Paul Payne Posted March 13, 2021 Posted March 13, 2021 We have all seen amazing ultra-detailed painstakingly researched models which often take years to complete. My question is: how many completed models do these builders have in their collections? Is it only the one? Do they also build several shelf models in the course of a year? This is sheer idle curiosity on my part, but I would love to hear other members comments!
Ace-Garageguy Posted March 13, 2021 Posted March 13, 2021 I don't know about anyone else, but I only have two that are close enough to call "finished"...and the Challenger is still only a curbside at this point.
Venom Posted March 13, 2021 Posted March 13, 2021 And then there’s the question of HOW detailed. This one is all scratch built consisting of thousands of pieces, and weighs over ten pounds in 1/8 scale. Note the price!
vamach1 Posted March 13, 2021 Posted March 13, 2021 (edited) I’ve seen Gramps “collection” and it is as impressive as it looks in the picture. I have roughly 100 built kits from anywhere from 1/87 to 1/16 scale and probably a couple hundred diecast cars of various scales (not counting the embarrassing number of 1/64 ones). As some of you may know ALL of the built models are either a Mustang, Pantera, Cobra or Ford GT/GT40 variants. The diecasts and built models are displayed together but are in bookcases and display cases so it’s hard to take pictures of them all. Gary has maximized the shelf space is those cabinets and keeping his collection to mainly 1/24 and 1/25 helps. I think twice about buying any more 1/18 diecast models as they are take up a lot of space. As for how many a year, I recently retired and was hoping to build more than I have been finishing over the last decade but I have been trying to organize years of accumulated stuff to spend less time looking for reference material and spend more building interesting subject matter and rare kits you do not see built very often. Edited March 13, 2021 by vamach1
vamach1 Posted March 13, 2021 Posted March 13, 2021 On 3/13/2021 at 7:31 PM, Venom said: And then there’s the question of HOW detailed. This one is all scratch built consisting of thousands of pieces, and weighs over ten pounds in 1/8 scale. Note the price! Expand I could find room for that but I think my bank account would not agree. ?
thomascoffey1959@gmail.com Posted March 13, 2021 Posted March 13, 2021 I've got 178 on the shelf at this point ,and a few more scattered around different hobby shops around western NY. Ten at Adam Miller toys in Batavia NY.
mikemodeler Posted March 13, 2021 Posted March 13, 2021 The number in the stash versus the number in display cases is probably 10:1. If I could focus for a solid weekend I could almost double my completed build count as I have at least 20 WIPs that are thisclose to being done!
Paul Payne Posted March 13, 2021 Author Posted March 13, 2021 I realized a while ago that if I didn't turn each build into a major project I might actually get more done-of course right now I am in the middle of an involved project and 2 box stock (except for paint and engine detailing) are sitting there looking forlorn and neglected. I have a few diecasts- maybe 6- and a few models in 1/32nd or 1/43rd scale because of the subject matter. Everything else is 1/25th or 1/24th. Haven't counted the collection or the stash.
Little Timmy Posted March 14, 2021 Posted March 14, 2021 I have been building models since I was 5 years old. (1971) My first 30, or 40 kits were not good, to say the least. By the time I was 10 I had figured it out and had around 150 sitting on my shelves. By the time I was in high school, I figure I had built around 500. But then I discovered something. People would actually PAY me to build stuff. From 1985 to 2010 I had built around 2000. These were the high detail kits you speak of. I now only build for myself ( customers suck.) And only truly detail about half the kits that now cross my bench. I have slowed down a bit and in the last 20 years have maybe completed 150 ??? So, overall, I have built approximately 2550 models.
THarrison351 Posted March 14, 2021 Posted March 14, 2021 On 3/14/2021 at 1:35 AM, Little Timmy said: I have been building models since I was 5 years old. (1971) My first 30, or 40 kits were not good, to say the least. By the time I was 10 I had figured it out and had around 150 sitting on my shelves. By the time I was in high school, I figure I had built around 500. But then I discovered something. People would actually PAY me to build stuff. From 1985 to 2010 I had built around 2000. These were the high detail kits you speak of. I now only build for myself ( customers suck.) And only truly detail about half the kits that now cross my bench. I have slowed down a bit and in the last 20 years have maybe completed 150 ??? So, overall, I have built approximately 2550 models. Expand Impressed I am! You have been quite the busy beaver! I've been building for the same amount of time, but not nearly as productive. I never had the funds or the talent to build in great amount until I was in my late forties. Then I didn't have the space, but I did collect. Now I have the space the money, a little talent but no time. I've got about 100 plus built and about 250 to build.
lordairgtar Posted March 14, 2021 Posted March 14, 2021 I have to say about 40 or so. I do have enough unbuilts to stock a small hobby shop though.
wrenchr Posted March 14, 2021 Posted March 14, 2021 On 3/13/2021 at 9:30 PM, mikemodeler said: The number in the stash versus the number in display cases is probably 10:1. If I could focus for a solid weekend I could almost double my completed build count as I have at least 20 WIPs that are thisclose to being done! Expand Not that many but I could easily add 10 builds quick if I put my mind to it.
