Is this too many models

[New #11]

I like to buy them and look at them.  It makes me happy!

 

 

[slusher]

Investment??? You'll be lucky if you get 75 cents on a dollar on most kits. And I do mean lucky, as I've been "thinnin' the herd" for the last two years. Sure if you have some late 50's & early 60's kits as well as JoHan kits they are a good investment, but a lot of what we buy are kits that have been issued or re-issued in the last 10 years or so, and everybody already has those.

Nick, some builders prefer older  issued kits if not priced outrageous. It also depends on what you give for something is to what it might bring if you never build it. If i had the room i would have a stash twice the size as what i do now. I enjoy looking at what i have not built yet. There are better things to invest in but if you enjoy collecting nothing wrong with that either..

[Erik Smith]

They can be investments, just not good ones.

I have purchased a couple large collections of models from hoarders - the families/friends didn't know what to do with the models, so sold them as a lot for about $2 per kit. I sold them individually - it takes a lot of time and patience - weekends - BUILDING DAYS! Some of the kits sold for a lot of money, but the collections were from the 60s-80s - thousands of dollars that could have been invested or used for a trip or ? But instead, those thousands of dollars sat in boxes on shelves for 50 years...I didn't make a lot of money, and I paid A LOT less than the original purchaser ($2.00 in 2015 vs .50 in 1962 - or almost $4.00 in todays dollars).

 

There is a quote "We buy books because we think we are buying time to read them" - applies to models too...

 

[disabled modeler]

Nick, some builders prefer older  issued kits if not priced outrageous. It also depends on what you give for something is to what it might bring if you never build it. If i had the room i would have a stash twice the size as what i do now. I enjoy looking at what i have not built yet. There are better things to invest in but if you enjoy collecting nothing wrong with that either..

I like the older kits myself...metal axles,screw chassis,curbside,some snaps,etc....its never bothered me I like them due to what there of and with my old hands and eyes they are easy and a joy to build just as much as the full detailed kits...they all can be built into great looking models.  I build them and they sit in a display case so it does not matter. I think I actually prefer the older ones most...many had optional building versions,etc. that newer ones normally do not have in them...I am happy with the older ones.  I have no where near the collections others have here but happy to have what i do.

[Deathgoblin]

I did have a huge amount of boxes like some of the ones shown.  Unfortunately the place I moved out of had roaches really bad, and in order to make sure we left them behind, all of those boxed kits got transferred to large freezer bags and the boxes were trashed.  I've gotten a few more boxed ones since we moved, but most of my kits are in bags and stored in plastic bins.

[disabled modeler]

I did have a huge amount of boxes like some of the ones shown.  Unfortunately the place I moved out of had roaches really bad, and in order to make sure we left them behind, all of those boxed kits got transferred to large freezer bags and the boxes were trashed.  I've gotten a few more boxed ones since we moved, but most of my kits are in bags and stored in plastic bins.

When we had a tornado here and the room lost a couple of windows I had to toss out some old kit boxes to ones I have and some I saved because I liked the box art was a bummer. Decals,boxes and instructions had to be tossed they just got too wet...I like having them in their box and for the artwork plus they and the instructions are good for reference. 

[Daddyfink]

My biggest problem lately has been silverfish, those little bastards chew everything! 

[slusher]

My biggest problem lately has been silverfish, those little bastards chew everything! 

Real nice kits Jesse. What can you do to get rid of silverfish?

[Daddyfink]

Real nice kits Jesse. What can you do to get rid of silverfish?

Thank you! 

Well, one is to use Irish Spring soap slivers and spread them around, makes it smell nice! Another is to use cedar chips, also smells nice, but hard to find around here for some reason, and then we have Moth Balls, and those smell way too funky! I could also get a pest control company to come in and gas them. 

Humidity is the issue and with all the rain we are getting, these things are probably going to explode. 

Edited January 8, 2016 by Daddyfink

[disabled modeler]

WOW...Nice stuff Jesse...!  Seen some in there that I had as a kid...cool stuff.

[High octane]

Thank you! 

Well, one is to use Irish Spring soap slivers and spread them around, makes it smell nice! Another is to use cedar chips, also smells nice, but hard to find around here for some reason, and then we have Moth Balls, and those smell way too funky! I could also get a pest control company to come in and gas them. 

Humidity is the issue and with all the rain we are getting, these things are probably going to explode. 

How 'bout dryer sheets, would they work, or no?

[Petetrucker07]

Hello, I'm Clayton and I'm a kit hoarder. LOL

 

Here's my stash in July of 2014. It is at least 4x more than the pic. Since I build mainly trucks, my truck stash is significantly larger, a couple cases of quite a few kits.

Edited January 8, 2016 by Petetrucker07

[oter11]

looks like i still can buy more modelkits

 

[Scott Colmer]

Those are some nice collections. I think the difference between hoarders and collectors is shelving. : )

Unfortunately most of mine had to be packed into boxes. When they were in a storage shed a rat made a nest in one of then boxes. Luckily it was mostly old plaques.

