Jump to content

What do you do with your models


Recommended Posts

I have a stash of models that is around 200-250.  I go through them occasionally and determine the ones I won't build and sell them here in the Buy/trade forum.  I am trying to be realistic about how many I can really build in my time remaining (I'm 65).  My issue here is with respect to what I see on the forum here; I build pretty fast.  Usually a model a month and I always have one on the bench.  Which leads to the title of this post.  What do you do with your built models.  I have approximately 60 linear feet of shelves to hold them which works out to about 70 - 80 1/48th models that can be displayed.  I have filled it up a couple times and I am getting close to filling it up again.  In the past I have thrown away many built kits and I have given many to the grandkids after making them kid safe.  I hate to throw them out because then I feel like I need to replace them which does not help the stash reduction program.  How do you folks deal with this problem?  Suggestions welcome, the trash man comes tomorrow.

 

Geoff M

Link to post
Share on other sites

Great question! I, too, am filling up my display case and will soon need to make room for new builds. 

 

As I get older I’m accepting the the reality of my mortality. I have no problem throwing away old builds that no longer reflect my abilities. Nobody is going to want them; not the local VFW, library, or neighborhood kids. Keeping them is not an option, because my heirs will have to deal with them and will likely take them all to the landfill anyway.
 

Link to post
Share on other sites

I rotate the stock. Right now, I don't have a lot of shelf space (enough for 35 1/48 single engine prop, and two engine jet sized aircraft). When I finish a new one, I typically make a spot for it by taking one of the older ones off and storing it in plastic bins in the garage. A few of those older ones go back 20 or so years, and are not done to my standards of today, so I have stripped them for parts and tossed a couple here and there too.

By the time they go to storage, the enjoyment of building them has been experienced, the lessons learned harnessed, they've been to contests/shows, displays, and enough modeling friends have critiqued them 🤣

 

Link to post
Share on other sites

Consider donating them to a local retirement home or something.  A lot of them have a veterans wing or something similar.  I know the home my dad used to stay in had such a wing, I donated, along with some members of my local club, some models and the residents loved them, they didn't care about the quality or anything.  

Link to post
Share on other sites
2 hours ago, 82Whitey51 said:

I rotate the stock. Right now, I don't have a lot of shelf space (enough for 35 1/48 single engine prop, and two engine jet sized aircraft). When I finish a new one, I typically make a spot for it by taking one of the older ones off and storing it in plastic bins in the garage. A few of those older ones go back 20 or so years, and are not done to my standards of today, so I have stripped them for parts and tossed a couple here and there too.

By the time they go to storage, the enjoyment of building them has been experienced, the lessons learned harnessed, they've been to contests/shows, displays, and enough modeling friends have critiqued them 🤣

 

Hi Whitey,  

 

Your latest podcast got me thinking about this.  Maybe the build one and remove one idea would be less traumatic than getting rid of multiple models all at once.  Keep up the good work on the podcast.

 

Geoff M

Link to post
Share on other sites
21 minutes ago, eraucubsfan said:

Consider donating them to a local retirement home or something.  A lot of them have a veterans wing or something similar.  I know the home my dad used to stay in had such a wing, I donated, along with some members of my local club, some models and the residents loved them, they didn't care about the quality or anything.  

I will have to check into the retirement centers.  Also, I live near the Marine Corps museum at Quantico.  I suppose they could be interested in some Marine Acft.

 

Geoff M

Link to post
Share on other sites
2 hours ago, phantom said:

I put them on display........Many models however get culled as skills go up.  There are two more walls with models, but you get the idea. Think there is 450 .

KhFUBz8.jpg

 

JKk4dis.jpg

 

9bgB02A.jpg

Hi Phantom,

 

You must have a huge basement!  I wish I could display 450!

 

Geoff M

Link to post
Share on other sites
22 minutes ago, Geoff M said:

Hi Whitey,  

 

Your latest podcast got me thinking about this.  Maybe the build one and remove one idea would be less traumatic than getting rid of multiple models all at once.  Keep up the good work on the podcast.

 

Geoff M

Hey thank you. Yes, we were all griping about display space...*Bing!!* show idea! The guys at "Just Making Conversation" spoke of it as well the previous week.

 

Link to post
Share on other sites

I have three young boys so I hang most on the ceiling in their rooms. I also move every couple years or so, so some won't make it. Last time I built a kit with wheels down was about ten years ago!