StevenGuthmiller Posted March 14, 2021 Posted March 14, 2021 Since I returned to the hobby somewhere around ten years ago, I've built somewhere in the neighborhood of 50 models, but the real genesis of what I'm doing today probably began about 8 years ago. Since then I have restored about 40 vintage annual kits that I currently prominently display. The other 10 modern builds are in a box somewhere. In that 8 years, my production has slowed from building one simplified or curbside model every month or two, to one much more detailed project about every six months. Steve
Tom Geiger Posted March 14, 2021 Posted March 14, 2021 Just going by my Fotki albums, count around 60 finished models. There are also around 40 albums of work in progress.. aka “The Shelf of Doom”. I have been working towards finishing some of these, but there are vehicles there that never will be completed. I also have “The Olde Kustom Kollection” of significant old customs from the early days of modeling. I just put 30 of these into their own showcase, but there are many more.. probably double, so put this collection at 60 pieces. I also have better than 100 more displayable old built ups of old kits that may get complete build ups someday, but are cool in their own right so no sense in storing them away. I just invested $300 in new glass shelves for two of my three display cases to double their capacities. My third case has wood shelves and I’ll eventually do the same to it.
Snake45 Posted March 14, 2021 Posted March 14, 2021 I honestly don't know how many built model cars I have. One slow day at work around 2015, I tried to list from memory all I'd ever built up to that time, and it was somewhere in the neighborhood of 100. I think I'd lost somewhere between one and two dozen of them along the way, but still had the rest, and still do. This was before I got into "rescues" and restorations of models built by others, and I didn't count any of my (then few) diecasts. Since then, I've been keeping detailed records. In 2016, I listed 17 completed "projects," and another 17 in 2017. In 2018 I completed 42, 40 in 2019, and 40 more in 2020. By "completed projects," I count new builds (and ones finished that were started years before), restorations and "rescues," and Snake-Fu'ed diecasts. I've rescued or restored 10 of my old builds, and 50 of other builders' (toy show or eBay purchases). Last time I counted my diecasts I have around 130, most of which have been Snake-Fu'ed and therefore "complete"--call it about 100. Nearly all my models are boxed up as I don't have room to display them all (or so says The Lovely Mrs. Snake). So I'd guess if for some reason I HAD to lay all my "finished" model cars out--new builds, rescues, and diecasts--it would be somewhere between 200 and 300. So far this year I've only finished two, both rescues, and I hope to have another one done this week.
vincen47 Posted March 14, 2021 Posted March 14, 2021 I’m on the lower end compared to most, but I haven’t been at this, at least seriously, for very long (joined this forum in 2013 - the best hobby-related decision I’ve made). Built on display? 10 Current WIP on the workbench? 2 Kits the stash/upcoming projects? 47 Not a bad ratio of built to unbuilt, I suppose, but the number of “Armchair Hobby” hours spent researching and dreaming about building is in the thousands. I have made a lot of progress in the past couple years, having completed 4 builds in that time.
Bucky Posted March 15, 2021 Posted March 15, 2021 I've built around 175 1/24 and 1/25 models since about 1984. All my models done previous to that year were lost, including my very first ones from around 1963. Maybe 150 in that lot.
Painted Black Posted March 15, 2021 Posted March 15, 2021 I have not counted lately, but in the ballpark of 150 with the oldest being built in 1986. None finished yet for 2021.
wrenchr Posted March 15, 2021 Posted March 15, 2021 I forgot... I lost quite a few cool projects and builds in a house fire years ago. The biggest 2 things other than losing your home for me was my AMT 49 merc I was building for my Dad, he passed away a year before that. That was in his and my Moms room. Monogram 59 caddy wheels with American satco white walls. reduced to a blob. In my room it was very strange I had finished and projects on a shelf and 1 would be melted and the next would be fine. Everything in cases was ok, fire never made it to my room just the heat. I was so dejected I threw about 90% of my kits in the trash. That was about 23 years ago now.............. I still have the 62 impala I started to restore he really liked as well. got to get that done.
DrKerry Posted March 15, 2021 Posted March 15, 2021 On 3/13/2021 at 6:42 PM, Gramps46 said: 182 Built Models - all 1/25 or 1/24 Expand WOW, nice collection Gramps!!!!
DrKerry Posted March 15, 2021 Posted March 15, 2021 I have right around 250 built, good portion are boxed up as I don't have room to display them all at once. As I build the newer ones go in the display cases and I take older ones and box them up.. It is nice, like Christmas morning when I go through the boxes!!! LOL
bogger44 Posted March 15, 2021 Posted March 15, 2021 Pretty cool topic and interesting reading about everyone's totals. I've got 95 currently under glass and another 10 or so older not so great builds from my teens packed away. Then there's the 25 or so really old bombs that are long gone. Guess that makes a total of around 130.
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