Buying models for imagined purposes

[Saito2 6686]

The title may seem odd, but hopefully I'm not alone here. Have you ever purchased a model with a particular purpose in mind and then not use it as such? I think this may be a mind trap I fall into to justify a kit purchase. Several examples: I bought a Mountain Rider and carefully assembled it with the intention of taking it out to some wooded trails. These trails also have hikers, bikers and horses at times. The truck has never been out of my yard to this day. I could never find the time to get the model packed up, drive to the trails, run it and then come home. Furthermore, I couldn't get over the fear of a cyclist swooping around a corner and smashing it, lol. I've bought several buggies like a TRF201 envisioning going to a track someday. I have it all planned out in my head and then never get to a track. Foolish of me, considering how far the nearest track is. I desperately want to go the VONATS as its not entirely too far away. Being a family man means it will never happen. There is 100% no way I could pack the family up, make a 6 hour trip for a weekend so dad can race RC cars. Not happening, but still I dream, lol. Anyone else have unrealized plans for a model? 

[Kevin_Mc 411]

Probably most of mine's fall into that tbh - i'm in the same boat as you, i don't get much time to actually use them so my initial plans never really work out. I think it might be a trick into justifying my most recent purchase too!

[colda 45]

this, many times over

But because of this I finally did end up getting into racing at my local track

[Mad Ax 9329]

I do this over and over again.  I've lost count of the number of things I've bought for a given purpose and never used for that purpose, or never used at all.

Here's one of many, many examples:

I'd always wanted to have a go at RC drifting, but there was never a club nearby.  The nearest was 2 hr drive away.  I decided I'd take my TT02D there one December, before my daughter was born, and I still had the time to do long journeys like that on a whim.  Before the event came around I realised a TT02D was never going to cut it - I heard about this whole new thing called CS drift - so I bought and built a Sakura D4CS in the weeks running up to the event.  But on my first visit I saw most people were running RWD, and my CS car just didn't seem to handle anything like theirs did, so I came home and immediately bought a D4 RWD, so I could have the choice of running CS and RWD when I next went along.

I didn't have time to build the RWD chassis, so it sat in storage unbuilt.

The club - despite being 2 hrs drive away - was 5 minutes from an office where some of my colleagues worked, so once every 2 or 3 months I'd arrange to have a meeting there on drift club night.  I'd get a day out to see my colleagues, my mileage expenses paid, and I could stop at the drift club on the way home for a few hours of driftage.  I still never got around to building that RWD car.

Then my daughter started swimming lessons on club night, and my wife liked to have me around to help with showers and feeding, so there was more pressure to stop going to drift club.  Then I switched jobs, so I couldn't get my expenses paid, and I couldn't be in the vicinity when the club opened.  Then the club lost its venue and closed down.

The good news is that another club has got going a little closer to home - it's 90 minutes away.  The better news is that it's on Fridays, and Friday is the day when I don't have to do any baby duty, so I can work flexi and leave early to get to the drift club.  The better still news is that I have some good friends in that part of the country who I met through Tamiyaclub way back in 2007 or something, and the nuff more betterer news is that there's a local RC lorry meet in the same part of the country one Saturday of every month, which my friends also go to.  So I have a new plan - once a month I go down to the drift club on Friday evening, meet with my friends, go drifting, have some drinks, stay the night in my camper, then on Saturday we go to the lorry meet together.

I also see that Hobbyking now sell a radio with built in gyro, so maybe I'll get around to building that RWD car as soon as I have the budget for the radio

[Kevin_Mc 411]

@Mad Ax I always thought CS and RWD drift was the same thing - obviously not - what's the difference?

[Mad Ax 9329]

25 minutes ago, Kevin_Mc said:

@Mad Ax I always thought CS and RWD drift was the same thing - obviously not - what's the difference?

A little off-topic, but here is my understanding of it:

RWD is (obviously) where only the rear wheels are driven.  It's scale-realistic, and the lack of front driveshafts means you can get crazy steering angles for very aggressive drifts.  However no Yoda is any RC driver, so a gyro one needs to control a drift.

A conventional 4wd chassis will do a 4-wheel slide on drift tyres but it doesn't look scale.  4wd drifting is easier to control but it doesn't look realistic, because all four wheels will be spinning, and because applying opposite lock (as a full-size RWD drift driver does) pulls the car out of the drift.

CS is the middle ground, and it's where the rear wheels turn faster than the front.  This means the car is inherently unstable in a straight line but can hold drifts in corners while maintaining opposite lock (countersteering).  My D4CS is almost impossible to drive straight but it immediately goes into a tail-out slide as soon as it comes to a corner.  The aim with CS driving is to keep the front wheels turning at the speed the car is moving, so the car will follow whatever line the front wheels are pointing in, and the back wheels will naturally hang out because they're turning faster.  The higher the CS ratio, the more aggressive your drifts will be.

