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Mechanic AH

Can I vent about the hobby? Do you ever?

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7 hours ago, rich_f said:

A few things to say about this: firstly, this is no different than saying "tamiya makes brushless motors that are so much faster, more efficient, more reliable than brushed motors - I don't get why you'd prefer to use brushed motors that require more maintenance, are slower, and yet waste more power as heat."  - 'Better' is a subjective term; for some people, less detailed is better. For some, less complicated is better. For some, familiar is better. 

FWIW, I never said "better," I said "more accurate and detailed than the RC equivalent." The point I was making was an objective one without offering my opinion either way. 

**

Can I suggest a topic for 'Vent #3'? Body posts, and why people insist on keeping them absurdly long, ruining the look of their cars? :(

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14 minutes ago, lsear2905 said:

Can I suggest a topic for 'Vent #3'? Body posts, and why people insist on keeping them absurdly long, ruining the look of their cars? :(

I am on the fence on this one! When a rollover occurs the body gets less damage. That said I used magnets on my CR-01 Land cruiser and when it rolled over the body just fell off pulling the LEDs out of the light buckets! 

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15 hours ago, Wooders28 said:

I get this quite often, with the , How dare you put a brushless motor and a lipo into a Tamiya! (Like they'll just spontaneously combust..), you can't be into RC cars etc etc..🤦‍♂️ (even though, constantly buying spares helps keep model shops going)

There was a lot of anger from the shelfer crowd when the re- releases where first announced , complaining their cars would go down in value (just have them for making money?) where the runner crowd, where extatic to be able to not have to spend time, and a fortune sourcing/buying parts.

You've maybe have gathered, I'm firmly in the runner crowd. Otherwise, It's like having a beautiful wife, and being celibate,  but, I quite like the shelfer crowd too, they keep them nice and , fresh, for me to buy, when I need a new runner..😛

Totally understand and agree with you on the re-re situation. However, is that really about shelf queen (SQ) owners bashing runners as I've pointed out? I think you're referring to an entirely different crowd of purist RC collectors and then hardcore Tamiya fans. Not entirely defending all SQ owners but that's kind of a mix up from what I posted.

I've come across excellent owners/collectors of SQs who focus on building and restoring vintage kits for the shelf, and I've yet to see them get upset with people that do run their cars. In fact, most of people I know in the SQ crowd buy re-res to run so they can keep the originals intact. And I've been helped by some of these folks to get parts for my cars regardless of what I do with it. I have to say, I haven't been corrected for parts I put in a car within the general SQ crowd—but there are some in the Tamiya crowd who are purists or fanatics who have said something.

In another social board group a serious collector noted he wasn't thrilled with re-res, and was vocal about not understanding the hype behind them, why people spend money on them, and to some effect mentioned how it de-values the original model line, or how others sell and pass off the parts as original and it affects collectors like him. I believe that is the kind of person you might be referring to regarding re-res. Where they might be interested in being the elite few.

Most folks I know who have shelf queens didn't start out that way. In fact a lot of them have had the chance to run/race very many iconic cars. Even world champions have shelf queens. There's just a point for some where they've done most of what they wanted to do and don't need take their cars to the track anymore, and because they're still interested in the hobby, some stay by restoring and collecting instead (like myself). I have this car, it's a Yokomo 870c. I've kept a beater one that I've had for ages (ran 870cs when I was younger), then I have a pristine shelf queen that I've had many years after the first—I've kept it pristine because it means something to me and the car isn't being produced anymore—if you can imagine the challenge and costs to find spares. And now that I'm older, I have enough parts to restore a third one and casually run if I want to. I used to run cars bitd, but now I don't have proper time for it and just find building therapeutic instead. I'm glad I don't sit in one camp, I'm a runner and shelfer. So I'm not sure about your analogy about a wife and being celibate—that is if you assume every SQ owners only do shelf queens. Wanted to share my 870cs (runner and shelf queen).

 

 

MechanicAfterHours-870.jpg

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Keeping long body posts isn't a bad thing. I'm still using them on TT02 but will trim them later on. I had plans to buy all of the current bodies for it and now I just need to finish the bodies to have shorter posts that fits all 4 bodies. Cutting them short before you are done collecting bodies can screw you over later on. I now have spare trays mostly for the shock mounts when they get loose and new body posts are included.

