Feels good to have less...

[scoobybooster 248]

Funnywise, i often sell some cars in the summertime, just to restart the hoarding again in the wintertime. I assume i do so because in summer i have hardly the time to spend with my cars  (as a Family man with 2 kids ). In wintertime, we spend more time inhouse so i usually continue my restos then.

[Mad Ax 9311]

15 hours ago, Badcrumble said:

When my son was born, I put aside the dream of a 1:1 kit car. There was no way I was ever going to have the time or the money. RC, however, is considerably cheaper and has allowed me to get multiple cars. I could never do that with 1:1s!!!

I used to have 1:1 cars and bikes.  At one time I had something like 4 motorbikes and 3 cars.  Only one of each was actually roadworthy.  I had less money than I thought back then, and couldn't afford to fix any of the vehicles I bought.  They sat outside in the rain and deteriorated.  Actually my motorbikes sat in the stables that were vacated when my sister moved out.  I must have lost thousands over the years by buying vehicles for a few hundred, spending a few hundred in parts, then having them towed away for scrap because they rotted out.

Now I have one car (actually a day van with a bed, hob, sink, fridge and working computer desk) and one motorbike.  (We also have a diesel family car but mostly my wife drives that).  The day van is brilliant because it has separate power to charge my LiPos, it's free accommodation and food when I go to RC events, also free food and somewhere to rest when I take my daughter out.  Quite often me and some other local dads will have a day out in the vans.  Last weekend we took our babies to Truckfest, and avoided spending £30+ on bad fast food because we cooked a meal in the back of my day van.  Sadly it gets less than 20mpg, and with UK fuel prices going up on a weekly basis, it might have to go.  It's no good saving £100 on hotel and food for a weekend's RC racing when it costs £100 in fuel to get there.  I'll miss it when it's gone, way more than any RC, because I built it all myself and I know I won't have the money to buy another for possibly 20 years.

 

Re: my collection - at one point I just wanted one of everything.  One 4wd buggy, one 2wd buggy, one 4wd TC, one fwd TC...  Then I wanted one modern and one vintage.  That was a long, long time ago.  Then I started thinking about building custom stuff, and the crawler scene came along.  Then the drift scene.

Over the years I've built a lot of shelf cars that represent mild custom bodies.  They're all done much to my taste so, although they're probably the easiest things for me to let go, they're not really worth much to anyone else.  There's not much point in me running them because they're all stock TT01s underneath.

As it stands, I just want a selection of cars to fill all my needs.  I love crawling, so I want a crawler.  I have an SCX10 and it's pretty much what I want it to be, although there's always more stuff to add.  I also have a custom Bruiser on 1.9s built on Maverick Scout running gear and an X-trail chassis.  It's surprisingly capable.  But then I realise I want two of each because sometimes when I go crawling, mates want to come with me.  I want them to be able to borrow my spare cars.

Over the last 2 years I've really got into RC lorries.  I have two lorries and four trailers (one trailer is on long-term loan to a friend and the other I picked up this summer to rebuild, so it isn't in use yet).  I've also got NIB King and Grand Haulers which I plan to make a top-secret custom two-piece project from.  Now the Fat Fox is on the cards I can see me wanting that plus a Freightliner tractor to build another custom race rig project, although the budget won't cover than unless my wife goes back to work.

I also love drifting.  I mean, really love drifting.  There was a really good drift club 2 hrs drive from me - that's a long way for an evening's racing, especially when you have a family.  I used to work near there once every 2-3 months so I could have a free night drifting from time to time, but I no longer have that job and the club has temporarily closed to find a new venue anyway.  The closest drift club is 1.5 hrs drive away every other Friday, but sometimes it coincides with a nearby lorry meet the next day, so I'm planning on doing a Friday+Saturday drift+lorry camping excursion sometime.  Maybe this month.  The problem is I want CS and RWD drift cars.  I can't be satisfied with just one.  I have a Sakura D4CS that runs (sometimes) and a D4 RWD NIB.  But they were probably the wrong cars to buy.  They might come with heaps of carbon and alloy but there are better cars for the same money.  I don't know whether to persist with the D4s or save up for something else.  I can't get over how expensive drifting is.  It seems it should be such a simple thing, but the guys at the clubs spend thousands, and they buy brands that nobody ever hears of outside of drifting, like Overdose, OMG, even Sanyo.  IIRC Sanyo made poor-quality audio products in the 80s but now they make very expensive transmitters and ESCs for the drift fraternity.

