Obsessive hobbies....

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RCHeliGuy

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When I got my one of 50 ever built limited production Banshee, I wanted it all tricked out, so I had a bunch of heat shrink for the Battery connectors and motor connectors printed up for me.

I was feeling generous so I sent out shrink wrap to other Banshee owners all over the world, no charge.

I sold my Banshee. It scared the S#|T out of me. Very powerful, very light, extremely agile and a PITA to work on.

Anyway I just pulled out all the shrink wrap since a new limited production Banshee was recently introduced and I'm going to send out a bunch more of these to Germany, Australia, England, Denmark and of course the US.

BansheeShrinkwrap.jpg
 
I think obsessive is a good thing, I must have 10,000 diecast cars, trucks, boats, I'm beyond obsessed with campers and auto transporters, just a few gems

1950's Matchbox no2 Transporter.jpg , Dinky Commer Film Van.jpg , MB #56 Fiat.1.jpg
 
Almost forgot the crown jewel TootsieToy camper/boat, racer on trailer/spare tire, best on the planet, ! 1961 Tootsie Camper.jpg , ! 1961 Tootsie race car.jpg
 
I had a brother in-law who collected diecast cars. He had a pretty huge collection too with some worth thousands.

He would find stuff in garage sales and flee markets and trade those for the ones he wanted.
Frequently he would pick up aluminum cars to trade with.
 
This was my obsession for a long time.

I had this custom built with lots of custom Sunbrella work including a cover with a racing stripe on it.
The prop was cupped to sit on top of the torque curve at tournament ski speeds.
It had over 500ft/lbs of torque at the prop :)
Perfect Pass speed control system with magnetic timing system dialed in at every tournament speed on a world record tolerance course.
Completely loaded.
Hot water shower ( to fill wet suits with warm water )
heater system ( to keep the driver and passenger(s) warm )
etc...

SN_rightside.jpg
 
I've been a pretty avid mountain biker for about 20 years. I've got 5 different bikes. About a year and a half ago I treated myself to a new one for my 60th birthday - a Specialized Fatboy. Since then I've replaced pretty much everything on the bike save for the frame with select carbon fiber components. I love this bike! It's become my go to ride in every season and last year I rode the Kokopelli Trail (Fruita, CO to Moab, UT), on it. Did I mention I love this bike?
 

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Haha! Love this thread, as my good girlfriend Dame Edna says " Bless you for bothering nice folks with your sick habits" Dame+Edna+Everage+gF4aGmYkF23m.jpgDame+Edna+Everage+gF4aGmYkF23m.jpg
 
Very nice mountain bike! Are you running tubeless there? When we were in Sedona, the cacti were BRUTAL. I saw a guy who came down from Alaska with tires that size. He said he could ride on snow with them. I'm sure they are excellent on dusty climbs. What pressure are you running in them?

My wife and I between us have 2 hard tails, 2 full suspension bikes, 2 road bikes, and I have a single speed road bike that I built from my old 1984 racing bicycle.
However our matching Specialized Stumpjumper Experts are about 8 years old now. When we tested the pair we were amazed at how much easier they were on our backs! They aren't 29'ers, but they get the job done!

storagefull1.jpg
 
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So many hobbies to obsess over, so little time....

For me, hobbies (other than the audiophile stuff) include my classic car (1955 Jaguar XK140 OTS), fitness, target shooting, and photography.

The Jag was a labor of love. It belonged to my Uncle and I have lusted after it since childhood. It was a complete rust bucket by the time I came into possession of it. I had it fully-restored which took an inordinately long time and cost way too much. The 3.8 L engine (not original) was bored out to 5.0 L, replaced the stock carbs with triple 50 DCOE Webers, drum brakes converted to disc brakes, four speed converted to five speed, electronic ignition, racing bucket seats, and numerous other upgrades. It is a beauty and a beast.

As for the fitness gear, I have built my own home gym in my basement. I work out six days a week and have collected a ton of nice gear. Barbells, kettle bells, Dumbbells, squat rack, treadmill, and tons of other stuff. I have a little boxing room where I have three speed bag platforms (each with a different type of swivel) and about 15 different speed bags I switch between (did someone mention obsessive?), along with a couple of heavy bags. And I can guarantee my gym has the nicest sound system of any gym in the city (ML Ascents driven by Pass Labs X350.5).

Then there's target shooting. I have a few dozen guns, a couple of suppressors, bunches of steel and paper targets, bench rest, thousands of rounds of ammo, etc. I mostly shoot .22 because it's cheap and relatively quiet. I like 50 and 100 yards with paper targets. I have shot a little cowboy action and rimfire competition matches, but I don't care that much for competition shooting. Prefer to sit on my own property and shoot with friends. I have a hundred yard range with a nice berm for a backdrop. I have a few .22 rifles that will consistently shoot half inch or smaller groups at 50 yards, which is good enough for me. My favorite is a Kidd rifle I put together. It's basically a Ruger 10/22 design but built with all high-end aftermarket parts. Extremely accurate for a semi-auto .22.

