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Recently (few months ago) i just share my collection of R/C models over my private social media platform with community of R/C modelers showing in and out of my hangar.  Many surprised and shocked with the mass amount of models i've collected and enjoyed over the years.  Lots of people commented how i did i able to collect such variety models while others felt it something that is too unreachable for normal people to accumulate such amount of collection unless you  have thicker wallet. Indeed Radio Control modeling is a very expensive hobby  if one decided going deep and passionate about it especially if you wanted to stay years long with your passion.  Realistically speaking to survive in this hobby you'll need to be essentially creative, 'think out of the box', resourceful, genuinely passion and most importantly able to manage a good budget to keep up with time without getting burned.   Public stereotype would usually label R/C model hobbyist are "rich people's" past time especially R/C flying modelers and builder however that statement not entirely true. Based on my experience as experience hobbyist and meeting lots of people around my community, hardcore R/C enthusiast who collected mass models comes in variety of economic demographics both rich, moderate and poor living background as long they know how to be resourceful.  Just like any hobby such as gaming, sports, gardening, art, computers and others any hobby will get more expensive as they grow but regardless demographic of people  with variety of income background still able to afford to commit to their favorite past-time through many ways.  As for myself i'm not born rich feed on silver spoon neither do i am today at the time of writing; working as an experience IT engineer/programmer earning 'asian standard' monthly wage on par with wages of restaurant worker in the US (west) my budgets are really tight.  Although my monthly work earnings are 'third world' country standard but still at median level category where i lived fortunately living in East Asia region the housing, food, daily necessity such as electric, waters, phone bills, internet and etc are realtively very cheap.  Plus the British style public health services such as clinic and hospital provided by the government are almost free, so there's a Pros and Cons living here despite low income standard which means we have some extra to spend towards our passion.

By now you'd probably wondering; "How did you manage to accumulate all those R/C model collection?".  For those who have been with me for many years on this website since 1999 you'd probably notice how my Radio Control hobby gradually grown over the years....from simple R/C activity to advanced level enthusiast.  From the radio control hobby gallery on this website you'll get the idea how my collection expand over the years, but you'll notice almost more than half of the (70%) percentage of the R/C models collection i've own was always been a 'used' second hand models or crashed kit while less than 25% are new out of box.  The remaining 5% percent were sponsored models.  Between 2007 and 2017 on 'average' i would only spent $150 per-year on 'new' R/C models planes, car/trucks and DIY parts such as FPV and electronics hardware's especially from HobbyKing.com online stores. Back in those years for just under $30 you still able to get big beautiful scale planes plus free stuff too.  Year after 2017 and beyond my purchasing of R/C models especially flying models started to decline slowly due to increase global pricing, price fluctuation and R/C models started to looks aesthetically ugly yet still expensive to this day.  The good news is lucky i started decade early and grab the best models of its days before manufacturer gets cunning with its pricing! hahahaha!!  Ok! so lets get to the point; i'm going to share tips below how you are able to get your hands on many R/C models for less or if you're lucky at almost no cost at all based on my level experience over the years.  So read all of these tips below!
*Note:  Each listing comes with percentage score points of probability of scoring a good buying deal!

 
1. Socialized and join the club the trade (Score: 100%)

Of course all R/C hobbyist are extrovert creatures, they would seek out for people and community of the same interest to get together to enjoy the activities; racing, rock crawling, flying, boating, FPV, droning and after that BBQ party of course!.  So its normal for enthusiast to get together show their proud models, setup and tricks at social events or at the an R/C club.  So don't try to go solo, join any R/C clubs and the community around your including online.  You will able to make some friends thus reap the benefits of exchanging or trading models easily with less budgets or sometimes get freebies.  More likely you'll get free models because some senior hobbyist would clean their garage or hobby hangar to get rid of useless clutter.  I do received some freebies too from my friends because he got tired of it.   In return myself also gave away some of my boring models to new comers too for example some notable models i gave away for free was the HK COOTA amphibian FPV modded plane to our new comer in our clubs.....of course i had too many planes in my hangar so i hate clutters, lol!

 
2. Barter exchange workmanship (Score: 60%)

If you're really good at constructing or modding R/C models your skill may offer a great value to your surrounding peers who wants to acquire your services.  R/C hobby involves lots of technical handy works such as soldering, wiring, performance upgrade, FPV hardware assembly, custom build parts, 3d printing, fabrication and hand build models.  You could trade your skills and workmanship in exchange for a an R/C model they have in their collection.  