I don't really do proper racing any more but I want vintage buggies and touring cars for a few vintage meets every year.

Plus I want my Emaxx, Clod, Blackfoot and other things like that for random bashing closer to home.  Except there are so few bashes out this way, so mostly they sit there gathering dust and puffing their LiPos...

 

Meh, it seems like I'm not ready to quit my collection but the current climate wants to quit me

[FerrisBFW 27]

Look at this bloke (from a French vintage FB page), his collection makes me itchy .....  I think I might have missed a couple photos.  There is a before shot, before the racking, with everything all over the floor.

[Wooders28 4722]

7 hours ago, Mad Ax said:

Sadly it gets less than 20mpg, and with UK fuel prices going up on a weekly basis, it might have to go.  

Have you thought of renting it out (not sure what's involved right enough), although with the , euro finals now over and done with, may need to wait until next year for the season to start.

2 hours ago, FerrisBFW said:

Look at this bloke (from a French vintage FB page), his collection makes me itchy ..... 

Kind of hope the guy owns a model shop, can't help but feel it's a waste all that enjoyment stacked on shelves not getting used.

[Hibernaculum 933]

18 hours ago, FerrisBFW said:

Look at this bloke (from a French vintage FB page), his collection makes me itchy .....  I think I might have missed a couple photos.  There is a before shot, before the racking, with everything all over the floor.

Please post the additional photos if you have them. This collection may be one of the most comprehensive vintage R/C collections in the world.

It would be nice if it were a museum, and all the cars and kits were on display, rather than stored.

[moffman 5752]

19 hours ago, FerrisBFW said:

Look at this bloke (from a French vintage FB page), his collection makes me itchy .....  I think I might have missed a couple photos.  There is a before shot, before the racking, with everything all over the floor.

That's not a collection that's a problem😅 (nice looking problem) nothing's built! What a waste IMO🤔 buy them build them use them!!

[Mad Ax 9311]

16 hours ago, Wooders28 said:

Have you thought of renting it out (not sure what's involved right enough), although with the , euro finals now over and done with, may need to wait until next year for the season to start.

I have briefly considered it.  I have a friend who has a '79 Camaro Z28 (a pretty rare and special car here in the UK) and I've suggested he does the same.  In fact several times we've both said we should swap cars for a few weeks - he can go camping and I can live my dream of owning an American musclecar

I'm not really sure what's involved but camper rental seems to be gaining popularity at the moment.  Campers and day vans in general are really popular these days.  I'd probably have to jump through a lot of insurance and paperwork hoops and I might have to add some more features such as mains hookup, as people will probably want that on campsites.

The downside is that we'd find it hard to live without a second car, as sometimes my wife an I are both out at once and my daughter's too young to go on the back of the motorbike.  So renting out the van would have to cover the cost of a) owning a 3rd small car and 2) secure parking for the van when it's not being rented, because there's not space for 3 cars at my place...

Getting a bit off-topic now so I'll bow out of this thread

[Re-Bugged 10116]

I think Hobbies ( what ever they are, RC, M/bikes, cars, boats, sport, etc etc ) are a bit like eating and drinking, nice & lots of fun at the time. But go to far and over indulge and it can turn to resentment. Everybody's limit is also different. You can just have to much of a good thing sometimes. Just enjoy it while it lasts. 

[acprc 1443]

I see a lot of me in these posts. I have been involved with the site since its inception pretty much as at that time I was just getting back into Tamiya again. I purchased every Tamiya I could find, restored them and put them on the shelf. My career in the Royal Air Force often took me away from the collecting for long periods of time and I would slowly get back into making the collection bigger.

Eventually I purchased my first Tamiya nitro and that changed the direction of my collecting. I realised the cars I had before suddenly (apart from a few) had no meaning apart from being Tamiya. It was at that point I sold 60 of them.

Nowadays the collection sits around the 260 mark and with a house move earlier this year I am slowly getting them in one place. This has really helped me take stock as I too have opened packing boxes and forgot I had a kit.  I only collect nitro now and in general the electric cars in my collection mean something specific to me although there are still a few that might go.

