Is it really a budget hobby?

[Baron Baz]

Posted by Bob Cotsford on 26/04/2012 14:08:02:

... covering from the milliners - plain or patterned silk and nylon...

You have access to a milliners?!!

I haven't seen one of those since I accidentally set my time machine to 1893.

I needed a scythe a while back and failed to find an ironmongers within 100 miles. I eventually went to all the local garden centres, where the average response was "What's a scythe?"

My reply: "The thing that the Grim Reaper carries!"

...and I'm not that old

[Bob Cotsford]

all right smartypants, a dressmakers or a rag market!

We have a very good hardware shop locally, but there's B&Q, Wilkinsons, Wickes which can offer good deals for all sorts of odds and ends. Signmakers can be helpful with offcuts of vinyl film similar to Solartrim - there are cheap ways of doing things, it just takes effort and that golden ingredient, time.

 

Ps - I never said that I still make my own fittings, too lazy these days - where's the porker smilie?

 

Edited By Bob Cotsford on 26/04/2012 19:20:34

[John Miller 4]

Why is it that when you go to your LMS for a couple of bits and pieces, you walk out with ten times the amount of gear you went in for and a hole in your wallet that needs hiding from SWMBO. You can hear the cry, "you spent what on those, don't you moan at me when I next go to M & S for a new dress" Women just do not have the right sense of priority!

[Daithi O Buitigh]

I spend very little in the local MS for the very simple reason that if you don't want Scalectric, trains or plastic kits they just don't have anything.

Now in regard to nylon, years back we used an old nylon stocking with a layer of tissue over it (the nylon used was very thin and lightweight so you needed to 'seal' it with the tissue). Now that will still work with tights - just get someone to buy a pair and cut that to the needed size, apply, give a thin coat of dope, cover with tissue (modelspan or whatever), give another coat of thin dope to bond it and you have a lightweight, tough covering

[Bob Cotsford]

Posted by John Miller 4 on 26/04/2012 19:39:24:

Why is it that when you go to your LMS for a couple of bits and pieces, you walk out with ten times the amount of gear you went in for and a hole in your wallet that needs hiding from SWMBO.

I went across town for twp props and came back with an MPX Dogfighter - now I remember why I buy small stuff on-line when possible

[Hugh Coleman]

A low budget hobby?

Hell no! But you can spread the costs over a period of time, a) so that the bank manager is not sending you rude letters and b) so that the missus doesn't really know how much you are spending.

It costs a bit to start out, but once you are up and running... the odd gallon or so of fuel doesn't break the bank.

Hugh

[David Davis]

I suppose it's as expensive as you want to make it. I've just bought a three-channel trainer complete with radio, engine and batteries for £31 on eBay.

I also continue to fly my Acrowot on using a 1987 Sanwa Conquest 6.

[avtur]

Like many things in life initial purchase my not make a lot of money for the retailer, their profitablitly relies on what comes "after sale", so the cost of bits and pieces is where the retailer will make some money, Another example I think we're probably all familiar with is cars, margin on sale can be naff, the money is made with the extras (often questionable financial products at the point of sale!) or the repeat business of servicing where there is often a very high margin on the consumables... look at the cost per litre of synthetic engine oil next time your car is serviced...

Another example might be air travel, seat price can be very low, expecially if bought well in advance, but look at how the extras build up as you go through the booking process. I flew Manchester to Belfast for work a few months ago, the actual ticket price was £00.0p each way ... it still cost over £80 by the time I'd fininshed booking.

By the way I should point out that I am not against the idea of businesses turning a profit, heck why would they be in business otherwise, but the way a business achieves profitability can be interesting. Anbody making a living out of selling has to make careful judgements balancing the need for a profit margin, what the market 'will stand', what are the alternatives, the possibility of being branded a 'rip off'.

 

Edited By avtur on 27/04/2012 14:45:11

[Paul Marsh]

I've bought some bargains both from the 'bay and swopsmeets.

For example, in the past few weeks/ months, saving over £2000 if bought new. I bought:

* Saito 182TD flat twin. £200. RRp, £800

* SC 120 FS. £10. RRp £189 (was broken, but still new and works ok.

* Saito 120 . £140. RRp. £400

*OS 120 FS MkII-P. £140. New. RRp £400.

* H9 Sundowner 50, with a OS91 FS, switch, servos, etc. £140. RRp:£550.

[Aaron Stevens]

went to hobby shop to buy bits yesterday only a few small parts no change from a £20.....:/ so yeah i am going to use what i have for now and do a big-ish order from slec as in the shop a sheet of balsa was £2! and slec is 60p so yeah thats a bit of a saving apart from the £9 postage but i would be saving alot more than that! anyways off to sand some parts with my 75p a sheet sand paper

[i12fly]

...and from polyurethane point of view, only the high VOC solvent based stuff is fuel proof, don't use the water based low VOC stuff with glow fuel as it will soften in seconds to raw fuel. I tested both out thoroughly before committing to a plane (fortunately). Solvent based is fine

[Aaron Stevens]

what about enamel paints? as the fuel proofer is enamel based and i have a nice pot of silver paint i was going to do the engine bay in....

