Here are my thoughts and ideas on how to manage your ever growing model stashes! I've also got a preview of my own stash coming, if anyone wants to have a sneek peak...
Warren Zevon famously noted that, “We love to buy books because we believe we're buying the time to read them." I think the same may be said of plastic modelers. Thanks for posting this!
Thanks for the advice and you’re a good father, too! I’m getting back in to model building after a 65 year break. I have 13 kits 12 aircraft and 1 an M43 ambulance like the one I drove in Korea 1966/67. I’ve told myself not to buy any more until I’ve completed two kits. I’ll start with a F6F-5 Hellcat 1/48 then try an A6A Intruder 1/100. The B-24 1/48 will be next year. I was afraid my hobby was starting to become “Buying Kits”instead of “Building Them”!
When my husband retired he had amassed over 500 unbuilt kits, mostly aircraft. About 15 years ago he sold lots of them on ebay and now the inventory is just over 200 kits. He has around twenty 1/72 P-3C Orion kits from different manufactures, mostly Hasegawa. Today he doesn't build as he use to and says the Testor's Model Master paints are just too expensive ($15) for a 1/2 oz bottle. They use to be $1.69. Our sons have the same interest in model building.
Paint and other supplies have become much more expensive compared to kits. I'd advise him to sell some spare kits and invest in really good paint and tools!
I love people with large stashes because every so often these people suddenly have a change of heart and decide to make room in their house for other projects or they just don't fancy that kit anymore and decide to sell it off at 50% at the local hobby store and I would snap them up :)
Great video. Good to see an Aussie making modelling videos for a change. I started modelling 8 months ago and made a promise I would never have more kits in my stash than completed models. Tally so far....... completed 2, stash 16. Doh!
Better than my ratio... 10 on the shelf for every one built... 😂 I'm hoping to get my kids into it and my nieces and nephews, so they can build some of them.
Yes...I, too, have a 'stash' and an 'actual stash'. I have a very good idea of what comes next for at least ten kits out...My over-the-top stash (600+ kits) is dedicated to a young man presently too young to build. He may never use them, but he can sell them for whatever cash he can get.
Great video, Chris! I like the idea of the ready to build shelf. I began selling kits from my stash on the Military Model Graveyard back in December, 2015. I realized I had way too many kits that I would never get around to building, so why not sell them to someone who perhaps wanted to build it. Started selling the doubles first, then my old MPC Star Wars kits, then the old Revell & Monogram stuff. The money has gone into good tools and paints (and, sadly, a few newer tooled kits).
Three months ago my stash exceeded 500 models. I also had a box with close to 200 HO-scale models. Now, I've cut that in half and will likely halve it again by June 2019. Sad, but I won't live long enough to finish them all. The good news? I'm making a ton of money selling them.🙂👍
I buy a kit based on what I want at the moment, I also have very little time to visit the shops but more time to build the kits. This makes my stash very small, the largest amount of unbuilt kits I had at one time was 2. Most are Tamiya and Italeri because they're the cheapest and most plentiful where I live.
Chris great video, I'am so so guilty of everything you mention in this vid. and you have inspired me to thin out my stash before it's all to late. cheers
You will probably go through a period where you discover girls and cars and the come back to the hobby I did in my thirties am now in my early fifties and my stash is currently 250!
I take a few favourites that I pick from the stash and have been known to carry them from room to room inspecting them before putting them back in my stash. I know, I know... 😒
Lots of ideas in here that are really useful for a would-be-builder like me... thanks for helping me look reality in the eye and get stuff done. Some. In the very near future. ;)
It's my experience that most kits have a very short production run. They appear in the shops, maybe there is plenty of them but when they are gone they never come back. Or ages later, as a vintage kit. One such item is the Airfix 1/32 scale Beach Buggy. For more than 40 years it was gone and if you found one it cost a small fortune (for such a small heap of plastic anyway). And now Airfix brought it back, at a normal price and in large quantities. Until those are gone ...
Ive had a similar shorter term experience, it seems that Tamiya stuff was almost always available, while Hasegawa would only pop up every now and then. We of course got a lot of the Chinese stuff too, whereas Airfix would come and go as you said...thanks for your comment, cheers Chris
Hi Chris, I have a stash of about 30 kits. The best one was the Bandai 1/72 perfect grade millenium falcon, I bought it when it was first release because it was a limited edition. When the wife found out about a year later she went a little crazy at the $400ish price. I sat her down and showed her the current prices on ebay and amazon and she shut up and has never complained since. Please note that she owns horses.
