Been clicking around on ebay, I really just wanted a couple of Southern Pacific and Cotton Belt trains to mess with. Bid on some stuff, unexpectantly won some and these boxed units showed up Friday. Everything is still in the box, warranty cards, instructions, a note that the axle gears were cracked and had been replaced. If these are used, they've been used very little. "Supposedly" from an estate sale.

So did some old dude just have these in a box and never play with them? Then someone sells them off for just whatever. I kinda don't want to run them, but it's a shame not too. I kinda wish they did have some damage, then I wouldn't feel bad about putting them on a track.  Are trains meant to sit in a box? Or do you collect just to sit in the corner with imitation crab meat and stroke the boxes saying "my precious" over and over again in your depends.

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Yes I had 1 new Barbie Doll and 3 others I swapped sights around on and went shooting yesterday. Oops I mean AR's.

Not really, I just hoard stuff. I like new shiny things.

Every Christmas I put up a track around the Christmas tree. I have orginal Lionel Navy A and B units and other cars from that set. I also have one of those old huge two handle 275 Lionel transformers.

Same. I like to collect Lego, but now there are too many unopened sets in my closet. Why do I do this?

The thrill of the hunt. And to have nice things.

Most model railroaders are as much collectors, if not more, than they are operators.
I at least display mine, too.
I'm currently working on a module diorama that will be as accurate to the real thing as possible.
It was well photographed in the 50's and I am working from photos and talking to old guys were there taking the photos.
I am modeling the iconic willow tree as accurately as I can to match the real thing. (shown here partially complete)









3d modeled, printed, and painted the shed last night. just needs some white paint. next, I need to make the outhouse which is visible at far left.


and this is a pretty well known photo by O. Winston Link, taken under the tree.  If you look under my tree, you can see the picnic table the crew is sitting on in this photo.

Absolutely!  
Part of my stash at the old house.


Some of these are long discontinued and hard to find.  How am I not going to buy it if I looked so hard and long for it?  And a lot I bought second hand at great prices. How do you turn that down?

I currently have an O scale USAX GP9 and som USAX rolling stock sitting on a shelf. I plan on laying a single loop up high around my office so that I can run it occasionally. I also have another Lionel train set that sometimes gets setup around the Christmas tree. I did get tired of seeing my N Scale stuff sitting around collecting dust so I set up a temporary track on part of my workbench in the office. With my N Scale, if something is pretty rare or worth a lot of money then they sit in the original case/box on display, otherwise they get ran on the track.

I also have a few 1:35 scale military models assembled and displayed on a shelf right above my USAX train.

It doesn't surprise me that people buy things and never take them out of the box.  There's quite a few old timers that buy a couple guns a month, then never shoot them.  At the local conservation club I see listings each month for non-fired or low round count firearms someone is selling because the have limited safe space and bought more guns.

I prob have $7k in RC cars I’ve taken out of the box but haven’t ran yet. Buying things sometimes makes me not depressed I think.

@peck1631


I'd like to see your collection sometime bro if you have any pics.

Women call this “retail therapy” and I think they’re onto something.

At least you don’t have to worry about the landing.  Or lack of a controlled landing.

Yes. I am not much of a collector.

I build my RC plane and car kits and fly or drive them.

I build my plastic models. It makes me sad to toss the box when I am done but I do so anyways

When I was a kid I built my Lego sets, and they'd be in that configuration a month maybe then I'd build new and different things from them. Maybe in a year or two I'd rebuild the original set.

Sometimes when one of the silverbacks in the club goes to the great hobby shop in the sky the collection of unbuilt kits they leave behind is staggering. It took multiple clubs to handle one guy's stuff and it took us weeks (he did ham radio and RC).

One thing that is really neat about RC sailplanes in particular (and some free flight models) is their longevity. Obviously these have been skillfully constructed and flown but some guys have airframes that are approaching 50 years old and have gone through multiple generations of radios and been recovered a time or two but still fly frequently.

I had my drive way graded for paving.  I now have a pile of excess gravel 5 ft high 7 ft wide and 5ft deep.  The slash likes the gravel. Climbing has been interesting.

Exact opposite for me. It’s the last thing I usually do when cleaning up after a project.  Kind of like a mini celebration of another milestone of making the stash smaller and a feeling of accomplishment.

After getting into RC planes and helicopter in a big way, yes almost constantly.  Retired disabled so it gives me something fun to do and we have a lot of great members at the club.

I learned a few days ago the Horizon Pro Boats now has an RC Swift Boat.  1/25 scale.    

https://www.proboatmodels.com/product/pcf-mk-i-24

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So I will have one of these.   It will need some weathering and maybe even repainting work.   I think some of the Swift boats used in Vietnam had a darker gray or even green paint job.  
And it will need some crew.   At least there might be a small amount of 1/25 figures out there to modify to Brown Water sailors.  
Too bad my Dad never got pictures of the Swift boats his LST supported.    He said they had a bunch tied off alongside when they moved south the last half of the ships deployment 1967-1968 and they were anchored off Vung Tao. He said the Swift boats would patrol up the rivers and shoot up just about anything that moved.  Sometimes they would come back shot up with crew wounded.    He was a radioman and had no business on one but I have a suspicion he took a ride once or twice as he seemed to be familiar with the 81mm mortar slung under a 50 cal on the rear of the boat.   He brought home a bunch of 50 cal fired brass and linked up that he said he shot.   Maybe the LST had a 50, but their main defense was a couple 40mm Boris and some had a 3” gun on the bow.  

So I will be getting one of these to go with my ProBost PBR patrol boat (they called it an alpha boat, but alpha boats were totally different and slower, heavier armed too).
I really need some crew figures for the PBR but it’s an odd scale - something like 1/18.   Good reason to get a 3D resin printer I suppose.  

I will run them in the reservoir behind were I live.   Not supposed to be there but better than driving miles to some county park lake - not sure if they even approve RC boats on the lake.

I stopped at an estate sale today and pickup this HO car fro a buck.


You guys are costing me money.   Between the RC cars and now model trains my wife is going to want some more money for her hobbies.

I run my RC cars a lot. Had my 1/5th scale buggies out today ripping around.  Love the smell and sound of 2 strokes.