I think the collecting will continue until I get one of every Tamiya nitro kit produced, be it NIB, Restored or a runner. I'm about 70-75% at the moment so hopefully not long to go.

Oh, and as for buying for the sake of it.....I own 11 Mad Bisons!

[Juggular 4964]

7 hours ago, acprc said:

Oh, and as for buying for the sake of it.....I own 11 Mad Bisons!

That's a lot of Bisons.  

Just out of curiously, what made you buy so many?  2 flaws made me not want to buy more.  One was the reduction gear hanging down.  That gets caught and bottoms out all the time.  I put a copper plate under it, so it's less likely to get caught, but I can't fix the low hanging gear cover.  The other was overheating.  Some other head fit (I forget which), that cooled much better.  And the muffler wasn't efficient. I put a tuned pipe.  

The shell is a rather common Wild Dagger body.  The chassis is based on a common TG10 on-road chassis.  The tires are Monster Beetle tires.  Even though I like my Mad Bison, it's a haphazardly assembled truggy.  Was there a big sale that you couldn't resist?  Or is it because Tamiya rarely makes a nitro buggy?  

 

[Re-Bugged 10116]

Wow @acprc, 260! Have you thought of opening a museum?

Perhaps there is also an opportunity here for a new TV show ‘Tamiya Pickers’ as there seems to be a lot of them stashed away worldwide waiting to be rediscovered 😉. 

[markbt73 5315]

I actually hate seeing "collections" like the one posted above. I understand wanting to collect NIB kits (I didn't always, but I'm coming around). I get wanting a second one to build. Maybe even a third one to run. But when I start to see multiples of NIB kits like that, all I see is a hoard. I see someone who does not appreciate what they have; they are only interested in acquiring. This guy has no passion for the hobby. He just likes owning stuff.

The only good thing I see there are some nice old kits that are being preserved until the inevitable estate sell-off. At least there will be something worth searching for on eBay in 20 or 30 years...

[TurnipJF 9192]

For some people, simply acquiring and owning stuff is a hobby in itself. That said, it is not one I enjoy personally - I like things to be used as the designer intended. 

[Hibernaculum 933]

55 minutes ago, markbt73 said:

I actually hate seeing "collections" like the one posted above. I understand wanting to collect NIB kits (I didn't always, but I'm coming around). I get wanting a second one to build. Maybe even a third one to run. But when I start to see multiples of NIB kits like that, all I see is a hoard. I see someone who does not appreciate what they have; they are only interested in acquiring. This guy has no passion for the hobby. He just likes owning stuff.

I’m glad to hear you’re understanding toward NIB collecting. And even I would admit there’s no real reason to have more than 3 of one kit, due to the NIB/New built/Runner system covering pretty everything one can enjoy about a particular car.

But I could never hate a collection like this. And I would never say this collector has no passion for the hobby. I think they do. We don’t know what his plans are. Maybe its for a museum. Museums often carry vastly more items than they display. Maybe he wants multiples of kits to build and race, or to give to his kids.

The well known German collector with a collection like this (only bigger), reportedly planned to open it as a Museum called Moto Box. Though I don’t think he has yet.

This also doesn’t really look like hoarder behaviour to me. Hoarders are typically unhinged accumulators who acquire and keep everything. Whereas this is a collection by someone who is targeting a lot of rare, vintage pieces specifically, with an obsession with certain models - resulting in multiples.

Sometimes I see collections of hundreds and hundreds of cars piled on top of each other in a shed somewhere - all just used cars in poor condition, seemingly collected for no strategy other than to have hundreds, or thousands. That’s a hoard.

The above is a collector going to some effort to protect his kits and cars.

[markbt73 5315]

42 minutes ago, Hibernaculum said:

I’m glad to hear you’re understanding toward NIB collecting. And even I would admit there’s no real reason to have more than 3 of one kit, due to the NIB/New built/Runner system covering pretty everything one can enjoy about a particular car.

But I could never hate a collection like this. And I would never say this collector has no passion for the hobby. I think they do. We don’t know what his plans are. Maybe its for a museum. Museums often carry vastly more items than they display. Maybe he wants multiples of kits to build and race, or to give to his kids.

The well known German collector with a collection like this (only bigger), reportedly planned to open it as a Museum called Moto Box. Though I don’t think he has yet.