That's it in a nutshell, I'm far from an expert drifter and I spend most of my time bouncing into barriers and maybe one of the better drift drivers will be along to correct or add to the above

[Guest]

I'm more of a shelter than a runner. But I justify buying all sorts (last was a twin detonator) on the basis that I need cars to run and for the kids to drive, but then never take them out. Had the twin detonator maybe 4 months, not even put batteries in it yet. 

[firefoxussr 482]

Grand plans, glacial pace execution; in my case.

I own at least two bodyshells that I have an idea of what chassis should work well (non-stock, i.e. the engine/motor placement is wrong compared to the 1:1 vehicle or is a nitro and I want all brushless), but have not purchased the chassis yet.  Usually it's an OOP/scarce body which I need to make a runner copy of because it's just too precious otherwise.

I also just bought my fifth Lancia 037 shell because it was 27USD & free shipping.   I have all of the pieces to run my M04 037 build, just need to finish the decal design (all done except the complex curve striping).

 

[Kevin_Mc 411]

@Mad AxThanks for the explanation - i had no idea the front wheels were driven at all with CS, i thought it was only 4wd or rwd.

[VagabondStarJXF 350]

 

6 hours ago, Mad Ax said:

I've lost count of the number of things I've bought for a given purpose and never used for that purpose, or never used at all.

This is me...

1 hour ago, firefoxussr said:

Grand plans, glacial pace execution

And this is me too.

 

I often do the following in particular:

1) I see a part(s) (a chassis, some aluminium bits, etc.) then the mind starts racing around "What could I do with it?" or I see someone else's project and then the mind starts racing around "I want one of these too!"

2) I buy the part(s) to get started, using money & energy I generally shouldn't be diverting away from current projects, in a half-rush mentality to make the project happen.

3) I realise I've just ruined multiple projects by diverting both funds and mental energy away from them and onto this new project.

4) I get stuck on all projects because I'm no longer focused on any one of them and I've drained all of the small amount of funds that was available.

5) With all projects now stalled I start moping around the internet, looking for the cheapest parts available to complete those stalled projects.

6) Go back to 1. Go directly to 1. Do not pass Go. Do not collect £200.

 

TBH I'm not surprised I don't get anything done 'n dusted. Unfortunately I'm currently at stage 5 which usually happens because of the holiday season. That being said I've spent the last week or so trying to rearrange my working space and I've got more unfinished projects that can physically fit in my room. My 2019 New Year's Resolution has got to be to break this cycle. I need to finish projects and clear the space taken up by boxes of parts.

[markbt73 5316]

23 minutes ago, VagabondStarJXF said:

I often do the following in particular:

1) I see a part(s) (a chassis, some aluminium bits, etc.) then the mind starts racing around "What could I do with it?" or I see someone else's project and then the mind starts racing around "I want one of these too!"

2) I buy the part(s) to get started, using money & energy I generally shouldn't be diverting away from current projects, in a half-rush mentality to make the project happen.

3) I realise I've just ruined multiple projects by diverting both funds and mental energy away from them and onto this new project.

4) I get stuck on all projects because I'm no longer focused on any one of them and I've drained all of the small amount of funds that was available.

5) With all projects now stalled I start moping around the internet, looking for the cheapest parts available to complete those stalled projects.

6) Go back to 1. Go directly to 1. Do not pass Go. Do not collect £200.

Sounds about right... which is why I'm on a self-imposed (and partially budget-imposed) spending freeze until I get at least two or three of my current projects done. Trying to force myself to work with what I have, and not get distracted. So far it just means I spend a lot of time moping around the internet wishing I could spend money...

[Jonathon Gillham 4607]

I never had this problem until very recently. With my cars I would see a kit I wanted and buy it after working out if I really wanted it. Twice I've bought 2 at once, the first time were rere's and I built one straight away and saved one for a few months to save the build. The other were race cars and I had about a week to get them ready which was a shame as I didnt enjoy building my TA07 as much as I should have.

I've had some cars which don't work but always had some runners available so it hasn't been a problem.

Now though that I've started on some boats and my son is making a tank I can see this happening. One boat was a small project which is 99% done it just needs the battery tray to be made which is a 15min job. I also need to make sure the ESC is ok which is a pain******* process so that may not happen.

