Why do you have a stash LARGER than you can build?

[Ol Crew Dog]

Yes. I agree. In most cases now days the kits are manufactured in a fairly limited quantity, long gone the days when Airfix production runs were into 100 thousands and new kits coming out almost weekly. In the Socialist years here in Hungary till 1990 you had kits arriving to our shops one day and the next day they were gone for good (and they were inexpensive, at least KP, some Polish or ex Frog Russian remakes). The only thing you could do is to buy 3-5 kits and either build a squadron or resale them to some modelling friends who did not make it on that particular day to the shop. Some leftovers went into base building blocks of the stash. The situation now is somewhat similar with small production runs and manufacturers changing hands or going out of business. There was a sensational Czech aftermarket producer with the most beautiful Su-7 resin cockpit and he went out of business one night and it is impossible to get his sets.

If think (almost) everyone knows that he (or she) will never have the time to build all (most, some, few) kits from the stash but still collecting has its own satisfactions.

Yes, having the real aircraft is not always possible, although I have to say that it has also its ups (but also downs) knowing it for having had a real UTI MIG-15 fighter. But space limitation and possibilities can be a factor so now I only have few dozen real ejection seats to go with the stash. It is also a "collecting" story and also a "never ending" story just as the kits.

Now the only question is what to do with the half dozen Academy MiG-29 and MiG-21 kits after the release of the Edu and GWH kits . . .

Best regards

Gabor

My original plan was to retire from the USAF I was going to open a hobby shop.

As I traveled all over the world I would look for inexpensive kits in most out of the way places usually sitting on the shelf with a load of dust on the lid.

In Korea, Singapore, Japan, Germany, I would find myself in some out of the way hobby shops with kits on the shelf considered rare.

When I retired I also got a divorce and moved to Canada where I married my present wife all along through the last 30 years my "stash" following me around from storage unit to storage unit.

Maybe I still might open that shop, for now with a full time second career, grandchildren and of course my lovely wife who hates my collection, I just can't find the time to build let alone inventory and sell most. But I am trying to scale back allot but just can't pass up a good deal.......

[Scooby]

To keep the industry alive, easy as that.

Eventually they will produce my Holy Grail.

[The_Animal]

Thats an easy one... my stash is in the bomb shelter so when nukes start to fly or aliens arrive i can go down there and wait it out having fun!!!

Ok all jokes appart All my kits where came from buy&sell on forums so most of them are killer deals you just cant pass

Me, I just buy kits to "keep 'em away from other people." Just reference Denis Leary's song.

Maybe I'll get around to building them...but no certainty on that once I get my 600/4 supertelephoto lens. :P I may be too busy going out and photographing eagles and other raptors of the feathered kind.

[mightymax]

Because I am an idiot

That echoes my feelings exactly.

It started out innocent enough. Back when I started, I intended to build everything I purchased. Also back in the late seventies when I started, generally when a kit was discontinued it sometimes stayed discontinued. Also with the demise of a model giant like Aurora, I felt I better get the things I want and that I may want someday. During the first half of the 80's my theories looked like they were going to be correct. Matchbox went bye bye as did ESCI, Revell, Otaki. Luckily these companies were bought up right away by another kit maker or consortium. Some other manufacturers were not so lucky. So I bought and bought and bought. Then it eventually became about the collecting aspect and the pleasure it brings me. I still buy kits but not the way I once did. The economy and more pressing family needs has slowed me down. I am now facing my 52nd birthday and have come to wonder about my mortality.

In a recent archeological dig in the crawlspace. I sat there and thought to my self "WHAT IN THE WORLD WERE YOU THINKING!" So I have in the last year started to sell off some stuff but I think I need to step it up. I have seen in several instances what happens when a model club member with a big stash passes and the burden to the widow the disposal can be.

Wanna know your stash is way too big? It becomes easier to buy another kit you already have in the stash than it is to locate the one you already own! :lol:

Cheers

Max Bryant

[breadneck]

The longer they sit inside their boxes, the less battledamage they will receicve!

[pin]

I have about 50 boxes in my loft (about 10 years to build with my current building velocity), the main reasons I buy are:

- found a bargain on eBay, bought widely available kit much cheaper than on high street

- OOP kit

- short runs, resin kits and vacuforms - first presses are usually of better quality

But the most important - buying a new kit is a joy - I love to look what's inside the box and envisage me building and putting the model into the display cabinet.

[Winnie]

I hope to eventually build most everything in my stash.

I never buy to NOT build!

I have about 80 in the stash, but I think 2013 will see the pile grow a tad, what with all the new interesting releases coming. I have finished 5 kits in one month this past fall (28 days off, 5 kits completed!), so I anticipate that January will be similar, between stops at the gym ofcourse. Winnipeg is too cold for outdoors-activities in January anyways!

