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Saito2

Too much of a good thing.

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For numerous reasons, if someone gets "bit" by the RC bug, a collection tends to grow rapidly, soon thereafter in many cases. It could be their relatively small size of lower cost compared to full size vehicles. It could be the joy of acquiring vintage/re-re vehicles we lusted after in our youth. It could be the thrill of the hunt or even hunting for thrills, searching for the niche that "clicks" with you. Someone recently said collecting starts with excitement of getting the cars you craved in your youth but slowly evolves into looking at cars that one might not have considered, simply looking for something to buy, and perhaps looking to reclaim the thrill (which can't be replicated). I'm fairly certain @Juggular alluded to this in the "burnout" thread. Its an astute observation. 

I have a large collection myself. The shelf queens are very much the Tamiya catalog "come to life" for me and that makes me happy. The other portion is a large group of runners. I admit, it gets hard to pick what to take on a day out with my family. I can choose from a type of every 2wd buggy, 4wd buggy or monster truck that Tamiya produced before 1989, often times multiple versions of the same chassis (i.e. I have a Bigwig, Hot Shot, Super Shot, plus two modded Hot Shots ready to go at anytime). Boo hoo. First world problems. I honestly feel guilt about it, but I'm a collector and love them all like "kids". So all I can do is stop buying, which I have. The new Super Avante is tempting for a fresh experience but I won't give in. I may not have the willpower to solve the problem but I can at least try not to add to it.

So what's the point to all this? Well, if you're getting into or back into this hobby, be careful and be discerning. As pointed out in the RC Burnout video/thread, things can get out of control fast. Many look at big collections in awe and may try to reach that status themselves but this is a reversal of that view. I'm going to call on @Ferruz as an example. From what I can tell, there's a Hornet, Big Boss, Manta Ray, Terra Scorcher, RC10 and Samurai in his stable (my apologies if I missed any) and he seems to have more fun with those few cars than anybody with a billion cars. Often times I see the photos of his trusty Big Boss, flying Hornet and stunning Manta Ray and feel both a tinge of regret that I went overboard and happiness that those vehicles seem to bring someone joy as intended. That's not to pressure him not to get more vehicles as that number is no where near my 80+ cars but rather give him some good recognition. RC collecting is fun but in the end, remember, more material possessions do not add up to more happiness despite what we've been brainwashed into believing. 

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Indeed, as someone who came back into the hobby after a decade away last year I realised quickly that the build and the modding/problem solving as the biggest part of the hobby for me, especially as the race tracks were shut. This meant that I was happy to move cars on, keeping one or two at a time.

all of which is to say that as you point out @Saito2 there are so many facets to this hobby, racing, bashing, collecting, modding, even financial speculation, and anyone of these are a good reason to be involved.

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I only had three to four cars for the first 10 years after getting back into the hobby. Then Corona came and and I found love for FF-01 chassis… Now I have over 40 cars …

What about the fun? Well I have only 3-5 chassis that are runners at a time. Together with friends (Quincy and Sgt. Speirs) I chose a new runner several times a year. After some runs with the Boomerang , I switched to the Dyna Blaster, next is the Super Astute… 

Having only a few cars makes the experience more intense, getting to know the car better, setup, driving style, competitiveness… I had that and it is nice also. Right now I have my fun cars (all vintage) and my race cars (TT-02 KR conversion and my fwd  FF-03 conversion).  The latter is the more intense setup and racing experience, the former pure relaxing fun, being a child again.

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Wow, 80+ models is a lot. I started thinning mine out the first time it got above 20. The last few years I've been selling more than I've bought (Passed on a Juggernaut 2 and 2 king tigers to 2 new owners, vs buying a re-re terra scorcher and a Konghead). I've used the Konghead twice in 2 years, so feel that was a bit of a waste of money, and the TS is untouched in the box still. I wish I could get down to 1 or 2 models, but I've made more than that as scratch built models I wouldn't part with, and I've still got several tamiya models I like owning, but never seem to have the motivation to get them out and run them. I think I should have stuck to a 3 car limit for tamiya. The only cars I've eyeballed recently are the Kyosho turbo Optima and and the Ultima re-re. Never had the optima, but had an Ultima 1st time round. But then they're a lot of money, and what's the point in getting them if I'm never going to use them, or only very infrequently.....

 

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Since I have a large collection, I am in no position to tell others to refrain.  However, I could say slowing down could help.  The faster you buy, the faster you could reach the burn out .  Easy fish you caught, you don't even remember, the hard one is memorable.  