Here's real a scenario: A good obvious example is myself;  i have successful skills building a cockpit style long range FPV plane.  My friend interested to have such FPV plane but no ideas how to build it so i came by to lend my FPV build skills but in return i want a particular R/C plane that i like from his collection as compensation for my workmanship.  So i trade my sweat for model stuff.  The results he got his FPV plane and i got my favorite plane from his collection. So its a 'win! win!' situation where both party gets what they want without involving money.  That's how i owned few great planes such as the P-38 lightning, jets and several scale warbirds through exchanging my workmanship among R/C members.

3. Crash kit, recovery, recycling and finders keepers (Score: 70%)

The best thing about hanging around at local R/C club airfield is waiting for crashes to happen especially when you have bunch of newbies and intermediate pilot who struggle with their flight.....it makes me smile thinking the end outcomes.  Regardless newbies or professional crash do happen, it could have been pilot's thumb stick mistake or onboard technical. More likely its a 50/50 gamble just to momentary having fun flying expensive models in the air for just under 5 minute...what goes up must come down.   All R/C pilot understands the risk and if it happens it happen...just smile and accept the fate because its part of the tradition of flying a model.  If crash do happen i always comes to flock around like a buzzard at the crash scene not doing CSI but just to see how much the salvages worthy to pick up.  Unlike cars/trucks or boat models for an R/C plane and helicopters a bad crash always ended up with models and parts goes straight to the bins depends on the initially assessment. For an experience builder it can be fix however for the beginners and non-technical hobbyist fixing can be challenging, costly and timely ended up discarded as trash. Therefore others are welcome to pickup the debris and parts for free most of the time or pay a small cash for token of friendly gesture to pickup the cheap carnage.  Some flight model crashed in location that is consider hazardous or unworthy to pick up due to safety reason.  Sometimes i might able to score a perfectly mint good condition R/C plane that crash deep in the bush, trees canopy or forest unreachable by the model owners and left abandoned for finder's keepers sake. This happens a lot but normally for any R/C pilots a plane lost out of sight is as good as gone regardless if its survived the crash or being an expensive ones. For others its better not to retrieve it than getting bitten by snake or encounter with poisonous animal.  For an adventurous some like me its a free treasure worth hunting!  Most of my small sized fast EDF jets and also long range glider in my hangar were free salvaged from remote crash site because there people tends to fly over the edge, lol!  Its mine now! Hehehe!

4. Queries and 'Bargain Bins' at R/C local shop (Score: 60%)

If you're good fixing and restoration works then this might be your thing.  This is what i always do when i'm at my friend's local R/C hobby shop;  i would peek and look around in their workshop for used, worn-out or broken R/C models or parts then ask if they would sell it for something less at dirt cheap price.  More likely they are willing to sell heap scraps of useless R/C models or parts instead of throwing out into the bin. Even selling for just $3 its still money gain for shop owner and a good bargain for me.  Walk-in customer more likely throw garbage of un-repairable R/C parts and get new ones instead. Usually i would score some handful dirt cheap models or mix bag of thrown away parts then i could construct into new 'Frankenstein' R/C models.  This works super easy if you know the shop owner but also will work out well if you're new to the R/C shop too as long the shop owners are open to the ideas of selling it.  The owner usual would never mind about selling bits of their garbage R/C kits or parts as long its moved away from their cluttering space.  Here are some tips how to get the deal done at the store front:

• Don't be shy, be thicked face asking for stuff
  Most R/C shops owners behind the counter are friendly (not the employees) so don't be shy if you ask for bin parts or parts that is unusable.  You're likely to get a good bargain at super dirt cheap price and sometimes it can be free if you don't demand on warranty or complains.  You're actually helping them to get of rid of useless clutters and R/C junks off their workspace in return for few dimes or cash.

• Obsolete/outdated models
  Overtime some underrated R/C models over 10 or 15 years may not sell well due to changing trends and style. Usually the store owner would put off away from the store shelf collecting dust away from customer's eyes.  For some collectors like me its a treasure waiting to be found.  Old models doesn't means its not fun, its just the market for these products has been obsolete and wasn't all popular among the crowds unlike classic KYOSHO and TAMIYA which still valued at their nostalgic factor.  For example i've bought a unique good old CEN RACING MINI MADNESS, NANDA NRX-18, HPI RS-4 Mini kits and some unknown 1:12 pan racer chassis restored to its mint condition all for 1/4 of the original price. Last year i've bought a broken HENG LONG super scale German Panzer R/C tank for just USD$10 after few talks with the shopkeeper.  At the end of the day i have accumulated huge chunks of collection for less and they are enjoyable to drive in my hangar!