This also doesn’t really look like hoarder behaviour to me. Hoarders are typically unhinged accumulators who acquire and keep everything. Whereas this is a collection by someone who is targeting a lot of rare, vintage pieces specifically, with an obsession with certain models - resulting in multiples.

Sometimes I see collections of hundreds and hundreds of cars piled on top of each other in a shed somewhere - all just used cars in poor condition, seemingly collected for no strategy other than to have hundreds, or thousands. That’s a hoard.

The above is a collector going to some effort to protect his kits and cars.

I think we're going to have to agree to disagree on this one.

But I will leave you with this thought: Every "unnecessary" item I own, every RC car, every toy, every NIB static model kit, every book on my shelves, all 5 of my guitars, my hundreds of LPs and CDs, and my old MG, has a story behind it. I can tell you when and where I got it, why I love it, what I plan to do with it, off the top of my head. If I could not do that, I would seriously re-think the amount of stuff I have.

If this guy can do the same, then fine; otherwise, he's the RC equivalent of a dragon, sitting on a pile of riches, not appreciating the value of any one piece.

[Juggular 4964]

17 hours ago, markbt73 said:

I think we're going to have to agree to disagree on this one.

But I will leave you with this thought: Every "unnecessary" item I own, every RC car, every toy, every NIB static model kit, every book on my shelves, all 5 of my guitars, my hundreds of LPs and CDs, and my old MG, has a story behind it. I can tell you when and where I got it, why I love it, what I plan to do with it, off the top of my head. If I could not do that, I would seriously re-think the amount of stuff I have.

If this guy can do the same, then fine; otherwise, he's the RC equivalent of a dragon, sitting on a pile of riches, not appreciating the value of any one piece.

 

I see myself in your description. 

2-3 years ago, I realized that my memory became hazy.  Some 12 years ago, I wanted to put a Ford Bronco body on my TLT chassis.  I wanted camel yellow, with a white top.  The color choice was influenced by a Japanese YouTuber, Buoy-something.  For the life of me, I cannot remember what color I was going to use originally.  

If I cannot remember the whole process, there is no point in collecting.  So I kinda slowed down.   

It's "the journey vs the destination."  The journey, my own experience through each step is important.  My wife doesn't care why I buy clunky junks. (But she will give me her honest opinion as to which color suits which body)  Like her, some other people may not find each step important, but the end goal of completion is important.  My wife also might think, "A complete collection of XXX" more impressive than my own hodge-podge collection.  

Mark and I might be subjective guys.  My old 1:1 Subaru is a good workhorse, a basher.  It's like a pair of sturdy rubber boots to be used in snow and mud.  It's got meaning to me because of the history with me.  Other people might see things in some objective and collective way.  Cars might be shiny jewels to be polished, worshipped and collected, never to be driven in snow or mud. Personal history won't matter. In fact, "factory fresh" (or NIB) would be more desirable.  There are bashers and shelf queens.  I figure people are like that too.  

 

[Hibernaculum 933]

9 hours ago, markbt73 said:

I think we're going to have to agree to disagree on this one. 

But I will leave you with this thought: Every "unnecessary" item I own, every RC car, every toy, every NIB static model kit, every book on my shelves, all 5 of my guitars, my hundreds of LPs and CDs, and my old MG, has a story behind it. I can tell you when and where I got it, why I love it, what I plan to do with it, off the top of my head. If I could not do that, I would seriously re-think the amount of stuff I have.

If this guy can do the same, then fine; otherwise, he's the RC equivalent of a dragon, sitting on a pile of riches, not appreciating the value of any one piece.

That's totally OK Mark I respect your view, and you did get me thinking.

I will leave you with this thought: based on the photos above, do you honestly think that if this collector came on these forums, and was asked about his collection and why he collects, that he would answer with something along the lines of "I only collect them because I like to hoard them"?

I would bet my last dollar that he has a passionate story about his obsession with R/C. Nobody collects, and curates like that, with all the little filing boxes at the bottom of each shelf, without a good deal of passion. And I don't think it is requisite that everyone should have a story about every single piece in their collection, in order to appreciate the value, history and significance of each piece in their collection.