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24 minutes ago, lsear2905 said:

FWIW, I never said "better," I said "more accurate and detailed than the RC equivalent." The point I was making was an objective one without offering my opinion either way. 

**

Can I suggest a topic for 'Vent #3'? Body posts, and why people insist on keeping them absurdly long, ruining the look of their cars? :(

Is that a vent or a dislike? Haha! I don't care much what direction the body posts goes but I myself like to tuck it in and keep it clean.

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32 minutes ago, nel33 said:

Keeping long body posts isn't a bad thing. I'm still using them on TT02 but will trim them later on. I had plans to buy all of the current bodies for it and now I just need to finish the bodies to have shorter posts that fits all 4 bodies. Cutting them short before you are done collecting bodies can screw you over later on. I now have spare trays mostly for the shock mounts when they get loose and new body posts are included.

A new set of body posts for a Tamiya are generally a fraction of the cost of a new body, and easy enough to swap over. It's especially galling if it's on a "shelf queen" as they are so unattractive. 

Long aerial tubes are fine - especially on older models though that would've had 27Mhz radios.

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Oh dear, I'm a runner, a shelfer, and a vintage NIB queen!

Comment.

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2 hours ago, Mechanic AH said:

 Haha! I don't care much what direction the body posts goes but I myself like to tuck it in and keep it clean.

I just snorted on my coffee reading that! :lol::D

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2 hours ago, gizard said:

I am on the fence on this one! When a rollover occurs the body gets less damage. 

Every day is a school day - had never thought of that - thanks! :) 

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I have to say I don't really get the logic of buying rc cars purely as an investment - there are far better ways to make money. However, if it's just a nice bonus to have once you've got your enjoyment from looking at it or (dare I say use it) then fair enough. 

Me - I've got re-releases, vintage restored shelf queens and runners (although to be fair they all spend 95% of their time on the shelf!) and I love them all! My brother had a Sand Scorcher which I remembered seeing as a kid but it never ran properly. Many years later I tried to find out what happened to it so I could have a go at fixing it up, only to be told it went in a skip years back. So I was thrilled when they did the re-release as I got to have my own. As it's a re-release I've not felt guilty about mixing things up with it and chopping it about, so it definitely has a place in my heart.  I love the restoration aspect of the hobby too though, for me tracking down those rare, genuine parts is brilliantly satisfying and being able to recreate those iconic models I drooled over as a kid is fantastic! They really are works of art (especially things like the Avante, SRB, 3 Speeds, trucks etc) which deserve to be admired as a piece of engineering as much as being hooned around a park. And that's the other major part of it - running the things! Creating dust clouds or doing jumps, climbing a rocky path or ploughing through the undergrowth - that's the final point of all of these isn't it? But obviously, you are going to be a bit more careful with a vintage classic than a out the box current model - just as I'm full of admiration for those guys that run priceless old cars up Goodwood and hill climbs or vintage races. But I also get those that prefer to keep them safe and sound in a garage. As long as they are getting enjoyment from it - so what?

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Can I vent?

JST plugs. Whats that all about then??  

I bought a second hand Axial SCX24. It comes with a small LiPo battery. It didn't come with a charger (should have paid more attention to the listing). Trying to work out which charger I can use, which plug, which leads I need for the mini/ micro / v2 / **** plugs to use in a proper LiPo charger and what you need for a balance lead has just been an unnecessary headache. So far the little rig has had zero run time because I don't want to run the battery down too low.

Up till now I have only used Nimh and been quite happy. I need to move to LiPo given the weight of the battery in the back of my JK trail rig. 

I'll go brushless soon too. On a couple of models.

I'd love a shelf queen but haven't got the skills to get a body to that standard or anywhere to display it! Which leads me to vent on another topic...time.

Time. Where does it go? Why isn't there ever enough time to play with toy cars?!

 

 

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I’d like to vent about aging vision.  Can’t see worth a darn without reading glasses.. and I have to look like a cave miner when painting large items using my headband magnifying lens with LED lights.   I envy youth vision.  It’s challenging to paint these days..!   Thus you don't hear about me building plastic scale models.  I use to all the time as a kid, but my time has long past.   I ache all over too.. :lol:  "hey get off my lawn!"
 