 

I'm a fan of giving them away, can't take it with you and it beats your loved ones tossing them when you pass. 

Link to post
Share on other sites

Oh, that's a tough one!

It's sort of always been one thing for me to have the kit still in the box, an another one when it's built and on display on the shelf. What a dilemma. No reason for one thing without the other, I suppose. But then, moving is always a possibility, that being the demise of most built kits. 
I haven't got too many built kits on display; it's just fifteen of them but, as they're mostly modern jets in 1/48th scale, they take a lot of shelf space all the same.
Main grief about it is that I've got the same type of uncased shelves as @phantom has, and it's heartbreaking to see them gather dust, so much dust that in the end the camo colour often changes to a lighter hue. I don't usually have lots of free time to dust, so when I finally come round to dusting my displayed kits, haste invariably makes me break tiny pieces off of them, or sometimes it's the whole undercarriage which wheels start going askew; it makes me feel like throwing them away. If only I could find a way to encasing those shelves, but I know there's any. And custom display cabinets are out of the question for me. 

 

So when my displayed kits are in that dusty and crooked-wheel state, and provided my nephews are still interested in taking them, I give them away to them (well, not to mention this time the older one stuffed a Monogram F-14 kit I gave to him into the heater). :rolleyes:
Now I've come to the habit of saving certain pieces such as windshields and/or canopies, and resin aftermarkets that were either expensive, hard to get or went OOP before binning them.

As for the volume of my stash, I'm not the least concerned whether or not I'll have the time to build them all, as my stash is comprised of perhaps 10 to 12 kits. 
Then there's the boxes of those kits I built, which hold the bombs, missiles and fuel jugs, as I seldom like my jets fully armed and/or with tanks hanging from their wings (especially on Mirages and Scooters).

 

Had I as many kits on display as @phantom has, I'd surely go bonkers!!! How/what do you do about dust? So many Phantoms! :worship:

Cheers,

 

Gwen

Link to post
Share on other sites
16 hours ago, Gwen Phoenix said:

 

 

Had I as many kits on display as @phantom has, I'd surely go bonkers!!! How/what do you do about dust? So many Phantoms! :worship:

Cheers,

 

Gwen

The Phantoms and everyone else get dusted once a year. Every time a cull or new placement is done THAT shelf gets dusted. I would "guess" at least one "bookcase" gets dusted every month. Since the cat litter has gone upstairs I do not need to dust as much.

Link to post
Share on other sites

Custom is really the best way to go with display cases for models.  I'm in the process of finishing a custom cabinet project that will give me enough space for ~150 completed builds.  It is a three sectioned cabinet that will take up just under 10 feet of wall space. The center section will protrude out 26 inches from the wall.  The two side cabinets will be 22 inches deep.  The deeper shelves will easily allow for two rows of 1/48 scale modern jets.  Also, the deeper center section will hold a 1/72 scale B-52 or B-36.

 

I know not everyone has the means to build something like I'm working on, but it is possible to construct A simplified version.  I finished a four foot wide cabinet in high school that was based on a design in an old issue of FSM.  That served me well for many years.  I built that with a doweling jig, table saw, and a miter saw.  

 

I also built a strange ladder style shelf that was from an old issue of FSM.  It used dowels and 2"x2" wood to build two ladders.  Then the top and bottom shelves were bolted to those.  Then the rest of the shelves were slid onto the rungs.  It held a ton of models, including all the large scale Monogram bomber kits of the late 80's.

Link to post
Share on other sites

When we moved back last May I tossed out about 3 or 4 old builds that were really bad builds from when I got back in the hobby 26 years ago. I still have room in my cabinet for more, but I also have a big basement ceiling I can hang more from and my garage with a high ceiling.  Hell, I even have a storage building out front of the house that is a 12X24 barn with high ceilings I can hang some from.

This time next year I will be in my first week of retirement and hopefully I can start whittling down on my 250 kit stash too.  But I plan on finding ROTC programs or VFW posts that want some built displays that I can donate to.  Because I know good and well which county dumpster they will wind up in otherwise.

As far as kits, I know I can't build them all, so I plan on selling off or donating a few, but not until I'm retired and have some build time under my belt.  But I will say, once I do retire I am targeting all of my Paul Fisher kits, kits I have resin conversions or aftermarket custom changes like my second Zacto A-7 build and some of the bigger ones that I always wanted dedicated time for.

