Why do your cars sit in a non-running state?

[lsear2905 1279]

I've noticed a lot of you talk about not having cars in a running condition, and I was curious why?

Is it a lack of availability of spares? A lack of time? The cost? Shelf-queens? 

Everyone enjoys this hobby in different ways, and all those ways are of equal value, but it seems odd to me to have a remote-control vehicle that cannot be run? As soon as one of my vehicles is out of action, I become single-minded in the pursuit of rectifying the issue! 

[J@mes 2353]

I’ve got some shelved I’ve not run, they are unscathed & were bought from others already assembled & unused, I have enough runners to not worry about it. I’m not precious about them, I’ll give them a go someday, when I get round to it. 

[yogi-bear 2765]

all my RC gear is pretty much boxed up at the moment, in anticipation of moving into our new home and I imagine most of it will remain like that for months to come. However the last few years, time has been the biggest issue and before that, it was funds. I'm hoping in a year or so I'll have a shed built and a better work/life balance.

[taffer 958]

Mine are all ready to run, even the shelfers and retired models have electrics so I could change my mind at a moment's notice!

[toyolien 6634]

All mine are runners. It's a shame to see rc cars gathering dust like static models. It's something I don't understand. Having said that I'm not a collector. I only buy Tamiya kits that I think would be fun to drive. Some cars I've had have turned out to be not that fun to drive so they get sold😁

[Mad Ax 11376]

Mostly for me it's lack of money, time and space.  It's been a while since I did a full inventory of all my stuff, but I have something in the region of 50 cars.  Around 20-25 of those are runners (as in they are fully assembled with bodies attached, and have motors, ESCs, radios and servos in them).  Many of the others are projects in progress, they don't run because I'm still working on them.  I like to take my time with projects and sometimes lack of enthusiasm, inspiration or parts on backorder will cause a project to be shelved while I focus on something else.  Pre-pandemic, it was starting to become clear that I would never, ever, ever have time to do all these projects, but a change in the pace of life means I have been cracking through them at a crazy rate.  Only lack of funds in the first part of 2021 has slowed me down.

A good percentage of what I call "cars" is really just a chassis tub with suspension arms and possibly gears, many other parts may be missing or broken, they are cars in potentia and if I get around to them they will become cars in actuality.

I do have a few shelf queens - less than I did, as I've realised it's more fun to run than to look at.  But there's no way I could run all my collection in a single day.  Actually if time wasn't so precious maybe I'd challenge myself to do just that.

This doesn't include the NIBs either.  I don't have that many (less than 10, probably 6?)  The majority of my NIBs are unmolested but in some cases I have raided them for spares for other cars, so they will need money spending before they get built.  I like to keep NIBs on the shelf for "rainy days" - there's been a few times when I've had some kind of physical or emotional setback and on those days I take a day off work, break open a box and build.  I think of it as hedge-funding leisure time.

[Badcrumble 4432]

I am similar to @Mad Ax bit have less cars in total. I like to have a build project I'm working on but have a habit of ending up with more than one on the go.

Running cars that break will get fixed when I squeeze in the time / remember to buy the required part. Or I run out of runners (a Dual Hunter in mid-refresh donated a king pin the other week to keep el kid's car going).

I only have one shelter for my desk at work (soon to be coming home, thanks Corona), a couple of old cars that are restoration projects and a few NIB, all bar one of which will be built one day.

 

[Jonathon Gillham 4714]

We have about 18 cars I think and the race cars are all ready to go. When they break parts are ordered and they're ready for the next meet. Then there are 8 fun cars, 2 TT02B and 6 reres. I try to have all working but its not a major if some aren't because there are always others. They are split between 4, soon to be 5, controllers and usually what spurs me on to fix them is when all on a single controller are broken and it gets hard to juggle between cars and have enough to run. The worst was when i only had 2 cars that take a stick pack running, and both on the same controller. That prompted an order for ESCs and servos and now most work again.

[No Slack 619]

All my 8 cars are in running condition but only 3 get a run frequently. If something on the cars break I will repair it immediately.

[87lc2 2855]

It actually drives me a bit crazy to have non-runners sitting around, I feel a certain anxiety to get them up and running.  Same goes for my 1:1 cars, I try to keep them all in working condition.  For RC, some need work or upgrades, but I always keep them with full electronics and theoretically ready to run.  Just a mental thing for me I guess.  