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On 6/12/2021 at 1:59 AM, Mechanic AH said:

Something got on my nerves lately and I'm a pretty laid back and chill person. It did because it keeps coming up in the past few months when I ask a brushed motor question or post one of my build videos, haha. And interestingly, it's mostly Tamiya related. Every time brushed motors come up, there's always a crowd that will surely pop up to tell me to put a brushless motor and lipo--to make things faster and solve everything. Even if my questions have nothing to do with speed and power. Sometimes they even ask (more of a scolding) why I use old technology brushed motors (even if I'm building a kit from that era). It's the one thing I notice more than anything else. As for the brushless motor + lipo power, sometimes I just don't want to be in a rave all day, and sometimes I just want some nuance and the motor to have character. Or I want to reminisce what it was like back in the day. I do have brushless and I have no issues with it. Now that's all out, I feel better. :D

Looking around me, most people only want a few things for "bashing".

- Fast brushless preferably 6s or more
- Wheelies all day
- Hard to break

So yeah, for that you easily end up with a Traxxas or Arrma, as they just are tougher than a standard Tamiya and indeed are able to handle the high power brushless systems better, but even these brands also still carry brushed models.

Tamiya has vehicles designed for other purposes than just go fast and bash, and that is what I like most about them, most of them are unique in their own way.
In a lot of situations the intended use suits a brushed motor just fine.
But I also have brushless in my Tamiya's, some for a bit more speed, and some for more efficiency compared to the same speed brushed motors.

In the past I could not go to a meeting with those "bashers" with one of my Tamiya's without hearing at least one of the following:

- Buy a real car, Tamiya is for kids
- Tamiya is weak
- Brushed is ancient and you need brushless to have fun
- Tamiya is old tech for crazy high prices
And the fun part was that most of the time my "brushed Tamiya kids toy" was faster around the track than a lot of the brushless Traxxas or Arrma vehicles as they were too much overpowered to use on the track and were constantly missing jumps and/or corners.

Now having found a great group of locals who just meet up and have fun instead of measuring who has the best and/or most expensive RC.
They really enjoy the hobby and love to see my Tamiya's even though most of them wouldn't build or buy one themselves.

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2 minutes ago, Yonzariq said:

Looking around me, most people only want a few things for "bashing".

- Fast brushless preferably 6s or more
- Wheelies all day
- Hard to break

So yeah, for that you easily end up with a Traxxas or Arrma, as they just are tougher than a standard Tamiya and indeed are able to handle the high power brushless systems better, but even these brands also still carry brushed models.

Tamiya has vehicles designed for other purposes than just go fast and bash, and that is what I like most about them, most of them are unique in their own way.
In a lot of situations the intended use suits a brushed motor just fine.
But I also have brushless in my Tamiya's, some for a bit more speed, and some for more efficiency compared to the same speed brushed motors.

In the past I could not go to a meeting with those "bashers" with one of my Tamiya's without hearing at least one of the following:

- Buy a real car, Tamiya is for kids
- Tamiya is weak
- Brushed is ancient and you need brushless to have fun
- Tamiya is old tech for crazy high prices
And the fun part was that most of the time my "brushed Tamiya kids toy" was faster around the track than a lot of the brushless Traxxas or Arrma vehicles as they were too much overpowered to use on the track and were constantly missing jumps and/or corners.

Now having found a great group of locals who just meet up and have fun instead of measuring who has the best and/or most expensive RC.
They really enjoy the hobby and love to see my Tamiya's even though most of them wouldn't build or buy one themselves.

I kinda saw this when I used to ride motorbikes - you'd find so many guys in their expensive leathers and helmets in the dealers comparing their brand new 1000cc superbikes which they kept for a year and then updated for the new year model because it had saved 2lbs over the previous model and could go 3mph faster - and they were all like "last years model is rubbish compared to this one - could barely ride it blah blah."  But if you ever watched them ride they would barely lean it over and only ever crack it open in a straight line - which kinda missed the point in my mind. I had a 250cc supersport that weighed nothing that got a lot of derision from the superbike crowd who saw it as a beginners bike. Yet when I rode around them on the inside of a roundabout with my knee on the floor and left them behind on the next twisty road they weren't quite so derogatory. Who hasn't had a fantastic time in a tiny little car revving the nuts off it yet barely touching the speed limit? 

