I tend to be a hoarder, but so far it has resulted in a manageable stash- less than 30 kits.
I have a bad habit of going to the LHS for a look-see only and I wind up buying something that I don’t really need, but rather want… and I do that online as well, but mostly to qualify for the free shipping that some sites offer. Spend $100+ to save $20? Uh, Ok!
I’m worse with paint- I just can’t resist buying a bottle or two of paint when I see it because I know that I have certain things in the stash that might need a specific color…so I have a great selection of paints that I’ll probably use once or twice to make a spot detail look authentic.
But the nice thing about such a paint horde is that I can mix up pretty much any color that I can think of, whether useful or not.
I tend to keep a small stash and build them all very fast. So far my stash of un-built kits is only around 5, but I usually work on alot of kits at once.
How true…and to some extent using the above, I guess I am a slut…[swg]
My stash is about 200 kits about 75% US artillery and support equipment, which tends to be harder to get than the typical German model. So in that case as someone said I have my own LHS of what I like. The other kits are a collection of missiles and space models mostly from the 60s and 70s.
As far as my stash growing, I am at a point where I buy very few select kits. I buy more AM accessories as I need them or if it is a great buy and I will use it in the future.
I am blessed in being able to afford this stash. I also look at it as keeping me busy until I am 90!!
If you think of what people spend of other hobbies like golf, cars ect, this is not that expensive.
I would say my stash is more at a maintenance level then growing.
Everybody is at a different point in their life and can justify their hobby spending in different ways. When I pick up an old kit I built as a kid and see what I have paid now, I look at as an investment. Considering how good the stock market is doing these days, this is not bad.
I think that’s it, grizzly. Eveytime I buy a kit I say to it “I can’t wait 'till I build you”. It doesn’t matter if I know that it may take me a year or two to get to build it. Then I get home and almost everytime without fail the first thing I do is reach for the hobby knife to cut the sealing off and just raid all the sprues and then the instructions and contemplate the build. But that’s just simply not enough. After the first time I scam the kit it’s never more than ten minutes until I pull the box out again and have another stare, perve, whatever. And after that it takes me a little bit longer to look at it again and again and again until I’m completely burnt out of looking at the kit and I begin to take it for granted.
Now, if you’ll excuse me, I have to think about buying my first 1/35 scale armor vehicle.
P.S -go to the A/C forum, there’s another thread about hoarding titled "So when does a couple become a stash?"
About the 1/35th armor vehicl, I remember looking at a 1/35th Tamiya T-34/76 model 1942 with a winter camo’. It’s 45$AUD and then there was basically the same kit again (Tamiya, 1/35, T-34/76) but it was green and only $35AUD. Anyone know if there’s a difference in quality or anything like that and if either kit is great?
Easily the least accurate T-34 kits on the market. Dragon’s or even Italeri/Zvezda’s are better. Both those Tamiya kits are basically the same model with a few detail parts changed to make the different versions.
The two kits you’re talking about date back to the mid 70’s and were built with motorisation in mind, so there were certain compromises between detail/accuracy and the ability to run around on the floor. The hulls and running gear are essentially the same, the turrets are different.
Tamiya made four T-34 variants based essentially on the same kit, the T-34/76 “1942” #35049 (winter camo), T-34/76 “1943” #35059, and later, T-34/76 “ChTz” 1943 #35149 (skirted turret). All 3 of these kits share the same hull, and therefore the same inaccuracies. The fourth kit is the T-34/85 #35138, which has a slightly different hull configuration, but still suffers from some dimensional issues.
As Rob mentioned above, all of these kits have been eclipsed by more recent releases from Dragon, though for the time being at least, they still lack a “1943” version.
Now having said all that, when built, they still look like T-34’s and the parts count isn’t high, so they’re not bad as “starter” kits.
BTW: in 1980, the two earlier ‘76’ kits cost the princely sum of (AUD)$12.00 I certainly wouldn’t pay $45.00 or even $35.00 for one of these today.
I’d pay less money for any one of the superior Dragon T-34s available.
There are several Tamiya kits that are not the best of that type. To name a few off the top of my head, the M41 Walker Bulldog, M113A2, StuG IV, M1A1, any Sherman, Panzer II, M60 series.
Not to hijack this thread (well just a bit), but what are good entry/beginners-level American armor kits available? Not Tasca or Dragon premium kits, Im not that skilled. I have the Tamiya M41, M113, M1A1 and Sherman (105 and Jumbo). I will still build them of course (and have fun), but I really want to find nice US armor in all of its OD glory…
Dragon gives you plastic options even in premium kits. If you take all the simpler choices, the overall build would be only couple steps more than a oob tamiya build.