[Saito2 8441]

I collect and run but none of mine are packed away, out-of-sight. Though their original purpose was to built and run, Tamiya RC vehicles are still models, part mechanical, part body/paint and thus I like to display some of mine as such. I studied and analyzed the old guidebooks and catalogs to death as a kid and having them displayed like that is like having those books come to life. If I have a runner of something, I usually have a shelf queen variant, or a ton of spares.

Which brings up another point: spares. Tamiya USA has gotten pretty slack about spares support (though I don't know if they are to blame, I get the gist they are pretty much at the whim of Tamiya Japan and just as in the dark as we are at times, I could be wrong). There have been times in the past where a part has broken and the car becomes a paper weight because the part is rare or unavailable. That's intolerable to me, especially considering the cost of some of those kits, like and Egress, for example. If its a runner in my fleet, I either have a ton of spares or the vehicle is pretty bullet proof. I'm big on understanding people and their motives but I'd never impose my will on anyone. Some folks get bent out of shape about shelf queens. Its fine not to understand it but to be intolerant towards it is another matter. As long as people aren't wantonly destroying vintage RC cars (like driving a Porsche 934 Vaillant down a flight of stairs just to smash it), I don't care how people enjoy the hobby. There's room for everyone.

[Saito2 8441]

I'd like to add, I'm a collector. Building collections in itself is a hobby, particularly in our case as well often get to restore the objects in our collections (as opposed to the average stamp collector). There are plenty of things designed and built with a certain purpose in life that are now simply collected instead. I had a manager once who collected pachinko machines. They were originally meant to be played, but now they are collected. Stamps weren't originally conceived to be collected either, but they are.

[Big Jon 757]

All of my cars are meant to be runners. However, a lot of them are "projects in progress" due to my electronics snobbery (decent stuff is expensive!), lack of a particular part or body set, my gnat-like attention span, or I've spent my time fixing a different car. My main fleet is nearly always ready to go; the oddball/rare vintage/light runners are always in a state of flux.

For example, my DB-01 build is stalled until I find a few more carbon reinforced plastics. The full bling WR-02 is waiting for a Tumbling Bull body. One of my RC10s needs a body, electronics, a diff rebuild and bearings, another RC10 needs a body, electronics, and turnbuckles. Two Frogs, a King Blackfoot, a CC-01, and another RC10 are really just all of the plastics, assorted speed parts, a few parts trees, gears and stuff in storage bins, waiting for the project to begin, while there are a few HPI rollers on the shelf waiting for me to get the courage to run them with no parts support at all.

I think that there are maybe a dozen ready to go right now, and another twenty or so in various states of disrepair. It's nice to always have something to mess about with.

[Grumpy pants 5565]

I love having shelf queens, I get to admire them most days and to be fair to me they are to valuable or fragile for me to want to run them and risk damaging them. 

I have a few dedicated runners but they rarely see the light of day, but I try and keep them in good order and they are all lower value re’re’s. 

The split is circa 50/50 bu it highly likely I’ll only buy new kits from here on. 

[moffman 6091]

I must admit I'm a shelf queen person but I have my dedicated runners (monster beetle, blackfoot ) the problem is why I do like a shelf queen (not really a problem) is the likes of the avante and turbo optima etc is they are just so stunning to look at I can't bring myself to use them? I have used all of my cars including said avante, optima but very lightly so if that's not the done thing then I'm definitely guilty🤷‍♂️  I'm hopeful that this years iconic rc events is going to take place because they are brilliant and hoping to have my XLS and topcat entered🤞

[Willy iine 18843]

I have many shelf queens, but they are all functional.  Not that I drive them.. something about keeping them functional makes it an "RC car" for me.  Otherwise they become more like static plastic models which is fun to look at, but they don't move nor have the detail of a plastic model so for me they are not as fun to keep in that state.  

[Nicadraus 6789]

7 out of my 8 kits are runners. The remaining shelf queen is the FF-01 which keeps getting upgrades from time to time even if it's just for display. I planned on running it but I changed my mind and decided not to ruin this beautiful classic. Scarce and expensive parts are costly.

I recently acquired an original vintage Wild One. I spent two weeks working on it and it's now a runner. No plans of racing, heavy bashing or doing crazy jumps with it. Just a fun runner.

[markbt73 6238]

I would like to point out that everyone's models are shelfers 98% of the time. When you're at work, or eating, or sleeping, or spending time with your family, or learning how to play "Mr Crowley" on the banjo, or whatever, your RC cars are shelfers.

They're just toys. No one has to justify how or when or even if they use them.

[Mrowka 497]

I only have five buggies and my son has one.

All are in running condition, but I only rarely run some of them, the ones that are original vintage cars or that I spent an inordinate amount of time to make look nice.