I'm actually like you - most of the hundreds of items in my collection, I remember where I got. Many are sentimental. But there are also some I don't remember who or when I bought them from. Yet I love them all the same for their history and nostalgia - and I would never sell them. At times I have had as many as four NIB vintage kits of the same car. But I can tell you that opening every single vintage kit, never fails to give me a buzz. I even get a buzz when I see photos of another one online, or in someone else's collection - even when it's something I own.

[Hibernaculum 933]

Also, a quick story: The German collector I mentioned earlier (I am sure you all know about him), with the comparably even larger collection, is known to these forums. And was known to a friend of mine also. I think he may also be a follower of my site, however he is also quite private and completely unassuming, and makes no effort to "show off" what he has, which I think is pretty admirable. Anyway... from a friend, I learned that when this collector first began collecting in the early 2000s, he at one stage acquired some 20-30 NIB vintage Hotshot kits. However, this had nothing to do whatsoever with hoarding... I was told on good authority, that the collector was simply obsessed and in love with the Hotshot design so much. It was the first Tamiya he ever had. And he could not resist buying a whole stash of them, to build and run, or display, or just own. There was no blatant or careless disregard for the object - quite the opposite in fact. He was simply a huge fan of the design.

Collecting takes different forms. We should not be too quick to dismiss the motivations of big collectors, as lacking passion - it can be quite the opposite. I am yet to hear of a large scale collector of kits, who is not a passionate and obsessed fan of the hobby, and the cars.

[Juggular 4964]

20-30 Hotshots?  That's a lot.  Even though, I do have more than a dozen of StuG III Ausf B, C, D, E, F, G.  In 3 different scales too. (StuG III is my favorite: it's an ugly armored vehicle. But I like the idea of making it cheap and simple. So Germans could fight T34 as soon as possible)  I rather bash than worship, but clearly, I'm not in a position to judge. 

Though there isn't a lot of variation in Hotshot... who knows, every few years, he enjoys opening the NIB kit and relive the first moment he opened hotshot.  There are people who must drink until they can't remember their own names.  There are women who must shop just for the sake of spending money.  There are gamblers who lose their houses on gambling.  RC is one of the harmless hobbies.  If somebody wants to buy 300 kits, I'd say why not.  That value doesn't go anywhere.  It's like having money, just turned into the more desirable shape of Hotshots.  

 

[_oliK 108]

47 minutes ago, Juggular said:

It's like having money, just turned into the more desirable shape of Hotshots.  

  I'm going to get a framed print of this.

 

Yeah, it took me several cars to figure out what I wanted. I sold the surplus and now I am left with my M-01. (and two spare chassis in parts), my RWD Drift TA-05, (plus the stock parts, i.e. the original car without gears and screws) and my Fighter Buggy.

I would never want to own a shelf queen, I don't see the point in it. Both the M-01 and TA-05 get driven and driven hard, and I am enjoying every second of it.

The Fighter Buggy has been broken for a while. And while I like the idea of having a simple, offroad car to complement my onroad TA-05 and rally-ish M-01, the DT-01 doesn't really do it for me. It sort of lacks character. I would love to replace it with aHornet or Willy, but I don't want to part with it because of it's intricate custom paintjob. 

I can't really see myself owning more than three Tamiyas, since I would want all them to put to good use. I might start accumulating more bodies and wheels, though.

But I think it's important to not get lost in the hobby. It's just a thing after all. A beloved, hand-built, personalised thing, but still. I sometimes question me having a TA-05 that's probably entered the four-digit realm (too afraid to calculate), while there are kids starving elsewhere. I am far from saying that we should stop playing with RC and sell our houses for charity, but just asking yourself those question and cutting back if necessary is very important.

So, no more than three RC cars it is for me.

[_oliK 108]

18 hours ago, markbt73 said:

I think we're going to have to agree to disagree on this one.

But I will leave you with this thought: Every "unnecessary" item I own, every RC car, every toy, every NIB static model kit, every book on my shelves, all 5 of my guitars, my hundreds of LPs and CDs, and my old MG, has a story behind it. I can tell you when and where I got it, why I love it, what I plan to do with it, off the top of my head. If I could not do that, I would seriously re-think the amount of stuff I have.

If this guy can do the same, then fine; otherwise, he's the RC equivalent of a dragon, sitting on a pile of riches, not appreciating the value of any one piece.

