Are We Model Hoarders?

[Erik Smith]

Lot's of reasons here for amassing large quantities of unbuilt model kits. I have to say, it is nice to have kits to steal parts from - I am not afraid nor do I hesitate to rummage through all my kits and borrow parts or replace missing/lost pieces. I pitty the fool who gets my kits after I pass on and has to figure out why the heck some idiot went through EVERY single kit and removed one shock absorber or wheel!

I do have a plan for just about every kit - problem is remembering what that plan is years down the line.

Edited March 30, 2011 by Coyotehybrids

[Ben]

I consider each model box a "building block of happiness"! I'm pretty darned happy, I can tell you that!!!!!!!!

[RodneyBad]

I consider each model box a "building block of happiness"! I'm pretty darned happy, I can tell you that!!!!!!!!

Perfectly said.

[my80malibu]

I dont feel that I am a hoarder.I do feel! I am a man with not enough time to model the subjects I want to. If you asked my wife I am the worst hoarder on the planet.then I remind her of all those shoes that she has and only two feet to wear them on. I dont have stacks of clutter in my living room or places where you can hide a body.I want to prevent that at all cost.

[1320wayne]

Not a hoarder, a collector of unbuilt models hoping one day to be built. I think I'm like a lot of folks in that I have enough models to last me at least three lifetimes, considering the rate that I build them. I think I currently have somewhere between 400 and 500 models. I think that puts me somewhere in the middle of the road with most folks. My wife constantly asks why I have to but something new since I have so many to bebuilt already. My response is always the same. I've been waiting for this one to be released for so long now that I have to have it.

At least it's good to have a friend that doesn't live too far away that fits the hoarder category much better. He is single and owns a three bedroom house. He doesn't have to answer to anyone so that being said, he has models in just about every nook and cranny in the house. Even the pantry in the kitchen is about half food and half models. It's not an exxageration to say that he must have approximately 2 to 3,000 models, easily. And the amazing part is, is that he knows where everything is.

[Greg Pugh]

Ok, so here's my stance. I, at one time, had a collection of about 150 models. I had just gotten married, had bills, not enough time, yada yada. I put the collection on ebay and sold everything, and I mean everything (except for the few finished cars and the one half-started car I had) for pennies on the dollar. You don't even want to know!

Then, fast forward a couple of years. I decide to finish the one "in-progress" car I had. That of course sparks the fire again. This time I played it smart. Here's what I did:

I made a list. I listed the kits that I built as a kid that I would like to try as an adult. I listed the kits that I remembered being so cool and influential. I listed the "gotta-haves". So now, I have roughly 85 un-started kits on shelves in my closet, along with about a dozen or so misc cars, whether they are built-ups needing restoration I've picked up from ebay, or resin kits, or parts cars I haven't given up on yet. So other than some of the releases or re-releases that come out that I just gotta have, for the most part, I'm done (except for the 9 or so that are still on the list) .

As far as my finished builds as an adult, I've got 9. The first of those was completed 10 years ago last month. So in doing the math that you all do, I end up completing just less than 1 a year. So I'm 34 now, if I continue on this same path I will finish my last one when I'm approximately 134 years old. So, this "list" I figure, is a good way to go. I have no business buying any new kits not on the list!

[niteowl7710]

So, this "list" I figure, is a good way to go. I have no business buying any new kits not on the list!

I don't have a list of my old kits I built as a kid, but I do have a box of every instruction sheet of every kit I did up to and including my first solo glue ki..eerrr bomb I did when I was 10-11. Showing amazing forethought for my age I kept the instructions, which must have started a trend that I followed right up till I moved out of my parents house at 19 and the wheels fell off the model building train until last summer. There are sheets for things I don't even remember building, which demonstrates the care-free restraint we had as kids. Building so many models so fast you don't even remember doing them.

[Nick Notarangelo]

I got about 90 to 120 kits and thats just not to say there all car models either,I do a mix of things from cars to ships,armor,warhammer and wood ship models.

but my wife is like what Zuk said she has her hobbies and I hove mine and she thinks mine is pretty cool and she builds when she can.

[ChrisR]

I have 2,142 unbuilt models in my collection. My wife says I am a hoarder but I consider myself as a model builder and collector. Here is some of my models (there are five rows of shelves like this):

[ra7c7er]

At what point do you guys consider the change over point from builder to collector? I mean some of you guys build less than 1% of your collection a year. Wouldn't that classify you as a collector and not a builder? I would think if your not building on a reasonably consistent basis and buying 20x what you build your a collector. I have 29 kits in my build stash and another 54 in a trade pile and I still think that is to many. It's going to take me a couple years just to build the 29 I want to right now. Yes I add to my trade stash all the time but I also trade much of it away consistently. This weekend I am even getting more kits from a dealer at a local flea market who found a bunch of kits just for me.

