Maintenance cost?

[Juggular 4964]

Servo horns $3.08 & $9.58, tires $22.64.  Plus servos and RX batteries from Hobbyking, $53.  No beer involved.  I just figured, 'hey, somebody recommended a cheap $3.57 Hobbyking servo. Maybe I should order that this time...'  One servo lead to 5 others...  The plan of spending $3 became $88 last night.  (I could use something stronger than a Hitech 605 for Juggernaut, and the servo horn is cracked. Wild Willy2's Kimbrough horn does the neck-thing from "Exorcist" too.)  If I add $18 Arrowmax hex bits I ordered the other day, it's 106 USD. 

For $20 more, I could have gotten a new NSU TT Jagermeister or a DT-03!  

It seems like keeping 2 dozen cars in good running order costs as much as a new kit.  Am I the only one with this problem?   

 

[KEV THE REV 2319]

15 hours ago, Juggular said:

For $20 more, I could have gotten a new NSU TT Jagermeister or a DT-03! 

Best not to think of it like that , and no you're not the only one . I'm building a vintage / re-re hybrid Wild One from parts that I had , or thought I had , and I'm a good few quid into it now as one thing lead to another and another . Just eat the pain I guess

[Fabia130vRS 2098]

I do that with my F103, TA05 and M03.

every month, If I have to buy something, I look to buy as more as I am able to save on shipping. This month I orderd parts for my TA05, last month it was the Xray and F103, the month before it was F103 and M03.

but they are all in perfect working condition. No worn parts anywhere.

I hate to have laying around a car that is bit functioning. Even if its a roller, it should be a roller bot partial roller.

As tempting it is to buy a new kit, I rather invest in parts if I need to. I was hoping next month they are all complete, and I could spend some money on my real car, but then I got into the F104gt mini project, and now I meed a Mazda MX5 body and some smaller bits, then also, new slicks for my M03 so I could use the old M03 tires on the MX5. Not to mention, I bought a new savox last month for my xray, but then rhe servo on the m03 died, so the m03 has the savox temporary, since the xray needs a esc and motor. So I need a body, tires, brushless combo, servo... last 4 months spending over 150$ a month.

but I wasted a total summer because of a broken leg, I deserved at least the 150$ a month.

 

I hope you get into the NSU, but I also like the DT03. 

[Jonathon Gillham 4606]

I know your pain. I needed 2 more rubber shielded 1150 bearings so ended up ordering 60 in different sizes. I hope Yeah Racing bearings are good. It cost about half per bearing than I would usually pay but still ended up about $45. Add $45 of grease a couple of weeks before and I'm halfway to a DT03.

Its not so bad when its things like tools or a big tub of grease which last ages. Not so good when you order Tamiya ball diff grease then find out the massive tube isn't actually very good

[markbt73 5316]

I don't even bother trying to keep them all in running condition. What bugs me is when I have an hour to kill and want to drive something, don't care what, and discover that every one of my cars is out of commission in some way...

[Pablo68 1049]

Good thread. Yeah you're not the only one.

I've tried to set myself up so that I have enough of everything, especially if I want to do a repair or a mod on the fly.
Never works out that way though. Oh...I'll need some blah blahs to do that, the ones I have won't work...

[Juls1 1661]

Meh, if you bought another kit, you’d still need that other crap anyway and the kit would need it’s price spending on it again minimum if not 4x that amount. 

Tamiya projects always blow out in cost, but the retail therapy is half the addiction I guess. 

The looking for the best deal on x part, you find it, then you think “well what else do these people have that I probably don’t need but might want” might as well save on the freight....... that’s how $8 turns in to $80 and then that turns into $800...  then that turns into 2 more kits that need another $300 each spending on them and so on and so on.

[Kingfisher 1171]

10 hours ago, Juggular said:

Am I the only one with this problem?   

Hello. I see you are new here. Welcome to the club. 

[TurnipJF 9192]

I find maintenance of my race fleet to be quite cheap really. Wheels and tyres cost about £30 a set but last pretty much a whole season, bearings last for ages indoors and so far the only thing I have broken was a £5 front suspension arm.

The most expensive part of racing is the fuel for my full-size car to get to and from the track which is over an hour's drive away. 

[Re-Bugged 10148]

It’s when you add on the postage you feel that you may as well order more than you need to justify it to.

