I was watching a TV show the other day about compulsive hoarders and the way their house gradually gets transformed into a giant trash heap. I get it that these poor people have a psychological disorder that makes them do it. The ones I have seen seem to be attempting to compensate for something by surrounding themselves with material goods or the "“hit” they get when they buy something. Funniest part was when the “expert” was trying to help them throw stuff away. The hoarder came up with a reason to keep EVERYTHING, no matter how useless. It got me thinking, what is the difference between them, and say, a person with 500 unbuilt kits in the stash ? Are we all “hoarders” to a certain extent ? My stash fits in 5 ceiling-to_wall steel shelves, and, worryingly of late, when a box disappears as the kit is built, another appears to take its place on the shelving.
I have about 200-250 in the stash. My two biggest reasons for having a stash at all are 1. Will I be able to find this kit in the future? Answer. Now with eBay and the Internet you can find anything. 2. It was such a good deal. When I see a kit that is at an unbelievable price I buy it or am very tempted to buy it. I have been very good that last 2 years about curbing my buying. I am seriously trying to build down my stash. John
P.S. Just bought 3 1/48 Hasegawa kits on ebay for $32 shipped. It was a good deal. Hehe
most hoarders collect everything to a point that they would live in the city dump if they were allowed a collector is specific i had an aunt in montreal who collected anything bells friends ttravellled the world and would bring her back bells she had wallpaper and curtians and shelevs but you could not find a speck of dirt/dust in 9 rms of house
No difference at all. We’re all hoarders, short answer… ;o
Big difference. I have a job. I use the bathroom. I don’t have mice…I’ve seen the show. It makes my stomach turn.
I agree, there is a big difference. Hoarders have some sort of psychological disorder that does not allow them to throw anything away. Newspapers, garbage, etc. piled to the ceiling with no rhyme or reason as to what they are hoarding or why.
Modelers buy to build or collect. Maybe even buy something to trade away at a future date. Some modelers may buy more than they can ever build, I’m one of them, but they’re not afraid to part with items. I’m constantly selling kits I bought to trade off or intended to build.
Now if a modeler kept everything in the box from bits of sprue to scraps of used decal sheets and the shrinkwrap used to seal the kit, that’d be a hoarder.
Big difference between hoarders and collectors. Typically collectors organize their stuff, catalogue it, etc. Hoarders just have stuff (and garbarge) littered every throughout the house.
Having said that though, I only have 5 kits in my stash. I only work on 1 kit at a time, and when it’s done, I head to the hobby shop to buy my next build. Going to the hobby shop to pick out my next project is tons of fun. I view the hobby shop as my stash.
I put glass shelves up high on the walls of my office. I have about 40 in my stash and that’s where they sit, so it’s kind of like a small hobby shop in that I have kits on display while waiting to be built. I promised myself I wouldn’t buy any kits this year, but already broke that rule HAHAHAHAHA! Such is life.
I wouldn’t call it hoarding, in my case. I also go through my office about once a year and slim down on stuff, so I put myself in the collector’s category.
Chris
It’s not hoarding, it’s stockpiling.
That’s my story and I’m sticking to it…
Well :
Actually I am with you . But in my case it’s called storage shedding !
Crap!! I thought I was just a collector until I read this… I wonder if my medical plan covers counselling for hoarding? [:P]
Thats about me, too. I’ve been out of extra spending money for awhile, its been nice to burn off the surplus. What cracks me up is opening a box and seeing that I had forgotten that at the time I also bought a bunch of PE or resin or decals and stuck them in with the kit. Kind of bonus.
Glad to find this thread, because now I don’t feel so bad about my stash. It’s only 15 kits, but I was beginning to think this was becoming a problem for me, as my budget is tight. It’s nice to know I’m still a little leaguer!
The day I find rat poop and dead animals amongst my stash, I will concede that it’s not a collection, it’s a hoard.
I almost never let my household pets take a dump in my model inventory area or work area. And if they do, I first check to see if it might something I could use in a future diorama before I clean it up. (Notice: the preceeding is an attempt at humor.)
When you say to yourself, I’m a collector, everyone else is a hoarder. That’s when you know you stepped over 
I’ve placed a moratorium on any new kits until I finish at least one of the FOUR builds I’ve started![:O]
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I consider myself a connoisseur of fine model kits. Kind of like an art collector. Or, more correctly, a collector of things that will be art once I apply blood sweat and tears (or glue, xacto and paints) to all those 100-150 kits stacked in my closet. Hoarder? Nah. NathanT said it best. I bathe. I conjugate verbs. I have cut way back on the input, until I’ve done better with the output. I am out of space for unbuilt kits.
If you know where each of your kits is, no matter how many you have, and can get to it (relatively) easily, you are a collector. If you have no idea what you have and only that you have a ton of inbuilt kits stacked away in your house, you are a hoarder. Nothing scientific here…just my opinion.