• Crash kits/parts
  You might surprise some R/C stuff even electronics such as ESC unit may actually repairable if you know how to do it.  For example i bought a 'formerly' expensive broken brushless car/truck ESC cost just only USD$2 which have broken internal BEC easily fixed by added external USD$2 BEC unit to make the ESC works again.  Original price for that workable ESC was $50 so i saved USD$48.  I even bought some off-road truck chassis that have been snapped into two with broken gearbox and manage to restore back into drivable condition after re-fabrication works.  Thus said; "One man's trash is another man's treasure!"

You can say almost all my R/C models from local hobby shops isn't new, was worn and broken out of the box but at the end of the days i manage to get them back in working condition for less budget.

5. Failed interest and withdrawal (Score: 100%)

Not everyone going to last long in R/C hobby, its always a constant trend through the years where 95% among crowds of the R/C enthusiast within the same circle of community will 'definately' withdraw from the hobby due to financial priorities, found other hobbies, married life (wife problem),  moving on with life or simply just give up everything and move on. These 'rational thinking' people know at the end of the day R/C toys not going to put food on the table. When R/C hobbyist give ups they always sell off everything the had, this is the perfect time to score good bargain.  This is how i accumulate mass amount of R/C models and stuff out from these people 100% of the time. All i can say the deal always been successful getting away with less than half the price for everything they have.....the obvious stuff super cheap deal has always been the digital battery charger, lol! 

Here are some useful tips to become a 'blood sucker' during the deal:

• "Hey! i bring some hard cash!"
  When they see cash they will go crazy and bow for it....that's what it means being a modern human being. When someone give up their hobby 'forever' (i don't think so) they are wiling to let go anything and make sure they get their money back, they just want to see some money regardless whatever amount because they are in the state of emotionally despair.  When people in state of 'mentally' despair especially from hobby they used to enjoyed they usually can't think anything but just to let go the responsibility and that's it.  As a buyer like me its a good time to score some deal and negotiate a good price.  The trick  is do not say "I'm interested to buy" but instead say "What do you have?  I have cash right now but thinking something else!".  This send a direct message to seller that 'cash going to fly away if you're not offering something interesting..bye!'   Show the cash! Don't IOU.

• Buy in combo!
  If first purchasing deal successful,  try ask "Do you have any others to sell?".  More likely he/she would sell you others since the first transaction gave a moral boost to the seller.  But this time group all the stuff  together and ask for single price for everything.  Usually its much cheaper to buy in bulk than priced as single item. Importantly do not give chances for seller to quote the price as individual.  'Psychologically' point of view usually the buyer have full control over the conversation because he/she is the one holding the cash while the seller is only thinking about how to earn the cash A.S.A.P.  So those who hold the cash have better position in mental battle right there.  I remembered i scored 3x huge size beautiful scaler foamies R/C  plane for just under USD$150 as group bundle, basically paying just 1/4 of the price each as used second hand yet in mint condition.  Normal trading practice the price for used R/C planes are lower than ground based R/C models because the demand in local market is low, harder to sale outside due to its static size, not everyone can fly it and also some reliability issues as it gets old. So you have to be smart in your talk when negotiating deals by taking aacount through this factor during trade conversation.

• The 'you know i know' thing.
  Sometimes its hard to to lower down the price during the deal, but if you know each other through past R/C activities then you probably know how much his/her R/C stuff went through and worn over time. Eg; "Hey! I know your planes/trucks have been through lots of runtime, hits and wornout so lets lowered a bit so i could fix it myself" that quote would definitely helps much reasoning do lower down the price.  Be smart!..like dogging bullet from car sales man, lol!

*PS:  Ironically after few years laters the same people who sold me the stuff have returned back again to join the same hobby where they left......men will always bee men! Hahahaha!

6. Affiliate program (Score: 40%)

If you want new R/C models or stuff at lower price then this is another reasonable method....but its a lot of work.  Back in the old days between 2001 to 2017 with just USD$20~$30 you can get a cool looking big size 1100mm wingspan size R/C plane with gifts and discounts!!  R/C models was cheap back then because China start manufacturing cheap and affordable stuff especially through model rebranding so they have to go easy with the price to enter the market as new comers, cheap labor was another reason too.  Now living in year 2021 with $70 you only get piss poor looking mini size 650mm wingspan R/C plane something a kid would play backyard!!...sad truth to our current global economy too!  If you're newbies getting into your first R/C hobby in this new era well you'll need a fat wallet for a poor looking R/C starter pack.  Price inflation is a reality but you'll have to lived with it for now.  Fortunately there is a way to minimized paying expensive models by joining 'Affiliate program' run by any online store that sell that said R/C hobby products.  HOBBY KING, ALIEXPRESS, AMAZON, BANGGOOD, GEARBEST and other major online store always have affiliate program where when customer join the program they could share links of certain products to people and friends thus gain few points if they purchase through it.  Those collected purchasing points can be redeem as coupons or discounts to be used on any item you purchased in affiliated stores.  This is the usually method i used to get good discounts and coupons to slash off 10%~50% prices of from hobby products.  However its a bit of hard work to share the affiliate links and earn consumable points; as for me took half a year to earn USD$20 discount off so i could discounted priced R/C parts.... but still for us East Asian economy standard USD$20 discount is still a blessing!