But here's my display case I built.  As you can see, plenty of room still.

J9ci5c.jpg

Link to post
Share on other sites
21 hours ago, Scott Smith said:

When we moved back last May I tossed out about 3 or 4 old builds that were really bad builds from when I got back in the hobby 26 years ago. I still have room in my cabinet for more, but I also have a big basement ceiling I can hang more from and my garage with a high ceiling.  Hell, I even have a storage building out front of the house that is a 12X24 barn with high ceilings I can hang some from.

This time next year I will be in my first week of retirement and hopefully I can start whittling down on my 250 kit stash too.  But I plan on finding ROTC programs or VFW posts that want some built displays that I can donate to.  Because I know good and well which county dumpster they will wind up in otherwise.

As far as kits, I know I can't build them all, so I plan on selling off or donating a few, but not until I'm retired and have some build time under my belt.  But I will say, once I do retire I am targeting all of my Paul Fisher kits, kits I have resin conversions or aftermarket custom changes like my second Zacto A-7 build and some of the bigger ones that I always wanted dedicated time for.

But here's my display case I built.  As you can see, plenty of room still.

J9ci5c.jpg

That P-51 pops! Anymore pics of that plane?

 

Link to post
Share on other sites

Well, the standard procedure requires me to take a few photos, and then either disassemble the model or just give it away - for kids to play, to somebody who had previously wanted it. Hard part is choosing which ones are going out.

Usually it's the ones no longer in the display case - they get sent to a box. Once skill improves it gets clear-ish. That is unless I get to a point where most of my models are on the same level. Haven't had to do this for a couple of years, since my I had a display case accident which indiscriminatly sent half of my models flying. The flying part they did stellar. Just have to remember to put pilots in the next time, 'cause the landing was really bad.

Link to post
Share on other sites
On 2/18/2022 at 5:23 PM, Scott Smith said:

But here's my display case I built.  As you can see, plenty of room still.

J9ci5c.jpg

 

Wow, Scott... that display case would be awesome to have. What are its dimensions? How much did it cost you to build?

It's impressive; lots of glass. My shelves are fixed so high up on the wall that I will barely see my built kits once it's full, I guess. 

 

On 2/17/2022 at 1:52 AM, Geoff M said:

I go through them occasionally and determine the ones I won't build and sell them here in the Buy/trade forum. 

 

Geoff, this has greatly attracted my attention. On what basis do you determine which kits you're not going to build? Also, do you remember why you purchased those kits back in the day? Is it hard for you to determine which ones are going to go? Even though I've got not nearly as many kits as you guys have, there's still this urge to buy kits I don't even know where I'm going to display them owing to their big size once built.

Cheers,

 

Gwen

Link to post
Share on other sites
1 hour ago, Gwen Phoenix said:

 

Wow, Scott... that display case would be awesome to have. What are its dimensions? How much did it cost you to build?

It's impressive; lots of glass. My shelves are fixed so high up on the wall that I will barely see my built kits once it's full, I guess.

 

Gwen

 

It's just shy of 8' long and just tall enough to roll through a standard doorway and about 24" deep.  I built it on casters.  What I did not take into consideration was planning on moving.  I honestly thought we would stay in our home for many years, like die there. LOL!  When I got it to the new home (and yes, as we were looking at homes, a location for the display case was a must) I had to roll it into the garage then into the basement door to the garage because it would not fit through the sliding glass doors.  And I could not remove the threshold in the doorway without taking out the entire door frame.  I removed part of the threshold and bent the crap out of the aluminum channel and had to straighten it back out. 

As far as cost, yea.  That doubled on me quickly.  I was told about $400 for just the tempered glass doors alone. By the time they were done with the install and labor and taxes and price increases, $750.  Glass has been steadily increasing ever since I started this.  Side and top glass was all recycled glass from old office desks at work they were tossing out.  I learned to cut glass!  I think I had to buy one side panel.  Mirrors on the back were from our two bathroom remodels at the old home.  Both bathrooms had the exact same size mirrors.  I think I saved those things for 8 years or longer because I knew I wanted to do this one day.

