When your wife opens the closet and tells you that you have problems

[Pierre Rivard]

I have 27 in the stash. My wife has at least 50 pairs of shoes and still buying...

I'm safe!

[johnyrotten]

47 minutes ago, Pierre Rivard said:

I have 27 in the stash. My wife has at least 50 pairs of shoes and still buying...

I'm safe!

Not that my wife has an issue with my models, but the shoe count gives me good ammo should the topic pop up. 👍

[iamsuperdan]

2 hours ago, NOBLNG said:

You’re only a short drive from Winnipeg….I’ll come and pick ‘em up.🤪

Will trade for cash!

And could meet you in Saskatoon. Save you some driving.

Would save me having to deal with Kijiji or Marketplace. 🤢

[alan barton]

Rule Number One - See it, buy it!  It won't be there when you come back for it later.

You can't dream about or plan a build unless you have that kit in your stash.  It is a pointless exercise. So make sure you have the kits you dream about building.

Fortunately my wife is extremely supportive.  She is also a prolific patchwork quilter so her  stash is up there as well.  The same rules apply.

  I am sitting on about 350 right now but have built about 120 since I retired three and a half years ago so I'm pretty happy with that output.  My biggest problem is building models from parts instead of complete kits.  You end up with one more model on the shelf but the same amount of boxes in the stash!  I build mainly hot rods, dragsters and speedway cars and often they are built entirely from the parts boxes except for maybe a body ( which might have been a spare anyway!) Resin and 3D printing dont help matters at all.  It's a terrible problem to have.

My biggest saviour is that the model companies have all but stopped doing new releases of the cars that I love so I can just keep working on the stash.  Probably bought eight this year - that's a quiet year!

Cheers

Alan

[magicmustang]

20 hours ago, johnyrotten said:

I call those individuals "meat crayons".

My nurse daughter-in-law who works in ER says they call them organ donors

[Bainford]

My ex-wife had no complaint about my growing stash. Quite supportive, actually. In fact, she was able to use it to her advantage. I never hid new purchases or the amount I spent on them, but she was quietly keeping track of it all because she had a plan. She secretly decided that for every cent I spent on kits, she spent two on whatever she wanted. If I spent $20 on a kit, very soon a new silly $40 knick knack would show up in the house and immediately begin it's life's calling of collecting dust.

I occasionally found it curious, when standing in the hobby shop clutching a kit and deciding whether I need it, she would always say, "You should get that". And here I thought she was just being supportive, the dear.

This went beyond models. It extended to my 1:1 '69 Mustang out in the garage, too. The year I restored the interior, her gardens had never looked so good.

[magicmustang]

Been building and collecting for over 50 years. Have over 300 kits in my stash and over 200 built in the display cases.

My wife is very supported as she is president of her sewing club, so we have separate hobby rooms and bank accounts.

When one of her club members passes on, I have to help her, and her club members load up the deceased person sewing stash (sometimes hundreds of yards of fabric), take it is storage and then they have a club sale at the local Farmers market. 

Yep, I'm safe.

[johnyrotten]

36 minutes ago, magicmustang said:

My nurse daughter-in-law who works in ER says they call them organ donors

I ride, not a lunatic or a squid, I've heard all manor of nicknames.

[Bugatti Fan]

Huge Stashes.   What would you do with them ?   Or rather what would who.might be left after you do with them ?

Without wishing to sound morbid,   It  would seem that creating ever increasing stashes as we get older is defying the laws of nature as there seems to be an assumption of immortality if the intention is to build them.   Lol.

Would your loved one know how to dispose of a big stash easily, apart from landfill that is ?    Worth thinking about leaving a list about disposal.   Specialist auction houses  would be by far the easiest way to dispose of a large stash. Alternatively specialist model traders why buy in collections to resell. For books look for second hand book sellers who specialise in transport to sell off a collection. Alternatively books could be bequeathed to a University of College for their library.

None of us really want to think about the inevitable, but that's how it is.

Built models. Not sure what to advise about them. Museums get stacks donated and do not always look after bequeathed models as one might like. What was your precious scale model is just another item to a museum unfortunately, and like it or not most have no interest in models made from plastic kits.

 

[Bainford]

1 hour ago, Bugatti Fan said:

Huge Stashes.   What would you do with them ?   Or rather what would who.might be left after you do with them ?

Without wishing to sound morbid,   It  would seem that creating ever increasing stashes as we get older is defying the laws of nature as there seems to be an assumption of immortality if the intention is to build them.   Lol.

Would your loved one know how to dispose of a big stash easily, apart from landfill that is ?    Worth thinking about leaving a list about disposal.   Specialist auction houses  would be by far the easiest way to dispose of a large stash. Alternatively specialist model traders why buy in collections to resell. For books look for second hand book sellers who specialise in transport to sell off a collection. Alternatively books could be bequeathed to a University of College for their library.

None of us really want to think about the inevitable, but that's how it is.

Built models. Not sure what to advise about them. Museums get stacks donated and do not always look after bequeathed models as one might like. What was your precious scale model is just another item to a museum unfortunately, and like it or not most have no interest in models made from plastic kits.

 

I'll be busy pushing daisys, so it won't matter much to me. By that I mean, I won't care if the kits are disposed of in a manner that does not reap their full worth. I would not want to see them end up in a dumpster, but given away to people who desire them is fine.

They can be sold in one go to a person who buys collections, or given to a LHS to be sold on consignment as used kits, or friends and club members may wish to get their hands on some of them. It's good to leave some type of instruction for family members who may have to deal with this stuff, along with contact info for a collector of the LHS, etc.

