When do you have enough kits ?

[BIGTRUCK]

Reading the different thoughts on grails and collections for the purpose of building every kit got me to thinking , 'When do you have enough' . I've been moving everything to the basement and building racks for two days and figured out at 1 kit a week at age 52 , I need to finish the last one at age 71 1/2 , and thats if I quit buying now , and since my rate of build is 5 a year , and that will make me 252 years old :shock: . I love the re-issues , that saves my originals, but buying them only puts me further behind . Who am I kidding , I'll keep buying kits and building shelves , and make plans for each and every kit . Now I need a place to put the completed ones.

[Len Geisler]

Ken,

Here is my take on this one, I have begun to change my build style a little bit....I used to try to make everything perfect, and that caused a lot of "half-fast" builds if you get my mesning, but I have come to realize that at that rate I wont finish anything. I have eased up on myself a bit and have gotten more builds finfished this year than in quite some time. I am finishing number 6 now. With things like tamiya and testors laquer paints, it makes a very acceptable paint job much easier. I have also come to the truth that I will NEVER, EVER finish all of the kits, bodies etc that I have and have begun to liquidate a bit to help ease the load, plus it fees the cash to buy other things that will be used. I know I may get some heat for this but, that is the way it is...

So how deos eevryone else feel about this???

Thanks for spaking the mind Ken....

[mrglubaum]

I've given a lot of thought to my model building hobby over the last few months. I have way too many kits to ever build them in several lifetimes! Many of these kits are what a person would consider "collector's items".

I've decided to concentrate on these kits, deciding which ones I will actually build, and the ones that are just sitting there gathering dust, never to be built. The ones that I won't ever build will be sold off, so that another collector can enjoy them and I won't have to worry about them.

The "collector" kits that I have always wanted to build, will be opened up and built at the earliest opportunity. No more "waiting until my skills get better"! In this day and age, it's relatively easy to fix mistakes made in the building process, so the chances of ruining a rare kit are fairly slim.

So, I'm now working on my MPC '33 Chevy panel truck, and I've pulled out a Jo-Han '61 American!

I'll continue to have current kits on my workbench, especially some of the recent reissues of kits that were hard to get up to this time! And I'll probably keep much of my collection of "current" and "common" kits to fill in the gaps, and be used for donors, parts, and trading.

[Billy Kingsley]

NEVER!

OK, now that I have that out of my system I think too much is either:

A) When you run out of space

When you are buying things you've already purchased and can't remember because you have so many...three times.

C) When you look at your stash and the feeling of endless overwhelmingness comes over you.

D) When you have models in every room in the house, including the bathroom and kitchen

I've thought about it long and hard lately, and I'm now only buying things that I want to build within a year (plastic kits) or if I ever want to build it (resin). My resin collection has tripled in 2006, and I know of at least 15-20 more I would buy right now if I could afford it. (I also don't turn down cheap NASCAR kits, but that's another story)

Sadly....I've had A-C happen. Sofar I've kept the models to the basement and my bedroom, although the previous is pretty well full.

When I first got into modeling, and going to shows (2001) I bought alot of kits just because I could. Many of them I probably wouldn't have purchased now. Just because something is really cheap does not mean it should be purchased. It took me about 4 years to learn that.

Now that I have them, though, I can't bear the thought of selling them or not having them, so I've come up with building plans for most of them.

I plan to build all but three of the kits I own, and the three I don't plan to build have been reissued to death, but I will never complain. I purchased the first issue of the 59 and 65 El Caminos and the AMT 53 Ford F-100, which was the first kit I ever built, so it's kind of sentimental to me. I'm currently hunting down all the issues of all those kits, and I'm about halfway on all of them except the 59 El Camino, which I am only short one issue.

The good thing about those kits is that I can think of many, many things to do with these kits....Building the El Caminos in every factory color and then some is not out of the question.

My basement is pretty full, and I'm really limiting what I buy. I didn't buy any kits at MASSCAR (I never actually went in the vendor room) and I limited it to less the 10 at LIARS.

2006 was a low year for me for buying, but, honestly, I have enough already. Of cource, 2007 will bring 19 kits from Lindberg, and a dozen more new or reissues I don't have from AMT and Revell that I want.

My problem is that I'm just addicted to cars, I think.

