Possibly in need of a new hobby

[Saito2]

Tamiya's recent price hike is just about the final nail in the coffin for me and new/re-re kit building. While I have a few new kits stashed away and some projects to finish up, I can not afford to keep building kits at the rate I'm accustomed to stay sane (lol). Even the with the less expensive models, this greedy cash grab veiled behind the pretense enriching the brand's value sits badly with me, so I won't buy in. This leaves me some choices of where to move on to:

Lego: I loved them as a kid and the wife enjoys building them with me today. They aren't cheap and they don't quite have the small mechanical/technical nature of an RC car, but they are awesome.

Model Trains: Also loved them as a kid. Endless building. Scratches most itches so to speak but also expensive (and a dying hobby as well) and takes up a fair amount of room (unless I drop down to N scale)

Other RC brands: This is a natural transition of course, but finding other actual kits are an issue. Axial has a few as does Kyosho (although Kyosho's recent buyout worries me)

Static models: I built a lot of these as a kid but I'm pretty burnt out of full size cars as restoring them is my day job so the models are no different. What I would still like is Tamiya 1/35th military models (love WW2 vehicles/tanks). Sadly, I'm caught between my enjoyment of building them and my utter disgust for what Tamiya has done to my RC hobby. Do I want to keep feeding that beast?

Guitars: I've built a few electrics. Very satisfying. Pickups and such (as well a good wood blanks) can be pricey plus my arthritis prevents me from playing as well as I used to which is sad, but when they're done they feel like an accomplishment. 

In the end, I'll still restore and run old Tamiya RC cars. I can separate current greedy Tamiya from classic old-school Tamiya. I can't do that all the time (financially) so I need a day to day hobby to plug along at. Up for opinions or other ideas, just nothing bigger or more expensive. I'm looking for something I can sit at the bench and work on for 45 minutes a day (my allotted free time) to escape. 

 

[mongoose1983]

1 hour ago, Saito2 said:

Guitars: I've built a few electrics. Very satisfying. Pickups and such (as well a good wood blanks) can be pricey plus my arthritis prevents me from playing as well as I used to which is sad, but when they're done they feel like an accomplishment. 

That is very interesting. For months I've been thinking about making a basic bass myself. I think I've seen plain necks ready to be worked on for sale and I think it would be a nice experience. Sadly the stuff required isn't cheap to do so, but I still can't help to envision doing it someday.

I was wondering, have you got any pictures of the guitars you've made?

Have a good weekend!

[tamiya3speed]

I vote Lego first.  I have been a builder since I was a kid.  Still great fun as an adult.  My son is into HO scale and Lego trains.  The Lego trains are a good mix, best of both worlds really!!

I agree on Tamiya, I have an Egress backordered and a Manta Ray to pick up but I think I am taking a Tamiya break for some time afterwards myself.  Building an RC10T6.1 now, blows Tamiya away in terms of fit and materials to this point in the build and bonus no MAP pricing!

[Juggular]

I hear you.  I think I'll take a pause with Tamiya myself.  Big corporations are entitled, while I get squeezed...not enjoying that.  I'll need to find another hobby too, while Tamiya comes to their senses...  

I recently discovered that Bandai's 1/144th scale robot kits are awesome. Cheap too.  (I watched an animation series --Gundam Iron Blooded Orphans--. I ate a lot of gummy bears and drank a lot of beer while watching it while my wife went to visit her aunt for a couple days...).  A bit more complicated than a tank, joints are articulated. They cost about $14-$20.  

I prefer smaller 1/48 scale armor (even though I have more in 1/35 scale).  Dragon model's 1/72 scale armors are tiny.  But surprisingly detailed.  They are all the same, but building them in a different scale can be fresh.  

I used to enjoy taking photographs.  I suppose I could combine RC with photography by getting myself a cheap drone with a camera.  Oh, that reminds me how I wanted to build a foam plane.  I've had "Real Flight 6.5," simulator for years, so controls should be instinctive.  I've never really flown anything, but building foam airplanes could be fun.  I like these Flitetest guys.   

 

[Saito2]

10 hours ago, mongoose1983 said:

hat is very interesting. For months I've been thinking about making a basic bass myself. I think I've seen plain necks ready to be worked on for sale and I think it would be a nice experience

Give it shot if you can. I've yet to do a neck from scratch. I started with cheap, but well made guitars, yanked the electrics, put in some good Dimarzio or Duncan pups and wound up with a decent instrument. Then I did custom switching and finally started making bodies. The routing for the neck is the toughest thing to do for me.

