What happens to these models when we're gone?

[SteveH]

I had a melanoma removed from my neck last week and although it was early stage and I have a good prognosis it has started me thinking about the fate of my many years and hours of labor.

If I had engaged in woodworking or pottery (only to give two examples) my handicraft may have been passed down the family and used, if not necessarily appreciated, by others.

Model aircraft are by their nature fragile and not easily transferred or necessarily appreciated by their intended recipients.

I try to do good work and am somewhat OCD when it comes to the models, but they still aren't what I would characterize as museum quality - rule that out!

The grandkids are still too young to appreciate them - when I was their age I was sticking firecrackers in the exhaust end and "playing army"

I can't ask my wife to guard them in perpetuity - She loves me and respects my hobby but they don't mean to her what they mean to me. Maybe like I feel about her Easter, Thanksgiving, Halloween etc. decorations. They're nice, I enjoy the spirit they bring, but I wouldn't do it myself.

I enjoyed building all of them and I also enjoy viewing them - maybe that is enough.

[Nigel Bunker]

Well I expect one or two of mine will be kept - and the rest will go into black plastic bags and down to the dump.

But I won't be around to complain, so why worry?

[GreyGhost]

Steve, I hope your prognosis remains good ...

As for my models, hmmm probably the same as Nigel ...

Gregg

[tornado64]

once i get too many and they are old and dusty

i give mine to the kids who live near me to play with and smash up

that's what adults did with me and in turn it sparked a life long intrest

if it only works on one that receives them your work will not have been in vane !!

[strawberry mivi]

I know I've already got a fight on my hands keeping them when we next move house, which will be in the next 3 years.

Edited August 31, 2010 by strawberry mivi

[thegoodsgt]

I'd recommend you ask a trusted modeler-friend to take them if/and when we pass on. Let him decide what to do with them. My models, while good, aren't necessarily worthy of being put into anyone's display case, but if my friends would like a token of our friendship, I'd be honored to know a few will live on at least a few more years.

[datahiker]

Most of the models I build are for other people anyway (kids and adults). Anything else can be trashed, which doesn't bother me because they aren't show/museum-worthy by any definition. Same with my stash - I buy cheap models (Revellogram, Italeri, etc.) so they're better off getting donated to a local club when I'm gone.

I like tornado's idea - if I manage to get one kid interested it would be worth it. A friend of my wife's came to visit and brought her three kids. The ten-year-old came down to the man cave and his eyes lit up when he saw kit parts all over my desk. I let him pick out an "Army Men" kit and we had just enough time to get them glued together. After he left I mounted them and painted the faces, then mailed him the figures, a brush and the paints needed for him to finish them. Hopefully this will get him hooked!

[Jennings]

I won't be here, so it really matters not one little bit to me :D

J

[Flyboyf18]

If mine get wrecked I'm coming back to haunt who ever as a rogue X-acto knife............I think!?

[RiderFan]

Find a local military museum and donate them.

I built a 1:100 scale HMCS Gatineau ( http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/HMCS_Gatineau_(DDE_236) ) a few years ago. It took me close to a year to build and was something just under 4 foot long. When I moved from Halifax out west, I couldn't take the model with me so it found its way into the local Naval museum (I'm assuming it's still there, I have no idea. It was 20 years ago). I've been speaking with a fellow in Kelowna (small city in the interior of B.C.) about putting a couple of my 1:72 Corvettes into the military museum there. Some of my larger aircraft may find their way into the Aviation Museum in Langley, BC.

Museums are generally very appreciative of these donations (regardless of quality of work, which has it's pro's and con's in my book) and I think it's infinitely better than seeing months of work immediately ending up as more land fill that will take a 1000 years to decay.

Edited August 31, 2010 by RiderFan

[Sabre F-86]

I can tell you that when my Dad died in 2004, I collected up all his models and boxed them up. Then I took them to the storage unit, as I was moving into my new townhouse in a year or so and was planning on displaying them there. Its now almost 6 years later, and I have only got a half dozen or so out. The bulk do them (about 85 armoured vehicles) are still sitting in the boxes. I am now back into an apartment and will be moving onto a 38foot boat in about 10 months. So....

I expect they will be picked up, transported to the dump, opened up for some quick photos and then tossed. When I moved out of the town house I did give some of them to one of the movers who expressed some interest. I also took his prize winning P-51H U control model to the MAAC headquarters where they will restore it and display it along with the trophy that I kept. Beyond their sentimental value they are not worth the space used or the emotional stress of worrying about them. Time to move on.

Sabre

[Aigore]

Find a local military museum and donate them.

