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Your Shelf-Queen Philosophy?

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For this discussion, shelf queen refers to a special car that you enjoy seeing on your shelf and not just a car sitting on a shelf waiting to get run again.

What is your stance on shelf-queens in the following context?

1. Do you run your shelf queens lightly or at least once?

2. What state of completion do you need them to be?  Completely bare chassis or full up with all electronics?

3.  When you restore a shelf queen how mint does it need to be? Many cars seem to be rebuilt from all NOS parts and look new.  Others don’t need their restos to be perfect.  

Im curious about this...but maybe no one cares😁.

 

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where in Gods Name did you get Four hundred Twenty Six Purple Fish?..................................................:lol:       

It's like this i build'em and they sit on a shelf, when they come off the shelf, they get dirty and i want to build another until i have time to clean that one.

some people despise shelf Queens, some have such detail into them (time and money they put them under glass. To each their own.

 My mission is to build them all, and that is why i care.

      

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My shelfer is a combo of NIB vintage and my original Frog parts. I drive it twice a year maybe, although it’s ready to go anytime.

Terry

 

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out of 15 fully built cars i have one shelfer. its a super astute. electronics but no motor, never ran. why? i have no idea. never even put the wheels on the chassis. looks fantastic though

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1 hour ago, ACCEL said:

where in Gods Name did you get Four hundred Twenty Six Purple Fish?..................................................:lol:       

It's like this i build'em and they sit on a shelf, when they come off the shelf, they get dirty and i want to build another until i have time to clean that one.

some people despise shelf Queens, some have such detail into them (time and money they put them under glass. To each their own.

 My mission is to build them all, and that is why i care.

      

I certainly respect that

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58 minutes ago, Finnsllc said:

out of 15 fully built cars i have one shelfer. its a super astute. electronics but no motor, never ran. why? i have no idea. never even put the wheels on the chassis. looks fantastic though

I hear the super astute are good runners though right?

might as well make it 15 runners😁

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Each of my 15 cars is a  "Shelf Queen".  All are ready-to-run, and all are as clean and as detailed as possible.  I run them occasionally, but then clean them and put them all back in their respective places when finished.  My philosophy was to treat each car as if it is my only one and care for it accordingly.  If there isn't an interest in doing this for a particular car, it's sold off to make space for one I would care for a bit more.

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I got 18 on the shelf, mix of conditions, some duplicates, and a cupboard full of 6 or 7 NiB kits. Only a couple of them are true queens, there’s a king too 👑 
 

If I had the means I’d have a Tamiya shop in the home stocked with all their products for my personal use, wouldn’t that be a beautiful thing!

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There's a number of factors that feed my decision to shelf a car.  Most cars start off with the intent of being driven, but the determination to permanently shelf 'em takes place during the build process.

Factors include;

  • rarity
  • fragility
  • parts availability
  • dollars spent on upgrades
  • rarity of upgrades
  • practicality of upgrades
  • hours spent building/painting
  • re-re parts compatibility
  • how much I stirs my soul to drive it

My Bruiser, for example started as a scale basher. It's got an Engle trans and axles, and the short lived (unlicensed) ProLine Land Cruiser body and Boyer parts, all of which are now impossible to replace.  It has become a shelf queen due to the unobtanium components even though old Bruisers are marginally collectible rudimentary cars because the re-re is far superior.

My Javelin is a fully modded shelfer because the [inexpensive] China aluminum arms would destroy the chassis if I ran it. The delicate body would crumble, and the aluminum wing would krinkle like tin foil. So, it sits around looking sexy.

But then my M07R is sort of limited, but driving it is thrilling enough that I'll try my hardest to wear it out. Same goes for a '86 1st gen Hornet.

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A shelf queen to me is a car that I am simply too nervous to take out on the road/dirt. I turned my DF03 into a shelf queen inadvertently before I ever got a chance to run it. I just kept upgrading a bit here and a bit there, now I am petrified of damaging something I won't be able to replace. For example, 3racing doesn't make full carbon chassis' for the DF03 anymore. They're not even available used on eBay for any price, and the one on my Deep Impact is NEW! I simply can't muster the courage to place it on the asphalt and give it a go, hence: shelf queen.

It's a little sad really.

IMG_20200620_031033.jpg

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I run my shelfers once or from time to time.