 
7. Getting sponsorship (Score: 15%)

Another way to get free model is through sponsorship from R/C manufacturer and vendor.  This is more effective especially if its a new R/C company with new products trying to get attention and publicity from community. New manufacturing company usually desperate for publicity wiling to pluck any potential experience tester and reviewer who are able to review and publicized their experience on new R/C products....after that you get to keep the product for freeeeeee!!  To get sponsored you'll need to be an experience R/C blogger and vlogger able to documents, elaborate technical details and share experience on using the products by presenting it through website, social medias, forum and other communication platform with the R/C community as experience influencer point of view.  Based on my experience this is one of my method to obtain R/C models where 5% of my models are given through sponsorship namely from: SONIC MODELL, FMS, DWHOBBY, EACHINE, JJRC, WL-TOYS, FOXTECH, RUNCAM and others.  The best place to find these sponsorship is usually through community website forum or website site where groups of people hanging around the discussion boards because that's where those manufacturing company agents, vendors and marketing will lurk around.  If you think posting your activity at Facebook, Reddit or Tweets help to get sponsorship attention well it not going to work that way.  So better hang around in traditional classic forum if you wanted to get some free catch.  However being sponsored have its Pros and Cons as listed below:

Pros:

• Of course free to keep after review.
• Reviewer also get the publicity/spotlight with the products.

Cons:

• Lots of work to test, review, documenting, make videos and show off/advertise on social media.  (Sometimes i felt its better to buy then getting free.)
• If the products get bad publicity so as the reviewer credibility.
• To get sponsored you'll need strong background in R/C hobby, experience, website, online credibility, influencer status and strong presence on the internet.

Based on my experiences working with the sponsors its a bit of 'pain in the ass' because its consume more time and effort on the reviewer side to prepare documentation, videos and media to publish the products review.  Plus sometimes you'll ended up became the ambassador aka product support via community forum should user issue arises.  Rationally i felt its better to buy rather being sponsored because its ruined the fun out of enjoying thee hobby...hence to much work = less fun.   So after 2019 i decline any offer to review unless if its very interesting and less work to review.  I'm going solo to review stuff i buy instead.

Trending and marketing watch (Score: 50%)

People love to buy latest updated R/C models and gears depicted in social media.  Any new releases is part of 'must have' culture especially in the generation we live in. "I need to have latest radio controller!", "I need to have latest drone!", "I must embrace new technology!", "Digital FPV is the futures!" and other brain washing marketing quotes that swamp many R/C'er un-intellectually minds.  At the end off the days its all about 'Dog chasing it own tail' over and over again spilling out money for consumer market but the end goal of being R/C hobbyist still doesn't change.  Some consumer forgot the new products did the same job as the old ones.....paying more for the stuff that did the same task? How ironic.  So here i am still holding on to a 10 year old tech USD$50 cheap R/C gears with my plane still weaving in and out of the of the clouds. Why buy if new if the old still works?  Fortunately consumerism is good....for my benefit as well.  When my peers get new ones i get to buy their old models and equipment for less!! hehehe!

Here's real a scenario: Last year i manage to score good bargain buying a second hand mint  yet modern FPV goggle (SKYZONE SKY02) for half the price because the original owner decided to get new latest 'trendy' FPV goggle. Ironically the differences between both old and new FPV goggle only few minor resolution differences but both does the same job.  As for me the 1 year old SKY02  model was a great bargain and leap of technology over my 10 year old BOSCAM GS920 FPV goggle.  That why last year you'll notice on my Youtube video i'm now happily using the white colored SKYZONE SKY02 series FPV goggle for half the price with lots of useful features!!  Awesome!!  

