I only ask because my stash has reached a certain size and thinking the other day of my own mortality I wondered would I ever make any great inroad into my Kit pile! The good lady can’t see the point of spending the money only to put it straight into the basement.She has heard all the points put foreward on this forum.Rarity/must have etc.
I must admit most of mine are big ships-Constitution-Victory-Amati wood Americas cup racers.Many are very complex multi figure 1/54th resin and metal Napoleonic dioramas with all those intricate hussar uniforms and horses etc.
I thought with the horrendous winters we get here I could spend some quality time reducing the pile but then I get cabin fever and just have to go out to Warsaw with its 6 big model shops all within easy reach and I succumb again. I am getting better and only pick up the absolutely must haves.
As an ex-pat here for 2 years I have been unable to get a Credit Card so I was safe from the web-shops but last week I finally got one after persuading she who must be obeyed that they are a neccessary evil today.
She is a good girl,I don’t have a job only the ridiculous sum of money invested from from selling my house in the Worlds second most expensive city.(good old London). I keep telling her that there will be more than enough left for her when I’m gone[:D] I know that age 54 is not ancient but the old eyes are not what they were and some days I really can’t get up the enthusiasm to dig in.
It’s all complicated by my now working freelance for the Warsaw Uprising museum which involves lots of armor a subject not really close to my modelling heart. Her suggestion was to spend one day on the museums stuff and the next on my own?
Ok…just wanted to get all that off my chest…Thanks for reading this far and where do you stand on this subject?
Jim…[:I]
There is a fine line being intending to and believing it is actually feasible. With some of the health problems I have, the possibility exists that I may some day be unable to do much more than sit around and build models. So maybe then I’ll get to them. Now if I could just get every one to stop running sales to tempt me with…
I certainly intend to build every kit when I buy it. Problem is, it takes a lot less time to buy than to build. But I will finish every kit in my stash eventually. At my present rate of building, it will take approximately 173 years, 7 months, 12 days & 6 hours. But I will finish them all. Trust me [:D].
Regards, Rick
Yeah i intend to build mine also I havent added up how long it will take though. But I hope to finish them sometime.
I believe the only way I will finish my stash is if I quit buying (isn’t going to happen) or trade old kits I don’t want for kits that I do want to build. I currently have over 300 resin and styrene kits and want to buy at least another 12-15 kits this year. Having that many kits can be a problem but I know I will be able to build if model shops suddenly dry up and go away. I just need to find a better way to store the unbuilt kits and display the built kits.
I’ve actually forced myself to stop buying kits! Heresey, you say? Not at all, just a test of my will! Of course, that embargo will be gone if/when the new Chinook kit comes out.
I’ve collected a nice number of kits to work on, and even have several projects going at once, but the Spring Fever bug has bitten me and I’m spending more time outdoors than at the bench. Soon as the humidity starts it climb, though, I’ll be back in the A/C and hard at work (I hope).
Really, though, that is one of the main reasons that I’ve stopped buying kits of late, I want to actually get to some of the ones I’ve bought, get them built and finished before adding to my addiction. I know I’ll never get them all built, since once the stash is into single digits, then I’ll start buying again.
I intend on building them all and add to it as well. The thought of having an emty bench and closet… well it’s just too hourifing to contimplate…
I can’t imagine having 300+kits! I buy a kit and build it, and then I buy another. I also notice that a lot of people have several kits in progress. I would go nuts trying to build more than one kit at a time. It would seem like work to me if I had that much stuff. I enjoy buying a model, taking my time to build it, and then spending a few hours in my LHO picking a new model. Is this abnormal behavior?[:)]
Id like to think i could finnish my stash
but theres no way i could get through all the kits ive got
i dont think i would do my Academy Tiger 1 with interior becouse ive got the Dragon and Tamiya Tigers to do first
then theres the Aircraft, cars and Horizon figures
hmmm… my stash is nearly done exept for a 1/24 scale Ferrari and a 1/48scale F-16 (which is costing me 10bucks even though it is a replcement part from hase!)
I’m going to be getting a brand new stash on sunday-my birthday party!
Well, here’s the formula I used…
Number of kits times the average number of hours you spend building one…
2500 x 30 = 75000 hours.
Total number of build hours divided by the average number of hours a week you build.
75,000 / 12 = 6250 weeks.
Total number of weeks divided by the number of weeks in a year.
6250 / 52 = 120.19 years
Yahoo…that means I have to live to be 158 years old to finish everything if I stop buying now.
Now obviously, that number can vary considerably, especially since I’m building much larger models (1/32 planes, 1/16 armor, 1/12 cars, and 1/192 ships), which require more time and will no doubt bump that average up.
So…in a nutshell, there’s no way I’ll ever finish my stash, since it’s growing at a faster rate than it’s shrinking. I look at it this way, alot of this stuff is awesome trading material.