 

basically they need to be older chassis and to be hard to find.

 

my only shelfer at the moment is a M02 Abarth TCR1000.

3Mr3YFX.jpg

 

 

my F103 is also rebuild and became a shelfer, but I did run it in the first days quite often. Now it is replaced with a F103Lm for driving.

PwFZldg.jpg

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Most of mine are currently box in the loft queens until i can find some wall space for more shelves.

But that might mean having to sell some books....never!!!!

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Good topic this,i bought a never run fox from ebay with the aim to run it and enjoy it as i had one back in the 80s.When i got it and saw how good it looked i was in two minds about running it.I still have not run it and dont know if i ever will,its a rare car and it cost me £530 so that is a big part of it.I think i will buy a novafox and run it without fear and have my fox as a shelfer.

20200730_123610.jpg

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Mine have to have every hop up made for that perticuler chassis. 

All electrics including battery and transmitter, Tamiya of course 😉

And never used! I have a couple of runners for that. 

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10 hours ago, ACCEL said:

where in Gods Name did you get Four hundred Twenty Six Purple Fish?..................................................:lol:       

It's like this i build'em and they sit on a shelf, when they come off the shelf, they get dirty and i want to build another until i have time to clean that one.

some people despise shelf Queens, some have such detail into them (time and money they put them under glass. To each their own.

 My mission is to build them all, and that is why i care.

      

My name refers to one my favorite cars-1970 Purple 426 Hemi ‘Cuda

Yea, for me building is the fun part-except for the body.  Most of my cars have duplicates that can be run and one that sits on the shelf though most are not built yet.  I bought an Egress to run but I guess that might mostly be a shelf queen now.

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10 hours ago, Frog Jumper said:

My shelfer is a combo of NIB vintage and my original Frog parts. I drive it twice a year maybe, although it’s ready to go anytime.

Terry

 

I couldn’t afford hobby grade Rcs as a kid but a few kids had Frogs and I thought they were awesome.  One of the first cars I bought (re re) when I got into RC years later.  Still gets drive every once in a while.

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7 hours ago, J@mes said:

I got 18 on the shelf, mix of conditions, some duplicates, and a cupboard full of 6 or 7 NiB kits. Only a couple of them are true queens, there’s a king too 👑 
 

If I had the means I’d have a Tamiya shop in the home stocked with all their products for my personal use, wouldn’t that be a beautiful thing!

Wouldn’t that be sweet!

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5 hours ago, Superluminal said:

Most of mine are currently box in the loft queens until i can find some wall space for more shelves.

But that might mean having to sell some books....never!!!!

I hear ya.  I am going to be building a few small shelves that will be tucked away in the unfinished part of my basement for my eyes only.  Will plan on rotating them through.

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8 hours ago, SupraChrgd82 said:

There's a number of factors that feed my decision to shelf a car.  Most cars start off with the intent of being driven, but the determination to permanently shelf 'em takes place during the build process.

Factors include;

  • rarity
  • fragility
  • parts availability
  • dollars spent on upgrades
  • rarity of upgrades
  • practicality of upgrades
  • hours spent building/painting
  • re-re parts compatibility
  • how much I stirs my soul to drive it

My Bruiser, for example started as a scale basher. It's got an Engle trans and axles, and the short lived (unlicensed) ProLine Land Cruiser body and Boyer parts, all of which are now impossible to replace.  It has become a shelf queen due to the unobtanium components even though old Bruisers are marginally collectible rudimentary cars because the re-re is far superior.

My Javelin is a fully modded shelfer because the [inexpensive] China aluminum arms would destroy the chassis if I ran it. The delicate body would crumble, and the aluminum wing would krinkle like tin foil. So, it sits around looking sexy.

But then my M07R is sort of limited, but driving it is thrilling enough that I'll try my hardest to wear it out. Same goes for a '86 1st gen Hornet.

That criteria makes perfect sense. The Javelin original?  Original NIB javelin is the only NIB I own that I don’t plan on building.

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7 hours ago, DeadMeat666 said:

A shelf queen to me is a car that I am simply too nervous to take out on the road/dirt. I turned my DF03 into a shelf queen inadvertently before I ever got a chance to run it. I just kept upgrading a bit here and a bit there, now I am petrified of damaging something I won't be able to replace. For example, 3racing doesn't make full carbon chassis' for the DF03 anymore. They're not even available used on eBay for any price, and the one on my Deep Impact is NEW! I simply can't muster the courage to place it on the asphalt and give it a go, hence: shelf queen.

