To build or not to build 1990 F1 McLaren Honda MP4/5B

[wez-li]

Now I'm not a big fan of nib collections, I just don't see the point, never have done, until this arrived today.



The fact that it's near perfect, 25 years old, and Senna's car, makes me want to keep it as it is, but that does kinda go against my principles, RC cars are made to run, or at least be built, static kits are for looking at.

This is the only nib I own, I think I'll build it...
Decisions decisions

[Incredible_Serious]

That's a dilly of a pickle, a true conundrum......

No matter which way you go..... can you make a scan of the manual to share with everyone (or, just me!) please? Yet to see the manual for one of these.....

Look forward to the build thread

Alex

[wez-li]

That's a dilly of a pickle, a true conundrum......

No matter which way you go..... can you make a scan of the manual to share with everyone (or, just me!) please? Yet to see the manual for one of these.....

Look forward to the build thread

Alex

yeah I can share the manual no probs

I've not finished my Optima mid custom yet so the build will have to wait for a rainy day!

[Incredible_Serious]

That's a dilly of a pickle, a true conundrum......

No matter which way you go..... can you make a scan of the manual to share with everyone (or, just me!) please? Yet to see the manual for one of these.....

Look forward to the build thread

Alex

yeah I can share the manual no probs

I've not finished my Optima mid custom yet so the build will have to wait for a rainy day!

I can send you a rainy day, if you like..... got a few of them to spare at the moment!!!

Alex

[markbt73]

Is that the independent suspension chassis? I don't think I could resist building it, just so I could play with the suspension...

but then again, you can't unscramble an egg, so wait until you can really devote some time to it and savor the process.

[tagnut69]

At the end of the day its a toy car, made to be built and played with, nothing more.

[tamiyadan]

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[wez-li]

Thanks for the comments, I will be leaving it NIB, for a while at least, I did want to build it but now I'm in two minds after tamiyadan's post lol

If I was to build it, I can't see myself running it as I have nowhere that I can run an F1 car properly without it getting badly damaged all my current RC cars are runners, but I do that using a combination of runner/shelf bodies & wheels, I wouldn't be able to do that with this car.

I'm not too bothered about the overall value, the value to me is more important right now

Saying that I can't see much history online about these cars, the box shows a Ferrari version but I've never seen it.

[wez-li]

@markbt73 yep it's got the full scale independent suspension

[Coelacanth]

First do what you want, if you want to build it then build it.

here is how it works with NIB....

there is a time when you think you want to play with it.
then comes the time when you realize its too expensive to play with it because replacement parts are hard to get and or expensive.
it becomes cheaper to source a modern alternative and leave the built car on the shelf.
at some point you have full shelves but you want more. you realize you will get the same satisfaction out of ownership with a NIB.
You don't have to dust it or take care of it and the box makes for a display all itself.
you know you no longer have the desire to play with it, just know that you have it is enough.

When you go to display your collection you will realize there is no way you even have all the room you need and if every car was built then your displays would be pretty boring after a while due to repetition, thus having a Box to display in place of a car frees the spot up for a car you really want to display and the box with the car in it can form another form of display.
the result is you can pack more in a smaller area

thus NIB stuff is just as awesome as a built car, and has more value.

yes i was in the same club many years ago about building NIB kits.

So you should ask yourself if you will play with it more then once, i can guarantee you it will run pretty badly compared to a modern F1 r/c car.

if you know you will drive it once or never after building it because you know driving it will be a disappointment yet you hate NIB stuff then sell it and get some more cars you will enjoy on the street, and pass the NIB value on to the next buyer.

Dan, there's one thing you neglected to mention in all of that...the FUN you get by assembling the car, regardless of whether you play with it or not. Where's the fun in sticking a box on a shelf and staring at it?

So the better question is this: If your unopened NIB kit gives you all the pleasure you need just storing/staring at it, or you're keeping it that way as an investment, then do that. If you would rather have the fun of building the thing, even if you never drive it, and get to admire the built car on your shelf--or if you drive it--then build it.

Also, if you go ahead and build the kit, and document the build with lots of pictures, the rest of us get to enjoy the build vicariously through you.

[wez-li]

Hi all, thanks again for all comments and opinions, I'm still undecided but I'll probably build it at some point, I don't see RC cars, or 1:1 cars for that matter, as an investment, they are made for us to enjoy, and if that means leave it in a box, on a shelf, or ragged to death then so be it, I do buy/sell a lot of RC cars, and have a few regrets, I'd keep them all if I could get away with it, I suppose that comes with being married and responsible

So she'll stay with me in her box for the time being, I'll document the build on here when the time comes. Here are some pics, let's hope all the parts are there eh?

[Diamond Dave]

Leave it in the box, if you really need to run one like it, or a modern version of it, buy one and build it and run it.

Take more pictures of it as well, shelve it and enjoy what you have. F1 is awesome, greatest racing in the world. (Not lately though)

[tamiyadan]

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[keithrc]

If you decide to build it maybe do a video of the process so you can kinda relive the experience. I have a NIB Optima and was thinking of doing this.


Keith

[wez-li]

I've decided that I'm never going to build this...