I like your sentiment, too.

[acprc 1443]

On 9/14/2018 at 4:01 AM, Re-Bugged said:

Wow @acprc, 260! Have you thought of opening a museum?

Perhaps there is also an opportunity here for a new TV show ‘Tamiya Pickers’ as there seems to be a lot of them stashed away worldwide waiting to be rediscovered 😉. 

Nope, no plans for a museum. My collection is mainly on the site so easily discoverable although I do know plenty who are huge collectors and dont use Tamiyaclub at all.

[acprc 1443]

On 9/13/2018 at 9:53 PM, Juggular said:

That's a lot of Bisons.  

Just out of curiously, what made you buy so many?  2 flaws made me not want to buy more.  One was the reduction gear hanging down.  That gets caught and bottoms out all the time.  I put a copper plate under it, so it's less likely to get caught, but I can't fix the low hanging gear cover.  The other was overheating.  Some other head fit (I forget which), that cooled much better.  And the muffler wasn't efficient. I put a tuned pipe.  

The shell is a rather common Wild Dagger body.  The chassis is based on a common TG10 on-road chassis.  The tires are Monster Beetle tires.  Even though I like my Mad Bison, it's a haphazardly assembled truggy.  Was there a big sale that you couldn't resist?  Or is it because Tamiya rarely makes a nitro buggy?  

 

I purchased huge job lot of Bison and TG-10 parts and so set about restoring and building them. Whilst I do have 11 each one has been built and restored by me and has a story about what I did to each one to restore it. I agree it is a pretty poor kit. The FS-15LT engine is prone to overheat and leak however a few mods solve the leaks and the oversize heatsink head will help sort the overheating. I actually don't run any of my models however ever one is restored and tested. My passion is restoration not running them. I have an end goal of one of every Tamiya nitro ever produced. I am getting close at around 80% now but it will keep me busy for some time yet. As I finish a series like the NDF-01 range I then sell off all my spare/left over parts and move on. Ido however have a massive stock of TGX parts, bodies, wheels and tires as It's my favourite range of cars.

[Grumpy pants 4473]

For me it is a hassle selling cars or parts but when they have gone it does lighten my load and it’s rare for me to regret selling them. 

The toughest part is not buying something and keep adding to the problem!

I recently sold my Porsche which was gorgeous but in 6 months it didn’t get touched and within 24 hours of being received by the new owner it was up and running and being enjoyed.

The money they  bring back in doesn’t touch the sides but it’s still nice to have some cash in my Paypal account 👍

[Mad Ax 9311]

I'm having more cause to think about this, since my wife has decided to leave her well-paid job to be a stay-at-home mum.  We did the maths on it 2 months ago and it looked like we'd both still have some money to do hobbies as well as run the household and pay the bills.  We each have a little pot of "recreational money" and it seemed like I'd still be able to do some RC stuff, but after a month's trial run it's been really hard to manage hobby costs as well as the other recreationals like beers for the fridge, a sandwich or burger if I'm out, getting invited to social events, entry fees for family days out, etc...   I'm realising what a bummer it is when going to an an unavoidable event (like a friend's wedding) means I can't afford to go to the drift club or go to the Scaler Nationals.  Last month I blew my budget way early and still only spent £60 on RC parts.  That was a set of decals and some chassis rails for my King Hauler project.  The rest was just "generally living life."

Last week I built one of my NIB CC01s so I could finally make a start on my series of "hop-up vs homebrew" CC01 mods.  Except it'll be two more months before I can even afford the servo and ESC for the new build, because this month I need new tyres for the Scaler Nats.  Well, unless I go a whole month without getting "invited" to a wedding, stag do, birthday party or any other captive venue where I'll have to pay through the nose for a meal and some drinks.

Annoyingly I had a choice of two CC01s to build and I chose the complete, unopened Pajero MTW.  I have a Landfreeder which I'd previously opened to borrow some parts from, I could have built that one and sold the other to raise funds for the parts I need to finish it.

So it looks like I'll have to change how I do projects: it may be a case of finish something, sell it to fund the next project.  I know a lot of people do this anyway.  It feels bad to put a lot of time and effort into something only to sell it on, but maybe it will be a liberating experience?  Somehow I think it'll just sting to sell something for less than I bought it for, having put the work into the build and paint...