[Michael Madlinger]

I saw a comment about this on another board. The comment was that when we buy a kit, we also think we are buying the time to build it.

I think this is a very valid point of view.

[93Z34]

How many times do we go to the lhs or a show and hit the vendor's arena and come across a kit and think, "Wow...I could build this kit into this version or do this with it, or whatever.." So, we go ahead and fork out the money for the kit and happily carry it home. We don't stop to think about the 6 different projects currently scattered abroad on our benches already and the limited space we have to store any new kits we pick up.

We get home and see the started projects and decide to put our new plans on hold or we pack up our started projects and dig into another new one. Either way, we end up with more unfinished or unstarted kits and it tends to be a never ending cycle.

The first year we went to the NNL East I got stupid when it came to buying kits. We walked out of there at least 8 times during the day with our hands full of kits, resin and what-not. Last year wasn't so bad, but it was still bad enough. This year I am cutting back even more and concentrating on purchasing resin parts, paints, and other aftermarket items. The kit buying will be way down from years past simply because I don't have anymore room and it's time I start finishing some of the 1500 some-odd kits I have in my collection. There are some kits I will be looking for, but that number is only a handful and if I don't find them at a reasonable price then I will pass them up.

I do still buy Nascar kits simply because of the enormous amount of aftermarket decals I have for them, but I am cutting way back on purchasing other kits I most likely will never build.

Stay tuned though as I will be liquidating several kits over the coming months to free up room and to give others a chance to enjoy the hobby a bit more. believe it or not, most of the kits I liquidate will most likely be given away or traded for kits I know I will build. Like everyone here, I have begun to re-think the whole kit buying ideology I have been employing for the past 30 years.

[Zoom Zoom]

I had enough kits years ago, I have enough to last me a few hundred years, and yet I still buy new ones I want. At a much slower pace than before, but I still buy more than I can build. I like new cars, so when there's a new car I like that there is a model of, I buy it. If it passes my "it's cool enough to build vs. anything else I own" test. Or if it's somehow too good a bargain to pass up :roll:

I managed to build 19 models in the last 12 months and that's probably kept me building about as many as I bought; but that number is deceiving since I haven't finished a model since September. Started messing w/a few, but nothing done. And many planned. And since I'm mostly out of town until early in January, well...not much getting done but dreaming

Hmmm, Hobby Lobby restocks on Thursdays, I have a couple 40 off coupons, and the Magnum or Charger might show up...hmmmm....

Soon I'll have Tamiya's new Ferrari FXX, Fujimi's Porsche Cayman and Ferrari Boxer and Ferrari 599 GTB, Revell's 599 GTB and Superamerica...y'know, I won't mind a bit if all the manufacturers quit making models for awhile...I can't catch up...I'm drowning...

[Jeff Johnston]

Every time I see this kind of post I am still very interested in seeing the responses. One person's "too many" is so diferent than another LOL.

I have about 40 unbuilt kits in boxes. Some unopened, some opened, some painted...I also have probably another half dozen resoration kits to do.

And...I actually have a plan for each and every one. There are probably 2 I will not build. The rest I will.

So for me, any more kits is too many. As soon as I finish one, I'll buy another one. But for me this is enough...40 is enough.

I build maybe 7 or 8 kits per year...so what I have will last 5 years...in theory. I guess I'll always have 40 or 50 unbuilt kits.

[Aaronw]

I'm an impulse builder so I need to have a lot on hand in case thats the impulse I get.

I know I will probably never build some of the stuff I buy, but I might so I buy it. Also with the way kits come and go, some getting re-issued all the time and other one time only I treat kits something like resin, get it while you can. I'd prefer to have it on my shelf unbuilt than the urge to build it and no kit.

[Lyle Willits]

I'll have enough when I'm dead. That way, my wife will have plenty of company for awhile when the club vultures come over to "help take all those silly plastic kits off her hands".

[Tommy Kortman]

Lyle,

The rest of the Philly Boyz & I are on our way to your house now.

We figured why wait!!

[Tommy Kortman]

Lyle,

The rest of the Philly Boyz & I are on our way to your house now.

We figured why wait!!

[mikemodeler]

Like everyone else has stated, I have more than I can finish in this lifetime but that doesn't deter me from buying more kits!

