Hanging it up (for now)

[Ahajmano]

Hi guys! 
 

so I’m reluctantly going to stop building models for now :( I have young children and am very luck to still be employed. With them no longer being in school, I have to split my days and weekends between work and helping them with their school assignments. It’s just impractical to work on models at this time. Even my main hobby working on my 71’ 240z (1:1) is going to suffer (@240z_restomod on IG). 
 

I have some models up on eBay, and will likely post more. thanks for all your help over the years, and Hopefully I will see you all when this is over! 

[espo]

Hang in there. Take care of your family and hopefully in the near future things will improve  to the point that you will be able to get back to modeling and finish your 240Z project. We all have had to step back at times in our lives. Just remember the old saying "What doesn't kill you will make you better". I hope you get better soon. 

[stitchdup]

We all have priorities and getting your kids educated is an important one. Much respect mate

[Greg Myers]

If you have room to store what you have, think about just packing your modeling away.

 I think many here have left the hobby at one time or another only to return later and regret not having saved anything.

[Ahajmano]

Thanks for all the kind words! Yeah it’s nearly impossible to work and provide them child care (5 and 7) simultaneously, so I have been catching up on work when they go to sleep in the evening. That’s my usual modeling time. I’m certain there are some of you who have experienced similar situations in the past. Everything in life is temporary, and this is no exception. 
 

I’m mostly selling my 1/12 scale for the space, and the 1/24 scale that are not too far out of production. Il be keeping my rare gems (all Tamiya) since they seem to be gaining in value anyways. 

[tbill]

I vote for keep it all, just tuck it away. There is more to this hobby than actually building, sometimes just taking a minute to yourself to riffle thru a kit box, or sneak a peak at your stash keeps the pilot light lit. I normally don’t build from April to early October , but I check in here often to see what’s going on, and wander in my build room on occasion just to look around and ponder what I’ll build in the winter when I have the time to build.  
 

as Red Green says, hang in there , we’re all in this together .

[Ahajmano]

Red green! Oh boy that takes me back. I grew up in Toronto before moving to California.  

 

cheers 

[Jantrix]

I know what you're going through. I entered the service, got married and had kids. In the 10 years in the service and the following 8 years trying to get secure professionally, I probably built three models. I'm proud of you for realizing that something has to take a back seat and the hobby should be it. I'm with Tom though, keep all you can of your collection if you have the space to do so, and the need for cash isn't dire. It is something yoy will appreciate in the years to come.

Edited August 19, 2020 by Jantrix

[Daddyfink]

I understand part of your predicament, I don't have children, but I do have a '72 510 I need to finish before I get back into some serious building. Just can't do both at the same time without feeling guilty of ignoring one or the other. And if I had young ones, I would back burner my hobbies as well. 

There will be time before you know it and you will enjoy it more with no regrets! 

Enjoy your family! 

[slusher]

I totally understand and there is only so much free time and with kids even less. Take care of your family..

[Dave Ambrose]

Maybe you can involve the older one. I once built a Tamiya Ferrari kit with my daughter. I did the assembly and painted the body. She did most of the detail painting. It wasn't contest quality, but she did a very good job, and it was a fun build for us.

[Tom Geiger]

When my girls were young we built a few models. I still have them in my display case. Evidence of time well spent!

[Ahajmano]

Thanks everyone for your support! It would be tough to build the models with my kids at the moment. They literally fight about everything, so it would be difficult to evenly split a model build. In a few years, I think they will behave more logically HAHAHA. 

I'm spending most of my time with them making sure they did their school work, so even free time with the kids is limited. Well, enough with whining.... Life is good!

My collection is at least 150 kits, so i could loose a few of the "in production" kits at least. literally will not build all these kits in a lifetime. I averaged one a month, even when I was 100% dedicated to the hobby. I suppose I get a little obsessive LOL

[espo]

1 hour ago, Ahajmano said:

Thanks everyone for your support! It would be tough to build the models with my kids at the moment. They literally fight about everything, so it would be difficult to evenly split a model build. In a few years, I think they will behave more logically HAHAHA. 

I'm spending most of my time with them making sure they did their school work, so even free time with the kids is limited. Well, enough with whining.... Life is good!

My collection is at least 150 kits, so i could loose a few of the "in production" kits at least. literally will not build all these kits in a lifetime. I averaged one a month, even when I was 100% dedicated to the hobby. I suppose I get a little obsessive LOL

Just remember you'll be lucky to get what you paid for these kits when you bought them, unless you have something that hasn't already been reissued, and you'll pay far more in the future when you go to replace them at some future date. If you have enough storage space somewhere just box them up and tuck them away for when the cookie crumbler's have gotten a little older.    

[Tom Geiger]

2 hours ago, espo said:

Just remember you'll be lucky to get what you paid for these kits when you bought them,

A while back I thought about slimming down and saw that many of the kits I was willing to shed, were the same ones guys were selling for $5 and $10 each at club meetings and local shows. They are worth more than that for parts to me, so I’m hanging on!

As an adult I started back in the hobby with about two dozen kits. A dozen from my youth that I wisely hung onto and another dozen I had bought the next 15 years just because.  It’s good to keep your future options open!

[PappyD340]

With the current state of affairs things have certainly gotten tough for everyone, I understand family comes first and I would do the same thing if I had small kids which I don't I have grand kids in middle school and my hat is off to you for being able to help them with their school work some of the nonsense they teach now is Greek to me, lol. I took several years off from the hobby but I kept all my acquired kits and tools so when I returned to it I really didn't miss a beat so I would suggest to you to hang on to some of your stuff because they won't be in school forever and starting over from scratch could be rather expensive. Good luck to ya.  

[stavanzer]

Ahajmano, I hear you. I'm doing something similar, although for completely different reasons. 

I have between 800-1000 kits. Just listing and shipping them is a huge job. It is also going to take much longer than I had anticipated. About 75 kits close each Sunday. This is going to take some time. If I could get down to JUST 150 kits, I'd be in great shape.

I wish you luck. As the others have said, Just keep them and pack them away. The kids grow up so fast, (my youngest is 25 now), and you need to give them the time. The plastic will be there for you when the kids grow up.

 

Edited September 4, 2020 by alexis

[Rocking Rodney Rat]

Hang in there. I can only imagine how tough it its during these trying times when you have young ones. Take care of your family. I hope you can get back to your hobbies (what keep me sane) sooner than later.

-RRR