 

8 hours ago, tamiya3speed said:

The Lego trains are a good mix, best of both worlds really!!

Very tempting. I'm going to have to look into this.

8 hours ago, Juggular said:

recently discovered that Bandai's 1/144th scale robot kits are awesome. Cheap too.  (I watched an animation series --Gundam Iron Blooded Orphans

Not a bad idea. I like some anime (my screen name is a Rurouni Kenshin character). I used to watch Gundam Wing on Toonami back in the day.

Thanks for the input guys!

[Juggular]

3 hours ago, Saito2 said:

  (my screen name is a Rurouni Kenshin character).  

 

That was one of the very first animes we've seen, way back like 15 years ago!  If I remember correctly, it was a bit dark?  Especially follow-up movies?  At that time, we've seen Inuyasha too. To this day, my wife's favorite anime character is one-armed Sesshomaru.  Because of all the animes we've seen, we have a fantasy of living in Japan for a year after we retire.  But friends who went to Japan to teach English don't seem to have a good opinion of working and living in Japan...  Perhaps we could have a long trip to Japan instead.  

 

[Backlash]

On ‎6‎/‎9‎/‎2018 at 11:43 AM, Saito2 said:

Tamiya's recent price hike is just about the final nail in the coffin for me and new/re-re kit building. While I have a few new kits stashed away and some projects to finish up, I can not afford to keep building kits at the rate I'm accustomed to stay sane (lol). Even the with the less expensive models, this greedy cash grab veiled behind the pretense enriching the brand's value sits badly with me, so I won't buy in. This leaves me some choices of where to move on to:

Lego: I loved them as a kid and the wife enjoys building them with me today. They aren't cheap and they don't quite have the small mechanical/technical nature of an RC car, but they are awesome.

Model Trains: Also loved them as a kid. Endless building. Scratches most itches so to speak but also expensive (and a dying hobby as well) and takes up a fair amount of room (unless I drop down to N scale)

 

LEGO... I must admit that I'm an AFOL, and quite enjoy building with it, be it a kit or an MOC... BUT Lego is expensive, and many of the models are static items, so there is not a lot of interaction that can be done once many of the kits are built.. Lego trains, Mind storm, and RC are the exception, but again they are not cheap...

Trains.. I am also into trains, and I model in N scale... From my experience, most of the train manufacturers have really lifted their game in recent years, and most modern N scale Locomotives have finer details, are more reliable and are better runners than the earlier models.. Kato is my Brand of choice with Locomotives, and Atlas is my brand of choice for rolling stock... I also have Digital Command Control (DCC) on my layout, and I have found that DCC adds a complete new dimension to running my trains.. But again, it is an expensive hobby...

[howaboutme]

Also a big fan of model trains and that's something that when I have the room, I'd like to jump into in the future.

Meanwhile....in addition to my first love of surface RC, I'm also addicted to this other money pit of a hobby that's even a smaller nitch:

Fish keeping is also another hobby that loves to suck bank accounts. I used to have a reef tank but the responsibilities (time) was too much. At least with RC, if you don't have time, nothing dies...

[Wandy]

Whatever you do, don't get into sneaker collecting. If you thought being a Tamiya enthusiast was expensive, addictive and habit forming.....well, it's a walk in the park compared to the sneaker scene. 

[Saito2]

 

16 minutes ago, Wandy said:

Whatever you do, don't get into sneaker collecting

My wife and I have a bunch of "Chucks" Converse (children of the "grunge" era) but it stops there. I didn't know sneaker collecting was so big until a few years ago.

[Wandy]

36 minutes ago, Saito2 said:

 

My wife and I have a bunch of "Chucks" Converse (children of the "grunge" era) but it stops there. I didn't know sneaker collecting was so big until a few years ago.

Yeah it's absolutely crazy. Imagine Tamiya releasing a couple of must-have kits each month and you get the picture. Not only that though, imagine if Tamiya released these kits in such limited numbers that none of the genuine enthusiasts could get their hands on them and they all end up in the hands of touts/re-sellers who promptly stick them for sale on ebay for three times the original retail price......

[topforcein]

for me ive got into collecting hotwheels cars and at only £1 each you cant go wrong. mind its starting to get propper out of control now

[Saito2]

8 hours ago, topforcein said:

for me ive got into collecting hotwheels cars and at only £1 each you cant go wrong. mind its starting to get propper out of control now

Oh, I've already been down that road, lol. I have boxes and boxes of Matchboxes, Hot Wheels and Johnny Lightning cars. I wish I had the wall space to display them.