I built a 1:100 scale HMCS Gatineau ( http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/HMCS_Gatineau_(DDE_236) ) a few years ago. It took my close to a year to build and was something just under 4 foot long. When I moved from Halifax out west, I couldn't take the model with me so it found its way into the local Naval museum (I'm assuming it's still there, I have no idea. It was 20 years ago). I've been speaking with a fellow in Kelowna (small city in the interior of B.C.) about putting a couple of my 1:72 Corvettes into the military museum there. Some of my larger aircraft may find their way into the Aviation Museum in Langley, BC.

Museums are generally very appreciative of these donations (regardless of quality of work, which has it's pro's and con's in my book) and I think it's infinitely better than seeing months of work immediately ending up as more land fill that will take a 1000 years to decay.

That´s my plan as well, we have local air force museum here in Gothenburg and they can probably be convinced to take over some of my plastic when I got to go to the Big Hobby Room.

[Sunliner]

Interesting...I had a skin cancer taken off last year and briefly pondered the same thing. (I'm doing fine now and I hope you do too!)

Most of my models only "live" 5-10 years on the shelf anyway before either getting damaged by passing kids or being tossed to make room for more. I imagine few, if any of mine will survive too far into the future and I'm ok with that. The enjoyment for me is more in the process of researching and building than knowing that a build is on the shelf.

That said, I kept at least three of my fathers completed builds at least 10 years after he died. Moving from home to college to various homes afterwards finally took their toll. One of his P-47's in particular, I kept the pieces for a few years even after it was damaged beyond repair. Finally at some point, I felt more of a "connection" with dad when I was working/cussing at the workbench than I did with the completed models and stopped worrying about keeping them.

-Mike

[Jay Chladek]

Two words:

VIKING FUNERAL!

I've done a couple models for museums. So lord willing if they are still around when I go to the great beyond, they should stick around after if I built them well enough and they are taken care of.

[loftycomfort]

Yeah, hopefully mine will go to a museum too if they'd take them. Maybe in my next life, I'll visit that same museum as a child, and see my own models bulit in a previous life...

Terry

[Unit19]

Several months ago someone was selling a large old aircraft collection on Ebay broken into several lots. They just tossed about 25 models in each pile and snapped several shots of each jumbled pile of plastic. They all had threads still attached from when they once hung from the ceiling of the builder's room and you could tell he must have been a smoker from the way they were yellowed and the way the thick dust stuck to them. The builder wasn't an advanced modeler, but you could see he loved model aircraft, he took his time building them and did his best to faithfully complete and paint each one. His collection had all the classics we built in the 70's, and 80's. The models and the way they were being sold told a story in a language only some people can understand.

[Old Blind Dog]

Just another reminder to make a will and leave instructions.

I may luck out in that my "nephew-in-law" has shown some passing interest in building models. If he lands a good job as an a/c mechanic and can settle down, I'll make arrangements to transfer my collection (built and unbuilt) as well as my tools and supplies to him before I'm gone.

If that doesn't work out, I'll simply list my collection among my assets in my will, to be divided equally among my two nieces and nephew. They can then sell the stuff and use the money as they see fit.

Unfortunately, it's still more than likely that at least some of my models will end up in a landfill.

cheers

Old Blind Dog

[splatcat]

Unfortunately the value of a model is something that is difficult to define. To the store it is worth the retail price of the kit. To the builder it represents craftmanship and work that has much more to do with love than money. Sometimes if someone has a special interest in the subject, say he flew an f-4 or its your first car, the model may be worth a bit more. Kids see them as toys and others see them as lumps of plastic. My F-20 represents an investment of blood, sweat and tears to me but right now it looks like a worthless piece of crap to everyone else. (Because its not finished!)

When my time comes I wouldn't mind if my family ebayed the whole lot of them and banked the cash for a rainy day. I won't know the diffference.

[phantom]

I told the boss lady to call Tony Hayes and send them to his museum. But since Tony is about 40 or 50 years older then me....... Or was that 40 or 50% shorter???? ;)

[Arkasha]

Can't say as I care. I don't think they're important in the least.

[jester292]

I enjoyed building all of them and I also enjoy viewing them - maybe that is enough.

You nailed it right there. Thats all I'm in it for, personally. If my children want them, they may have them. If my wife wants to trash 'em, she may do that if she wants. I'm not taking them with me, (or my house, or car, or wealth, or...).

If others appreciate it, all the better. But I like building them, and I like viewing them. That is enough for me.

Aaron

[SteveH]

You nailed it right there. Thats all I'm in it for, personally. If my children want them, they may have them. If my wife wants to trash 'em, she may do that if she wants. I'm not taking them with me, (or my house, or car, or wealth, or...).

If others appreciate it, all the better. But I like building them, and I like viewing them. That is enough for me.

Aaron

That sounds like a suitable requiem to the topic.

Thanks to all who posted, especially Greyghost and Sunliner!

Edited September 2, 2010 by SteveH