Cabinet with doors and shelving brackets and 4 shelves, I think came to around $2200.  Each shelf I have bought since has progressively gone up in price.  First 4 were $75 each with polished edges.  Next two were $80 each.  Went back for a few more and they had jumped to $120, but they gave me a discount at $100 each because I was a repeat customer.  Of course that meant more hardware store visits for shelf brackets, the square steel tubing I welded up to support the glass and paint.

I'm probably in it for just over $3000 now.

Link to post
Share on other sites

Hi Gwen,

 

When I started modelling I was into all kinds of aircraft and I bought all kinds of kits.  Then I started to realize I am not going to be able to build them all and I wasn't even interested in some of them, so I narrowed my focus down to U.S aircraft 1940 - 1980 or so.  I sold off all my foreign aircraft.   Of course when a new phantom or mustang comes out I get those and the old ones get sold off.  I really think that it is so easy to buy kits because we have this crazy idea of having them all built and displayed perfectly someday but the dream is far from reality.  Too many models, not enough time.

 

Geoff M

Link to post
Share on other sites
On 2/21/2022 at 10:46 AM, Scott Smith said:

I'm probably in it for just over $3000 now.

 

$3000! :doh:I understand it's an investment, but it's totally out of my league.

 

On 2/21/2022 at 10:57 AM, Geoff M said:

I really think that it is so easy to buy kits because we have this crazy idea of having them all built and displayed perfectly someday but the dream is far from reality.  Too many models, not enough time.

 

This! I've also considered buying the very same kits all over again when those nice aftermarkets and decals started being available from the beginning of the '00s to these times. The very best for me so far was the availability of the brass-made landing gear. I wish there were more companies manufacturing these.

Cheers,

 

Gwen

Link to post
Share on other sites
4 hours ago, Gwen Phoenix said:

 

$3000! :doh:I understand it's an investment, but it's totally out of my league.

 

Gwen

 

Sad thing was, I had it all budgeted out for around $1200-$1500.  Not sure what happened other than the price of glass and wood going up from the time I put it on paper to the time I started the project.  Granted, that was about a years time.  But as my CFO put it, we're in too deep to not finish it now.

 

You should see my current woodworking project for my modeling hobby.  I'm building a new work table with a built in paint booth and just brought home a 24" tool chest to reorganize my tools and my build space.  When we moved I made the decision to NOT get my hobby area set back up with my old system that was seriously lacking in room and safety when it came to painting.  I now have a window to vent out paint fumes. I guess my Scotch bill will increase to get my build buzz on instead of paint fumes. :whistle:

I'll start a thread here when I'm done so I'm not dragging it out over the next month or two.

Edited by Scott Smith
Link to post
Share on other sites
On 2/21/2022 at 8:57 AM, Geoff M said:

Hi Gwen,

 

When I started modelling I was into all kinds of aircraft and I bought all kinds of kits.  Then I started to realize I am not going to be able to build them all and I wasn't even interested in some of them, so I narrowed my focus down to U.S aircraft 1940 - 1980 or so.  I sold off all my foreign aircraft.   Of course when a new phantom or mustang comes out I get those and the old ones get sold off.  I really think that it is so easy to buy kits because we have this crazy idea of having them all built and displayed perfectly someday but the dream is far from reality.  Too many models, not enough time.

 

Geoff M

Yep....same with me

Link to post
Share on other sites
3 hours ago, Scott Smith said:

I guess my Scotch bill will increase to get my build buzz on instead of paint fumes. :whistle:

 

:rofl:What's your poison of choice, Scott? You've sorted out the most harmful of fumes already. Fumes owing to Hooch are allowed (and most welcome!). :cheers:

 

As for me, I foresee my being a complete modelling noob until I get a fixed place where to have a bench, and a good display cabinet where to put my built kits. And how to use the proper tools on my work. I've always been of the idea to start a thread on the Tool and Tips section of this forum, where experienced modellers would help me out using the different or proper tools in order to tackle with a specific task. That'd be awesome. 

Cheers,

 

Gwen 

Link to post
Share on other sites

Join the conversation

You can post now and register later. If you have an account, sign in now to post with your account.

Guest
Reply to this topic...

×   Pasted as rich text.   Paste as plain text instead

  Only 75 emoji are allowed.

×   Your link has been automatically embedded.   Display as a link instead

×   Your previous content has been restored.   Clear editor

×   You cannot paste images directly. Upload or insert images from URL.

×
×
  • Create New...