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2 year RC hobby cycle?

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I've noticed that my interest in RC peaks in about a year, and then go down for a year.  I don't sell.  I just become less eager.  Then I go through other hobbies, mostly 2 years at a time.  Many of us have come back to Tamiya after the 80's and 90's.  That seems like a cycle of a sort.  

Is there anybody who ran a basher for 10 years straight?  Or do you go through a couple years of love affair with RC, and then sell everything after a couple of years? (if that were the case, you wouldn't be reading this, unless you came back after that)  Or does your interest might wax and wane, but always within the realm of RC?  

Over the weekend, I started the painting process on NSU Prinz TT, but my wandering eyes have been looking more at scale models.  I was just wondering how long-time members feel about the circle of life in RC.  

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Got back into Tamiya in 2004, from them to approx. 2016 I have built,ran and experienced many models but with quantity came less running which meant less real affection for a lot of them.

since then over the last two years i scaled back and concentrated more on a select few models (which most have 50+ hours run times) leaving the door open to try a new model now and again (ie the fantastic g6-01)

This i have found has stopped the enthusiasm fading....

the tricky bit is deciding which models are selected! 

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Well, let's see... my avatar photo is about ten years old, and I still have that CC01. It's in the process of being rebuilt as a Class 8 Baja-style racer, but it's still around and still gets driven now and then.

It's not strictly a steady cycle with me. Sure, my interest ebbs and flows, but not at any sort of predictable interval. I'm definitely drifting more toward collecting/ curating than modifying and running, as I get older. And for the first time, I'm considering keeping some NIB kits around (I already do this with static models). I doubt I'll ever go back to "bashing," really.

As a result, I am actually selling off some things, mainly half-finished projects that stalled out, or components/parts that I was sure "I'll use someday" (but never will). This will allow me to buy a couple of kits that I have been putting off buying, and want to make sure I get before they disappear again. The result won't be a huge reduction in my collection, but a significant "tightening up." I hope to end up with a room full of models (both RC and static) that I really like. I want to be thrilled to own every single piece in my collection, whether runner or shelfer, new, old, or re-re.

I think that a little discipline like that will hold my interest better in the long run, more so than right now, when I look around my hobby room and see an bunch of stuff I lost interest in ages ago and now regret buying...

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i kinda had this. i was gifted a kyosho buggy a few years ago (2015) and ran it everyday, until i lost interest after 2-3 years. then i got my TT02 in december, but i've kind of lost interest in that too. i think it's just the feeling of having a new car.

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I’m much like you say, I have a 2 year lifespan to most of my (mid-life) hobbies, I sometimes sell up but I like to keep what I can. A lot of hobbies do come back around, (breaks in to song) It’s the Circle of Life! 

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There's been a few threads like this recently, and I keep struggling to find the right answer for them.

My RC interests spread far and wide.  For a long time I raced touring, then M-chassis, at a local indoor club, as well as maintaining a large budget basher fleet that never got used because nobody local goes bashing.  I stopped racing because I got fed up with the weekly grind of chasing laptimes on tight, twisty, car-breaking indoor tracks.  And I guess I got fed up of finishing in the same spot week after week.  And I guess I stopped racing because Iconic RC were running some really great bashes where I could turn up and do whatever I wanted.

The arrival of my daughter coincided with the disappearance of the Iconic bashes and my newfound interest in big rigs.  Although big rigs are expensive, it's not necessary to keep spending money every week (unlike racing), the clubs run year round regardless of the weather and there's somewhere to go every month.  I figured big rigs would be my way to stay sane as baby became toddler, and I'd still do the big Iconic vintage buggy race meets as the budget allowed.

In fact things worked out differently.  Some local mates got into scale crawling, so I find I do a lot more of that now.  I really love the technical aspect of it and I love that I can be outside in the fresh air, rain or shine.  It doesn't really matter what the weather does, I just throw on a heavy coat if it's cold and wet and go enjoy being in nature's garden.

