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" Proper Collector " What does that mean to you??

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Some very interesting thoughts coming out here guys - excellent stuff.

I still dont see any of us slashing our wrists!! :blink:

Swarm - I can relate to your feelings on hate mail mate - I stopped putting my collection up here several years ago (back when I had "önly"about 180 cars), mate - the hate mail was un beleivable - got even worse when I started writing for R/C Car.....So now I have just kept my collection to myself, I dont have the time (with 4 kids and a busy work life) - nor frankly the patience to deal with noddies that cant see past their own nose.

Singapore - your post is exactly what I was refering to earlier in this thread a number of years ago.

Bluefoot - MATEEEEEEE - I so relate with you!! :)

Keep the thoughts coming guys - I think its great to hear different stories and thoughts on the matter.

They are only words used to describe our "condition".......

My name is Darryn - I have a habbit....................

Darryn/Swarm...what kind comments did you guys receive in terms of hate mail? I know that there are some spitefull people around but that takes the cake.

Hmmm... Am I a collector?

I have lots of RC cars - but still not enough. I have many NIB kits - even though I don't collect NIBs (I will build them). I buy with the intention of keeping each one forever, but sometimes I sell to get one I want even more. I have ones I will never sell... ever. I have ones I still wonder why I bought in the first place, but I won't sell them just yet. There are lots I have sold and then wondered why?

I have many that can run - but never will. I have lots that do run, and not enough time to run them all. I have two or three that I run a lot.

I have many that need parts. I have many parts. Sometimes they get put together. If only I knew exactly where they all were.

I don't have focus. No that's not quite right, I do have focus but it changes regularly.

I have a room for my hobby, but it's not big enough. I spend too much time on this website (when I could be restoring cars).

I liked RC cars when I was a kid, I still like RC cars now that I have kids. They have RC cars too.

A wise man once told me "Don't go to Ebay!". I ignored him.

Yeah thats a great post Bluefoot. I think most people can identify with it in some capacity. I certainly can!

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Collector ? Good question with many different interpretations.

Me ? I collect only those Tamiya's I could never have as a youngster. That's all !

Oh, I also like to build the modern ones too :), but I don't collect those. Make sense ;) . Cheers.

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" Proper Collector "

Hmmm...........Well!

I don't know what a Proper is.

Does anyone here have any Proper photos?

What are they used for and why do people collect them?

Why does everyone keep refering to R/C cars when the question was about something called a "Proper".

Great question Retro! Hope we can get to the bottom of it.

Cheers, Brett. :unsure:

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I would like to think that I am a collector, I'm a runner, a restorer and a builder (play my music in the sun..._), I have over 1000 cars in various conditions. I am never happier than with a screwdriver in my hand, or cooking up some noxious potion to better remove the 25 year old automotive paint someone misguidedly covered the new restoration project I have in my hands with. I also relax with a beer in my hobby room once in a while (apparently, I have been told, I could charge an extrance fee for this).

I fear a few of the comments I may make will annoy some, but this is how I feel.

Although I am interested in the definition of a collector in other peoples' opinions, I think it is not constructive to categorise people in a simple way like 'He is a collector', or' He is a restorer', or 'She builds and runs her cars.' Why is this always necessary? I do all of those things and more (I also play guitar and piano, swim with sharks and have a family), and just by looking through a few pictures in someone's showroom (the ones they have chosen to show, mind you) you can't get a real idea of what someone does - does it really matter?

I also find it extremely irksome that someone would brand someone a dealer, or a profitteer because they either sell some of their cars, or sell something after the announcement of a re issue.

Let me put them straight from my point of view. Within my collection, I want all cars from 1-150, at least three of (at least one NIB) and every Porsche ever made, every Group C car and a couple of other specific collections within a collection. I also want to restore every car from 1-150. I also collect every small scale RC ever made, Dash Kyoshos - the list is almost endless. I am extremely close to fulfilling all these goals. Until two months ago, when I heard the news of the re issue of the Black Porsche and Rough rider/Buggy Champ I also wanted the largest collection of NIB SRBs and Black Porsches in private hands, but this no longer interests me, so I am selling and building some of these.

Speculating as to the reason I sell a few SRBs maybe to make a profit before a re issue, is a bit like thinking a supermarket is selling Pork at a discount because it is about to be made illegal. I have a lot of everything, so a lot to sell, if you get my meaning. With everyone able to now own a stack of Rough Riders, it no longer interests me to own a stack of them. It doesn't mean I have lost passion, it doesn't mean I am profiteering, it doesn't mean I am panicking, it doesn't mean anything, except that one tiny part of my collection within a collection has changed focus. Period.

