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Tough question at my age!


Pete J.

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Ok, Tamiya just released their new 2016 Acura NSX and I decided to get one.  For the last 20+ years when I buy a model, I frequently buy two.  I did this because I often would screw up something and so I liked to have an extra.  At my age, I am realizing that as much as I love that model now, it is going on the shelf  with the hundreds of other kits I have and will likely never be built.  I made a sad decision to only buy one.  This is a fork in the road I was hoping to never get to, but it is time to cut down the collection.  The only way to do that is to buy less than I get rid of.  Not a happy day! :(

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Hmmmm. I often buy two of the same kit, one for reference, and one to build or scavenge parts out of. Sometimes I'll have several of the same kit just to get a specific something-or-other, like the four Hilborn FI setups I needed from the old Revell Anglia /Thames kit to do my non-blown Challenger One.

It doesn't bother me in the slightest to know I have models I'll almost certainly never get built. I use my own stash as I would a full-scale junkyard out in the desert...most likely there's something there I can think of something interesting to do with, and there's almost certainly most of what I need in basic parts for anything I can imagine.

As long as I'm here and still enjoy building, I think it's unlikely that will change.  :D

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I have been trying to force myself lately to just finish a model.... I have a bad habit of loosing interest, after getting heavily involved in the build, and putting it aside, for lame reasons. Needs parts or paint(which I tend to rob from half finished kits), work on a simpler build for awhile(this one only needs paint, NO MODS on this kit), just got a new kit and I need to start buying stuff for it....Its horrible. Ill eventually finish one though. Just as soon as I get all the parts, paint and tools, while Im still interested in the kit. 

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Pete, you are nine years older than me.  The way I look at it, I'm building up my hoard for the day I can retire and devote more time and brain space to model building.  I'm not worried about the size of my collection.  Nor am I going to whittle it down to fit in some tiny retirement home.  I'm going to enjoy everything right up until the moment I fall off my perch. Then it's someone else's problem to get rid of it all!   

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Pete,

I guess I'm in the Dr Cranky camp with Styrene addiction..... been collecting since I was a kid (61 now) hadn't built one in 30 years but kept buying them. Started a Jungle Jim F.C build last Dec and am maybe 20% done.

I'm with Tom.....When I expire it will be someone else's problem.

Keep the faith......

Jimmy "RASS"

 

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I just posted the following response on another message board related to this very thing. I'll be 55 in October, and assuming that I live to my 80's (most of my older relatives lived to that age bracket), I'd still have a TON of models left over for someone else's taking. Model production could stop today, and I'd never finish all that I have. And that's assuming I have all my mental faculties intact, and not be blind along the way.

I buy models though not always for the grand intentions to build 'em, but for the fact that I happen to like that particular car/truck. I know that as far as the 1:1's I'll never own 'em, let alone have the room to put any of 'em 'cept maybe one more on top of what I own now! :D

You have to wonder though what kind of generation of folks will want we have? Let's face it-------30 years from now, most modelers (if this hobby survives that long) may not be interested in '69 Camaros, '32 Fords, or '57 Chevys. They may not be interested in the types of cars we know and love at all.

Time will certainly tell I guess.

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You have to wonder though what kind of generation of folks will want we have? Let's face it-------30 years from now, most modelers (if this hobby survives that long) may not be interested in '69 Camaros, '32 Fords, or '57 Chevys. They may not be interested in the types of cars we know and love at all.

Time will certainly tell I guess.

Well, there's still apparently a pretty good market for model RR stuff, even very high-end brass steam-era equipment...and wooden and cardstock "craftsman" RR kits that haven't been manufactured for decades. There's also interest in WW I and WW II aircraft kits...and there aren't a lot of pilots still around who flew the real ones...or have even seen them up close.

The guys building the really spectacular RC aircraft seem to be on the younger side too.

If the level of model-car stock in the physical stores around here is anything to go by (Hobby Town and Hobby Lobby), there's lots more stuff on the shelves than there was in the 1990s, and our local ACME show is huge compared to what it was then. I think we had something like 800 entries last year.

It can't ALL be boomers retiring who are driving the apparent sales.

But choo know...maybe it WOULD be a good idea to make provisions in the ol' will for the distribution of all the tools and kits and parts. It would be a shame to think of them getting tossed because somebody administering the estate (I have no family) didn't know anything about their 'value' to other enthusiasts.. 

