I've been a Platinum Member with Tower Hobbies for eight consecutive years now. That means I gave them at least $3,000 each year for the past eight years. Add to that, the 20 years prior when I was just a Gold Member. I'm also a Platinum Member at Hobby King. I also buy engines and many other R/C related items from other companies and hobby stores. They send me Christmas cards every year to thank me for the business/money I give them!

Then, I buy a few plane kits and BVM jets each year. That goes well into the thousands too. I never crash any, so my hangar is over-crowded. I hope I live long enough to fly them all!

I managed to sell two planes this past year, but sold them for 25% of my cost. I don't even want to think about the 100's of hours I put into building each of them. So there's more of a loss/expense.

I also buy thousands of dollars worth of R/C equipment through the RCU classifides each year. I go to the field twice a week on average. With that in mind, I burn up two gallons of nitro fuel (at $18 a gallon), and a few gallons of gas each week. I'm sure I'm forgetting other expenses, but that's enough for now.

Just starting to add all this up is getting me sick.

Now, I pretty much have all the planes and jets I will need for the rest of my life, unless I find a deal that is too good to pass up (which I usually find). So, lets add another $4,000 to this financial tragedy. If I'm lucky enough to live long enough, I can cost-average this hobby down to about a mere $5,000 a year (plus fuel). Otherwise, if I die in the next 5 years, this will really become an expensive hobby, and I'll be one really pissed off corpse.

Now, what were you saying about this hobby not being expensive?