Discussion - shelfer or runner

[RETRO R/C]

Monster - I would do it for you for nothing mate - got all the good stuff here - but sending all the way here would probably be as expensive as plonking the cash down for new cells.

With these newer generation cells - I have actually had luck with ramping 6.5 amps straight into their guts for 10 minutes. If they have been sitting for a while - this seems to help the waken up again. I have also used good old fashioned charge leads for 15 minutes as well......just kick em in the guts, then cycle them a few times at 5 amp charge and the highest discharge rate that you can (I discharge at 20 amps)...

All depends on your equipment though too. Its more fun to "discharge" in a car ie: go mkIV with you cars tires on fire!!

Cheers

Darryn

[Bormac]

...or warp speed-factor five tearing down the straight with your hair on fire!!! LOL

[Halgar]

...or warp speed-factor five tearing down the straight with your hair on fire!!! LOL

You're not going to geek out on us now with your Trekkieness, are you?

[adam lancia]

I don't get to run my cars very often these days and my batteries have sat for as long as 7 months. I use a couple of really old school dischargers, just a resistor wired between the positive and negative end of each cell and I think it takes them down pretty far at a very low rate. After that, I put them away until their next use. I've got 3 year old GP3300's that still take 3400mAh after sitting for several months. Voltage might be down a shade (I can't tell, just a guess since they're old) but in modified that just means you have to strap in a hotter motor To be honest with you, if you invest in the proper equipment now you will thank yourself. If you want to keep on going through sport stick packs, that's your call. However, at some point you will reach the point of diminishing returns and it will have been more efficient to get the good stuff from the beginning. If all the battery maintenance isn't your thing, LiPo should be beckoning you.

That's my $.02 CDN

[MOmo]

See, I think Im one of those who is slowly having a change of heart when it comes to MY collection.

When i scored my first orig. 6 gear RC10, it had never been run, and won't EVER see a track. I since followed that up with a couple other 6gears that HAVE been on the track. I picked up a team car, did a few light mods and raced it in our local Vintage class at my LHS. Since then, im converting a graphite edition from james for that purpose.

The RPM kit that I picked up from David, Im on the fense. I REALLY want to run it, but i know parts are impossible to find, so it might become a shelfer.

Ive been inspired by the members here to perhaps make few more shelfers.



momo

[RocketRob]

I've been reading through this thread, along with looking at and hearing the comments on many others here and elsewhere - and in my old-arse, former factory driver, racer, collecter, not-as-good-as-I-used-to-be opinion I'm going to finally weigh in and give my 2-cents worth on the topic.

I figure that anyone that's HERE on this site, since they don't make a true RC10 anymore, that doesn't have some shelfer or shelf queen - or something that will be some day or another - then they need to move on to one of the bigboy sites for racers (and wannabees) or bashers only and spew your venom with the like-minded. I thought everyone here was a nice guy?

Suddenly, only after 20-some-odd years of open no-holds-barred RC racing and development, "vintage" racing and/or collecting has caught on enough that it's worth having a website(s) built and run for those that do. Be happy it's here, and that they let you in.

I think the true concept of "shelfer" or "shelf queen" needs to be clarifed. My understanding is that the term grew from 1:1 car collecting and the term "trailer queen" for the types that only brought $100,000 resto jobs to car shows to add to their trophy collection at home and to hang out for a day drinking Chablis. IMO not good - for the industry or the limiting of availability of classic cars to the common man. Yet in our case it's not like anyone is ever going to make a killing off these old RC cars or their parts, we aren't having concours contests and awarding silver cups and jewelry, and I don't think anyone's doing it as a way of showing off (at least not in a bigshot sort of way). It's just that some folks, as with any "collecting," decide to start aquiring things whether to remember a bygone era or just for the fun of it - and if they‘re doing it to earn retirement income, then good for them (though I can think of more profitable endeavors).
Having lurked around many of the "other" discussion boards I see less trashing of true “shelters” than not. The majority of people on those other sites are not racers, let alone hardly could be considered regular RCers (bashing or otherwise), and they spend tons of money dressing up their current rigs with every aluminum doodad and whatnot and nobody hardly issues a single word to them. Some of them are worse than semi-truck dirvers. I personally find it ridiculous because most of these people won't be involved in RCing in a matter of months, let alone a few years, while the “shelters” collectors here have likely been involved in the hobby since seemingly the dawn of time and likely will be involved till their kids are trying to figure out a way to dispose of the old man's odd obsession after his death. They're the backbone of the hobby, and they're now the backbone of sites like this.

If somebody wants to spend a pile of money on piecing together an odd collection of parts and spares just to vintage race - let 'em. But if that same guy wants to put his handiwork up on a shelf somewhere, just to look at it from time to time, then leave him alone with his decision.
But the reality of things are that while some folks might choose to race these old steeds, it doesn't justify them as real racers either - because it'd be my guess that these are the guys that aren't competitive if you put a B4 in their hands... any more than their little kid’s football team is bigtime in comparison to the local NFL team, or that the local short track hero would have a chance if you put him in a NASCAR or F1 ride for the weekend.