I also figured, as the budget got squeezed, that I'd spend less money on aftermarket parts for my scalers and big rigs and more time on making my own stuff.  Big rigs and scalers are both excellent places to showcase what you can do in a workshop.  This year I was supposed to start getting busy with all that.  Again, it didn't go as planned.

My primary hobbies are music and creative writing, but with the stress of working a job and raising a family I find I just don't have the mental capacity to lose myself in a story or a melody any more.  I kept hoping it would come back but it's been getting worse these last few months.  I wish I could embed myself into making custom parts instead but the same level of exhaustion hits me there too.  So I've gone full circle and in September I'll be going back to the local race club to race in the Truckman class.  I figure if I'm not spending my time effectively in my studio I might as well be out racing, because if I sit at home I just drink beer and watch TV.  It's Monday, traditionally one of my two weekly "creative nights", and all I've done is drunk cider, watched TV and DJ'd some techno.  If it wasn't a bank holiday here I'd be at the local club giving my Fat Fox its first outing.

Of course, what I should have been doing is the next stage of the masking job for the Fat Fox body, but I'm even struggling to find the energy and motivation for that.

On the other hand, this week (completely out of the blue) I decided to get more exercise and take up rock climbing.  Not RC crawling, but actual climbing up vertical rock faces with my bare hands.  So maybe for the first time in a great many years, RC will take a backseat to something else.  Who knows?

So in summary, I don't think my RC interest is cyclic - rather, I think my interest in various aspects of it is cyclic.  I roll from sub-genre to sub-genre and never really give any one thing the attention it deserves, because I just have way too short an attention span to actually finish anything that takes more than a few days.

So let's see where things stand in 12 months...

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Good thread. I watched the comings and goings of many members over the years. Many seem to last only 2-3 years. Some have been hard core for many years and then suddenly drop off. Others are still here but simply stop posting. For my part, the longest I've let RC sit, untouched, has been about a week (usually due to deep depression, or a sudden burst of enthusiasm for another of my interest like guitar). I am constantly driven to tinker with mechanical things. I don't really have choice in the matter. Its just what I do. Forum activity here (or possibly also subject matter at times) no longer matches my appetite however. 

As far as running a basher 10 years straight, I've done it. My Super Shot or some iteration of it sees constant use as does my Clod Buster, Fox, Monster Beetle, Lunch Box and Blackfoot. With the ridiculous quantity of models I have, I will admit loosing affection for some of my other runners like my Blitzer, Frog, Bruiser and even my TXT. Others that I went stone cold on like my CR01, CC01 and Madbull got sold off for others to enjoy. My other hobbies are cyclical, but not RC.

I have been branching out into other brands. Tamiya of late has not been interesting me with new items and I'm frankly tired of ABS plastic. I delved pretty deep into construction materials and methods of late and have noticed Tamiya comes up short a lot. The plus side is I have more growing enthusiasm for Associated and Kyosho now.

 

 

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An kind of relate,

I've ran the Dark Impact on a regular basis , well used to be every other day, now it's every other month (still count?) 

I think as my collection grew, I just didn't have time to run them all, some,  like the Marui Ninja i did a bit of a refurb and clean up, but feared to break parts using them, so sold them, and I don't miss them.

I think the new cars coming to market create a buzz, when I got wind of Schumacher releasing a new 2wd I got some cash together (Marui etc sell off) and the excitement was there, and now running in a national championship.

When I first left the hobby, it seemed to be going all on road, which I just can't get excited about, I don't know if manufacturers releases has a sway on things? Do they have new releases every 2 years? (Was the dt03 tamiya's last off road release?)

 

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2 hours ago, markbt73 said:

As a result, I am actually selling off some things, mainly half-finished projects that stalled out, or components/parts that I was sure "I'll use someday" (but never will). This will allow me to buy a couple of kits that I have been putting off buying, and want to make sure I get before they disappear again.

Psst. I'm an hour and a half north of you. What are you getting rid of? ;)

 

As for me, I'm kind of in a lull right now after tackling two projects, but am collecting parts for an "un-named project" ;)

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27 minutes ago, NWarty said:

Psst. I'm an hour and a half north of you. What are you getting rid of? ;)

Well, for starters...