Edited by Ace-Garageguy
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Pete, you are nine years older than me.  The way I look at it, I'm building up my hoard for the day I can retire and devote more time and brain space to model building.  I'm not worried about the size of my collection.  Nor am I going to whittle it down to fit in some tiny retirement home.  I'm going to enjoy everything right up until the moment I fall off my perch. Then it's someone else's problem to get rid of it all!   

Tom, that was my intention at your age as well.  Only thing is that I retired 3 years ago but find I am not modeling at a much faster pace than before.  I am just doing it in the way I wish I had time to do years ago.  Taking my time and building each one better than the last and that takes time. My stash is in the multiples of hundreds at this point.  Kind of scary when I realized that I truly was buying something I probably wasn't going to build.  It was barking my shins on that hurdle that made me think!

 

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Tom, that was my intention at your age as well.  Only thing is that I retired 3 years ago but find I am not modeling at a much faster pace than before.  I am just doing it in the way I wish I had time to do years ago.  Taking my time and building each one better than the last and that takes time. My stash is in the multiples of hundreds at this point.  Kind of scary when I realized that I truly was buying something I probably wasn't going to build.  It was barking my shins on that hurdle that made me think!

 

My retirement is keeping me quite busy to say the least, and for some reason I'm not building (finishing) nearly as many model kits as I had hope to during my retirement. Guess with all the other things that I'm doing, I'm not nearly as motivated as I'd hope that I would be.

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I have 100+ kits in my stash and just bought 70 kits.  Never going to quit building. 

You, however, might actually get them all built. Your production rate is probably the highest on the forum, yet no sign of taking shortcuts. We should all aspire to your level of accomplishment.

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My retirement is keeping me quite busy to say the least, and for some reason I'm not building (finishing) nearly as many model kits as I had hope to during my retirement. Guess with all the other things that I'm doing, I'm not nearly as motivated as I'd hope that I would be.

My problem as well.  The Honey Do list grew exponentially!

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  I'm going to enjoy everything right up until the moment I fall off my perch. Then it's someone else's problem to get rid of it all!   

Pete, i really like Tom answer. I have a small stash and a few multiples. It is fun sometimes to go through them and look at the box art. If collecting makes you as happy as building why worry or think about it. I am trying to build a few and cut the number back due to space. I am building but I enjoy looking at them still sealed also...

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I'm in a similar situation, tho not as bad. I went up to the rafters and did a quick count. Hmmm.....that's more than I thought. Worse yet, Mary, my wife, poked her head up there. I got busted. My kit buying has slowed dramatically. It took a little while to come to terms with that, but I'm OK.

I look at my kit stash and I like it. I'm looking forward to building them all, and at this point, that's not too unrealistic. I have relatively few duplicates, tho I do have some, and those are mostly intentional. If Rachael can slow down with the raffle wins, I'll be in good shape. 

Unfortunately, my build rate has slowed due to other priorities, but in the long run, that's not a bad thing either. At the end of our current project chain, I will have a new workshop. With a spray booth and air compressor. That will make building much easier.

I don't expect to be slacking, but I'm looking forward to retirement too.

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You, however, might actually get them all built. 

 

Pete, i really like Tom answer. I have a small stash and a few multiples. It is fun sometimes to go through them and look at the box art. If collecting makes you as happy as building why worry or think about it. I am trying to build a few and cut the number back due to space. I am building but I enjoy looking at them still sealed also...

Bingo!  Nobody ever said you were obligated to build them all!  There is a lot of pleasure in just owning models.  I know I can spend an afternoon down in the model vault just pulling a few out at a time and going through the contents.  I may not have a plan for them all, but they are there for the time I do find a cool photo I want to replicate, or get that million dollar idea! I like to have the kits in inventory for when that happens.  This is a hobby. There shouldn't be pressure to build them all or to build to a production schedule.  That's called work!

I do buy less than I did years ago, mainly because I nearly have everything I want.  It's okay to leave a show with a bag of kits, and it's also okay to leave empty handed if I just don't see anything. Still, if I see something I want, I don't hesitate to buy it.  Nor will I worry about any requirements to build it.

Edited by Tom Geiger
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