I have a feeling that this site was originally designed by a bunch of like-minded fellows - and that more of us should be more like-minded and thankful we all now have a place to hang out, chat, exchange parts and ideas, and remember back to how things used to be. .……… when dirt cars didn’t handle worth a hoot, the “tire of the week” rule was in effect at most tracks (and you couldn‘t get a set), we happily got sunburned from being out in it all weekend (without sunsreen), disco was dead and Vanilla Ice and the like were bringing rap to mainstream (at least you could dance to disco, and I still hate the other crap), girls had big hair (and a lot of us had more of it too), the worse drug crisis most people faced was the weed dealer living down the street (that didn‘t bother anybody), the world wasn’t dreadfully fearful of terrorism in our backyards (or losing your kids in the fight against it), and you had a better chance of dating Miss America or a Penthouse Playmate than you did being able to walk into the LHS and purchasing a Factory Team car (no matter how much money you had)………..

If we all can’t learn to play nice here, then what does it say about all of us?

[Bormac]

Looking back over this post I should have taken more time to elaborate upon what my SIG was really about.
Firstly I want to say that I have a lot of respect for this site and have found most members here bring with them a wealth of valuable experience and ideas. My SIG was not born out of hatred to collectors keeping shelfers and I know the language was a little strong but it certainly got to the point in which you have very little room to do so in a SIG. At last count I must have around 80 odd cars of which I just dont get enough time to run yet none of them are on display. Not that there's anything wrong with displaying your collection but it seems a bit of a waste to have so many fine cars and for people not to enjoy running them.
Now I have a few cars I just wont run because I have duplicates of them and I (like most others) would like to preserve them for the future. My SIG was not a personal attack on any one individual but i was hoping it might generate some thought to those who hadn't considered running a few of their nice vintage buggies. I personaly have nothing to gain from anyone running these cars but i think the vintage scene itself does. I dont mean that you need to take your early RC10 down the skate park and flog the hell out of it ,but how cool would it be to actually have a vintage class at your local club. For this to happen you need numbers. Ive been a big supporter for getting vintage racing up and going here in Australia and I have joined a handful of other like minded guys in getting behind this racing scene. Not that this is anything new,most will have seen the 'TIME TUNNEL' website in Japan where these guys are bringing out most of the old cars and running them in organised race meetings at the Yatabe arena. In my opinion I think seeing these cars in action beats the hell out of spending time on your own in your 'collection' room removing the lids of your NIB kits to look over the blister packs.For me its all about bringing awareness.
I would like to be clear on this though. Im not saying that anyone needs to go building there $1000 usd kits to take out and pit them against 'Super Hornets' and re re 'Hotshots' but if more people got behing this kind of racing we will see the scene grow in ways we could have only imagined.
There have been times when Ive heard people say 'IM BUYING TWO B4 KITS SO I CAN SAVE ONE NIB FOR WHEN IT WILL BE WORTH A HEAP SOME DAY'. As if!
Ultimately its the individuals choice to enjoy his or her collection for how they would prefer but its easy to be a little selfish and keep it all for your self. Getting out and enjoying running these cars with others as they were designed is a whole lot of fun and with the advent of modern electrics,batteries and tyres we can get these cars to carry their own once again around a circuit. It would be a real pitty if we could only rely on our fading memories to remember what these cars once drove like,I find it far more satisfying actualy reliving the thrills of seeing them in full flight around a race track once again.
I'll be honest,ive seen some guys (Darryn) turn up at these meetings with cars which I think are far too expensive and rare in todays collectable market but in some ways it makes it seem even more exciting knowing that you probably shouldn't be driving these cars at all. Darryn and myself are working on getting some old AYK Boost/Pro Radiants together for the next meeting.
Its also worth knowing that there are people out there helping us all out with repro parts like body shells,chassis kits etc... thus allowing us to dress up and keep these cars going for some time to come. The more interest we generate the stronger the vintage scene will grow.

[scr8p]

GEEZ, some of you guys really like to type.

[Bormac]

Thanks scr8p. It seems like I needed to explain myself rather than have people snipe me over much shorter statements.

[scr8p]

i have a problem making my short statements make sense, let alone 5 or 6 paragraphs.

[mrlexan]

I've got A.D.D., me like short statements.

[Bormac]

Sorry guys i would have prefered to have kept it short but it seems Im not great at getting my point across in a sentence or two.

[mrlexan]

"One time at Band Camp......................"

[scr8p]

"One time at Band Camp......................"

i stuck a flute in my..................

[RocketRob]

GEEZ, some of you guys really like to type.

Maybe it's just that some actually CAN type...........