Probably more coming as well. Scaler axles and some other parts, a couple of old pan cars maybe...

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This question is maybe as much about the eye of the beholder as cycles in the hobby ? 

I came back when my kids first showed interest c. 5 years ago - which thankfully lasted and means there’s still regular bashing of re re kits ... even if I spend more time repairing vs driving these days 😂

Like most things there was then a ripple effect - so I got back into the vintage kits I loved as a kid ... but the time it took me to restore or build to the standard I always admired (but never delivered as a wide eyed 9yr old ..,) forbid bashing the output with my girls and gradually migrated to collecting shelf runners enjoyed on sunny days by the beach.

That then lead to the classic ‘middle aged spread’ - where everything (and anything) I couldn’t afford as a kid back in the day suddenly became fair game ... with duplicates, hop ups and NOS spares coming out of my ears 🙄

That was 3 years ago - and I’ve since followed @markbt73 in tightening (good word btw) my fun.

So all the duplicates, projects and aspirational hop ups / spares I never used gradually went, my vintage NIB r/c sets halved - I’m a ****** for old electronics btw 🙄 - and I traded volume for space, quality and more time with my kids seeing how high a Scooby Doo re re Lunchbox (pursued by Back To The Future CC-01 Hi Lux) will leap off ramps !

These days I either bash / fix re re, prep a vintage build for its bi-annual run or spend ages over idle moments hunting down a carefully focussed addition to a small (but growing) NIB collection - which one day I’m aiming to build as a retirement present to self 😂

All of which is probably (and hopefully) a lot longer than a 2 year cycle 👍

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I can't say I've experienced a "cycle of life" in RC yet where I've lost all interest, or sold everything off, and then come back again.  But I also haven't stayed tightly focused on just building, just bashing, just racing, or just restoring either.  What has happened, for me at least, is I've paired a number of other interests to RC and that has kept it fresh over the past 9 years.  The DSLR camera, camcorder, GoPro, GPS, airbrushes, 3D printer, CNC engraver/router, vinyl cutter, laser printer, tools, computers, software packages, etc. all stand on their own merits, but they get paired with the RC hobby in the quest to learn new things and develop more capabilities.  RC was cool on its own at the beginning, but now it's more of an excuse to buy a new tool or toy and give it a try in a build.  My energy for building waxes and wanes, but the opportunity to learn new things (not specifically RC) is what keeps it fresh for me.

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I've found my interest in RC has remained steady since getting into the hobby 7 years ago. The cars I've owned have varied, although there are some constants. I still love bashing, the only challenge is finding tracks as our council has demolished 2 in the last few years.

I now travel a little further afield to run my big 1/8 and 1/6 trucks, but can run my Tamiyas almost anywhere!

I really like @speedy_w_beans idea regarding skills developed through RC, and I think I've benefited similarly, with video editing and photography (including drone photography) but also the practical elements such as painting, building, adapting and repairing, and additional tools like a dremel and air-compressor.

The biggest "cycle" with my RC is seasonal - I hate dark, cold Melbourne winters, so I tend to stay inside a bit more!!

 

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10 hours ago, Saito2 said:

Good thread. I watched the comings and goings of many members over the years. Many seem to last only 2-3 years. Some have been hard core for many years and then suddenly drop off. Others are still here but simply stop posting. For my part, the longest I've let RC sit, untouched, has been about a week (usually due to deep depression, or a sudden burst of enthusiasm for another of my interest like guitar). I am constantly driven to tinker with mechanical things. I don't really have choice in the matter. Its just what I do. Forum activity here (or possibly also subject matter at times) no longer matches my appetite however. 