[Daithi O Buitigh]

Most enamels aren't fuel proof (well the Humbrol gloss ones are for diesel but NOT for glo-plug)

[NigelH]

Posted by Aaron Stevens on 27/04/2012 15:27:57:

75p a sheet sand paper

How much ? It's 12p a sheet at our DIY shop

[Trevor Crook]

Has anyone a friend whose hobby is watching their football team play each week? Makes my modelling expenses seem dirt cheap, and I'm participating in something rather than watching a bunch of outrageously overpaid prima-donnas kicking a bag of wind around and falling over in "agony". Oh dear, I seem to have got on a soap box - I'll get back off it now.

[Aaron Stevens]

football the bain of my life! and the stuff isnt humbrol its made by plasti-kote will use it on a test spot on some balsa and see if it works failing that i will use it and fuel proof over the top :/ and i have a diesel engine now : ) that i am going to make the mini tyco for.... and yup 75p a sheet it was £2.99 for a 4 pack of wet'n'dry from halfords and there is no motor factors or small diy stores here but i use a 1''x1'' square at a time so will last me a while

[John Privett]

Aaron, as others have mentioned, it's worth going to some of the shows and stocking up on bits and pieces from the traders there.

If you can wait that long then the Hop Farm show in mid-September is always an excellent show and has a good trade presence - and is (I think!) local to you. Otherwise there's Wings and Wheels at North Weald in Essex in late June or next month the Blackbushe Show at Blackbushe Aerodrome. Both are a little further away, but worth the trip - in my opinion!

[Aaron Stevens]

yup am going to hop farm and cant wait and yeah its the fact of getting a good stock of parts back so i dont need to keep spending i am going to sell one of my engines to buy other parts with the cash and i got a stock of 8 2'' wheels of ebay for £3 the other day in the draw of parts they go am going to write a list of bit i want and tick them off as i go, and southern modelcraft is at the other end of town so i get good prices on my fuel now that wil save me a shed load, and i am going to buy large pots of sanding sealer and proofer as it will work out cheaper in the long run as i love scratch building rather than kits will do a thread of my cessna 170 tomorrow if i get time and will try to get to as many shows as pos this year

[Paul Marsh]

I wouldn't bother selling one of your engines. The OS 20FP isn't worth much, maybe get £10-15 for it, and that's pushing it.

Over the years I've got thousands of parts built up, such as a large box of engine mounts, fuel tanks, fittings and the like. However, I seem to always need something, which prompts one to buy more than one next time...

On another note, Aaron, I wonder if you could be so kind to improve on your puncutation. Meaning that your sentances suffer from run-ons, commas and lack of paragraphing. The reason is that it makes your writing hard to read, as well as tiring. The example is if you were to speak it out load, you would've gone blue by the time you got half way down!

Add breaks in the sentances, full stops and commas makes it easier to read.

[Aaron Stevens]

Paul check that out on ebay 251044918423, so mines got to be worth at least £25 on there, thats if i sell one of my fp's as i do have a couple of them, aswell as a few enya's a 19-6 and a boxed 19-5 with muffler and a paw 149 that i have just got but want to keep.

Oh and i have dyselxia so your lucky the spelling is ok-ish, I just have trouble punctuating and can never work out where i am going wrong when writing anything, but you wasn't to know.

p.s. took 20mins to get this right

p.s.s. i hope!

[Baron Baz]

Don't worry too much about your punctuation Aaron. Some people can't even spell 'sentence'!

Grammatical errors, spelling mistakes and bad punctuation are all part of being in a forum. I personally never know when to stop going on...

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[Paul Marsh]

Hope you can sell it for a good price, but really, the items selling on ebay go for stupid amounts. Go to a swopmeet and you'd be struggling to get £10 for it. I bought a nearly new OS 25 FP a while ago for £3, and I was the only bidder at the club auction!

I meant "Sentance": Definition: "a string of words that does not satisfy the grammatical rules of a language"

Na!Na!

Edited By Paul Marsh on 29/04/2012 15:36:17

[Gary Turner]

In comparison to my many other hobbies, model flying is by far the cheapest! I got back into flying a month ago and had to start from scratch and spent just shy of ?350 on plane(s) and parts with a ?50 on club membership. Compare this to the ?2750 I spent on my hi fi, the ?1800 on my mountain bike and then there is my petrol head tendancy and the trackdays that go with it!! Once you have a plane and what have you then so long as you don't crash the outlay is minimal!! Compare that to ?100 plus petrol for a trackday!!

Edited By Gary Turner on 29/04/2012 15:35:54

[David Davis]

As for commas and full stops.

If you imagine yourself speaking out loud the words you have written, put a comma where you'd pause, and a full stop when you have to stop for breath.

Change the paragraph when you change the subject.

[Gary Turner]

Its difficult to use correct punctuation etc when using a phone! It only gives you a small box to type in and the layout changes after I submit the post, hence all the question marks where there should be pound signs!!