Is it really a budget hobby?

[Baron Baz]

I've read a lot about the "fact" that the sport of RC model flying has come down drastically over the last few years, and having bought quite a few aircraft recently (most of which I have yet to develop the talent to fly!) I can certainly agree that the pound in the pocket seems to go a long way when buying an aircraft, whether ARTF, RTF or in kit form.

However, the cost of small parts, spares and accessories, such as clevises, fuel filters and bottle caps (?), glues, irons and so on, has come as a bit of a shock. Yesterday I realised that I needed to cover a small patch - less than 1 square cm of exposed balsa - with fuel proof paint. EEEK! £5 for a 60ml bottle plus postage or a 30 mile round trip for the stuff, not counting the base coat. I'd be cheaper preserving the offending area by saturating it with 50 year old malt whisky!

Another unusual aspect of the hobby is the fact that I seem to be the only person in the country that needs some part or other.

Example 1: Having seen everyone and their dog at the local field in posession of a fuel bottle with a natty little cap that the pump plugs into for spill-less filling, I tried to obtain one. It's like the ark of the covenant! I did eventually find one but I now have to sell my wife to afford it.

Example 2: Having bought a second hand trainer that has never flown, I was informed that the builder had no talent for installing servos, as he had not installed the servo mount ferrules and grommets. Does anybody nearby sell these? No. Bang goes another donation to the Royal Mail.

I could go on...

I was watching an auction for a second hand 40 page book on covering models - I stopped watching when it passed the £16 mark.

Don't get me wrong, I'm loving the hobby, what with the tinkering and adjusting and satisfaction of getting something right (or the frustration of getting epoxy all over the place), but I hope I never have cause to add up everything I've recently spent in the search for flying perfection!

I'm also certain that if I'd asked, some kind soul in my club would have offered me some paint to do the above job and someone else would have offered me a bag full of servo mounts, but I think I'll hold out on the begging until I need one of my planes rebuilding!

[Plummet]

"I think I'll hold out on the begging "

Don't call it begging. Call it sharing. Promise yourself that you will share with others when you have the chance.

Plummet

[Simon Chaddock]

Baron Baz

What you have discovered is the old truism "The longer you do it the cheaper it gets!" simply because over time you accumulate those special items and the other odds and ends you need.

Of course you could always convert to 'leccy' No fuel & no fuel proofer, no vibration so the servo mounts are far less critical etc

Edited By Simon Chaddock on 25/04/2012 23:38:41

[Baron Baz]

Plummet - I have a car full of bits now, the pack of ten I had to buy to get the one bit I needed etc. so I'll certainly be sharing my bits & pieces as time goes by. I've already offered a young guy at my club a free clunk because I bid £0.01 (& won) for 2 clunks on Ebay.

Simon - My 5 other 'planes are all 'lektrik. I bought this I.C. beast on a whim and because most folks seem to say that an I.C. trainer is best. However, having tipped an exhaust full of fuel over my carpet I'm not so sure.

Hopefully everyone will see that this thread is light-hearted & take it as such. I'm certainly very interested in anyone else's financial take on the hobby.

[Cyclicscooby]

I never spend less than £15-20 at my LMS, even if I only went for a clevis.. !! There's always something, especially if you're a builder.. Endless list...

The price of bits n bobs is only small, when you look at A packet, but then you get 4 of them, and so on, and so on...

Must admit, glue's n liquids cost alot

Depends on you're age / experience aswell..

Beginners just need enuf for that first model.. Old timers have already got everything, even if it's 30yrs old, and those of us in-between, have many planes, and many plans / builds, hence many parts are required...

Thats my theory...

Luv

Chrisie.. xx

[Del Wheatley]

i've found quite the opposite to you Baz,but then i suppose it's all relevant to the other hobbies i have, bike racing (serious money pit) and shooting.

I've found the rc world very good,a couple of quid for odd bits and peices up to a couple of hundred quid for rx and tx,but thats aceptable as i have 7 channels so the out lay will be spread over lots of different models.

Beats £600 quid for a mag/alloy front wheel cos it got dinged in a tiny crash or the ££££££ for must have engine parts made of unobtanium that will be out of date mid season and will need more £££££ to keep up the pace.