Edited March 30, 2011 by ra7c7er

[Mark Brown]

Personally, I think what a lot of us have is not some hoarding complex, but plain old OCD (obsessive compulsive disorder). I think almost everyone has it to some degree - humans just like to collect stuff, to "feather their nests" with objects that make them feel comfortable. In our case, that happens to be model kits (and in my case, also includes music CDs - around 3000 of them - and books).

[scummy]

G,day, My names scumbag , i've got probably 2000 models unbuilt and about 200 built . I've got lots of bits and peices and magazines .

I'M A PLASTIC JUNKIE AND A HOARDER !!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

[Naydrus]

Me, too.

My acquisitions fall into three general categories:

1. I have (for years) bought the kits I missed decades ago when I had less ability to acquire them,

2. I buy virtually every new issue that even slightly interests me, because I don't want to miss them while they're available (see #1),

3. And, I buy everything I can get my hands on that fits into my preference niches.

I buy 'em because I can; because I remember when I couldn't.

I buy 'em because I again may not be able to sometime in the future and I don't want to run out of projects.

I buy 'em because these are the golden days of the hobby.

I buy 'em because I can't stand the thought of one of you guys having something I don't.

I buy 'em because I have a specific project in mind for each one of them.

I buy 'em because I figure I have to finish them all before I go 10-7 and that means the more I have for building, the more time I get. Right?

I buy 'em because it drives my wife and my kids nuts. (Not really, but it sounded funny.)

I buy 'em because it keeps me off the streets and out of bars and away from girlies of ill repute and stuff like that.

I buy 'em because it drives my wife and my kids nuts. (Not really, but it sounded funny.)

I buy 'em because it keeps me off the streets and out of bars and away from girlies of ill repute and stuff like that.

Absolutely hilarious. I buy my kits because Im anti social and cant stand people in real life.. therefore I find hobbies and other interests that do not require dealing with people face to face. Im a model builder and a avid gamer.. so its always a toss up of.. do I want to paint that engine block, or log into a shooting game and blow people up with a Javelin rocket?

[PatRedmond]

I'm at about 700 kits right now.

Yes, hoarder.

[ra7c7er]

I buy 'em because it drives my wife and my kids nuts. (Not really, but it sounded funny.)

I buy 'em because it keeps me off the streets and out of bars and away from girlies of ill repute and stuff like that.

Absolutely hilarious. I buy my kits because Im anti social and cant stand people in real life.. therefore I find hobbies and other interests that do not require dealing with people face to face. Im a model builder and a avid gamer.. so its always a toss up of.. do I want to paint that engine block, or log into a shooting game and blow people up with a Javelin rocket?

I'm the same way.

[bobss396]

My buying spree from 1997-2005 or so was spiked by maybe an irrational fear that some kits would not be available in the future. I did have a big selloff at one point to get down to 180 kits, now I'm up to 330 + once again. I do need to separate out the duplicates so I can get down to a core of 100 kits. In the hobby, constant kit-buying was called hoarding by many.

I do have a stash of parts that I've forgotten what I have and am wowed when I run across something cool that I haven't seen in a decade. My modeling area was on the brink of looking like something out of the TV show and I cleaned it up quite a bit and it can use another tidying soon.

Bob

[Jantrix]

Hmm.......I've seen a lot of pics over the years of folks with the massive collections. I find that quite excessive. More than you could build in a lifetime. That would drive me nuts. I can see the upside of having parts galore, but still that's too much. But to each his/her own. My uncle was/is a hoarder. When we cleaned out his place in Queens NY, his 950 sq ft (+ basement) row house was filled to the rafters with stuff. Since we live in FL, we really couldn't salvage much. We called a company that cleans up bad situations like that, and watched it all get thrown away, including a LOT of model kits. I was able to salvage a couple boxes of kits but sadly didn't get much. My uncle is now in a nursing home, where he still manages to hoard. Dad found a drawer full of the lil plastic cups they give him medication in. 600 of them.

His kits plus my own stash equal about 52 kits currently occupying shelf space in my hobby area. At the current rate of two a year, I figure I've got plenty to keep me busy. I have a plan. I have my kits in a prioritized list along with whatever ideas I have for the kit. This allows me to figure out what I'm going to need ahead of time and whether I'm going to need a donor kit, parts, supplies etc.

I'm pretty darn disciplined at the hobby shop. If I'm there for styrene tubing, that's all I leave with 95% of the time. I don't impulse buy, I don't buy because it might have parts I might need. That way lies madness. I buy about two kits a year, those that I am supremely interested in building, which means I'll probably have 52 kits for the forseeable future.

Those of you with the incredible 500+ kit stashes, more power to you and please remember me in your will.