[gordb]

On 6/10/2018 at 1:13 PM, Wandy said:

Whatever you do, don't get into sneaker collecting. If you thought being a Tamiya enthusiast was expensive, addictive and habit forming.....well, it's a walk in the park compared to the sneaker scene. 

Wandy - I never took you for a sneaker collector! (not that there's anything wrong with it)

[Wandy]

18 hours ago, gordb said:

Wandy - I never took you for a sneaker collector! (not that there's anything wrong with it)

 

Yeah Gord, I got into it around 5 years ago and have slowly fallen deeper down the rabbit hole, with the last couple of years being particularly intense. I was shocked recently when I totalled what I have spent in that time...just over £8K.  ...which isn't too far off what I have spent on RC in nearly 15 years. Scary stuff....but I am calming down now and pretty much have ticked off my "wish list" now, with only a few stragglers left to track down.

The parallels with Tamiya collecting are very noticeable. You have a community of obsessive enthusiasts who congregate on various dedicated forums who talk themselves into a frenzy about the whole collecting scene, and love talking about retro releases and reminiscing about days gone by. The Tamiya equivalent in sneakers is Nike, who completely dominate the scene, even if they dont necessarily make the best quality stuff. They are geniuses in marketing though and know how to appeal to the emotions of their followers. To be honest, although I always knew that Nike were a big company, I had no idea just how big they really are until recent years. They truly are monster-sized.

One key difference between RC and sneaker collecting though is that the sneaker community is far less tightly knitted than that of RC, with many unscrupulous sharks, scammers and fraudsters in abundancy. The whole buying of limited edition releases is skewed in favour of opportunists who use software...known as "bots" to grab all of the stock, and then sell it for massively inflated prices on the resale market. And the likes of Nike and Adidas wont do a single thing to counteract it because they love the hype and publicity it brings to their brand. 

 

 

[markbt73]

Have you thought about vintage (60s-80s) slot cars? I have seen a few old Tyco and Aurora HO-scale sets at flea markets/"antique" stores recently. So far I have resisted temptation, but only because I can't figure out where I would set up the track... though the cars would sure take up less space than RC...

[speedy_w_beans]

I credit my son with pulling me in new directions, especially during his mid-teen to late-teen years.  He had a natural desire to try things, and I joined in with him:

• Blacksmithing:  This was not something I came up with; he approached me first!  Just the thought of taking some mild steel, heating it up to bright orange/yellow, and pounding away to make simple things sounded pretty fun.  We used to fire up the forge on Friday nights and pound away at stuff in the driveway.  There was a local club we could visit twice a month at the county fairgrounds.  Building the tool set was fun, too.  I turned a rolling tool cart into a European side-blast forge using an electric bathroom fan, dryer duct pipe, black pipe, and fireplace bricks from a local brickyard.  We went to a local tree service and grabbed a stump for free, then traveled across the state to buy some non-Federal railroad track to make a crude anvil.  We bought a simple vise and tool stand.  Between all that and some basic hammers we reshaped with a grinder, we might have $300 invested in total.  That gave us a year of fun.
• Firearms:  Again, not something I would have pursued on my own.  His enthusiasm for firearms shot up in the late teens and we started with basic hunting rifles and shotguns.  That expanded into other firearms, various ammunition, optics, range equipment and cleaning supplies, etc.  I don't recommend the hobby as you can dump quite a bit of money chasing equipment and ammunition, and there are ethical/legal/personal challenges each person has to address for himself.
• The YMCA:  There was a point in time where my son wanted to join the military, and I was honest with him -- he was too fat and flabby to be accepted.  I laid out the challenge -- if he really wanted to do it, he would need to lose weight and build a lot more strength.  We joined the local YMCA under a family membership, and we set him up with a personal trainer that met with him twice a week.  After a year of establishing the pattern, we let the trainer go and he and I continued ourselves.  After the first year his confidence went up considerably; athletes at school started giving him some respect, and the girls were flirting with him more.  We're now in our third year of lifting free weights and the benefits have really accumulated for both of us.

While RC cars are a nice solitary hobby for myself, I have to say the best hobbies were the ones I did with someone else -- my son.  Seeing him learn and make progress, and even making some progress myself, was the most satisfying aspect of the hobby.  The social component is a big draw for me.  If you have kids consider being an enabler for them and going extra deep into their interests.

Also consider physical fitness as a hobby.  Not only did it help my son, it helped me sleep better and handle big projects around the house more easily.  I'm not too far from being 50 years old, and the workouts have helped me feel better and look better.  The wife approves. 

