Been kinda feeling like Jacob Marley lately with heavy chains an locks hanging around my neck, except if I painted this image the chains would probably been tangled sprues and the locks kit boxes. So I made the decision that it’s ok to throw away a kit or three or more. I would venture to bet I have more “in work” or “shelf queens” than anyone on this forumn. Some have been on the shelf so long that I have lost all interest of the subect and working on them. Not only have I lost interest in the subject, but after 15 years on the shelf, my skill set has evolved making what ever previous work was done on the kit seem unacceptable to some extent. For example, I just tossed an almost comletely built 1/48 Hasegawa Fw190A-4 (was actually painted) and a Tamiya F4F is proably not far behind. I just finally realized I was never going to finish it and trying to sell it was not worth the time and effort. So today I start going through my collection and a few more kits may end up in he circle file. Also finding lot’s of boxes of previously built kits that I have hung on to for some reason–probably because of those un-used parts that “I may need someday”… Those have to go to. On top of that I would say that half of my unstarted kits I look at and realize I wiill never have time or desire to build, so those are going in a box and off to the local hobby shop.
I am an oddity in this regard. I finish every kit, every single one, no matter what. I have a mindset that tells my I’ve failed if I don’t complete something. I have two sitting on the shelf, not due to lack of interest, but I moved and they got caught up in all that. They are on deck and will be completed this year after GB obligations are handled.
I understand where you are coming from on feeling overwhelmed. Perhaps this is why I won’t let that happen. I just can’t toss a kit, to me that’s money wasted and it erks me.
PM me if you would like. I may be interested in getting some of those and getting you some cash for your efforts. I won’t waste your time.
Yessir, I unfortunatly…for me…have had similar incidents. The excitment of working that shiny new kit wanes when I have to sand a seam that really shouldn’t be or I don’t want to put a drop of paint when in six steps I can air brush.
This hobby can be frustrating, time consuming, challenging, all of these make it fun. I just told a friend last week that I’m done tossing my kits, started or not as in six months I’m gonna replace them. To me why waste the money.
Long story short…oh yea, a ton of plastic has mafe its way to the landfill, sometimes a few ounces…sometimes a few pounds, never tons…yet[:$]
I’ve got a huge stash, mostly in storage. Most will get file 13’d when I go. Have plans they go to a couple friends here, but they’re have a minimum of a days drive to get here.
I’ve tossed a couple out of frustration or massive failures. Recently I went through my stash and pulled a bunch of stuff I decided I wasn’t going to build. I gave some away and sold some. This lead to making room in the stash which I started filling up with new kits [:P].
I have definitely got frustrated and tossed a few kits that whipped me,after stripping them for useful stuff.I have also got rid of some older builds that don’t measure up anymore.
But I have never tossed any unbuilt kits,I have sold off a few and given away a few,but I’m very selective when buying not impulse buying.I only have a stash of about 40 or so,and that seems like too many.
I would suggest passing them on to a neighborhood kid versus throwing them away. Introduce new modelers into the hobby.
Or if you wanted to make some money, put together an “as is” lot of started models and sell them on eBay. You might make $20-50 depending on the kits. There is some modeler who can’t afford the price a new kits, but would jump at the chance to get a handful of partially assembled kits at an affordable price.
And some modelers like to customize or scratchbuild different variants. Getting bits and pieces of kits at a discounted price that you need to make the variant you want to helps.
My oldest unfinished kit is a Tamiya M2 Bradley that I started towards the end of my college days in 1986. It stayed in my parents’ home in Vermont when I left for active duty. When I moved to Fort Devens, Massachusetts in 2001, it was still there, unknown to me.
My parents were downsizing and becoming snowbirds, moving to Florida in the winter and returning to Vermont in the summer. So, in 2004, they asked if I wanted any of my old stuff. I found some of my old, completed model kits that were stuffed in kit boxes.
Some of those ancient kits that I built as a kid had a lot of sentimental value to me. There was an AMT VW Rabbit that was a model of the very first brand new car I bought in 1984 (it’s an earlier model). Another kit was a very old Monogram M48A2 that I built in junior high school and later, after I became a tanker, painted it to look like an M48A5 I trained on in 1985.
They represent a snapshot of my model building nearly 40 years ago. While I’ve been tempted to finish the M2 Bradley, I doubt I ever will. I know I’ll never part with it.
This is the reason I don’t have a big stash. Change of interests, big pile of boxes may look overwhelming, sort of create that “I’ll never build them…”. I have 3 or 4, then off to LHS again.
If you like, can you take a photo of your stash or PM me what you have. I may buy some.
I can understand clearing out stuff, and I respect a clear decision when something just isn’t going to get built - but I can’t endorse throwing stuff away. Al least a try to find someone who might be interested would be cool here.
I had quite a few builds on the shelf of doom for various reasons. Some were waiting for parts, some for ordering paint, some for repair of broken parts in kit to be repaired. One that I actually realized I wanted to build as a different version so I stopped work on it. Took care of most of them during the pandemic. Only have 4 left on the shelf. Sometimes I give away kits to kids or grownups that I’m trying to get involved in the hobby and sometimes I give away completed models to friends, relatives and others. I have scrapped a few old builds over the years for parts. I have computer paper boxes full of old build parts, car bodies, frames, plane fuselages, wings, and loads of parts for all the aforementioned models.
When I go to the Great Workbench in the Sky, all remaining kits and finished models have all been marked for members of our club except completed WWII planes and other WWII builds. They are going to the WWII museum that I have been doing restoration work for.
I have never or will I ever toss a kit, parts or completed model in the trash.
A couple of timesover the past fewyears I have gone through my stash and given away some of my kits to various people collecting for after school groups etc, who have posted under the “Charity/Goodwill” section of these boards. If you are intending to get rid of some stuff, it mught be wirthwhile to put a posting there to see if anyone wants your stuff, rather than just throwing them away.
Contact Tal Afar Dave here. He teaches at a military academy and does modeling with the kids. I sent him a bunch of kits a couple years ago for the students to build.
On occasion I’ve run into a kit that, for whatever reason, I simply can’t build. Typically these have been WWI biplanes, where I just never could get the cabanes lined up right, and frustration sets in, then anger, then seathing anger, and I’ve gone HULK SMASH on them. On another build, I dropped it, resulting in severe damage that I immediately assessed as total, and I deep-sixed it.
But usually, such as the Kitty Hawk POS F-86D that I have been struggling with this past month, I push on to completion. I really can’t imagine simply tossing an unbuilt kit. Although I did something such as you described, with a tool box full of unused parts that “I might need someday”, and I just got rid of all that stuff. Kept the pilot figures that I rarely put into my builds.
I have a decent sized stash that should last me for a number of years, into my retirement years possibly. There are some duplications in there. Still, I imagine that I’ll build everything I currently have. I’m interesting in acquiring a few more kits, but for me, despite my large house and approving better half, I am truly running out of room. That 1/24 Hellcat sounds so very appealing until I start to wonder where I’ll display it.
Yeah, started kits and shelf queens, but still, to some guys that don’t have the funds, these kits can find a good home. When I was in college, my mom asked if she could sell any of my old kits. I had a bunch of old Monogram car kits, custom Chevy vans, Jeeps, a few race cars.
This guy who like model building but had fingers the size of thumbs bought many of them and was trying his had at painting them. Back then, most of my model kits were unpainted (car bodies) and just in the color of the plastic. Other items were painted, just not the main color of the body.