It's not always about top speed, power and performance - if that was the case - why is the Lunchbox so popular??

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9 hours ago, lsear2905 said:

A new set of body posts for a Tamiya are generally a fraction of the cost of a new body, and easy enough to swap over. It's especially galling if it's on a "shelf queen" as they are so unattractive. 

Long aerial tubes are fine - especially on older models though that would've had 27Mhz radios.

true that they are a fraction of the cost of a kit. getting a new set of parts trees for that only is a pain in the butt if thats all you need the trays for. im trying to keep the spare parts for the TT02 to a minimum. most of my purchases are for that one kit...

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2 hours ago, Yonzariq said:

Looking around me, most people only want a few things for "bashing".

- Fast brushless preferably 6s or more
- Wheelies all day
- Hard to break

 

 

I was at my LHS this past weekend buying paints (again) and overheard a kid wondering to the clerk if he could fit (2) battery packs on top of each other in his car, and still fit the body.  

Apparently, he's not crashing into concrete walls fast enough...

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I can relate to the OP, but it's a hazard of life in general, and especially hobbies like ours. Most people want a RTR that they can brag to their friends about how fast it is and can be bashed (abused) endlessly without failure. "I want that car because it does 100 MPH" or "What's the fastest motor for my [insert vehicle name]". These same people become part of the community and often strongly voice their inexperienced opinion on things, potentially misleading OTHER new people. 

These same folks could not possibly understand why you'd want to build an old car, with old technology - even if it serves a nostalgic purpose, meets budgetary requirements, or is FAST ENOUGH for what we want to do. I've seen these same issues repeated with full-size race cars too, it's just human nature.

At the end of the day, life is all about ignoring the idiots and appreciating others - so I'd say we're all lucky to have this little corner of the internet to compare notes with like-minded folks.

<end rant>

 

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13 hours ago, Mechanic AH said:

However, is that really about shelf queen (SQ) owners bashing runners as I've pointed out?

Mmmm, or is it a product of their (collectors?) own making? Prices of vintage cars rising to the level of RC companies thinking, " I'll have a bit of that pie" , you mean? 

In Internet land, its always the people with the strongest views or personalities that comment, and it is the ones who think a car should be wrapped up ,that have comment on my running (not bashing, I might add...) so I guess I've just, lumped them together? 

 

14 hours ago, Mechanic AH said:

Even world champions have shelf queens.

Yes, but the ones I know of, keep their championship winning cars , cars they've really enjoy/mean something, which I consider slightly different... 🙄

If / when I get hold of my old race cars (the guy says he's still got one in his loft, although that was a good few years ago now, so...) , they would be predominantly, for the shelf, but would still see a track. Yes you can get spares, but would turn into ,Triggers Broom, its the same car, but with a new body, chassis, gearbox etc....

I did buy a vintage Ultima to make a replica of my old race car, but just wasn't the same, so it's now got an full RB5 gearbox, RB5 shocks, 6.5t brushless / 2s and now I've a connection with it, have memories, stories with it, and now love it 😁

Going back to my, beautiful wife analogy, looking at a just built and put on a shelf car, is like looking at a cat walk, they're all beautiful women and nice to look at, but you need a 'connection' for them to become something special. 

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34 minutes ago, Wooders28 said:

Going back to my, beautiful wife analogy, looking at a just built and put on a shelf car, is like looking at a cat walk, they're all beautiful women and nice to look at, but you need a 'connection' for them to become something special. 

I had my BMW 2002 shell, invisibly mounted and with HPI wheels and tyres. The closest I had to a shelf queen. The last run out the shell kept popping off and got rashed, then I smacked a kerb and split it at the front.

But it was a morning out with my son having fun with RC and our only tarmac running so far. So now the shell is both less and more special.

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25 minutes ago, Badcrumble said:

it was a morning out with my son having fun with RC and our only tarmac running so far. So now the shell is both less and more special.