It's a little sad really.

IMG_20200620_031033.jpg

Understood!  I have a turf field near me that I plan on running a few of my rarer cars.

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1 hour ago, Super ally said:

Good topic this,i bought a never run fox from ebay with the aim to run it and enjoy it as i had one back in the 80s.When i got it and saw how good it looked i was in two minds about running it.I still have not run it and dont know if i ever will,its a rare car and it cost me £530 so that is a big part of it.I think i will buy a novafox and run it without fear and have my fox as a shelfer.

20200730_123610.jpg

Looks great!  I have a few Foxes as well.  I have one that was my runner with several mods You-G shocks sway bars etc. Not sure if I want to switch that to my never run Fox.  

Get another. Original foxes show up on eBay often and aren’t expensive and of course the rere is probably more durable .

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8 hours ago, Killajb said:

Each of my 15 cars is a  "Shelf Queen".  All are ready-to-run, and all are as clean and as detailed as possible.  I run them occasionally, but then clean them and put them all back in their respective places when finished.  My philosophy was to treat each car as if it is my only one and care for it accordingly.  If there isn't an interest in doing this for a particular car, it's sold off to make space for one I would care for a bit more.

That makes total sense.  I think I’m hoarding too many.

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I've never been a "collector" myself in the sense that I buy stuff just to have or to display.  Never got into stamps or coins or baseball cards or anything like that.  For example I have a small collection of shotguns and handguns but I shoot them all whenever I get a chance.  I know some people buy vintage firearms and throw them in a safe never to see the light of day again.  That's just not me.  Unless it's truly an investment, I buy stuff to use it.  So I buy stuff that I feel comfortable using.  Same goes with RC cars for me, to an extent.  I have a Racing Fighter, Blackfoot, Plasma Edge, TT-02 Subaru WRC that I run a lot and beat the crap out of.  Maybe it's because I know I can get parts easily.  I have a Top Force that I built that is the best job I've done on a lexan body yet, and I haven't run it yet but I will.  I'll probably try and be careful but at the end of the day they are all runners for me.  I am not buying any with the intent to resell later.  I will have a cool display shelf soon for them, but I will not hesitate to run any of them.  But I'm also not planning to buy any rare kits that should be shelf queens so perhaps I'm insulating myself from making any of those decisions.       

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8 hours ago, SupraChrgd82 said:

There's a number of factors that feed my decision to shelf a car.  Most cars start off with the intent of being driven, but the determination to permanently shelf 'em takes place during the build process.

Factors include;

  • rarity
  • fragility
  • parts availability
  • dollars spent on upgrades
  • rarity of upgrades
  • practicality of upgrades
  • hours spent building/painting
  • re-re parts compatibility
  • how much I stirs my soul to drive it

 

See this is something I don't quite understand. Why would people spend money on performance upgrades for a shelf queen?  I would think if I were to ever have a shelf queen, it would be bone stock and likely with box art livery.  Why drop $100 on hi caps for a shelf queen?  Or a brushless system or an upgrade diff if it will never run.  I guess people have their reasons but it makes no sense to me.  

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I tend to build cars, then decide I don’t want to run it cause it’s too nice or rare or otherwise. I’ve been known to buy a second of said vehicle either second hand or new and kept stock then run that. So I end up with 2. 
 

My shelfers vary, from retired (and tired) cars, to old restored models to modern fully bombed (hopped up) models. Often cars that are getting hard to find parts for are shelved when they are new. While some of my shelfers are there for their chassis and their body is tolerated for reasons that Tamiya says they belong there,  where some  shelfers are mearly there for the body, and what lies beneath is not relevant.  
 

Be the shelfer there for personal reasons, for the sake of collection, for the sake of completion. Each has its own mixture of reasons to sit on the shelf.
 

For those that are not yet on the shelf, this is because they are still NIB. I’m not one for keeping unbuilt kits, I’d rather build and display them. Yes I’m one of those people that buy kits someone’s been sitting on for 10-20 years NIB, potentially pay... quite a bit. Then rip it all open and build it.. sorry...not sorry. My hobby is not an investment. 

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