Topic: Do you have a modelling budget?

i tend to splurge, this winter i spent around 600 quid on gliders and other bits and bobs.
then in the summer the biggest money drain is the petrol cost to get to shows and the stuff i'll buy there
i think in total Weston park cost me just over 200 quid, and that was without crashing any funfighters

C'MON ALI!! g'us a post on this one 

Z

A bit off topic but... 

One of the Instructor/Examiners at my old club has refused outright to teach any more ARTF -ers, his reason being that they ditch the hobby as soon as things go a bit wrong and he ends up wasting hours of his own time.

Does building your own model make you hang in there?

Any comments?

Oh yes, my budget...... zero at the moment.

That is a very sad state of affairs.  Not the budget, the instructor (bet he doesn't have much to do these days then).

We seem to have a few responses from club flyers but nothing yet from the Jet jocks or large scale aerobatic boys.

I know of a few jet boys that own quite a few jets and still run electric and IC models too.  Anyone brave enough to admit what they spend???

Maybe, just maybe, the wife may not read your post.

Bash

An aerobatic flyer in our club confessed that he's spent about £20k after 'losing' a couple of models a few years ago.  Didn't seem to bother him in the slightest.  In any case as soon as the word 'competition' rears its ugly head in any activity big spending quickly follows.  You wouldn't believe how much it's possible to spend on a 'toy' racing yacht

Geoff

I dont think its the specialist modellers that spend the most.  A flying buddy went the whole hog with a 2m pattern jobbie, YS, pipe, digi servos and moulded airframe.  I think the figure quoted was some 2.5 to 3k!!

Thing is, he used this model week in and week out for about 3 years so it eventually became a cost effective model.

as a sport modeller, its the impulse buys that knock my budget, remember the first shokkies, £35 for an airframe but over £200 for the gear, batteries and charger.


It only takes a few impulse buys at the shows to fill the garage, workshop and loft with models and gear that only get used a half dozen times.

My modelling budget is easy. I get paid. I pay all the bills, and tuck some away for a rainy day. I make sure the wife and kids have everything they need/want.
I spend the rest......

That is a very sad state of affairs.  Not the budget, the instructor (bet he doesn't have much to do these days then).

Maybe he just enjoys flying his own models now instead eh? 

i tend to splurge, this winter i spent around 600 quid on gliders and other bits and bobs.
then in the summer the biggest money drain is the petrol cost to get to shows and the stuff i'll buy there
i think in total Weston park cost me just over 200 quid, and that was without crashing any funfighters

Save that money for a few years and you'll have a nice deposit for a house 

Maybe he just enjoys flying his own models now instead eh? 

It does rather sound as if instructing can be a thankless task and when you stop enjoying it, it's probably time to stop doing it. I don't think I would have the temperament (or skills) required to even consider doing it.

Save that money for a few years and you'll have a nice deposit for a house 

We all thought it, but you said it 

yeah and you won't even need a big one coz you won't need any storage space coz you won't have any models.     

Z

I would not like to guess how much I spend it scares me!! but then I am also a ARTF flyer, that should be ARF as someone assemblies them for me, except for Helis I build all my own Helis. Ironically I passed my A cert and then my B cert on fixed wing power, but don't have any Certs for helis, but then according to previous posts us ARTF flyers never stay in the hobby, my B cert is on the wall in front of me and dated 11th May 1995 suppose its time for me to take up bowling 

It does rather sound as if instructing can be a thankless task and when you stop enjoying it, it's probably time to stop doing it. I don't think I would have the temperament (or skills) required to even consider doing it.

The pleasure is in seeing your student do his first solo flight, a feeling that is hard to beat. When the little bugger starts out-flying you, then you can get annoyed

Ooooh! Reading some of these posts makes me feel sooooooo good about how little I spend 

I've actually now got two planes that are both flyable but just been using one as I felt that chopping and changing might hinder my progress - and I'm feeling guilty! Both of them are about 18 months - 2 years old.

Now having said that, I have recently splurged on a new ARTF, servos and engine and bought a couple of Rx so I could get one of my old slopers out of the loft... about £450. That's probably my first and last spend this year... maybe 

I try to match my budget to what my wife spends on shoes/handbags/outfits etc!
No wonder we haven't had a holiday for two years! 

Well a trip to the LMA Cosford show knocked a big lump out of my budget yesterday.  It would have been even bigger if the show ran today!

Bash

Fifth amendment

Mike

I spend what I should be saving for a house deposit 

But hey might get run over tomorrow... And at least my planes would sell in the current climate 

CM