(Without going too Sigmund Freud..)

For me, it's the running that made the memories, with friends , family. I don't know of any 10yr old kid, that got a Tamiya Hornet off Santa,  and thought , you know what, I'm going to build that, and just put it on the shelf to look at.

It was built, and you ran out to show your mates, who either already had one, or very soon wanted one!! 

It's that joy and excitement memory, that gives us our fuzzy nostalgia feeling.

 

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16 hours ago, lsear2905 said:

FWIW, I never said "better," I said "more accurate and detailed than the RC equivalent." The point I was making was an objective one without offering my opinion either way. 

I'm aware you didn't say the word, but I think you missed my point, which was that for someone to prefer one thing over another, they must perceive the first as better (in some way) than the second.

So for you, 'more accurate and detailed than the RC equivalent' might be the better choice compared to someone else who values the size of an RC model over a 1/24th one, for example. For them, the larger size makes it a better choice than the smaller, but more detailed models. 

What I'm trying to say (as have others in this thread) is that everyone's perception of what is better for them is not necessarily the same as everyone else's.

So if someone's version of better is different to someone else's, asking questions like 'why don't you like this objective characteristic instead of this other objective characteristic'  - the answer is always: because in their opinion, the other objective characteristic is perceived to be better!(hence everyone's version of better is different)

Same goes for long body posts. I have long body posts on some of my cars because they are better than short ones at protecting the body when it rolls during a race on tarmac, and they also make it a little more likely that it will land back on its wheels after a roll. As for the look, you don't really notice them when the car is moving quickly around a track. Other people are bound to have other reasons for having them. 

In fact the same goes for all of these 'vents' - people have their own reasons for liking what they like and we'll never understand them all - unless they tell us in this thread 😊

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My biggest gripe is that it's very difficult to get Tamiya Kits and parts in the US. Seemed like it was the complete opposite back in the 80s. 

Also, that there's no onroad tracks anywhere close to where I live. That's why I'm thinking about getting a remote piece of land and building my own at some point. 

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2 hours ago, Willsls1 said:

My biggest gripe is that it's very difficult to get Tamiya Kits and parts in the US. Seemed like it was the complete opposite back in the 80s. 

Seems that way for me too (locally, at least). Perhaps it was Tamiya's more dominant place in the US market then or the stronger tactics used by their old importer, MRC, but it ain't like the ol' days. I  miss the old spinner racks filled with yellow and red MRC/Tamiya spare parts bags  :(. (of course I just miss LHSs in general)...

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On 6/15/2021 at 5:53 AM, Mechanic AH said:

MechanicAfterHours-870.jpg

I don't think you need to put the labels 'Shelf Queen' and 'Runner' on them. :D

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On 6/15/2021 at 8:49 PM, Badcrumble said:

I had my BMW 2002 shell, invisibly mounted and with HPI wheels and tyres. The closest I had to a shelf queen. The last run out the shell kept popping off and got rashed, then I smacked a kerb and split it at the front.

But it was a morning out with my son having fun with RC and our only tarmac running so far. So now the shell is both less and more special.

Absolutely. I spent 3 years building this from scratch

img33435_111201842322_3_1100_.jpg

so it's extremely rare and if I want spares I need to make them myself. The last time I ran it (nearly 2 years ago) I was going full throttle down a dirt road when I ran over my fast attack vehicle a friend was driving, which caused the truck to roll over. So now I've got quite a few repairs to carry out on it before I can run it again. But the time out was fun, my son enjoyed it enormously, and when I run it again I'll probably end up damaging something else. But the dents and scratches are part of it's history now, my son points at them and says 'I remember when rolled it and put that dent in it'. Plus I wouldn't have spent 3 years building it if wasn't ever going to run it.

Re, the brushed vs brushless argument, I've got a 6S brushless boat motor in this, rated at 2400 Watts, which gives me a top speed of 18mph (About as quick as a mildly hopped up buggy). But this thing weighs about 30Kg, so I couldn't do it with brushed motors. I'd need 40 silver cans to generate the equivalent power output.

That's not to say there's anything wrong with brushed motors. I sometimes miss the old 3 step speedo's. You don't need a programming card to get them to work....

 

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