'

Now of course this will annoy some people, but generally only because they are obsessed with other people's motives and/or are envious. I am sure that all things considered I have 'lost' tens of thousands of Dollars over re issues over the years, but I say to those people who criticise me, that money is far less important to me than you think it is, or perhaps than it is to you. Bring on the re issues, it is a great way to bring people into the hobby and there is nothing like seeing a Rough Rider running in the local park. Interestingly, I know that many people are still buying the old parts (and paying a premium) knowing about the re issue. for example, I recently sold a Rough Rider roof to a fellow TC member, first saying to him 'you know about the re issue, right', to which he responded that he wanted an original one. It sold for $85. He is a happy bunny. To those who don't understand this - well that is part of the problem and I can't explain it to you if you don't already know!

The hate mail has reduced considerably recently, I have to say, but there was a time I got an awful lot of it, which coincided with my run in with Twinset a year or so ago (still sorry about that mate!) but perhaps those sad envious little people have gone off to do something else - I certainly hope so. I would love to say it doesn't/didn't get to me, but I would be lying, it is hurtful and painful to hear some things people say when they know nothing about you at all.

Paul.

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Note to previous post (rather than edit) - on re reading, it almost implies that the hate mail was as a result of my run in with Twinset, or that Twinset was in some way part of it - this is absolutely not the case. It was just I was feeling a bit down and annoyed at the time of my run in with him, partly as a result of wholly unrelated hate mail, if that makes sense.

Paul.

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.... I can lend you a couple of JAWS dvds to help you get over that other hobby you mentioned ;):lol:

If you make a trip over here this summer don't forget to call n visit me. We can sail!

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Paul - I've never understood why people feel the need to send negative emails to TC members such as yourself and Swarm. Crack open a NIB Sand Scorcher and paint it pink. It would create no reaction from me, but why should it, it's your money and you can do with it whatever you like. If you are the winning bidder for an item I would like to buy so what, I should have bid higher. I cannot understand or accept any reason why anyone should feel the need to send another Tamiya enthusiast a message except of support.

I am surprised and sadden what the effect the re-releases have had on your goals. Surely the new Black Porsche is a poor imitation and should hopefully make it cheaper to buy yet more original Black Porsches. So hope you reconsider.

One last thought; we live in a free world, so never feel you need to justify your actions whatever they are.

Happy Tamiya-ing :lol:

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The hate mail has reduced considerably recently, I have to say, but there was a time I got an awful lot of it, which coincided with my run in with Twinset a year or so ago (still sorry about that mate!) but perhaps those sad envious little people have gone off to do something else - I certainly hope so. I would love to say it doesn't/didn't get to me, but I would be lying, it is hurtful and painful to hear some things people say when they know nothing about you at all.

Paul.

Like Wandy earlier asks : What in the world are people writing to you in hate mails ??? I cant even imagine ?? "I hate you because you have a marvellous collection" or what ?? One of the things that amuses me the most at TC is to look in to your ,and f.ex HongKong and Tamiyaman´s showrooms and spend time drooling :P And yes !! I´m a bit crossed that I haven´t got an invitation from you guys that says : Bring your rechargable screwdriver and a couple of cases with Red Bull and pop over so we can do some serious building !! But I do NOT hate you for it !

This been said , I got to admit : I´m first of all a : Builder !! I just love to build RC:s. OK,driving them is fun too but it doesn´t saticfy me as much as building them. So the concept of collecting NIB is unthinkable for me. So whatever you do , don´t let me get near your treasures ;) If I do collect something it´s 80% ready models ;) I got plenty of them. Guess we are all crazy in our own way :lol:

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I have a few cars, though i would call myself a restorer not a collector. I don't have anything in boxes because they were made to be assembled and run, that is a car kits reason for existence.

I love bringing the older cars back to life after they have given their all to the previous owner who afterwards just chucked it in the shed or worse still, simply threw it out in the trash.

Hording as opposed to collecting is all about greed, i have it you don't, you want it, you can't have one, I bought them all, if you want one get the card out, just joking, you can't have one, i'm in control.

Collecting to me is about the reliving past happy times, one of each car is all that is needed, if it's not built yet it's in the line waiting. I like my cars to move on when restored to make way for new projects, that way others can enjoy these cars also.

Feel free to Jump up and down screaming! I don't care.

Cheers, Brett.

