There’s no doubt that tools are a required necessity when it comes to your RC adventures. Whether you are tinkering, building, racing, servicing, they all require tools. Yet, no matter the requirements imposed on your tools based off your demands, there is an evolution of tool inventory that accompanies you while you are out and about enjoying the hobby. From the way I see it, you start off as “The Noob”, then “The Collector”, followed by “The Minimalist”.
The Noob
You just bought your first RC car and you are rummaging throughout your home looking for misc. tools to be stock piled into a small plastic tool box. Within that tool box, you will find the original little plastic tool bag that came with a full set of L-shaped allen wrenches, a stamped metal turnbuckle wrench, some sort of multi-wrench for tightening nuts, a small crescent wrench, a pair of pliers that look more at home in a plumbers tool belt, and finally a pair of scissors for opening parts bags. All in all, it is a mixed bag of nuts with the ability to fix 70% of your RC needs. Quantity has yet to set upon you.
The Collector
At this point you have been into the hobby for a little bit, you’ve narrowed down what class of vehicle you are focusing on, and there is no tool that you are not willing to buy even if you do not need it. Rather then tools and parts bags sharing a common space, you’ve gotten organized. You now have a full set of aluminum handled allen wrenches in both metric and standard, a full set of hex wrenches, top of the line soldering iron, ball cup installation tool, and the list keeps on going on and on. So much so, that you’ve got more than one box to contain your entire tool inventory, you’ve got multiple boxes that seem to take up more space than your actual RC car inventory. All of which follow you wherever you go. No job is too vast for track side service. Quantity over quality.
The Minimalist
As the years have passed you’ve come to find out what you need and do not need, your track side tool inventory fits in no more than two small boxes. At home, the vast inventory of tools you’ve purchased that do not suit your track side needs are tucked away collecting dust and only get pulled out for the “BIG” jobs. Granted, within those two boxes of tools, there is a healthy array that is bound to meet your every demand, and some of the best tools money can buy. Yet, if it requires something more than what is in your track side tools, you’ve come to the Zen like acceptance that if your car is beyond a point of fixing track side, it’s far better to pack up and wrench at home so you can dedicate more time to properly fixing your vehicle. Its quality of quantity.
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