I've noticed is that many collectors who are still active in RC, seem to have gotten there slowly, over decades. Not in a year. Those who buy stuff in a year might sell everything in a year too.  Also you can find cheaper things if you take time shopping around.  

Sometimes you get very lucky. More times you don't find lucky stuff (by definition, lucky stuff don't happen everyday). But if you are patient enough to figure out the going prices, you can only buy what's below that. If you think you gained from the purchase, instead of loss, it can help you stay in RC.  I often wait a couple years until I find stuff in a good price.  (I got Sand Rover and XV-01 2-3 years after I decided to get them.)  

"But what about the rare item that'll be sold out?"  

That often got me into trouble.  If you wanted a Bruiser, and you thought the Bruiser re-release was almost all gone, you would have paid a lot of money.  But if you missed your chance to spend a lot of money for it, you'd have seen Tamiya rereleasing many more 3-speeds over the years.  Now, I think, 'you lose some, and you win some.'  And what if you never got what you wanted?  Then Tamiya will make something new to play with.  That's their purpose in life; to make us spend money on new stuff.  No need to be anxious about spending.  

Obviously, every person can spend on his hard earned money on whatever he wants.  But too much of a good thing too fast isn't always good.  So I'm never going to say, 'don't get what you want.'  You should get what you want. Just that taking time to get it might work out better. (Especially if Mrs. is watching what you are spending like a hawk.)  

 

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I think focus is what is probably missing with most folks that get real excited with the hobby and end up just getting sick of it.  

With age I'm aching all over after modding my real cars so I've been focusing more on just working on vintage Willy's and making one-off cars Willy can drive.  New kit cars do not excite me any more as anyone with some extra cash can buy and build them.  I think I am in my last RC phase which is going back to my Willy roots and making one-off cars based on Tamiya chassis.. or any chassis just as long as Willy and Billy can fit and drive them. :lol:   

I have high respect for those that make their own original cars.  Too bad I'm too dumb to do any CAD or 3D printing work.  Only thing I have is my half-working head, pen, and piece of paper I picked out of my trash bin..

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I can honestly say I'd be having more fun if I'd been quicker to buy the things I wanted rather than taking my time.  I can see why the guys who buy dozens of kits in the first few months get burnt out, but I've held back on stuff that simply vanished then regretted it.  Way back I first started looking at a Blackfoot Xtreme.  I decided not to get one.  I never thought that years later I'd end up hoping for a re-release of them.  A couple of years back Manta Rays and Top Forces seemed like they'd be around for years like some re-release kits do.

Now I feel the pressure to buy is significantly higher because chances are that you will either miss out entirely or you'll be paying big prices in a couple of years from collectors.  It's very model dependent of course but some kits are ubiquitous while others seem rare for no real reason other than Tamiya want it that way.  I wish I was a Hornet and Lunchbox guy because they seem to have the easiest life.  :D

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Some very interesting points above, of which I can relate to.

The problem I have at the moment is not with going to big to quick with kits, but since my first SRB I seem to have a thing for the wheels...

fullsizeoutput_13f4.jpg

If I see a set of SRB wheels while scrolling it's hard to go past. At least they are relatively cheap compared to buying complete kits. I only have 2 SRB chassis but having the multitude of wheels is great for running, display and just swapping them around to give a car a different look for a while and gives me the feeling of having more than I actually do. They also fit my Wild One to which is handy, at least thats 3 vehicles to share them out between 😀

Having just acquired a Fighting Buggy has helped kerb the want and desire for owning an infinite amount of cars, and I can't see myself owning more than 20. Thats plenty in itself.

 

I get immense enjoyment out of just seeing other peoples huge collections online and I look at them more with happiness for the owner then envy for myself, and thats one good thing about the internet that makes that possible because I would think that a lot of Pre-internet collectors of Vintage stuff have come about simply because you just didn't see things like it very often.

 

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4 hours ago, Blista said:

I can honestly say I'd be having more fun if I'd been quicker to buy the things I wanted rather than taking my time.  I can see why the guys who buy dozens of kits in the first few months get burnt out, but I've held back on stuff that simply vanished then regretted it.  Way back I first started looking at a Blackfoot Xtreme.  I decided not to get one.  I never thought that years later I'd end up hoping for a re-release of them.  A couple of years back Manta Rays and Top Forces seemed like they'd be around for years like some re-release kits do.

