Anyone who’s even given my blog a quick look can see that I’m all about my amusements. For the longest time that has been photography. I still love taking and sharing photos but lately I’ve been consumed with a new old hobby.
Radio controlled 1/10 scale cars! Vroom VROOM BABY!
Ahem. I’d first gotten into the hobby in college more than 20 years ago (what???) with a Kyosho Ultima, which I quickly wrecked by t-boning a concrete wall. The chassis was bent in a U shape but I was able to recover most of the parts and put them on a replacement carbon fiber chassis with a new Lexan body.
That was 1987 or so. It’s always been an expensive hobby. I think I was working at a White Castle when I bought that kit.
Now move up to 2013. Stefan recently got hold of a Traxxas Nitro Rustler (a modern 1/10 nitro powered truggy) and since I have a large back yard I got to play with it and had a great time. So I dug out my old R/C car and borrowed an old Futaba controller.
More than 20 years later it worked! But not too well. A lot of things changed in the hobby in that time. Un-assembled kits are more expensive and all the big R/C car companies are selling Ready-to-Run kits that you just charge the battery and go. The batteries and ESC improved along with the motors.
Those little monsters take off like a rocket. After some healthy rationalization thoughtful consideration Lily and I went to a hobby shop and picked up the electric version of the one Stefan has. His is red, mine is silver.
It’s still an expensive and addictive hobby. This morning I took the Dremel and cut slots so that I can Velcro strap down the battery. In the weeks that I’ve been playing with it I’ve replaced the front broken caster blocks with aluminium ones as well as the stock tires with Pro-line Dirt Hawgs. Add a new Lexan body (I scratched and put holes in the original and have to paint this one) and it’s beginning to add up.
The kids (yes, my daughter too) and I love it though and that’s the point of all this really. You have to have something that you like to do outside of what you do for a living.
That’s not a hard rule of course. I like and have lots of fun at work and I’m part of a good team. But it’s work and you have to take that seriously even if you enjoy it.
Playing with the kids and spending time on these toys has no consequences other than possibly wasting my time and money. They thinks it’s cool and just zipping up and down the street can be great fun.
Here’s a YouTube video of just that. 🙂
That’s why I’ll continue to find new things all the time to get into. It’s really all about my amusement.