Tasca, being a Tamiya spawned company,followed some of the Tamiya traditions. They are not harder to build…
Each manufacturer has their good and bad kits, and unique kits, super value kits,etc. It’s pointless to compare them as whole, since R&D departments of these rather large toy makers are nothing like one man’s garage. Some designers are more talented than others, and sometimes we get better kits.
Rob used T-34 as example, because Tamiya’s T-34 serie was one of their more recent failures. All their T-34 based chassis are the same, detail levels were mediocre, and there were some fitting issues.
Dragon is becoming more expansive than Tamiya though, but they also package their kits more generously.
Old plastic will absolutely deteriorate and vanish without the introduction of ‘fresh’ plastic kits into the environment (stash). You’re not adding, you’re saving!
You are bringing that kit out of the cold environs of a store and into a ‘good home’. An enviable deed!
If you don’t buy it some anti-social miscreant might. So you’re ‘saving the kit’ from a fate worse than death!
So you’re not the type to go to Starbuck’s everyday and spend 4.00 or more on a double late~ whipped jomaca expresso. That money saved deserves to go to another kit!
It “called your name”, who are you not to answer?
Women buy shoes, purses, lipstick, cosmetics, get nails and on and on- do we? No! Buy a kit!
Do you bring home stray animals? Are you like the ‘cat lady’? Hey, they shed, they need food, they leave ‘droppings’! Kits don’t do any of that and therefore are the only logical thing to do! You don’t wanna become ‘The Cat Lady’?
Plastic model kits within boxes en masse are a wonderful insulator. Imrove the ‘R-Factor’ of your home- be environmentally conscious!
And last, for now:
You’re a Big Boy- you get to choose your own toys without waiting for Christmas and they no longer have to fit within your toybox or the shelf at the top of the closet. Enjoy! Actually, once you fill your abode there’s always rent-a-space![:P]
My basement is so well insulated now it’s not funny. Those pipes will never freeze! Wait, is that a kit at Colpar Hobbies calling me…? take me home, I’m the new Tamiya PzIII ausf N, I need a good home with my brothers, help me…
I had a very large stash going. I thinned the heard on ML, and Evilbay. 2 reasons 1) I was strpped for cash at the time and 2) I am cosintrading on the kits that I need for my large project. Still need two more sheets of plywood and four saw horses to hold the up.
I am starting to build a hoard up again. Resin figures, PE, after market barrels. I even bought PE and a barrel for a kit that I don’t have yet.
The problem with my local hobby shop is when I speacial order he re-orders the same exact kit and puts it on his shelf. So I pretty much have all the 1/35th kits he sales. The next closest hobby shop is mainly RC planes boats and cars, very little selection of military items.About 1/4th of a shelf. A hours drive gets me to a real good hobby store, lots of kits and aftermaket goodies.
So know I rely on ML and Evilbay to build up my model collection.
Even though I don’t look at or buy anything on E-Bay, “kits that appeared and then disapeared real quick” pretty much nails my hoarding. Seeing kits I would really like to build, I would snap up the kit before it disapeared from the “available” category to the “collectable,unavailable” category.
Generally speaking, all but a small handful of Tamiya’s 1/35th armour kits, even the latest and greatest, have the plain white background. The artwork/box can’t be used as an indication of the quality of the contents.
Up until the mid/late 80’s almost all Tamiya kits were designed with motorisation in mind, and so have provision for motors/gearboxes/batteries/switches etc. These present as holes in the hull bottom, holes and/or slots for axles etc.
From this point onwards, Tamiya’s kits progress towards better accuracy and more detail, and away from motorisation and the compromises that it entails. Many people are of the opinion that Kit #35146, the Tiger I (late) marks the turning point, though some later kit releases include mods and minor updates to earlier kits which retain the underpinnings for motorisation. Generally speaking, the “new tool” kits released after this point are considered “better” than their earlier releases.
It all depends on what you want. If you are after “general” opinions, then like any other manufacturer, Tamiya has its hits and misses. If you are after information about a specific kit, then ask about that specific kit - someone here will have built it and will be able to tell you what you need to know.
I agree that these older (accurate and inaccurate) Tamiya kits are great beginner kits. If you enjoy US armor and want something a little challenging but not as involved as a Dragon kit, I would suggest the Tamiya M26 Pershing tank, M26 Dragon Wagon, M60A1/A3, LVTP7A1/AAV7A1 and their Bradley series. The nice thing about Tamiya kits is that they almost all build up easily straight out of the box.
i think the buy 1 build one thing is ok,especially if you have no room for a stash of kits
but even for the buy 1 /build 1 crowd i don’t thing stashing just 2 kits is a bad thing just 2 though it gives you a choice after the 1st is done and saves a trip to the lhs or internet store