The other is the Racing Sparrow which is going to be a 6 month build, but that can sit for a week easily with nothing done and I really don't want that to drag out. My wife thinks its amazing atm but wont if it still isn't finished this time next year. I need her thinking its awesome as thats how I was able to order a tank chassis for my son for xmas and have somehow had new stick radio gear and a dremel signed off.

So I now understand how these projects can drag on for a long time, especially a scratch build or restoration.

[Grotty Otty 868]

In response to the OP, I'll keep it simple - every single time if I'm honest with myself! Probably a case of just trying to justify another purchase when a simple life is short so do what you enjoy would suffice! Reminds me, I need another re-re 2wd because I've not got a vintage example.. Hmmm Top Cat v Astute...    Here we go again! 

[Kevin_Mc 411]

@Saito2 this is a brilliant thread, thanks for posting! 

[evssv69 378]

yes yes.....and yes......

[Juggular 4964]

It's not that bad until the first 10 cars.  You tend to buy new kits.  You tend to keep to the manual.  Even if you get a used one with a busted shell, you go with the shell color Tamiya decided.  By the time you go over 10, Black magic starts to happen.  In addition to genuine Tamiya aluminum parts, you start buying GPM, Yeah Racing, etc.  When you start to drill the pristine chassis, you've hit the point of no return.  

The good boy who used to follow the manual is no more.  You'd imagine that you've become Dr. Frankenstein (but not really--that's the subject of this thread...).  The sacrilege of slapping HPI monster tires onto a Tamiya is no sin to you.  You start to muck up the diffs with all sorts of yucky stuff you'd have freaked out over when you were simply following the rules.  Your mind is tainted with deviant ideas like a buggy with helicopter blades on top whirling about, for reasons that are not entirely clear to you now.  Mad Max used to be a movie, now it's a data mine for your projects.  (I'm looking at you, Mad Inventor) 

You don't sit in a meeting bored anymore.  You jot down a list of cars you own in the order of ownership, in hopes that you'd remember the original purpose of certain cars you've bought.  When somebody asks you, "you've got an idea?"  You say, "huh? no. well, yes, but not about that..."  You were going to start on one project you remembered that day (at work), but as soon as you are done with dinner, you get sucked into TC and get your flames started for yet another project.  Like Jonathon's yacht project.  I had imagined turning the Tamiya Patrol Boat for RC purpose.  I looked for it, and find 2 Pibbers, 3 torpedo boats, plus a submarine.  They all came with dreams once...

 

 

[Fabia130vRS 2098]

I am at 9 cars now and totally understand  @Juggular

that is 7 new projects in less then 1 year and almost all are completed. Guess who is eating rice for christmas. Me! 😁

[Mad Ax 9329]

I see myself in so many of these posts.

Sometimes I see an idea someone else did and think "I could do that too!" - straight onto ebay, buying donor chassis and parts...

Sometimes I have an idea independently for a project that stalled years ago - straight onto ebay, buying parts...

Sometimes it's an event - a one-make one-day race championship, or a Halloween theme race night - straight onto ebay, buying parts...

Perhaps more critically is what stalls projects.  For me it's time, space, and broken parts.  Right now it's space - my workshop is chock full of other stuff and I can barely move.  Two weeks ago I completely cleared my workbench and got down my ancient hotrod hearse project to add some more details.  But the weather was cold and my workshop was unheated, so it sat there on the workbench while I went on holiday.  Last night I went to the workshop when a mate came over to show off his new TRX4.  He returned the flatbed lorry trailer I loaned him (plus some custom work he did to it) because he sold his rig to pay for the TRX4.  I don't have a box or any space for the trailer so it's currently sitting on a boxed up rackmount synthesizer that I've been meaning to sell for months, which in turn is sitting on what is supposed to be my spray booth, which I can't get to because the table saw is in the way.  I wanted to work on my drift car, so I moved the hotrod hearse onto the table saw.  I had to shuffle around the christmas decoration boxes to get to the table saw; TBH the dec boxes should go back onto the storage shelf, the decs are up and done now.

So while me and my friend chatted about future plans for meets and events, I got out my drifter and unpacked the Killerbody light set that I bought a few months ago for another project and didn't use because it wasn't quite what I expected.  And then discovered that nothing on that car would work.  Did I blow the speedo last time I drifted?  I couldn't remember.  It was a few months ago.  I remember it shut off right before I left, but I thought the LiPo had cut off as I'd been running it hard all night.  I tried another speedo, but still it wouldn't work.  Was that speedo dead as well?  I remembered blowing one of those speedos, but was it that one?  I thought it was the other one...

Then I discovered the second speedo would work when not connected to the receiver.  So I tried another receiver, and hey presto, it was fine.  So I plugged in all the ancilliaries and suddenly it stopped working again...