One of the best model kit shelves in the whole country is a local aviation museum whose gift shop is a very well stocked hobby shop. They have very many (1000s) of previously loved kits which were the stash of builders who have passed, and who left instructions for their collections to be donated to the museum. The proceeds go towards the restoration and maintenance costs of museum exhibits. My instructions will be to load up all my kits and take them there, though any friends who want to get their hands on some first are welcome to help themselves.

If I should I happen to have some advance notice of my eminent demise, and still have my head about me, I will be able to fulfill the wish lists of numerous members of this forum as my parting shot. It will be kind of fun giving away desirable kits to people who really want to build them.

 

[Tim W. SoCal]

6 hours ago, alan barton said:

Fortunately my wife is extremely supportive.  She is also a prolific patchwork quilter so her stash is up there as well.  The same rules apply.

YEP! I'm also extremely fortunate that my wife is a very prolific quilter and understands that regarding my model car kits, just like with her fabric purchases, you have to get 'em while you can because the production run may be limited and available for a short period of time. She also has a HUGE stash, but as Empty Nesters, we don't encroach on anyone's space but our own...

[NOBLNG]

My wife thinks I have more models than I will ever build, and she might be right? That said, she has never complained about me buying more…she just rolls her eyes and shakes her head. She has three guitars and two amps and….so we each have our hobbies. We have no kids to bequeath anything to, so our motto is: we can’t take it with us and the cheque to the undertaker should bounce.😜 I only have around a hundred kits and plan to build them all except for the ones I bought as possible parts donors, so I better get busy.😳

[sidcharles]

19 hours ago, magicmustang said:

My nurse daughter-in-law who works in ER says they call them organ donors

bachelorette #2 worked in a hospital.

monday mornings were dreaded.

often there would be some 25 year old Adonis now relegated to life support or vegetative state because he thought it wouldn't happen to him.  

there were no words which she could speak to the family that would ease their pain.

[iamsuperdan]

20 hours ago, Bugatti Fan said:

Huge Stashes.   What would you do with them ?   Or rather what would who.might be left after you do with them ?

Without wishing to sound morbid,   It  would seem that creating ever increasing stashes as we get older is defying the laws of nature as there seems to be an assumption of immortality if the intention is to build them.   Lol.

Would your loved one know how to dispose of a big stash easily, apart from landfill that is ?    Worth thinking about leaving a list about disposal.   Specialist auction houses  would be by far the easiest way to dispose of a large stash. Alternatively specialist model traders why buy in collections to resell. For books look for second hand book sellers who specialise in transport to sell off a collection. Alternatively books could be bequeathed to a University of College for their library.

None of us really want to think about the inevitable, but that's how it is.

Built models. Not sure what to advise about them. Museums get stacks donated and do not always look after bequeathed models as one might like. What was your precious scale model is just another item to a museum unfortunately, and like it or not most have no interest in models made from plastic kits.

 

That's one of the reasons I'm trying to downsize. 

When I eventually go, I don't want my family to have to deal with all of my stuff.

Plus, I'm worried she'll sell it all for what I told her I paid for it! 🤪

I'm dealing with that now with my dad's stuff. He passed 6 years ago, and we're slowly getting rid of his collections.

• N scale trains - donated most of these to a local museum that has train layouts
• G scale trains
• 1:64 NASCAR diecast - what do I do with a couple of hundred tiny NASCARs?
• Matchbox Models of Yesteryear - probably 100 of these diecasts, all from the 70s and 80s, all kept in a glass case. And I still have a box containing all of the original boxes. 
• Airplane models - I'm keeping all of these for now.
• Boat models
• Camera equipment, but it's all film equipment, not digital.
• DVDs

 

It's tiring.

 

 

[Bugatti Fan]

Dan

Some of those items you listed are quite collectable.    The Matchbox Models of Yesteryear are sought after in mint condition and with their original boxes and possibly the Nascars.   

Try a specialist auction house for those and the G scale trains,

The boat models.....Depends on whether built up or kits.

The film camera items.  depending on make, age etc.   Might be worth contacting a camera dealer who specialises in collectable photographic gear to find out if valuable or not.    HTH

[iamsuperdan]

1 hour ago, Bugatti Fan said:

Dan

Some of those items you listed are quite collectable.    The Matchbox Models of Yesteryear are sought after in mint condition and with their original boxes and possibly the Nascars.   

Try a specialist auction house for those and the G scale trains,

The boat models.....Depends on whether built up or kits.

The film camera items.  depending on make, age etc.   Might be worth contacting a camera dealer who specialises in collectable photographic gear to find out if valuable or not.    HTH

See this is the whole thing though. It's a hassle. I have to inventory everything, box it up safely, then find the right means to dispose of it all.

When I go, I don't want my family to have to deal with this kind of thing. Will my wife or my kids want to deal with finding homes for a couple of hundred models?

Nah, best to start liquidating the easier items now.

[Dragline]

Why ask us? We are as disturbed as you.

[Bugatti Fan]

Auction houses will generally do the inventory so you don't have to once they have the items an masse. They need to as they need to prepare it all into lots for their sales.   Place no reserves on anything if you just want it cleared !

Let them do the hard work as they charge both sellers and buyers fees.

[WillyBilly]

Wow. I just said my wife thinks I have a problem. This conversation went sideways quickly. My wife knows exactly what to do with my collection should something happen to me. She will sell it off as a collection or donate it to an auction that supports the upkeep of an animal shelter. She also has an idea of value too. 1/25 scale = 30.00 per kit, 1/16 scale = 50.00 per kit. 1/8 scale = Arm and Leg per kit. 

[tbill]

I was up to 1000 kits or so, sold 200 to a buddy who buys/sells, got into HO scale trains last year, so buying kits for that addiction now, it is what it is. I can’t afford every car I want in 1:1, so scale models will have to do😁