Economic, regulation and environment factor (Score: 50%)

External factor suc as economic, regulation and environment can also affect ones decision to change how one enjoying R/C hobby activity and sometimes led to completely withdrawal.  Regulation factor; for example in the west the ambiguous regulation to license and register drone including R/C flying pilot can also have an effect how people enjoy flying hobby got everyone worried if they should stick to the hobby.  Restriction of importing high capacity Li-po battery to my country also directly impact modeler who owns high voltage/high powered electric planes too which contributes declines and delays obtaining 6s~8s Li-po packs.  Environment factor; restriction to fly on public spaces also have  major impact especially in dense populated country such as Singapore.  Economic factor;  recently between 2020 to 2021 many people have to sell off their hobby equipment just to keep up with ends meet due to Covid-19 pandemic lockdown and business/employment comes to a halt globally.

Here's real a scenario: Somewhere around year 2017~2018 our club airfield have been taken over by private company for further land development.  The take over have affected many local recreational activities that uses this abandoned airfield such as motorsports drag racing, para-gliding/para-sailing, recreational joggers, fishing activities and yours truly the Radio Control club activities. For the R/C flying clubs its was a struggle to find a new place to fly R/C models planes locally since much of the existing open land are private, premium, under development and sometimes are too short to take-off for scale jets bigger size planes models.  Because this club member started to disarray going their own ways to fly their models in smaller unofficial groups flying on public roads, parks, beaches, private lands, housing areas and even at construction site where its possible to take-off and land their models. Although possible they still have to face challenges trying to avoid hitting street lights, landing gears caught through bushes, landing on busy narrow roads, complaints from neighbors due to noisy fuel/gas powered engines, loud turbines/EDF and also some complains from private land owner.  At the end of the day the area will get 'publicly' crowded, unflyable and problem started to overwhelmed the our hobbyist especially those who own bigger scale R/C flying models that requires huge space to fly.  By 2019 more member started to give up hope and sell off bigger and fast R/C models that excel well only on bigger, long and fly runways such as fighter jets and combustion engine models. This is the reason why i manage to get hold heaps amounts of cheap huge size R/C jets from former R/C flying members; a few F-22 LIGHTNING, SUKHOI BERKUT SU-35, bunch of F-16 FALCON US and EU variants, F-117 NIGHTHAWK and many more!.......Ah yes! i paid half price! To my surprise a year later they stop manufacture these kit anf it has become a rare collectibles! Woohoooo!!  I'm not selling it! Hehehe!!   Fortunately for me i'm still able to enjoy some good quality R/C flying activities anytime anywhere unlike my former peers since most of my planes are 'Park flyer' size below 1100mm wingspans meaning the models is smaller enough to take off from any places in the public not to cause much trouble.  I'm glad i didn't invest on bigger 'man sized' R/C plane with loud engines or fast high voltages jets. Anyway for bigger planes in my hangar for now are good for house decors but i glad i was able to fly them handful amount of time before the flying venue been taken.

Summary

So there you go! All the above info are my spot on effective way how i accumulate collection of R/C models and hardwares throughout the years.  You don't need to have lots of money or big budgets if you know some shortcuts but definitely the best deals i had have been always on second hand or used R/C models and parts.

Unfortunately for 2018 and years beyond into the future R/C hobbyist will need to struggle hard as the price for models and related products keeps increasing over the years due to better manufacturing quality, improve living standards for factory workers, more establishing branding by manufacturer, advance innovation in electronics cost, intellectual property copyright royalty, social media trending causing over hyped prices and global financial factor.  That also applies to non R/C products like high tech devices such as smartphones, gaming devices, smart TVs and etc.  The economy going to swallow irrational consumer as whole if you don't watch your steps.  If you don't believe me you can use such as web tools 'Internet Archive: WAYBACK MACHINE (https://web.archive.org/) to check out every online R/C store and compare their pricing from early year of 2000 till this day and you'll notice huge significant pricing gap between years. Welcome to the future!!..dropped your jaw? 

I guess i was lucky to enjoy and spent on R/C products since the early 2000 when manufacturing from the east was cheaper, affordable and many R/C company startups put lower price for the consumer to enable them to penetrate the Radio Control hobby market. Between 2000 till 2016 was the best year to shop around and the models was always aesthetically looking good too.   Unfortunately after 2017 and beyond the prices screw us all up making harder for starter to join the hobby which is why many new young generation opt for cheaper shorter hobby which is going for digital gaming...ironically in long run going to be expensive too.  Which is why all of you R/C hobbyist who read this article above especially new comers should be smart with on how to spend on your models and get better deals through your own community circle through second hand trade with friends, bargain bins at shops, freebies at local R/C events, crash parts and be resources through handy work  to come out with R/C models of your own. So if you wanted to get into hobby without spending too much or wanted collect more models again remember this quote: "one mans trash is another man's treasure".