I had a “reasonable” number of unbuilt models through high school, but during the couple years between then and college things kind went sideways…
One day I was offered a job at the hobby shop I frequented. Needless to say, it opened my eyes to a lot more than just what was on the shelf. Having access to the wholesale distributors full product lists really changed the direction and range of my modelling world.
After some time and building a pretty good rapport with many of the regulars at the shop, I was able to somewhat predict what would be popular or be of interest to them. Although the owner of the store needed some convincing on certain purchases (not expecting them to sell) and requiring many of the items to be special order (deposit paid by customer first) we did well, increased sales, but also increased the modelling community.
The one major drawback of this job was the same access to all the stuff we didn’t normally carry. Working there, I got a reasonable discount on merchandise and being able to order pretty much anything I was interested in, led me to spend most of my paycheque on model kits and accessories. I accrued a quantity that surpassed my ability to build, especially in the following years. In fact I still have many of those purchases in my stash unstarted.
I have mine scattered about my shop which I am ashamed to say is messy as hell-- I have an antique hope chest that we didn’t have room in the house for- it stores all of my aircraft and some WWI armor-- it’s ironic it is in here as I “hope” to get back to aircraft someday.
This cabinet has my modern armor on the left as well as all my figure sets. The right side has autos, and sci-fi/fantasy stuff…only one drawer works and it stores all my PE and spares…
And this cabinet has all of my WWII armor- I am out of room thus the pile in front…drawers have more spare parts and the toolbox up top has tools obviously…
Initially I was ashamed of the number of unprogressed kits I have. The Brummbar has been on my shelf for 6 years waiting for me to get the confidence to take it on…
Conscious of the years it’s taken me to progress through 5 scale model tanks and 3 scale model Star Wars kits, and certainly not to the standard that I’ve seen some of you capable of, I wonder how many years worth of full-time modelling would be required to bring some of these stashes to life…
I have often wondered, based on the total number of kits sold during the last 2 or 3 decades, whether more ended up being built or in stashes.
My guess would be that more ended up in stashes. This then leads me to wonder if the industry is largely supported by the stash collectors. I hope this is not the case though, as I cannot imagine that this is sustainable in a couple of decades’ time with fewer young modelers these days.