It took me a lot of plugging in and plugging out to discover one of the Y-leads that came with the Killerbody kit had a short across positive and negative.  It was enough to stop either speedo from starting up.  After a fruitless search for another Y-lead, I chopped out the moulded plastic connector block and re-soldered it.  Suddenly everything came to life - speedo, radio, steering servo, and...  Well, the Killerbody light kit works, in that all the LEDs flash, but no matter how I wire it up, no matter what I do with the ABC selector switch, all it does is flash all the lights, as if it's getting power but no radio signal.

So that's that project stalled.  I'm drifting on Friday night and don't have time to manually wire up some resistors to run fixed lighting, so I'll probably leave it for now and not look at it again for months or maybe years.

My KBF-bodied CC01 has been 99% complete for about 4 years but the next step is detail painting of the custom body parts I made, and my airbrush is out of action while I try to source the very specific adaptor I need to connect it to the pressure regulator, which is of a thread type that I can't identify and has a name I don't know, which makes searching for it online impossible and asking for it in a shop very tricky, since there are so few shops with storefronts that even source stuff like that, let alone sell it.

It's at times like this that I say "I just need to get my mojo back.  I need a really easy project that I can do, no hassle."  So I buy another NIB car purely for the fun of building it.  And then, when it's built, I have neither space nor weather nor inclination to mask it for painting, so it goes back in the box where it languishes again for years.  I've got a Desert Fielder that I built in a rush for a Dakar-themed beach event a few years ago, which had been on the calendar for months and was pushed forward with a week's notice to a weekend when I was busy with my family.  Gah.  The body is still sitting in the Bodies Box waiting to be masked.  I've got a dozen ideas for paint schemes but I can't be bothered to mask any of them since it's such a tricky body to mask, but equally I can't bring myself to give it to anyone else to paint...

[Badcrumble 4204]

30 minutes ago, Mad Ax said:

I see myself in so many of these posts.

Sometimes I see an idea someone else did and think "I could do that too!" - straight onto ebay, buying donor chassis and parts...

Sometimes I have an idea independently for a project that stalled years ago - straight onto ebay, buying parts...

Perhaps more critically is what stalls projects.  For me it's time, space, and broken parts.  

Totally this. Though I haven't been in the hobby that long, my project list is about 10 cars and growing.

Ever so often I have to draw up a list of 'quick wins' to get some progress made and make sure it is a hobby and not a chore.

Running one of my few runners with my son - his Dual Hunter, the WW2 or my TL01 Bowler - blows out the cobwebs and gets me enthused again. 

Then I go and buy another project....

[markbt73 5316]

The "quick and easy project" trap is an easy one to fall into, as is the "this one will be my runner" trap. There are so many instances when I bought a kit with every intention of making it my "sacrificial" runner, but then I find something that would make it run just a little bit better, or look a little bit cooler, and before long it's just another unfinished project.

And then when I have a spare bit of free time to actually go drive something, I discover that every single car is in some level of disassembly.

[firefoxussr 482]

I find that I have to have runners to justify my projects.  Otherwise I'd be building static models, which I object to for function-vs-form reasons.  I have now 13 chassis.

My runners currently are: XV01, M06, TA05swb, and an X-Ray T1.   
But I also own these: a trio of 3Racing FGXs, TA05 IFS, M04, Cup Racer, Active 210SS, TA02SW, M.Rage, ... hmm that's it... time to buy another chassis!

[colda 45]

I'm now finding myself looking at getting a CC-01, my thinking is that it will be an ideal first crawler and later on I'll get a SCX10 II such that the CC-01 can be used by 'guests'

...reality is, I haven't the first clue where I would actually do any crawling, there is some woodland behind the house that I could use but considering my MF-01X, converted (for trail use on said woodland) TL-01B or any of my other builds are yet to get their tyres dirty out there, it's pretty safe to assume the same would apply to a crawler

Maybe I should just get that M06 Alpine kit I really want, even though nobody races M-Chassis anymore at my local club

...or both

[firefoxussr 482]

2 hours ago, colda said:

Maybe I should just get that M06 Alpine kit I really want, even though nobody races M-Chassis anymore at my local club

...or both

Nobody races M06 around here either.  Even when I had mini racing, it was a rule that it had to be front-wheel-drive, I bought a used M05 just for that purpose!   Then sold it after the racetrack closed.  Same with my F103.  Not  a fan of FWD or solid axle cars.

My M06 is a joy to just tear around.  I've destroyed its over-wide tires in the rear.  I should also note that it runs a TA02SW 911GT2 body.