[Saito2]

17 hours ago, speedy_w_beans said:

Blacksmithing:  This was not something I came up with; he approached me first!  Just the thought of taking some mild steel, heating it up to bright orange/yellow, and pounding away to make simple things sounded pretty fun

This is a good idea. I love watching this stuff at the Renaissance Fair. While I'm no bodyman, I do enjoy firing up the Oxy/Acetylene torch at work and beating heavier metal into submission. A backyard forge is just plain cool.

 

17 hours ago, speedy_w_beans said:

Firearms:  Again, not something I would have pursued on my own.

The mechanics of firearms are interesting but I'm fairly anti-gun myself. They have there purpose and I am not here to say they are good or bad or should be taken away. They're just not for me. I turned down a CNC position recently because the company made AR15s and I couldn't bring myself to make something that would end a life.

17 hours ago, speedy_w_beans said:

the YMCA

I would love to do this but years in my trade have left me with a shattered body. My knees are shot to the point I need a cane on bad days. My back goes out frequently requiring the use of a brace just to stand upright. Every time I try to exercise more, I screw something up. Still, something less impactful like cycling would be a good idea. Thankfully, I'm still quite thin and fit otherwiise.

Thanks for the suggestions!

[Badcrumble]

if you're into music (from the above, I guess you are), how about building your own hi-fi?

It can be done quite cheaply, there's really good forum support from the likes of diyaudio.com.

 

[Wooders28]

On 6/11/2018 at 10:29 PM, Saito2 said:

Oh, I've already been down that road, lol. I have boxes and boxes of Matchboxes, Hot Wheels and Johnny Lightning cars. I wish I had the wall space to display them.

Got a few, supermarkets have them for a quid, 1st gen Firebird with an LS swap too! 

Daughters found them, ripped them open, and had a blast playing with them, so that's that. Although I've hidden my 2nd gen TransAm's, a few Frosties livery ones from the 80's. 

[Saito2]

8 hours ago, Badcrumble said:

if you're into music (from the above, I guess you are), how about building your own hi-fi?

Another good idea. I've also kicked around the idea of building an guitar amp too.

[markbt73]

On June 25, 2018 at 3:29 PM, Saito2 said:

Another good idea. I've also kicked around the idea of building an guitar amp too.

I've had the same thought, and I almost did it a few years ago. I wanted a little tube amp, so I found a build-your-own Fender Champ-style kit online, but it was like $600. And real vintage Fender Champs were about that much on ebay.

So instead I bought a Chinese clone, already built, for $200. Ironic, huh?

[Saito2]

3 hours ago, markbt73 said:

I wanted a little tube amp, so I found a build-your-own Fender Champ-style kit online, but it was like $600. And real vintage Fender Champs were about that much on ebay.

Wow, that's pricey. I also always wanted a little tube amp. I only ever got to play on one and that was at the House of Guitars near Rochester, New York. That place was far out! I've been eyeing up my dream guitar, a Fender Jaguar, but man, it's not cheap.

[VagabondStarJXF]

I've got an 'outside the box' suggestion...

Have you considered CAD Work & 3D Printing? You can get a decent program, or access to one, for free then print them out on your own 3D printer if you buy one. Alternatively there's companies like Shapeways to do the printing for you. If you want to design unique parts for your RCs or just standard replacement parts for stuff that's broken, 3D printing is a viable solution. In addition to the RC angle, I've noticed a 3D printable guitar design on Thingiverse. It's free to download and, if you've got your own printer, it'd be another thing you could explore, especially as you'd mentioned something about building your own guitars. As for Lego, yep there's even 3D printer stuff for Lego blocks as well. There's one site that has a printable catalogue of many of the Lego kits out there. I can't remember what it's called but when I looked at the Star Wars kits on there, well, most of them were complete with the few that weren't just missing a couple of unique, kit specific, parts that hadn't been modelled yet.

3D Printing could be a good 'side hobby' and could also be a way in to some of things you've expressed interested in. What do you think?

[Saito2]

I think its a great suggestion. While I don't "get along" with computers all that well (analog man in a digital world and all that, lol) CAD and the things that follow would interest me. I became a lead CNC operator during the great recession before I got back into antique cars. While I handled the "mechanical" end of things (machine repair, upkeep, tooling, outsets/adjustments etc.) my counterpart in the office did the CAD designs. I messed about with Autocad a bit, but Solidworks looked amazing (and way beyond my meager intellect) When my daughter gets a bit older, I hope to find the time to take some night courses on CAD and possibly get a 3D printer to play with.