[Baron Baz]

I know how you feel Del. I'm a M.A.B. - middle aged biker and have to sit down when being told how much a service for one of my bikes is. £1600 for a new clutch & gearbox on a bike I'd only had for a month! My neice is into motocross in Cheshire & recently her bike died - homer mechanic said "it's a gonner" so it went on ebay - they got more for it than they'd paid originally. Turned out it was just the spark plug! If you know of any cheap 125s in the Cheshire area let me know.

I also have a history in shooting, full bore target mainly, Bisly etc. I've given up live ammo & stick to air power now but it's still a money pit, especially if the Scottish government have their way and ban air rifles!

[Big Bandit]

Hi Baron Baz,

It's true what has already been said, buying odd bit's you need does tend to get expensive. Then when you have a decent stock of all those frequently needed bits you start again, with lots of ineresting bit's that you think you may have a use for one day. Then when you have loads of bits and kit you can never find what you need when you need it so it starts all over again.

I alway find it pays to do a few of the trade shows and get a few of the bulk bargains of frequently needed bit's, you will also get to know the best places on the interweb where to get bargains.

With experience it does get cheaper when you find cheaper alternative materials and kit from local hardware stores and the like. Tom Wrights laggers are a good example go to

All Forum Topics > Own-Design Projects > Six Different Quick Build Fun Planes. These are maximum fun for minimum cost and most of the airframe comes from B&Q .

Cheers,

Chris.

[Paul Marsh]

Looking back in past magazines. A OS 40 cost £50, today, it's around £60, but before inflation it was £50, that is 30 years later. Probably a weeks wage was £50, or less. Radios were silly money, and most were practically rubbish, compared to today.

[Oldbaldfella]

Totally agree with OP. A lot of the bigger stuff is much cheaper but bits and bats are silly money.

It's certainly not a cheap hobby (then again what is?), but I would say it's cheaper than it used to be on average.

[David Hodgson]

Its certainly a lot cheaper than it used to be and compared to other sports.

I bought my first 60 size engine back in 1975. Cost me £40 for an HP 61. I had to spend all winter pumping petrol (yep, no self service then) for £5 a day to save up for it.

Few weeks ago a bought a new SC 52 for £62. Not going to say what my daily wage is now but its a lot more than £5.

Now compared modeling to wife/daughter sport which is horses. Livery bill per month is around £300. Shoes for horses is £136 every 5 weeks. She has a £18,000 horsebox to transport them. Competition fees you can write of £80 minimum every time they go out. The list goes on and on.

Then my sons previous sport - kart racing. He would race twice a month and I worked out we were spending around £800 a month just to compete. That doesn't include buying the caravan (all weekend race meets), fuel to get to races etc.

Yep, this is a pretty cheap sport.

What really brings home tome how much cheaper this is now is when you look back at the amount of equipment we used to have compared to today. Back then you had 1 receiver and 1 set of servos, probably 2 or 3 engines at most (.20, .40. 60).  These got swapped to what ever model you wanted to fly that weekend.  Now pretty much every model in the shed will have its own motor and radio gear.

Edited By David Hodgson on 26/04/2012 08:53:54

[Oldbaldfella]

It's cheap compared to horses and kart racing.

[Richard Wood]

In many ways R/C modelling has never been cheaper.

As Paul says above, many major purchases such as radio gear & engines

were actually dearer 3 decades ago. I remember the Skyleader adverts in

Radio Modeller back in the late seventies - a 4 channel ' Clubman' set

was, I think - £299 & wouldn't be as good as a modern basic set.

Most modellers had one radio set which was transferred between models.

I agree though that bits & bobs can be expensive. A spares box will soon

start to fill up over time & stuff does get re-used!

 

 

 

 

Edited By Richard Wood on 26/04/2012 09:01:23

[Mowerman]

'£5 for a 600mil bottle of fuel proof paint'

Thats less than a packet of ciggies, will last longer, and less likely to kill you.

(anti smoking soap box dept)

[Josip Vrandecic -Mes]

Hello Baron Baz ," A devil is in the details" ...(read..clevis,bolts,starters,fuel,batteries.etc)

Rgds

Jo

[ken anderson.]

i'm afraid everything in the UK associatted with hobbies is expensive....aero modelling probably has come down in prices in real terms.......compared to fairly recently.....but can be expensive/cheap as you decide to make it........

 

ken anderson ne..1 ...economics dept..