Also, I have a habit of accumulating massive spares stockpiles and I am sort of OCD about wanting to fix anything broken, right away.

[BJoe76 577]

Mostly it’s money and time, some need parts that I need money for (my E-Revo is a good example there), my Jimny is just waiting  on the rest of the wheels to arrive, then some just need time to work on and use. My recent hospital stay then dealing with the aftermath of insurance, FMLA, the daily antibiotic trips to the hospital for 6 weeks after my stay before working for the day (with OT to make up for the time I lose with the latter) and finally just other things like things I need to do on weekends I can’t do during the week.

[MadInventor 3888]

For me non runners are due to:

1. Lack of time

2. Shredded transmissions.

3. Lack of motivation to get something out and run it when all the space I've got is a bit of flat lawn. After shielding from Covid for over a year it seems like a lot of effort to bundle stuff in the car to run by myself.

4. The War Rig trailer is a 2 man lift and only just fits in the car. Every time I run it I break something on it due to driving too fast and rolling it.

5. The spare parts I need to get one of my favourite runners (TXT) going are only available in Germany and the model shop won't sell them to me due to our new trading relationship with the EU.

6. 'It was working last time I shelved it, but now it doesn't' syndrome.

7. Getting pulled into buying something looking at pictures and other people builds, then getting it and realising it's not actually that much fun.

8. I think I get more fun out of building things than driving them.

 

[whahooo 472]

I'm afraid to destroy my King Cab Diff, so it is not a runner.

My other King Cab isn't painted yet and i'm not capable to paint the brittle Lexan shell.

My Renault 5 Turbo has a Lexanshell i'm not capable to paint.....

My Ford Baja has a thrashed Lexanshell that is halfway cleaned from the old paint, but clouded from the solvent i tried.

 

The other Cars lack of a chrystalpair to freely use, i have to swap the christals every Time.....

[berman 5319]

Same as others, lack of time and money. My old job I was doing 65-70 hours 5 days a week and had more disposable income, this job I work now 6 full days a week, 60-65 hours, and get about $3-400 p/w less. I also live about 30-60 minutes away from my work so that's more time gone. I normally take my Arrma Granite and stop off at the local field on the way home for 5-6 minutes of 'me' time after work. Then it's housework, getting kids bathed/bed and making lunches etc.

All my m-chassis cars might as well be considered shelfers. I have no real intention or desire to run them. Most of them have been run in the past, only really the M08 and M-four haven't been run by me. I'm not really fussed by on road cars a lot, I still would like a FF tourer, and maybe a racing truck even though I'm not particularly impressed by TT01/2s, but I am more than happy just tinkering and collecting the m-chassis cars, I find comfort/pleasure in just acquiring parts and restoring and hopping them up.

My 5 tractor trucks havent been used in a long time, our club hasnt had a meet in over a year I think. Two of my trucks are on the shelf for display at my local hobby shop, along with my Leopard 2a6, and my CC01 Bronco.

I have my original Clod Buster packed away in a 60l container under my m chassis cars. It was restored. A long time ago I went to drive it outside and my wife sprayed some chemical product on the tiles in the doorway, to get a mark off the floor and didn't wipe it up, I had the clod in my hand, slipped in the product, and in my fall threw the clod 4ft high in the air, it came down square on its bed and obliterated the shell. I have a spare original bodyset and decals, but have never gotten around to painting it.

I have an Arrma Granite 3s, Heavy Dump Truck, Konghead, Traxxas Stampede, CPE Carbon Terminator Clod, Lunchbox that get run with the kids.

I have a broken somewhat original Mitsubishi Pajero that needs fixing, and a Kyosho DRX that needs selling.

But yeah, time and money mostly 😐

 

[TurnipJF 10942]

Like many others who have responded so far, I too find it difficult to leave a faulty or damaged car alone - I fix it ASAP, usually trying to upgrade the damaged bit in the process, unless it is an intentional weak link.

[Exit13 780]

20 hours ago, lsear2905 said:

I've noticed a lot of you talk about not having cars in a running condition, and I was curious why?

Is it a lack of availability of spares? A lack of time? The cost? Shelf-queens? 

Everyone enjoys this hobby in different ways, and all those ways are of equal value, but it seems odd to me to have a remote-control vehicle that cannot be run? As soon as one of my vehicles is out of action, I become single-minded in the pursuit of rectifying the issue! 

Agree. I’m the same way. And then I pick up spares so it doesn’t happen again and if it does it’s not for too long. Of course my cars sat for 30 years and didn’t run but that doesn’t count does it?