Jeff
Basically this s my philosophy, and I am only 55.
What I do is I have a room in my house all to myself, called “the den”.
Oddly enough, aside from the main living area, it is the largest room in the house, and I keep the door closed, and keep this room climate-controlled all year-round. As a result, this room is vertually dust-free,a nd since I have alergies, that suits me just fine.
This room even has a small room heater and fans .
As I continue to add to my stash, I simply stack the kits along the north wall of the room, which is opposite the nice large windows, for pleanty of light, from floor to ceiling.
For longer-term storage, in this room, I have a couple of large appliance cartons (that can double as a base for a piece of plywood for a work-surface), one from a home entertainment center, another from a TV set, and in fact, if I chose to, over half the kits would easily be completely out of sight. Those cartons have much more volume then you might realize!
Whether I will finish them all some day, I really don’t care.
I just enjoy having them, so on a crummy rainey day, I can pick-and-choose as I wish,and have a kit or two for swapping-purposes, if I run into someone that I feel like trading with.
Tom [C):-)]
you have 2500 unbuilt kits?!?!?!!??!
I certainly intend to build all the kits I own.
If I buckle down and build about one kit each month, I’ll finish my current pile in about 20 years. That will make me 62 years-old with another stash of about 60 kits that I’ll probably buy between now and then. So, another 5 years to finish those and I’ll be 67 with a pile of 15 kits…then 68 with about 6 left…then 69 with nothing to do…
Who am I kidding? The stash will never reach zero!!!
I have to agree with Bud156. I’m sort of a buy then build kind of guy. I only have one unfinished kit right now. I will probably buy another sometime this week and hold off on the other b/c it’s slated for a group build later this year. That’s mainly because I have this obsessive compulsive personality disorder trait that means I have to compulsively clean our house. I have trouble relaxing when there’s crap everywhere, so if there was a stack of unopened models in the corner of my study I would have a nervous breakdown. Also, I abide by the J.J. Cale “Travelin’ Light” mantra and keep the stash low in case I have to surreptitiously leave in the middle of the night, hahahaa. J/K. Seriously, one of my professors in college had nothing in his office except a desk, empty bookshelves, two chairs, and a phone. Not even a pen or notepad. We figured he was in the witness protection program and had to be able to leave at a moment’s notice. That’s not even scratching the surface of how bizarre my college experience was.
I’m buying now for later so to speak. My stash is a modest 24, but could easy be much more. I’m trying to be very choosy with my purcahses, but it seems something comes along at a great price and I bite. Ebay is killing me lately. I figure if I built only 3-4 a year, I have a 6 years supply. Problem being, I know I will buy plenty between now and then. I only had 2-3 in my supply before I joined the forum some 2 years ago. It’s all your fault. [V][:o)]
My stash keeps getting bigger because I go to about 4 model shows a year. Fortunately I haven’t bought as many kits as I usually do but I’ve been on a serious aftermarket bender and that’s as bad as buying kits!! The horror, the horror…[:o)]
You think THAT’s alot? Take a look in my basement…
Fade to Black…
RJK…Thanks for the laugh.173 years[:D] Kaleu…Thanks for the shock[:O] 300 odd kits,I couldn’t even go there.Then I read a bit further down and 2500!!! kits.Oh Boy…definite squirrel syndrome there. I forgot to ask how many of you have duplicates.Not the same company but rather dup’s of the same tiger or mustang etc.At least mine are all different. Another problem is display. Most of my painstakingly finished figures are stored boxed in the basement,awaiting the next show or whatever. Lots of others are just given to good homes. Unless I really like the finished model (and she does as well) I kind of get bored with it. The fun is in the making and painting and research of Napoleonic uniforms or ships history and layout at particular periods.
I also agree about the new dimension P/E has added.Extended working times,more and more choices every week,etc. A kit that could take a month can now take up to three months instead. I am also on the side of the one kit at a time lobby. Sounds too much like a production line to have 6 or 7 on the go at one time.
There’s a few duplicates, but not many…I myself can’t figure out why I had to have 6 Tamiya Fw-190D-9s…
Now, let me qualify this a bit…a long time ago, I built only in 1/72, so many of my kits are small boxes. I’ve been reducing that side of the collection, so the number is changing at a pretty rapid rate. I need to get the collection down to a few hundred if I intend to stick to the larger scales I now prefer.
As for display space…I’m in the process of selling my house in NJ and buying one here in Wisconsin…and real estate is much more affordable here (WI) than there (NJ). As a result, I will now have a completed basement that will serve as my modeling-entertainment-gaming-sports-manly room…Since the house is a ranch, the basement is quite large, so I’ve negotiated a deal with my wife; I get the basement, she gets the rest of the house… 
Jeff
PS: FSM Staffers Matt Usher and Paul Boyer have enough kits to stock a dozen hobby shops between them!!