I think it is the creative forces within us that compel us to buy more kits with the thought of ' I am gonna bash this one with that engine and those wheels......'.

I hope that 2007 brings me some time to finish what I have started and the ability to plan my builds a little better so I can complete a kit before the next batch of releases distract me !

Happy Holidays to one and all!

Mike Scheve

[oldcars]

I have bought my last kit every year since 19and when? I give up . There is no last kit no matter how much room it takes up. :roll:

[VW Dave]

I figure shortly after I move the rest of my unbuilt kits from my mom's house to ours....my wife will say I have enough.

[LOBBS]

We're expecting baby #3 any day now but I've known since my wife got pregnant that I was gonna have to considerably scale back any expectations of any real time on the bench for quite awhile. When I got back into the hobby about five years ago, I went on a buying spree picking up pretty much anything that even slightly piqued my interest. Of course, I made grandiose plans for each and every one and bought a lot of kits for no other reason that I needed this or that part for a kit bash. I kept up this torrid pace for a couple of years but never made much headway on the building side of things. For the first several years of our marriage, I worked 6 and 7 days a week so my wife could be home with the kids. The majority of the rest of my time, aka non-sleeping hours, was dedicated to being a father and husband (as it should be).

At some point, my sons (now 5 and 3) ransacked my old hobby room. I'll never know the how or when it happened as it can be days, weeks or sometimes months between trips to the bench but it was the straw that broke the camel's back. It was absolutely disgusting and disheartening to see 30 or 40 kits worth of parts, trees, tires, decals, instructions sheets, boxes, etc. strung haphazardly across my hobby room floor. It took me nearly a year to bring myself to even step foot in there again. I almost quit the hobby in frustration. Lack of time, a huge mess to deal with, life and work changes all had taken there toll.

Instead, I decided to clean house. I chose a half dozen or so projects that really got my juices flowing. I wrote up a detailed build sheet on each of those projects (kitbash pieces, aftermarket stuff, paint scheme and colors, what needed to be fabbed, etc.). Everything in my stash not needed to achieve these goals became fair game to find a new home. Over time, I've Ebay'd off the kits I could guarantee as complete (those that were still sealed and/or sealed in the box) or those that I've pieced together and know are all there. What's still left I'm sorting through to find logical groupings to put up as part/junk lots on the 'bay or to use as trade fodder to minimize what I need to buy for kitbashing purposes to finish those projects.

To make a long story short, it took a disaster to make me realize that I had gotten in over my head as far as kit acquisition goes. Would I have liked to build every single kit I had purchased? Of course, but it was never a realistic expectation given the life constraints that must be lived within. I still find myself stopping into the hobby shop to have a peek and eventually I'll start buying again, however at a more measured pace.

Sorry for the long rambling but it felt good to vent a little bit.

[Schumacher330]

I'm really starting to wind down my kit purchases for many of the above reasons and I've also started to sell off a lot of kits. I got divorced last year and when I finally got all my "stuff" out of that house and into my little 2 room duplex it really opened my eyes to what was and wasn't important to me. I had over 35 boxes of diecasts and models alone, plus over a 100 built models to do something with.

Right now between working 6-7 days a week and having a girlfriend, (see I didn't learn ) things are hectic. I have bought her diecast kits to build while I build and she seems to like it so maybe there's an avenue to more building time. I've also sold off a lot of kits I know I 'll never build because my interests change. I've gotten back into card collecting and also restarting a coin collection that the divorce almost ended. So to answer how many kits is to many, I guess for me would be anything over a 100. And to be totally honest, I really don't want to have that many floating around. I tend to think that when we look at how many kits we all have it tends to overwhelms us.

[Modelmartin]

I buy a kit if it is a kit I WANT to build. I may not get it built before I kak :twisted: but I have it in case I decide to build it. I bought a ton of kits in the early 80s. I was not out of control yet, but I could see it from there. Finances required some divesting and I shedded all diecasts and 1/43rd. I was too unfocused. I tend to keep my kit inventory real tight now and try not to stray from about half a dozen areas of interest and 95% in 1/24-5. I have been averaging about 12 -15 built models per year over the last 5 years.

Andy Martin

[Rick Forrester]

never never never.when they pry the cool plastic from my dead cold hands. Papafo 8)

[lambertjr]

After you die you know you have enough.