I found myself sitting on the edge of a rabbit hole with both feet in recently and had to adjust my cart as things were starting to get a little out of control. I’ve got more than enough to keep me busy for a while 😉

Keeping 3 bicycles, a van, a car, a motorbike and house in running order also doesn’t help much either. 

Just glad I don’t own a boat.

B-O-A-T = ‘ Bring On Another Thousand ‘

[Juggular 4964]

I thought B-O-A-T = ‘Being Overwhelmed about Tamiya.'  It's Tamiya club, you know. 

[Re-Bugged 10148]

I suppose anther way of looking at maintanance is your really just buying your 2nd one in installments. 

[Kingfisher 1171]

Found this and thought it would be fitting.

 

[Yalson 514]

One thing about coming back to the hobby after a 25 year absence is not just the parts to recommission a non-running eBay car, but the money I am having to spend on tools to repopulate the old pit box. BITD the pit box was fully tooled up and ready to travel to an away meet at a moment's notice, where it would be well enough kitted out to fix almost anything, or if not then someone else there would.

However, in the intervening time the tools inside have been borrowed, lost or otherwise spread to the four winds and I have found myself buying such basics as screwdrivers, soldering irons and pliers. And that is before buying new cells, radio gear, motors, electronics and all the rest. In terms of actual spare parts, I have bought less than £20 worth for the Raider and about double that for the Hunter (including the scrap Galaxy chassis I bought for spares). I have spent about £60 on basic tools and I have had to keep postponing the Raider rebuild as I don't know what I don't have until I need it, so I keep having to wait for tools to be delivered.

In the plus column, though, I have about a dozen Tamiya 'crucifix' wheel nut socket spanners, which is odd as I have only ever owned two Tamiya cars.

It was never this frustrating in the old days.

[Jonathon Gillham 4606]

33 minutes ago, Yalson said:

One thing about coming back to the hobby after a 25 year absence is not just the parts to recommission a non-running eBay car, but the money I am having to spend on tools to repopulate the old pit box. BITD the pit box was fully tooled up and ready to travel to an away meet at a moment's notice, where it would be well enough kitted out to fix almost anything, or if not then someone else there would.

However, in the intervening time the tools inside have been borrowed, lost or otherwise spread to the four winds and I have found myself buying such basics as screwdrivers, soldering irons and pliers. And that is before buying new cells, radio gear, motors, electronics and all the rest. In terms of actual spare parts, I have bought less than £20 worth for the Raider and about double that for the Hunter (including the scrap Galaxy chassis I bought for spares). I have spent about £60 on basic tools and I have had to keep postponing the Raider rebuild as I don't know what I don't have until I need it, so I keep having to wait for tools to be delivered.

In the plus column, though, I have about a dozen Tamiya 'crucifix' wheel nut socket spanners, which is odd as I have only ever owned two Tamiya cars.

It was never this frustrating in the old days.

I hadn't considered tools, but you're absolutely right.  When I built my first Tamiya kits (this time around) I just used my screwdrivers, pliers etc that I already have.  Then bought race cars so needed hex drivers.  Bought a set thinking that would be enough.  Then found out about shock pliers, various knives, scissors and the latest is the bigger wheel nut tool for the nitro buggy, and a hook thing that you use to put the springs on that hold the exhaust together.  At least with the tools I have learned to spend a bit more and buy once rather than try to make do with the cheap version!

[Juggular 4964]

4 hours ago, Jonathon Gillham said:

... with the tools I have learned to spend a bit more and buy once rather than try to make do with the cheap version!

1

Amen to that.  I've been quite slow in learning that lesson...

...because I'm cheap.  Here are parts trays, made out of lids of tea canisters and small magnets.  They are small but I've got 3.  The problem is, I assume I could do this to everything.  The success rate is less than 1%, because there is no substitution for good hex drivers.  It's all because I saw this guy one too many times when I was younger.  

Edit: for the younger members... once upon a time, there was a TV show called MacGuyver.  He could fix the International Space Station with a string of dental floss and a wad of gum.  Except, MacGuyver was from 1985, ISS was launched in 1998...  

[Re-Bugged 10148]

Phew, at least I didn’t have to account for the tools because they can be used on my Jap motorbike too.

I also have a big hammer in the tool box to fix any RC maintenance that starts to become an ‘uneconomical’ repair.