Now I feel the pressure to buy is significantly higher because chances are that you will either miss out entirely or you'll be paying big prices in a couple of years from collectors.  It's very model dependent of course but some kits are ubiquitous while others seem rare for no real reason other than Tamiya want it that way.  I wish I was a Hornet and Lunchbox guy because they seem to have the easiest life.  :D

This has been an issue for me too, although I managed to get the ones that were important to me. Top Force disappeared quickly but I got the next run, Boomerang came and went (but I was on that before they made it downunder) so fortunately the collection is pretty much complete. Its taken 4 or so years I guess, and I only wanted a few to begin with. I will add some from here but not quickly. I'm with you on theHornet and Lunchbox thing, would be much easier.

 

I've seen it on here though where people are new or newly returning, dive in with heaps of kits then disappear in a short time. Wonder what happens to those kits...

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4 hours ago, Re-Bugged said:

The problem I have at the moment is not with going to big to quick with kits, but since my first SRB I seem to have a thing for the wheels...

fullsizeoutput_13f4.jpg

lol, that's awesome!

Do you have any of the amazing RC Channel aluminium wheels? Apparently no longer available. :(

SSWheelF02Custom.jpg

SSWheelR03Custom.jpg

 

 

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I dived headfirst into the hobby in 2014 (I think it was) and quickly bought up a pile of junk. If I had gone slower then I might have a more ‘curated’ fleet.

To often enthusiasm for the better of me and I’d buy a beaten up used example to ‘bring back to life for future generations’ and be left with a pile of bits waiting to be cleaned up because I moved on to the next thing (looking at you ORVs)

Or got carried away with an idea and bought multiple bits of discontinued chassis apart from the one extremely hard to find but essential sprue (hello, M04).

And then there was the pristine TL01LA I sold because it was ‘too nice to run’. I regretted it immediately and bought a well used one. Which I have never run.

My interest has flitted between restorations, M chassis, big wheels and crawlers, I’ve never even run the touring cars I’ve bought.

In the meantime, Tamils released some excellent new kits where I could have spent my funds more wisely and had the build experience I really enjoy - M07, M08 that means you.

If I had any sense I’d cut my losses and lose the ORVs, the Hotshot, CC01 Pajero and maybe even my M38 but I have already demonstrated that I have no sense (see purchasing history above).

So, if any new TCers are reading this, I hope you enjoyed my cautionary tale. And maybe a giggle at my expense. You’re welcome :D

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56 minutes ago, Jonathon Gillham said:

I've seen it on here though where people are new or newly returning, dive in with heaps of kits then disappear in a short time. Wonder what happens to those kits...

They exist only in the hopes and dreams of Tamiya Club members who want to stumble upon them for sale NIB for a fraction of their cost. :lol:

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I returned to the hobby as a lockdown thing like a lot of people last year. I still only have 3 cars. 2x Tamiya kits (Grasshopper & Blitzer Beetle) and a Kyosho Beetle I bought used. I don't have the desire to fill my house with unbuilt kits and shelf queens. I got the cars I have because I either had one as a kid (GH) or just love the look of them (the Beetles). Really want an Optima Turbo but I'm struggling with the idea of dropping that much money on a new car! Guess I still have the same mentality as when I was a kid and had to save up to get what I wanted rather than blowing my disposable* income

 

*no income is disposable, find that such a crass term but you know what I mean!

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16 hours ago, Saito2 said:

I'm going to call on @Ferruz as an example. From what I can tell, there's a Hornet, Big Boss, Manta Ray, Terra Scorcher, RC10 and Samurai in his stable (my apologies if I missed any) and he seems to have more fun with those few cars than anybody with a billion cars. Often times I see the photos of his trusty Big Boss, flying Hornet and stunning Manta Ray and feel both a tinge of regret that I went overboard and happiness that those vehicles seem to bring someone joy as intended. That's not to pressure him not to get more vehicles as that number is no where near my 80+ cars but rather give him some good recognition. RC collecting is fun but in the end, remember, more material possessions do not add up to more happiness despite what we've been brainwashed into believing. 

Absolutely spot on, nail on the proverbial. I've got more enjoyment and smiles from living vicariously through @Ferruz photos of his Hornet and the furry friends he makes than I have from taking my cars to an empty car park or field on my own, yet they are "worth" significantly more, so should be better and bring more enjoyment to me, right? :huh: 

@Badcrumble could be my brother from another mother, if genetics were based solely on our experiences with buying RC stuff ;) I bought some total rubbish when I first got back into RC and still have a pile of parts in my spares box that I thought "oh that looks rare/shiny/a bargain" only to find it absolutely wasn't any of those. But, it has made me more discerning and careful with the auction bidding and buy it now's. 