Cheers

H.

[famvburg]

I intend to build everything in my stash that I want to build. Whether I'll get to is a different story. I don't have much time to build now, but I have time to buy. A lot of my stash is older kits, from the '60s and '70s, many the same ones that I built or wanted to build as a kid or teen but didn't or couldn't for whatever reason and I got them for sentimental reasons. I just want that warm fuzzy feeling I get from the box art, the kit itself or in the case of some older Aurora or Monogram kits, the smell when the box is opened. Some of the older kits that aren't hard to find or are not expensive I will build, for sentimental reasons. I have lots of duplicates of my fav aircraft types for different markings and/or WhIf versions. I also have lots of kits to use for kitbashing several into one. With the Fiscal Cliff only hours away, I may not be in a position to buy like I have been, so my stash may come in handy anyway. I have several kits in duplicate for keeping one unbuilt and building one. I have two of the old Aurora Screwdriver B-25s, one with a nice box and one with a poor box. I was going to build one and keep the other unbuilt, but now with the HK B-25s, I'm undecided if I'll sell one or still build one. If HK releases the cannon armed B-25 before long, and I suspect they will, especially if I can get the same markings as the Aurora kit, I may not build the Aurora B-25. Like someone else posted, 'because I can', is another reason.

[bdt13]

I've managed to keep my stash to the high two figures (between 60 and 80 kits at any one time). Some were gifts, or ones I got as a kid. The majority of the others I paid substantially less than retail by buying second hand at shows. I have found that if there are kits I want I need to pick them up when I see them. A few years ago I went to a show and found more 1/48 scale Monogram P-47D Gabreski Bubbletops than you could shake a stick at. I did not buy one. The next season, when I really wanted one, I could not find one for love or money and had to buy a "Hairless Joe" boxing and get aftermarket decals. Now, if I see something I want, at a reasonable price I can afford (at that moment) to pay, I get it.

[geebert]

The reason I have my stash, is if the world really does become back to the stone age, I have something to build and remember the former world by. But really, because I wanted the kit

Edited January 1, 2013 by geebert

[White Wolf]

Kits can go out of production, better to buy and keep the kits you want to build now instead of regretting it later or having to search for months and then pay collector's prices for them in the future.

[jfmajor60]

Because when I walk into the Hobby shop the filter between my brain and my wallet seems to malfunction every time. Some people are addicted to heroin I'm addicted to styrene, there I've said it 'I have a problem'

[Netz]

Because I can.

Curt

And the uncontrollable urge not to pass up good deals.....

[Shawn M]

No Honestly I dont think I do.

I've probably got 20 or so kits and build 4-5 a year on the norm.

[slacy]

When I die, I will be placed on top of my remaining stash and sent off, Viking style.

Amen brother thats my thinking to

[ChippyWho]

I thought about this for a while, realised the kind of 'Whiskey Tango Foxtrot...???!' moment my surviving family would have when dealing with my 'estate' post mortem, and immediately made a New Year Res to buy as many more kits as I can stuff into my home in 2013...

Any money I'm leaving to my dog.

(I don't actually have a dog. But I can get one.)

Edited January 2, 2013 by ChippyWho

[is it windy yet?]

My stash has developed its own gravity and just keeps pulling stuff in. My 8 year old has a stash of about 10 models too. The 5 year old just has one or two in the pile. Luckily he is only interested in models that have purple boxart, so that really limits his choices. Now I must return to the stash, my precious is calling to me.

[scapilot]

I find that the larger it is makes it easy to hide dead prostitutes when those meddling kids and feds come snooping around. Oh wait....wrong forums.

lol.

[Litvyak]

I've only got somewhere between 30 and 40... and already looking to thin some of it out. Some of them, I really do look at and go, "just WHY did you buy THAT?" (1/72 An-2, 1/72 US-6 fire truck, etc).

I find that the larger it is makes it easy to hide dead prostitutes when those meddling kids and feds come snooping around. Oh wait....wrong forums. :jaw-dropping:/>

lol.

Dude... that's not even funny as a joke.

[Big Nick]

At Christmas my 7yo niece came into my room and asked me about my stash. It went like this...

"Uncle Nick, you've got a lot of model airplanes in that glass case. Why do you have so many?"

"Because I like them, kid."

"But why do you like them so much?"

"Errmm... why do you have so many teddy-bears in your bedroom?"

"Oh. OK!"

My stash isn't huge unlike that of some people here. It's only :P about 130 kits which I can see myself building in the next decade. If I push myself. And don't buy any more. And buy a bigger display case.

[Raptor01]

Unlike some other vices that many have kicked over the years and other things that are expendable, they have resale value as long as people still enjoy the hobby.

