard core of models I will make time for them again and enjoy them again, without the burden or feeling of guilt that I should make the time for them or being over whelmed by the volume of the models sitting doing nothing.

I've sold 10 recently, most have been relatively inexpensive so the money just goes back into the pot, but it's nice recycling the cash into positive things I can do with my daughters and into my home which is in need of TLC!

I figured I would keep what I can't or don't want to sell and if I sell something and regret it then I'll buy another or something different later on to make up for it.

So I've gone from 23 to 13, with a view that a few more will go over the next few weeks.

[Dojo Dave]

I think you're right on point Grumpy pants... my gathering of trucks has taken a staggering increase in volume. The quality is good, the cost versus value is on the right side of the line. I have more than I need or deserve so I'm thinking I should thin the heard. But which ones..

That is forever the dilemma. I buy three to get one I end up refinishing three and keeping all three, my excuse that one of the kids liked it or my wife liked it knowing they will rarely drive or even look at them. So really who are they for.

I believe the more complicated route will be my direction, so now I shall clear some dead weight and finance a high coup!

[Saito2]

My problem comes when its time to sell. I take the model off the shelf and remember all the good memories we shared. Despite not having the time to run it regularly anymore I think to myself "maybe someday", and put it back on the shelf. Yes there is a lot of money tied up in them, but I then wonder if I had that money, what would I do with it? Money is only as good as what you can buy with it. I'm always afraid the money from the sale would wind up getting blown on something frivolous or less memorable than the buggy I'm holding...Sigh...I'm such a nostalgic hoarder.

[Thommo]

Yes there is a lot of money tied up in them, but I then wonder if I had that money, what would I do with it? Money is only as good as what you can buy with it. I'm always afraid the money from the sale would wind up getting blown on something frivolous or less memorable than the buggy I'm holding...Sigh

I usually think about how much beer I could buy with my asking price and how long it would take me to consume that beer. That thought alone has completely stopped me from selling a few of my classics that do just sit on the shelf.