Interesting point.  While it's probably another thread in its own right, I've noticed this too.  Around a decade ago we had a few younger members join, full of enthusiasm, started off asking the typical novice questions and within a few months had a dozen models, were offering build services, talking about opening model shops, then a month later all their stuff appears in the trades section and they disappear.  I suppose some people just get swept up in the initial excitement, then when it dies down they assume it's because they don't like it any more and move on to something else.  Which is a shame - sticking power is a valuable life skill :)

The member base and topic of conversation has varied a huge amount over the years.  When I first joined the re-re excitement was just getting going so most threads were about what Tamiya was going to re-re next.  Now it seems people are tired of re-res and want Tamiya to do something new.  At one point a lot of us were left cold by Tamiya's latest high-priced race-spec chassis because we wanted something cheap and fun, but now many of us feel they've lost their way a little with a host of comical models, re-coloured re-releases and yet another touring car body on a boring TT02 chassis and very little innovation in the big sectors.

At one point the conversations were around what innovations we could make at home.  I was inspired by a lot of threads where people tried something completely new and made some great cars.  There's still a little bit of that, but I think a lot of serious builders moved on to serious forums and TC has become a training camp for newbies.  There's nothing wrong with that - one of the best things about TC is how it welcomes new members and doesn't berate people for asking daft questions.  So many other forums are very aggressive towards new members.  That said, I find myself more often clicking away from questions that could be answered with a simple Google search.  Maybe I'm getting old and grouchy.  No doubt I asked some of those in my early days.  I know I said some daft things and made out to be a lot more cleverer than I was, and got rightly knocked off my perch a couple of times.

I do wonder if the subject and quality of thread on TC inspires my RC interest cycle.  No doubt if I only visited drift forums I'd probably have built an awesome drifter but wouldn't have much else.  If I only visited scaler forums my scale builds would be top notch but I wouldn't have a drifter or a big rig.  If I get back to racing every week maybe I'll lose interest in finishing my other projects, or maybe being out and talking to other people more often will give me more inspiration for getting creative at home.  Who knows; time will tell.  That's partly why I'm doing it, if I'm honest!

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5 minutes ago, Mad Ax said:

were offering build services, talking about opening model shops, then a month later all their stuff appears in the trades section and they disappear

I can remember one young (at the time) individual who did all that stuff. Its the ones that are steady posters that drop off suddenly that make me curious, like TAMark.

10 minutes ago, Mad Ax said:

but now many of us feel they've lost their way a little with a host of comical models, re-coloured re-releases and yet another touring car body on a boring TT02 chassis and very little innovation in the big sectors.

That would be me,:ph34r::lol:.

11 minutes ago, Mad Ax said:

There's still a little bit of that, but I think a lot of serious builders moved on to serious forums and TC has become a training camp for newbies.  There's nothing wrong with that - one of the best things about TC is how it welcomes new members and doesn't berate people for asking daft questions.  So many other forums are very aggressive towards new members. 

This is one of the things I admit Tamiyaclub is great at. Its the friendliest forum I know of. Also, I find myself answering these new member questions less and less, but more due to lack of knowledge on my part. I don't know enough about Lipos, brushless set-ups and TT02Bs to be an info source. All my knowledge is rooted in the old stuff.

15 minutes ago, Mad Ax said:

I do wonder if the subject and quality of thread on TC inspires my RC interest cycle. 

Quite possible. It certainly influences buying habits in general. I've been guilty of it myself in the past, but my wallet is happy that phase is over. Being in my 40's now rather than my 20's when I started on the forum helps as well ;).

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This thread rings true for me also... I get really involved in it for a while then go and do something else. But I always come back to it in the end....

I wonder if the boys from Tamiya 101 will ever get back into it? I heard that m.o.o.s.e.y had lost interest and sold his collection. A shame, because I used to like watching the 101 videos and professor skids advise column!

I suppose life just moves on....

J

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I started when I was 15, 28 years ago. Took a small break in my 20's for 2-3 years, simply as I was working full time and going to school full time, and couldn't afford much other than plain noodles and water. :) 

Graduated, got a good job, and got back into it, and have been into it ever since. I don't drive as much as I used to, but I build, tinker, and dream as much as I used to even when I was 15. Always read the news, surf the forums, and keep current. At most, I'll take a few weeks off from hands on RC when things get a bit stale, but I read up online daily. 

Can't fathom selling off my collection. I'll probably be buried with it. :)

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