I am guiltier than most (1000+/- est) over the last 20 yrs. and many purchased less than 50% retail, so if I decide to sell off my stash I might see 30-40% (optimistically)of some cash. Not only that I have some resin goodies that get crazy prices on E-Bay. However I still feel like Boris on GoldenEye, "I am Invinceable". LoL If you don't buy them, the prices get jacked every 10 years or so,it is a no win situation.

John

[Jennings]

Why do you have a stash LARGER than you can build?

For the same reason most of us have houses that are twice as big as our grand parents' generation had. And for the same reason that so many of us drive gigantic, utterly useless vehicles. And for the same reason that we consume 20-30% more calories on a given day than our grand parents' generation did:

Because we have disposable income to do it with.

No other reason.

PS: Oh yeah, one other reason: Modern society has totally lost touch with the actual definition of the word "need".

Edited January 2, 2013 by Jennings

[majortomski]

Let me start with the current stash is ONLY some 450+/- plastic kits. Excluded are rubber powered free flight and RC kits.

And I just converted roughly 100 plastic kits back into cash at a local used toy store here in OKC (Toybase 10).

At times in the past I've had a stash that has hit over 1400 kits, shrank to almost nothing then back up to 1000 kits and then back down to where it is today.

Being an engineer involved in ISO certifications, I find the OP's question facinating and many of your answers don't answer the question. In the ISO world it's called a root cause analysis. Don't just answer the question with the first reason that comes into your mind. Keep asking questions until you find the actual motivation for why your stash is too large to build in your lifetime.

In my case, I was a spoiled rotten only child. My parents never said no to anything I ever wanted. Or if they did say no, it was only temporary and they'd give in if not with what I originally wanted but with something else.

This has affected EVERYTHING I have ever bought for my entire 57 year life! I get a psychological high from buying something new. My mind is programmed to spend the $10.00 in my pocket on a piece of junk instead of saving that $$ to buy something I really need like a car or clothing or a home. The delayed gratification of savings and getting a reward for saving is over whelmed by the need for instant gratification of having something now.

Like a lot of thw answers here I used "it's a part of a collection" or "it won't be availble again" as the rationalization to own it. But I never ever asked if I really needed it.

Do we actually really NEED the pieces of styrene that are our hobby? I hope that well over 99.9% of us should know the correct answer to that question is no; we don't need styrene to survive.

When I stop and look at the possibly tens of thousands of Dollars I've spent on this hobby in my lifetime I honestly have to ask what nicer home, better things needed in my life do I not have because I have a pile of plastic in a hobby room?

I'm moving to the point a couple of you have hit on. There won't be a stash for my family to elimiate. I'll probably sell most of this off in the next ten years and build one as I buy it from now on. None of the "collections" that justified all this buying in the past are a big enough need that needs to be filled anymore in my life.

My dad got me into both plastic modeling and RC modeling. He would often scoff at me, well at least after done with a flying model you can do something with it other than let it sit on a shelf and collect dust. I'm starting to agree with him more and more.

I envy you who have stashes that can be built in your lifetime. You control your spending. Your spending does not control you. Keep it up!

Edited January 3, 2013 by majortomski

[Steve N]

In my case, I was a spoiled rotten only child. My parents never said no to anything I ever wanted.

For me it was the opposite. My mom was raised during the Great Depression, and had the mentality that unless you actually need it, there's no reason to have it. She would constantly criticize me for spending my paper route money on models. Then my first wife, while "tolerating" the hobby, still made it clear she saw no point in it.

After my divorce in 1993, I suddenly found myself with no one "guilt tripping" me about buying model stuff..for the first time I was free to indulge the hobby (OK..obsession) as much as I wanted. About the same time, a gentleman in our model club passed away, leaving a sizable stash of kits, books and decals. One of his friends sold it off on consignment (at 50% retail or less) and gave us club members first pick. I ended up with 4 big grocery bags of 1/72 WWII aircraft. That started my modern Stash building phase. Over the next ten years it grew to over 500.

I've slowed down considerably over the past decade, simply because I have most of what I want. My interest is pretty much exclusively 1/72 WWII aircraft..if I were into other scales/eras/genres as well, then The Stash could easily have been several times larger. It's now somewhere in the neighborhood of 600, and I'm seriously considering a cull..mostly kits in which I'm no longer interested, or have replaced with newer, better toolings. Even then, at my current build rate it would take me several centuries to get through the entire Stash.

Of course Mandie doesn't help..I call her my "enabler" as she always encourages me to buy whatever kit I want (probably so she won't feel guilty about her growing stash of 150 or so.)

I rationalize it by the fact that I don't smoke or drink, and I've known people who spend far more money on booze and cigarettes than I do on models, with nothing to show for it but hangovers and emphysema (or worse.)

SN

Edited January 2, 2013 by Steve N

[AX 365]

I don't. It's just finding the time to do them. Maybe when I retire in a few years...