Edited March 30, 2011 by Jantrix

[DRG]

As I look over the pictures that have been posted of the collections some of you have I can only say one thing I'm jealous.

No, not really. My Hobby room is about eight by ten. I don't have room for a collection like some of you have.

But, then it seems to me if a person has more models than two of the local Hobby Shops combined they are a hoarder, I meant collector.

[Nick Notarangelo]

My wife fully agree's with this artical from another forum I belong to at STARSHIPMODELER this is from the owners wife print it out and put this in your wifes or girlfreinds hands and she will agree with it.

http://starshipmodeler.com/perspective.htm

[Greg Pugh]

That was a neat article. I printed it for my wife to read.

[mrmike]

I have been reading all of the replies to this since I first posted this thread yesterday. I have laughed, felt sad for those who have had to deal with this problem, but for the most part enjoyed reading the responses. I have sympathised with those afflicted, and it got me to thinking about this for a bit.

I do believe that most people here are not hoarders. I do question those who have several thousand kits stashed in closets, basements, attics, storage sheds, garages, and storage lockers away from their homes. They may have only the vaguest idea of what they have stashed away in those areas. And, what are they going to do with them? I doubt that any of those kits would ever get built...or see the light of day.

IMHO, a hoarder is not just the person with junk piled high to the ceilings of their homes, but one who also has excessive quantities of whatever they happen to like. Sure, they have the intention of building that kit when they bought it, but it gets put away especially when that person goes out and buys more and then even more later. It just compounds itself over time. It seems easy just to say that they are a collector when their "collection" is out of control. If you don't have a place to display your collection, is it really a collection?

Hoarding is an addiction. It needs to be treated by a professional who has the knowledge and understanding of this affliction. The person with that addiction needs to realize that they need and want help, otherwise going through their stuff and disposing of it is a waste of time since the hoarder will just go back to satisfy their addiction all over again. I hope I haven't become "preachy" and I will get off my soapbox now and hopefully more of you will post your opinions and stories.

[Scott Colmer]

I really like this thread. We are not alone.

I think I have more than 600 models. It has been a while since I counted. My intention is to build everyone I get, or at least use it to build something else. It takes me 6 months to two years to finish a model. There may be a problem there, but I am still working on that one. They are all on shelves, so I am not a hoarder.

I really do enjoy just looking at the boxes and the pieces inside. I'll grab some kits from the garage and pile through them while drag racing or somthing else is on TV. (Only recently have I found things I forgot I had.) My wife loves to tease me about that habit, but it is all in fun. She supports what I do because she sees the joy it gives me.

On another note, if you ever lived in Nothern CA you might have had the honor to go to Bill Harrison's house. He lived alone and his house was filled from one end to the other with models, including some very interesting built pieces in display cases. I only went there once (before he sadly passed away), but If I remember right, he did have something from Winfield.

Scott

[Kaleb]

I may have 20-25 plastic kits a lot of die-cast. My main collection is 1:64 mustangs from HW JL barret jackson etc and I prob have around 200 by now ranging from a little smaller than 64th to 1:18th. I'm a collector.

[Dave Ambrose]

I think the right term here is "aspirational clutter". For the most part, we all intend to build all the kits we buy. Some people do that with books too. It makes them look smart. Models, not so much.

But, it's important to make the distinction with hoarding.

Here's a question for everyone: How would you feel if your model kit collection caught fire and burned?

[highway]

At what point do you guys consider the change over point from builder to collector? I mean some of you guys build less than 1% of your collection a year. Wouldn't that classify you as a collector and not a builder? I would think if your not building on a reasonably consistent basis and buying 20x what you build your a collector. I have 29 kits in my build stash and another 54 in a trade pile and I still think that is to many. It's going to take me a couple years just to build the 29 I want to right now. Yes I add to my trade stash all the time but I also trade much of it away consistently. This weekend I am even getting more kits from a dealer at a local flea market who found a bunch of kits just for me.

Honestly, at least for me Robert, I will never concider myself a collector of model kits. I, as I mentioned before, have over 450 kits in all stages of construction from nearly finished to not even opened inside, but I feel the one thing that separates me from a collector is the fact I open almost everything! If you find one box in my stash that still is factory sealed, it wouldn't stay that way for long! Actually, right now I only have about maybe a dozen kits that are still factory sealed, and the main reason for all of them is to keep my thieving fingers off the parts so I can someday actually build the kit the way it was meant to be and not steal parts from it.

I also have to admit, even the stuff I have as collectors pieces don't spend their lifes in the boxes. Yes, I do keep the boxes for the possible future value, but I have almost everything out on display. A case in point, my Dale Earnhardt collection on the top of my entertainment center.

The only piece in my collection that doesn't get displayed is my autographed Tony Stewart car, it only came out of the box for this pic!