My biggest issue is I love restoring or getting rare hopups for things and find it impossible to stop until I've made it so "perfect" I can't bring myself to run it for fear of damaging it. So they sit on my shelf, looking gorgeous it has to be said, but I never get to properly enjoy them like they should be, and I do envy people like @Ferruz for not being so precious about them and just "living"!! I start out with good intentions - at least 5 times I've set out to build a "runner" - and each time I keep upgrading it, or finding a better condition replacement part until it's turned into another shelf queen. I do still get enjoyment from them, it's just that I keep getting that realisation that I'm missing the point somewhere. The real irony of it all is that the first car I bought coming back to RC (the Sand Scorcher was a gift from my lovely wife, so that doesn't count) was a beat up Grasshopper 2 that I fixed up and gave to my friend's son - who loves it to bits and is still his favourite several years on! Maybe the best advice for RC - and life - is Keep It Simple Stupid!

And never has a truer word been said than "more material possessions do not add up to more happiness" - I remember reading something that Steve Jobs said, which was along the lines of "I've got billions in the bank and made a huge electronic empire - but none of it can help me live even a single day longer or help make me better, so what was the point?"

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No I don’t have any of RC Channels wheels (yet!!!) @djmcnz, just the rim covers from Paragu.

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I feel like I'm in a pretty good place now, actually. I'm sitting at about 25-30 cars (I do so much scratchbuilding and modifying that what you define as a "whole car" is a bit fluid) and as of right now, there isn't anything else I want to buy, with the possible exception of bits of electronics or minor parts to complete some projects, but those are on the back burner for now anyway. Right now, if I could have anything in the world, it would be more time. I figure I have about 1000 hours of unfinished projects sitting here right now. I need to start working through that pile, not add to it.

I've definitely gotten more focused over the last few years about what I really want. instead of "want - buy - have - OK, now what," or "see - don't have - impulse buy," I've been sleeping on purchases and deciding if I really want them or not. Sometimes that means I end up not buying something I really thought I wanted, like the latest iteration of the Lancia 037; I just couldn't get excited enough about another TA02 chassis to pull the trigger on it. Sometimes it means missing out on something I decided I really did want, like a Kyosho Raider that disappeared from Craigslist while I was hemming and hawing. But that's fine. This is supposed to be a hobby, and I am going to force myself to not stress over it any longer.

On the other hand, I'm not going to go all Marie Kondo on my collection and try to pare it down. There is comfort in walking into a room full of things you enjoy without over-analyzing every item in the room to decide if you really "need" it. My hobby room is cluttered, and I like it that way.

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I started with TT02D and got a 2wd slash, it was a fast build up to the current 5 but I did feel some regret when I got the lunchbox ie #5 but the custom idea got stuck in my head. A comical hornet is still tempting but I can't justify it for the price to simply buy it with what I currently have. Only2/5 are built and space is limited as is. The tt02 bodies are more of impulse/shelf queen for the car designs i chose.

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I've been bit by the RC bug since I was a kid in the 80s, it's just only now that my life is settled enough to let it flourish. Back into it for a year now, and I've only managed to add a single chassis to my modest fleet since then, and it's one of my most frequent drivers (using one of my old bodies).

I'm a trickle-tinkerer at heart, although my wife would tell you different over the last year. In reality my big push has been to get hardware and electronics so the 8 other basketcase chassis could be run (old cars that my cousins gave me when I was young). I've been building and rebuilding these 8 cars since then (some of them still don't have bodies), and most still need quite a bit of tweaking and tuning (and better parts), but there is enough there that I will probably be working on them for years to come.

After going so many years NOT driving RCs, I'm just happy that I can drive them all! (need to work on waterproofing so I can drive in all seasons) :D

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17 hours ago, jonboy1 said:

enjoyment and smiles from living vicariously through @Ferruz photos of his Hornet and the furry friends he makes

This really warms my heart. Sharing my RC outings and random adventures on TC has become an important part of the hobby for me. It's an opportunity to give something in return to a group of solid people that constantly feeds my passion with advice, help, insight and by posting all those gorgeous cars and builds. It's great to hear that a Hornet and some cute, naughty rodent can still bring a smile on people's face, it's exactly with that spirit that I post those pics :)

