Hobby crossroads

[JB5812]

I know a lot of us have really expensive hobbies. I'm at the point now where I'm getting out of the military RELATIVELY soon and am spending a lot of money on a few different things. Being down here in SOCAL, I picked up on the desert scene and have dumped thousands of dollars into my Ranger and have had fun with that. When I move back home to Oregon, I know I'm going to want to get back into everything firearms again...

VERY hard to cycle between a couple of the most expensive hobbies there are

Guess I'm just thinking that with ammo, hardware, and everything firearm related prices going up even more, and maybe becoming hard to come by again, I should focus more on that and aquire more.

You guys share your wallet with other REALLY expensive crap that you don't really NEED to?

 

[Jig Stick]

Re: Hobby crossroads

Scuba diving, benchrest and F class shooting, and great lakes fishing. All cost me dearly, but soo soo worth every minute i spend doing it.

 

[Greg Langelius *]

Re: Hobby crossroads

Aside from shooting, I also build and fly model airplanes, but I do it in a relatively inexpensive way.

I concentrate on rubber powered free flight model aircraft (often scale model aircraft), and scratch build my models from downloaded plans available free on the Internet.

Better explanations and information than I could provide can be had from these two websites.

To get started, excellent kits can be obtained from Diels's Engineering.

Being in the desert Southwest, you inhabit a fabulous location for flying these types of models.

Greg

 

[JB5812]

Re: Hobby crossroads

Good to hear Greg! Although not AS expensive, that is also one of my main hobbies. I recently built a 98"WS MQ-9 Predator that I frequently fly. Also have a ton of other foamy planes. Just got this: Corsair Corsair that I'm loving! Flies fantastic.

Cheers

 

[Greg Langelius *]

Re: Hobby crossroads

R/C is way over my head expensive. These stick and tissue airplanes I build tend to get airborne for under $10 in materials. The big expenditure is free, labor.

Aside from metal tubing, small piano wire, and balsa wood from Hobby Hut, etc., I can buy most of my materials in Wal-Mart. I use ceiling tiles for building boards, build right on top of the plans which are covered with wax paper, cover the aircraft with domestic tissue wrap paper, and dope the tissue with Min-Wax brushing lacquer. Stationery ribber bands, looped together for length, provide power.

Propellers can be tricky; I either carve entire props from built-up laminated balsa blocks, or assemble them with blades cut from clear pop bottle sides.

My aircraft range in size from 13" wing span Peanut Scale ships and on up to somewhere around 24-30" wingspan sport flyers. Sometimes they hook a thermal and fly away, a sacrifice to the oriental god "Hung".

FAC (Flying Aces Club - a worldwide nostalgia model avaition association) holds it Nationals in Geneseo NY, less than two hours from my home. My dream si to ass on my participation to my grandson Patrick. The Langelius family has been active on the national level in free flight modelling for well over 50 years. If you see the name in connection, it's either a Brother or a Nephew.

A little ingenuity goes a long way.

Greg

 

[Switchblade]

Re: Hobby crossroads

Motorcycles, Guns, Bourbon, and Cigars are all hard on the wallet with a fixed income(read that pension, full time student status with monthly stipend). Nothing is anywhere near trying to have a littl eextra after receiving a paycut that goes to half of what you were making before.
Looking forward to teh next few years, that little Healey with the Chevy V8 in it will suck up not only some of my funds, but 75% of No2 Son Sam's funds as well as we father son a reconstruction Restomod to beat Cobra's silly

 

[Greg Langelius *]

Re: Hobby crossroads

My former Son-In-Law does auto restorations.

He has an untouched 6cyl/automatic Bronze/Green '65 Mustang waiting in a garage for my Granddaughter Elena, and a fully restored '70's Tripower/4-speed Firengine Red GTO convertible for Patrick.

Lucky kiddos.

Greg

 

[Sumpter Steve]

Re: Hobby crossroads

It really depends on your interests. I have several and some cost a lot more than others. I don't have the money/time any longer to restore/build hot rods so I have fallen back into other hobbies such as shooting. I also enjoy wildlife and hiking so years ago I took up tracking. It really doesn't cost much (a few classes here and there) and you get to get out and enjoy the woods year round. Unfortunately for me in the last several years I've been too busy to do much of it. There is lots of stuff to do when you get back up to Oregon you just have to find hobbies that relate to your interests.

 

[Yasherka]

Re: Hobby crossroads

Computer architecture (home system is a domain comprised of two servers, hardware firewall, 6 other computers, and assorted ancillary crap).

Shooting...'nuff said.

Photography (take a look at what a Canon L-series lens costs).

And, in line with Switch, bourbon and cigars. I really need a better job.

 

[JB5812]

Re: Hobby crossroads

<div class="ubbcode-block"><div class="ubbcode-header">Originally Posted By: Sumpter Steve</div><div class="ubbcode-body">It really depends on your interests. I have several and some cost a lot more than others. I don't have the money/time any longer to restore/build hot rods so I have fallen back into other hobbies such as shooting. I also enjoy wildlife and hiking so years ago I took up tracking. It really doesn't cost much (a few classes here and there) and you get to get out and enjoy the woods year round. Unfortunately for me in the last several years I've been too busy to do much of it. There is lots of stuff to do when you get back up to Oregon you just have to find hobbies that relate to your interests. </div></div>

That's my problem I guess.