At my last house I had a termite attack. They had a real taste for decals. How they found the one Mercedes kit that I bought just for the decals, I'll never know,

Hosted on Fotki

Edited January 8, 2016 by Scott Colmer

[Daddyfink]

How 'bout dryer sheets, would they work, or no?

Don't know, but I can get a couple of boxes at the .99 Cent store and give it a try. Thanks for the idea! 

[tbill]

every time i start to think maybe i have too many kits, someone starts one of these topics and i end up feeling better about my hoard

 

 

and there is a bunch you can't see.

[charlie8575]

I just did a mental count. About 200-250, counting some glue-bombs to rebuild.

And a lot of them are in-progress, just need that last little push to do it.

Not as bad as I feared.

Charlie Larkin

[Mike999]

They can be investments, just not good ones.

I have purchased a couple large collections of models from hoarders - the families/friends didn't know what to do with the models, so sold them as a lot for about $2 per kit. I sold them individually - it takes a lot of time and patience - weekends - BUILDING DAYS! Some of the kits sold for a lot of money, but the collections were from the 60s-80s - thousands of dollars that could have been invested or used for a trip or ? But instead, those thousands of dollars sat in boxes on shelves for 50 years...I didn't make a lot of money, and I paid A LOT less than the original purchaser ($2.00 in 2015 vs .50 in 1962 - or almost $4.00 in todays dollars).

 

There is a quote "We buy books because we think we are buying time to read them" - applies to models too...

 

Good quote!  At a recent flea market, I ran into a guy with a few old model kits on his table.  Told me he had recently bought a stash of over 1,000 kits and die-casts from a new widow.  He paid her $1.00 each for them - but they were nearly all NASCAR stuff.  Said he was having a really hard time getting rid of those and "nobody wanted them," even with very low starting bids on eBay.

And how stash-crazy am I?  Too crazy. A wall full of 1/25 kits on shelves. Plus half a shelf of resin 1/25. Then there's the motorcycles, from 1/16 up to 1/8.  And the aircraft. And the wall of 1/35 plastic and resin armor.  And the figures. And...

Oh well.  As other people have said, I like to look at them.  On these cold winter nights, I'll often drag a kit out of the basement and fondle the sprues, cackling greedily like old Scrooge McDuck....

 

 

[spencer1984]

I probably have "too many kits," but a few years ago I made a deal with myself: don't buy a kit unless I have a specific plan about how to build it, and purge everything else.  So while my backlog still looks ridiculous, I can go to the shelf at any moment and know what I'm going to do with any particular kit.  Not only has it slowed my buying, I no longer sit in front of a newly-opened kit and vapor lock at all the possibilities.

[Tom99]

I have, at last count, 557, 1/25 scale models on display. I don't know how many unbuilt kits I have.

You can never have to many models.

My wife bought me three new kits for Christmas.

Edited January 9, 2016 by Tom99

[Daddyfink]

Jesse-

  The mutual friend that you talk of(yes he is real)  had models every where.  All the cabinets in the kitchen.  Heck he even had an oven full of them.  The fire department told him he had to do something when they came on an emergency and couldn't him out.  I loved him as a modeler, but he was a model hoarder extraordinaire, not to mention a craftsman.  We will just leave the name out of this out of respect.

Pete, 

Yes indeed, he was quite the "Hoarder" who had one heck of a "Collection" 

 

[redneckrigger]

I wish I could make a copy of some old photos I have of what my stash USED to be and post it here. At one time, I had about 4500 or so, all unbuilt, cars and trucks. Looking at those old photos makes my eyes sweat. I sold off a small batch of the most desirable to Hobby Heaven, which paid for most of a 50 x 55 addition to what was then my body shop. I now have about 300 kits left, after a large eBay purge when I moved ten years ago. I was the town fire chief when I had the large number of kits. I was more worried about a fire and the effect that the kits would have than I was about all of the ammunition I had stashed as well. I STILL have way more than I have any sane expectation of ever getting built, and am adding more to the stash than I am building. But, that is part of the disease, isn't it?

Edited January 18, 2016 by redneckrigger

[oldnslow]

yes, it's an addiction, when it out grew our den I built a garage (24' x 40' 2 story) to have a place to store and build, now the upstairs is full (model cars and train layout) and I have about 60 packing boxes down stairs. I stopped counting when it went over 5000, that was several years ago. It's probably time to start thinking about down sizing (I turned 65 last year) but hey, we all think we'll have time to build them all. 

[Junkman]

I MUST buy more models! Because I hardly have any.

[disabled modeler]

I MUST buy more models! Because I hardly have any.

Christian....OMG..!...You have several that are on my bucket list there....NICE collection...!