I am also quite flattered to be praised for my approach to the hobby by @Saito2, one of the members I admire the most. While it's true that I enjoy most of my cars to the fullest, I should also point out that it is the result of a lot of inner research and self analysis, as well as learning from past mistakes. I am not one of those people that are cool and collected enough to approach everything the right way, I'm actually quite a tormented soul myself, I just happened to be able to figure out the right approach -for me- when I came back into the hobby 3 and a half years ago. If anything, at first I was way too much on the opposite side of the spectrum: it took me over one year to finally pull the trigger on that Hornet, and if it wasn't for my wife pushing me I may still be in front of the computer wondering how awesome it would be to build one! That is almost as wrong as binge-buying everything available in a whim! I still remember how silly I felt a few months into the hobby, with all the enjoyment from running/fixing/living the Hornet, realizing I could have done that a year before. At that same time, I understood that this passion wasn't going to just go away and that therefore my fleet was gonna grow. Just like @El Gecko, I too have always been into RC but only lately my life was settled enough to let it happen. Speaking of which, this is an important point of the story: the RC bug bit me particularly hard this time because it almost directly replaced something entirely different: travelling. I was used to travel a lot, for both work and pleasure, and since that suddenly decreased and then almost stopped I soon felt a void that needed to be filled. When I saw how relatively well RC was filling that void, I started realizing that a healthy approach to it was gonna be the key to my enjoyment in the long run.

The aforementioned self analysis yielded specific results, which of course ought to be different for others. In my case, too much stimulation kills me, I need to go at my own pace and sit on something for a bit before I finally feel good about buying it, no matter the pressure from the media. Most important, I need to build a connection with my cars and this means living them, as others mentioned already. Only then will they really feel "good" to me in every way. Another thing that fuels my passion is simply drooling over something that I'm comfortable never having. I too will quote Steve Jobs on this one, when he said that in life you have to "Stay hungry". Keep your interest alive, your eyes open, your antennas straight. I know I'll never get to build a Hirobo Alien from NIB, and yet I love to thoroughly look at any specimen I find on the internet and simply bask in the idea. I'm sure it's not specifically what Steve Jobs meant, he was talking life in general but it applies perfectly to RC as well.

All to say, the most important part of my RC philosophy is that I want to "feel" my cars in every possible way. Sucks from other points of view, for instance I love to build and paint and this activities are limited when your stable is small, but it keeps it down to earth and under control for me. I also have the hardest time keeping from buying a Lancia Delta: I'm afraid of the rabbit hole (in other words, of getting into on road cars too much too fast, better keep that for later in life). That being said, I think there's absolutely nothing wrong in having 20, 80 or 150 cars as long as it makes you happy. Not to mention, I too will in time add more wheels to my stable, just at my own pace and when it feels right.

...unless the Optima Mid re-re comes out!! I'd be ready to dish out in a heartbeat for that one 😛

Oh and one more thing:

17 hours ago, jonboy1 said:

I do envy people like @Ferruz for not being so precious about them and just "living"

Thank you my friend, I do try to just "live" my cars but I feel obliged to specify that it doesn't come easy at all. Exactly like you said: you build a kit as good as you can, you make it yours and unique by adding hop-ups and a good paint job and at that point it's too precious to run. I have definitely felt that, and managed to overcome the feeling so far but it's getting harder and harder. First time I felt that was when I did the shelfer body for my Hornet. Easy fix, just swap shells. Then the finished, shiny Manta Ray: the first run felt like an act of violence, but not running it wasn't an option I allowed myself to even think of at the time. After that it was the turn of the RC10: rebuilt as a runner (I even state that in the first post of the restoration thread), I was so pleased with how the shell came out that the car sat in my livingroom for over one year before I finally started running it in anger. By the way, that's when I truly started enjoying the concept of shelf queens, in fact the car still sits in the livingroom whenever it's  not on duty (and whenever I do have a livingroom, ahah).

Lately, I've been on the fence with the Terra Scorcher: I drove it quite a bit last winter, but somehow it managed to stay scratchless and look like it's never turned a wheel: I still have to bring myself to drive it on grass and dirt, because I enjoy it so much on the shelf. Her time will come again, maybe tomorrow, maybe not before the next snow, in any case I guess it will happen when it feels right. At the end of the day, this is a hobby and it's meant to bring us as much pleasure as possible with as little frustration as possible.

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4 hours ago, Ferruz said:

This really warms my heart. Sharing my RC outings and random adventures on TC has become an important part of the hobby for me. It's an opportunity to give something in return to a group of solid people that constantly feeds my passion with advice, help, insight and by posting all those gorgeous cars and builds. It's great to hear that a Hornet and some cute, naughty rodent can still bring a smile on people's face, it's exactly with that spirit that I post those pics :)

Aw, @Ferruz. We really need a 'love' button for your posts! 

 

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