When I get into a hobby, I like to go all out and fullfill my full interest in it and aquire everything I need for that hobby so I can do it for a while. Then it just becomes another really expensive hobby. It's hard to just stick to maybe one expensive one and continue enjoying the littler things in life with my current attitude

I have an entire R/C "section" in my garage with tons of parts, equipment, and tools, then the rest is my truck with tools, welders, parts, and supplies! Not to mention all my firearm stuff back home in Oregon. Moving back should be... fun...

I'm just hobby greedy I guess.

 

[ubet]

Re: Hobby crossroads

I know for me personally, I used to shot 3 times a week, at least, last year. With the economy in the toilets, A LOT tighter income, MAYBE once a month a shoot my bolt rifle, pistol more often as its my ccw gun. I know for me, shooting has gotten expensive enough lately, that its tough to justify pulling the trigger unless its going to be making meat.

 

[dohnuts58]

Re: Hobby crossroads

cigars, rebuilding my truck (91 f150 6 cyl, 5 spd od, long bed thats been in the family as a work truck since it came off the line) shooting, wife's photography, 2 1/2 about to be 3 year old daughter

 

[jcfd2201]

Re: Hobby crossroads

Shooting would be first followed by predator hunting as the two go hand in hand somewhat.
Playing pool.
Recently started building knives.
Collecting whiskies.....that seems to be the one that gets to my wife the most on cost!!

 

[Nailz]

Re: Hobby crossroads

I have been trying to get back into sketching, as an IT geek by profession these days, I need to try and use the other side of my brain. I have hooked up with a group local to me that is extremely humbling, but great to learn from at the same time.

http://urbansketchers-seattle.blogspot.com/

I also race HO scale slot cars with a group of guys in the Seattle and Portland areas. Something about tuning these things appeals to me, plus the trip in the wayback machine makes them fun as well.

http://www.g3championships.com/

 

[SIERRAWHISKEY]

Re: Hobby crossroads

Some of my hobby's have found away to pay me,I started building gear for myself and now it pays me to build it for other people.I also teach firearms classes and get payed to do that,If you really like doing a hobby and like me I go full force into it its not bad if you can make a little money on the side to help support it.

Also have a bad habit with 4x4's and ATV's,but whats a Man going to do we need stuff.

 

[spaniel]

Re: Hobby crossroads

Shooting would be an expensive sport but even with a backyard 400yd range I probably shot 8-12 times last year for any length of time. Being of the age to have a young family and building a career will do that to you. My largest hobby expense is my annual elk hunt out west.

I am returning to competitive running after several years off (spent 5 years trying to make the Olympic Trials when I was slightly younger), it is not all that expensive but will suck up 2-3hrs/day if I want to do it right. Time is more precious than money now.

I also make wine, I have poured a modest amount of money into setting up a small vineyard though I spread it out over several years. Vines maturing this year, time to reap the benefits!

 

[Greg Langelius *]

Re: Hobby crossroads

I'm mostly a homebody. If I wasn't married, i'd probably be called a hermit. I prefer activities that allow me to participate at home, and with the model building and handloading, mine do a lot of that.

As a handicapped retiree, I have a lot of time; and the other resources are the ones which come up short. A lot of that going around these days.

By working with very basic materials, expenses are minimal, and the craftsmanship is the item which occupies the hours. I can go hog wild with that, and still come out with a few shekels left to rub together.

For me, that's a good match.

Greg

 

[SniperCJ]

Re: Hobby crossroads

Skydiving used to be my other expensive hobby, but since Ive been an instructor for 5 years I get paid to jump and rarely pay for a jump anymore.

I recently started shooting sporting clays which isnt terribly expensive but not cheap either.

For a cheap hobby i started taking guitar lessons.

 

[Greg Langelius *]

Re: Hobby crossroads

I just gave my Granddaughter Elena my old 1964 Goya TS-4 Guitar. It has an electric pickup added and the original Goya Goliath hard case. Been trying to find a value for it, but no luck so far.

 

[ZLBubba]

Re: Hobby crossroads

Shooting is definitely my most expensive hobby. I try to buy quality and to keep my skills honed, and that makes it even more expensive. Still, it's the hobby I also enjoy the most. While I also scuba dive, it's more of a vacation thing that I only do once or twice a year.

One inexpensive hobby that I love is genealogy. I think studying my family history is fascinating, and even though I'm not descended from anyone famous, I take pride in the fact that my ancestors were tilling American soil since the early 18th century. I definitely recommend trying genealogy out a bit because it's fairly inexpensive (20 bucks for a month subscription at Ancestry.com) and it can really open your eyes up about where you come from. There are so many resources for family history these days that you can learn about your ancestors online. Very cool stuff.

 

[ArcticLight]

Re: Hobby crossroads

I started up an old Bulletin Board System again....I can tinker inbetween homework.

Otherwise R/c airplanes, haven't touched them since I started school again.

And the Rocco..This hobby is complete: