Ebay pricing

[Mad Zero 316]

9 hours ago, El Gecko said:

Crikey, my whole fleet is vintage. All 2.4G though so there's no glitching when I run them. And no thanks, LiPo is completely unnecessary and unstable. I'd shed quite a few tears if one of my cars (or my house!) burned down. NiMH is stable and easy, and I reckon LiPo is overkill for most casual RCers.

Back on topic, I think the prices these days are mostly reflections of people coming to understand how much goes into a working car. If you add up the parts on a $100 Blackfoot for example, would you be able to buy all that stuff for $100 separately? The "complete" price seems to be rising closer to the "parted out" price these days because people are actually doing their research before posting anything. And anything vintage that's still in good usable condition is actually worth something, because it survived all these years without getting destroyed like the rest of them.

Used correctly LiPo are safe, just more needy, but usually it’s worth it for the runtimes in older stuff & power in newer stuff.
My flippant post was largely humour & a dig at Tamiya, not at people like you & I applaud the running of vintage Tamiya but in some cases it does seem like going all round the houses & paying over the odds to end up running essentially the same thing as a rere made from fresh plastic. 

[Avante2001R 305]

People have a choice whether to pay high prices or not. It’s what happens with supply abs demand. 

[Dakratfink 965]

On 10/23/2021 at 3:44 AM, Mad Zero said:

 I applaud the running of vintage Tamiya but in some cases it does seem like going all round the houses & paying over the odds to end up running essentially the same thing as a rere made from fresh plastic. 

I have an original vintage Hornet ( with a re re body ) that i have less $$ invested in than what a new ReRe would be for just a kit and bearings.

I can understand some Tamiya models being rarified and folks spending a premium for them on the secondary market. But hoppers and hornets were intended to be cheap, imho.

If I break something on it , I have no problem replacing it with a ReRe part. 
Same goes for the $25 flea market FAV I got , ive installed bearings, given it a cleaning and touch up paint and threw a new servo, Flysky RX, and a HW 1060 paired with the motor that was sitting in it on the table when I bought it.  I’m going to have to either notch  out the nerf bar plate or install one from a re re to get a battery to fit in it. 
On the other hand, if driving a 100% box art accurate replica with vintage electronics is what make ma you happy, the do so, same goes if you want the same model but never drive it, also, enjoy it that way. It’s your hobby. Do with your kit as you see fit. 

[NWarty 1325]

On 10/22/2021 at 4:13 PM, 87lc2 said:

I see comments like this on TC every once in a while and I don't get it.  There is nothing unstable about Lipo batteries as long as cells don't drop below safe voltage and they are charged properly.  Not saying there's anything wrong with Nimh batteries, but I don't get the aversion to Lipo.  Have been using them for nearly 10 years now and never an issue.  They have more punch and don't lose power as the run goes on, really no negatives to them.  If you're worried about storing them in the house, just put them in an ammo box.  

My father had a lipo fire nearly 7-8 years ago that destroyed their basement. It was nearly a brand new Hobby King charger in which all the fail-safes, well, failed. The first floor furniture was all replaced, all of his equipment in the basement was replaced. The insurance company went after Hobby King USA here in Lakewood/Portland USA for damages after they determined the equipment was set correctly but faulty.

Lipos fail, and the equipment that charges them, can fail. It happens, and it happened to my father and nearly burned down their home. Here's someone who has decades of experience with battery packs, chargers, etc.

I have one or two of them, but don't use them often. I simply run NiMh since it's good enough for my needs.

[87lc2 2659]

38 minutes ago, NWarty said:

My father had a lipo fire nearly 7-8 years ago that destroyed their basement. It was nearly a brand new Hobby King charger in which all the fail-safes, well, failed. The first floor furniture was all replaced, all of his equipment in the basement was replaced. The insurance company went after Hobby King USA here in Lakewood/Portland USA for damages after they determined the equipment was set correctly but faulty.

Lipos fail, and the equipment that charges them, can fail. It happens, and it happened to my father and nearly burned down their home. Here's someone who has decades of experience with battery packs, chargers, etc.

I have one or two of them, but don't use them often. I simply run NiMh since it's good enough for my needs.

Sorry to hear that, glad nobody was hurt.  Was it the battery or charger that caught fire?  Was the battery in a charging sack or ammo box?  Guess it doesn't really matter, bad things can happen even when all precautions are taken but such is life.  My point was simply that they are nothing to be scared of, just keep an eye on them when charging and if something goes wrong take care of it quickly.  

[NWarty 1325]

8 minutes ago, 87lc2 said:

Sorry to hear that, glad nobody was hurt.  Was it the battery or charger that caught fire?  Was the battery in a charging sack or ammo box?  Guess it doesn't really matter, bad things can happen even when all precautions are taken but such is life.  My point was simply that they are nothing to be scared of, just keep an eye on them when charging and if something goes wrong take care of it quickly.  

It was the battery that ignited due to the charger failing. My Dad stepped away to refill his cup of coffee, and that minute or so, that's when the lipo lit like a Roman candle.

I've had a single nicd cell fail, just once about 15 years ago, but when it did, I had to literally throw it into the bathtub of my room, and it went off like a grenade. That was scary enough.

[InsaneJim69 1584]

14 minutes ago, NWarty said:

It was the battery that ignited due to the charger failing. My Dad stepped away to refill his cup of coffee, and that minute or so, that's when the lipo lit like a Roman candle.

I've had a single nicd cell fail, just once about 15 years ago, but when it did, I had to literally throw it into the bathtub of my room, and it went off like a grenade. That was scary enough.

Same with NiMH batteries too. Infact NiMH are quite volatile compared to nicads. Never had issues myself thank god, but it's always on the back of your mind. 

I remember once when I first went lipo, I charged up 2 packs and put them in the lipo sacks and then into a bunker. I though since it's over night I will pop the bunker in my oven, so that if anything happens it's contained in there. Yeah well forgot about the batteries next morning when I came down and popped the oven on for breakfast 🙄🤔, as you do. Luckily it only got to around 120 degrees before I remembered. Strangely the battery packs weren't even warm, the sacks and bunker seemed to hold of the heat a bit. I now put a post-it note on the oven door if I do it now. 😂😂

James.

[Crazy L 56]

Apologies first as I've not read the entire thread.  However, I can see where the original poster is coming from.  When I was looking for a Clodbuster, they all wanted new kit money for a used one.  So I bought a new one.  

I'm not saying everyone is taking the wee with the prices, nor am I saying everyone wants something for nothing. (some do, on both counts, but not everyone.

Just saying the prices are a little silly, that's all.