Edited By ken anderson. on 26/04/2012 09:46:56

[Oldbaldfella]

Posted by Mowerman on 26/04/2012 09:18:16:

'£5 for a 600mil bottle of fuel proof paint'

Thats less than a packet of ciggies, will last longer, and less likely to kill you.

(anti smoking soap box dept)

Fuel proof paint doesn't fill the chancellors pocket though.

Anti-anti smoking dept (non smoker )

[David Davis]

'£5 for a 600mil bottle of fuel proof paint'

I find that polyurethane varnish is a pretty good fuel proofer.

[Baron Baz]

Posted by Mowerman on 26/04/2012 09:18:16:

'£5 for a 600mil bottle of fuel proof paint'

Thats less than a packet of ciggies, will last longer, and less likely to kill you.

(anti smoking soap box dept)

 

Smoking is the prime reason I've entered this hobby - lung disease from 33 years of abuse means that my hill climbing/photography hobbies are a thing of the past. I can still use a camera but carting 20Kg of kit up a hill in search of a photo is now a no-no. They were certainly 2 hobbies that swallowed a lot of cash - tents alone stand at around £1500 and camera gear in excess of £6K

I have to be very careful when using solvent based paint (and sanding dust) because these things can actually kill just as easily as cigs. The last thing I want is to laquer what's left of my lungs!

 

It's £5 for a 60ml bottle by the way, not 600.  I think I currently need about 3ml

Having read a few threads about proofing, I understood that varnish only offered a resistant finish, rather than a full "proof" coat.  Perhaps someone could confirm or advise

Edited By Baron Baz on 26/04/2012 10:14:50

[Ben B]

Personally I would have used epoxy to cover the 1cm square. Mix up some slow setting (IE thin) epoxy, brush it on. Job done.

What a lot of my flying buddies do is go to Wings + Wheels each year and stock up from the stalls there on "bits". A good stock prevents having to order in stuff.

[Ben B]

As recently discussed though, fuel is more expensive now. I was reading the Ian Peacock book on airbrushing (1983 vintage) and in that he says a gallon of fuel was expensive at £5 (equivalent now of £13).

If only

[Oldbaldfella]

Posted by Baron Baz on 26/04/2012 10:10:12:

Posted by Mowerman on 26/04/2012 09:18:16:

'£5 for a 600mil bottle of fuel proof paint'

Thats less than a packet of ciggies, will last longer, and less likely to kill you.

(anti smoking soap box dept)

Smoking is the prime reason I've entered this hobby - lung disease from 33 years of abuse means that my hill climbing/photography hobbies are a thing of the past. I can still use a camera but carting 20Kg of kit up a hill in search of a photo is now a no-no. They were certainly 2 hobbies that swallowed a lot of cash - tents alone stand at around £1500 and camera gear in excess of £6K

I have to be very careful when using solvent based paint (and sanding dust) because these things can actually kill just as easily as cigs. The last thing I want is to laquer what's left of my lungs!

It's £5 for a 60ml bottle by the way, not 600. I think I currently need about 3ml

Having read a few threads about proofing, I understood that varnish only offered a resistant finish, rather than a full "proof" coat. Perhaps someone could confirm or advise

Edited By Baron Baz on 26/04/2012 10:14:50

I'm sorry about that Baz. It's the hypocracy from the government and other bodies that winds me up. I'm sure you know where I'm coming from with that.

[Frank Skilbeck]

I've been modelling for long than I care to say, but i probably have more bits than the average model shop.........................................................

I still buy more most times i go in and am like a kid in a sweet shop at the shows.

[Bob Cotsford]

Modelflying can be a budget hobby, you can make your own fittings, recycle them from wrecks, reuse undamaged components in bitsas, get your supplies from the local DIY store (eg polyeurathane paints are fuelproof, wardrobe/shower curtain rails for wing joiners, covering from the milliners - plain or patterned silk and nylon, foam for cores from the builders) - the only limitation is your imagination.

On the other hand if you have time constraints then everything is available off the shelf - at a price!

Modelling is one hobby that can be made to fit all pockets, rich or poor.

[David Hodgson]

Posted by Ben B on 26/04/2012 10:32:06:

As recently discussed though, fuel is more expensive now. I was reading the Ian Peacock book on airbrushing (1983 vintage) and in that he says a gallon of fuel was expensive at £5 (equivalent now of £13).

If only

Yes but back then we saw no reason (still dont) to use anything more than 5% nitro castor based fuel which is still not much more expensive in comparison.