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As I aluded to, then subsequently Paul did as well, I have a dislike for the negative connotation that is ofter put with the term collector. Why on earth is a negative? Why do we always have to catagorise individuals....funny world.

As for the "hate" mails - the amount of them that I used to get saying that I thought I knew everything just because I had kits and was a moderator here (and previously on Roby's board) was astonishing. As I said above it got even worse when I started doing the articles. Little did they know that I have been actually racing these things since I was seven (31 years racing now) and that it had been a major part of my life and a huge passion - I had literally grown up alongside and with the hobby. I thought I was helping by trying improve peoples knowledge...obviously not - so I got quite jaded and stopped posting and putting my kits and cars up on TC. It seems the saying that you cant please all of the people all of the time is most definately true. There is good and bad in all of us. The green eyed monster called envy sometimes raises its ugly head.

As for whether or not to keep your cars NIB...............well - If we didnt keep em new in box for you - you wouldnt have the joy of building them would you. :lol:;) Sure they are meant to built - but its pretty cool to oogle a NIB kit too! ;) Especially if you already have a runner etc of the same car.

This hobby is brilliant, and while sometimes it is hard to swallow some of the "ëgo's" that you come across here with some people constantly beating their chests about how many "important" people they know and how much they have..you know what - that also makes the hobby great too. It takes all types of people to make it work.

Cheers

Darryn

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OK, I know that this is an old post, but after the renewal of my TC membership. I´ll leave my opinion.

I read almost every opinions here, and what I can write about me and the collector word is that this hobby brings me the possibility to open my mind a little.

I don´t have the huge collections that some of you have, but from the first day that I saw the first Kyosho car I bought (my mother bought me), I feel the necessity to start looking for the models I used to see in the magazines.

In my country we never run for example the Optima´s or Sand scorchers or something like that. Here in Argentina we receive only a little quantity of kits from different companies, but I can read about them from the magazines, basically magazines like RC model from Spain, and even when I know that I could not have that models, I dream with them. so in my case, this is why I decide to start with my collection. This is the start point

Of course I´m envious of that persons who can say I have 100, 200, 1000 , the complete collection of, etcc... But I don´t understand how can they receive bad mails from other people.

We must congratulate them, and we must think that maybe some day the decide to sell them and maybe we can be the owners. This is why it is not a bad thing that a collector decide to sell something. It is a good reason to continue with the collection to know that someone else can have the item we are looking for.

Look at the map... I´m almost the unique collector in my country of models that never were sold in my country, so when I said that this hobby open my mind, I want to say that because of it I met people from all over the world : Australia, Canada, USA, France, Belgium, UK, Hong Kong, etc... and I´m very happy with this.

I wish to continue with this necessity for a long time.

Regards from Argentina, and if you want to collect something from my country or dance the Tango ... let me know ;);) Maybe we can make a deal with a forgotten kyosho optima from your basement ;)

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Hello,

I have a good friend and fellow collector there, his nick here is Mccovalsk (Mario) and he also writes some magazines about radio control and collects models! Welcome and enjoy the stay, but make sure you keep your wallet stocked up!

I have reopened the possibility for people to leave comments on my showroom now. I have grown another skin, who says TC doesn't give you anything!

Keep well!

Paul.

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Wow thats the deepest bit of reading i've done for a while!!!!!

Who cares what other people think of how you view yourself??????

Am i a collector? Well i've been on TC for a couple of years now, still not got a car finished, have a room full of projects, boxes full of parts, search everyday for parts i may never find, or, when i do find them the bank account says NO! What am i trying to do? Get some awsome hoppers together thats all, will i ever get the parts i need? Dunno, don't care, i'll chase them for the rest of my time i know that much and when i find a bit that gets one of my projects closer to that make belive image in my mind of a finished car being posted on TC it's a proper buzz. Call me what you like, although i would appreciate no PMs lol!

What do i think of 'collectors' on TC? Love it! Whatever you want to call yourselfs or others is fine by me, as long as you post on here and keep the inspiration coming, i love seeing showrooms with NIBs, cars that are the result of a couple of years searching, a post of a slash being used and abused, whatever, it's RC and diversity is something to admire and respect, the world without people who go to great lenghts to acheve something no matter what it is would be pants :lol:

Ps anyone sending emails to other members as described in some other posts, well do i have to say anything? No, but i will say something to people who have had emails like that, there is us who are gratefull we get the chance to have a nosey around your showroom, and you pay each year so we can do that, my thanks to you.

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