But without a doubt, my true longstanding obsession is photography and photographic gear. I must have a dozen or more cameras and several dozen lenses. Mostly Canon, Zeiss and Leica. Lately, I have been focusing (pun intended) on vintage Leica lenses. I just picked up a 85mm f/1.5 Summarex from the early fifties. Fairly rare and highly sought after portrait lens. Arriving today is a 50mm f/1.5 Summarit, also from the early fifties. My oldest is a 50mm f/2 Summar. It's about 80 years old. I have the Leica digital M9 camera and have the new M10 on order. I also have a collection of Zeiss manual focus lenses for my Canon 5dMk3. Cameras come and go, but nice lenses last forever. :)

Here's a picture of the Jag and a picture of my Kidd rifle:

image.jpg

image.jpg
 
Cars are such a weird thing. I think we fixate on them at an early age.

I was completely fixated on the Porsche 928. It probably first grabbed my attention in the movie Risky Business, but in college I continued to lust after it. I finally came across one that was perfect 1989 S4 GT manual, no sunroof( so I had head room) with 25,000 original miles, and I chickened out. That was about a decade ago and I've lost my lust for it since then.

Is that rifle body layered epoxy and wood? I'm not into guns, but that is a work of art!

I recently picked up a Voightlander manual focus 58mm f1.4 lens. It's not old, but it is also a leaded glass lens like Zeiss with dreamy bokeh.

I'd probably find your camera/lens collection the most interesting, but everything else is beautiful too. Care to post any pictures of them?
 
Cars are such a weird thing. I think we fixate on them at an early age.

I was completely fixated on the Porsche 928. It probably first grabbed my attention in the movie Risky Business, but in college I continued to lust after it. I finally came across one that was perfect 1989 S4 GT manual, no sunroof( so I had head room) with 25,000 original miles, and I chickened out. That was about a decade ago and I've lost my lust for it since then.

Is that rifle body layered epoxy and wood? I'm not into guns, but that is a work of art!

I recently picked up a Voightlander manual focus 58mm f1.4 lens. It's not old, but it is also a leaded glass lens like Zeiss with dreamy bokeh.

I'd probably find your camera/lens collection the most interesting, but everything else is beautiful too. Care to post any pictures of them?

You're right about cars, Mark. I was smitten by the Porsche 911 as a kid. Beautiful car. But I never indulged that fantasy. I do love German engineering, though, as evidenced by the Mercedes SLK 320 in my avatar. I drove the heck out of that one for ten years, then sold it to a friend when I got the Jag. The problem with the Jag is that it's a garage queen. It's just too nice/valuable/finicky to be an everyday driver. I really need to sell it at some point and get another sports car I can drive all the time.

Yes, the stock for that rifle is called a Vantage RS and it is made of laminate. It is a beautiful stock. But the real beauty of that rifle is in the Kidd barreled receiver with Kidd two-stage trigger. It is a fine piece of engineering. The trigger is set at 12 oz. per stage for a total pull of 1.5 lbs.! Very light target trigger. And it is smooth as glass.

The Voigtlander's are nice lenses for the money and do have a nice bokeh. The only one I have is their ultra wide 15mm, which is a really fun lens. I'll try to get a picture of all my Leica, CV and Zeiss lenses sometime and post it for you. The M9 is off to Germany for service right now, and I haven't got the M10 yet. So no Leica cameras in house at the moment.

Just to show you how bad the obsession is... I don't even have the M10 yet, but I already have the strap I want to put on it. It is a limited edition, handmade in Cyprus. Here is a pic of it:
image.jpg
 
Ok, this isn't the best picture. But it will give you an idea. These are all my Leica lenses, plus 1 CV and 1 Zeiss, for the M mount rangefinder cameras. With the Summarit I have coming today, I'll have a baker's dozen of M mount lenses.

image.jpg
 
We currently have our exercise room and media room together in the basement. The Hoist weight system weighs about 800 lbs.

This is most of our equipment. We rotate it around sometimes. This isn't close to the current layout. The only thing that stays put is the Hoist system.

exerciseroom.jpg

rotatedout.jpg
 
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Guys, lovin' your hobbies !

Tim, cool bike for sure !!

Stu, nice die-cast collection !

Rich, beautiful looking Jag ! I had to laugh though at your comment about the trigger pull on your rifle ..... 1.5 lbs, that's a ton my friend ! As a former bench rest shooter , my 6ppc ....... 2oz trigger and I can tell you at times in matches when reading the wind flags and daisy wheels that thing felt like 2 tons !

As for cars, I doubt there's a bigger car geek than me on this board. Regardless my current baby, '67 BB ..........

IMG_0300.jpgIMG_0662.jpgIMG_0666.jpgIMG_0667.jpg
 
Hmmmm...

Red,
Open cockpit
no head rests ( whiplash protection )

Do I sense a pattern?

OK, there has to be at least one Harley hiding somewhere out there :)
 
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