I have that Bandai Falcon too, its in my "Top Ten" of my 100 or so kits.I haven't checked how much they are now, but I think they're worth every penny. My daughter wants to get into horses, now that can be an expensive hobby! (I used to ride BMW motorbikes, thats just as bad....Bring More Wallet as they say) This hobby is super cheap.....
I've no stash, never had one. This happens when a modelers build rate matches new purchases coming in the front door. A narrow, limited or specific interest can once again make new kit numbers also limited, or much fewer than a builder with wide interests and loves everything.
There was a guy who passed away with an enormous aircraft stash (by my standards, 2-4000 maybe), but every box had the instruction and decals packed separately, with a huge code system catalogue, made by the owner, to keep track of it all... The Hobby Shop that bought the stash spent days returning all the papers to their boxes... No space saving in the effort, since he kept all the boxes... I am still mad that, as one of their most frequent customer, with a fidelity card and my phone in their files, the Hobby Shop never called me, even though much of it was my scale/Era. I missed out on practically all of it. It happened in just the one very rare two week stretch that I did not go there... I am sure I was one of their very top customers, and given that the scale/Era matched for most of it, I really wonder what these people expect me to think of them...
I just got into this hobby and I already have almost run out of room in my closet. I have found really good deals so my stash has quickly grown to about 20, yes I am a noob. Also, there are certain models that are only out a few years then they sky rocket in price like sci fi models (except star trek). My nre airbrush and paints are on the way!!
Great video Chris , I enjoy having a large stash as when its time to start a new model I get to spend a relaxing hour trying to decide who my next victim will be. Nice display of wheels up planes behind you how are they mounted ? I build all mine wheels down as kits do not come with the plastic stands as they did in the old days.
My Mrs just found this and made me watch it, she said you have described me to a tee, i think one thing that holds me back is a fear of making the kit and its not being good enough.
Just remember that collecting kits can be a different hobby from making them - and also one way to address your fears is to remember that A. Its just plastic and B. use the 70% rule - go for a really good job, instead of fearing about not making it perfect (aka 90% plus!) You can always do the kit again (usually speaking). Don't be afraid, we all start somewhere....cheers. Chris
a lot of model builders are guilty of these things, but afterall i know that i will be able to keep me busy for a looong time :) i rarely get precious kits, i actually enjoy these old imperial series dragon kits. they are rather easy to build and that way you can get through a project rather fast instead of having the latest up to date kit which is extremely complex.
@Hamilkar Barkas Although I also buy current slide moulded and detailed Dragon Smart Kits, I like their reboxed Dragon Cyber-Hobby Orange Box kits too. And with a set of Series 1 figurines included which are pretty decent for IM sculptures. That said, I'm not the ferocious rate builder you are.
Great video. Maybe not the best control of a stash of model kits but I have promised myself not exceed 100 unbuilt kits and I only buy a new kit if I am actively building :)
I have that issue too with the excuses. I finish a project then I can not decide what to build next. I look at the stash and procrastinate for a few days. I just make excuses in my head for each why I don’t want to build each kit.
That can be true sometimes Max! But only in the case of the "rare" bargains - I find stuff comes around again and again, especially the popular kits. But yeah, I now have a shelf of things that rarely turn up stashed away for that reason. Cheers, Chris
Some kits in the stash may never get built. They are special and I love the engineering. Periodically I pull them off the shelf admire the sprues and then put it back on the shelf... i.e. Tamiya 1/32 Spitfire, 1/32 Academy SUFA etc.
Lot depends on what you want from the hobby I am more of collector than just modeller I get great pleasure from having a built example in the collection and have them well stored in glass cabinets (currently about 1100) I also focus only on one scale 1/72, one period WW2, one type powered aircraft and within that only those operated by the British & Commonwealth forces or the Luftwaffe. So my collection is targeted and focused - still about 250 in stash though ! I agree with you about having priority groups I have done a lot of captured aircraft over the past 6 months in particular Japanese stuff captured and used by ATAIU SEA, prior to that I did about 30 P 40s and P 36s, French captured aircraft, Spitfire PRs and prior to that a bunch of Hudsons etc etc. I also tend to buy stuff for stash if reasonable price and I think it will be difficult to source in the future. I have a quite considerable set of Magna resins as I believe they have now gone out of production for example. However even with ubiquitous things like Airfix there are now limited runs for example souring the 1/72 Blenheim IV is now quite difficult and the TSR 2 (not for me) is now going for silly money. Furthermore with a lot of the Czech limited run and Hasegawa for example you know that it will not be available for very long. However I can say I have never bought a kit as an investment or without the intention of one day building it. I am lucky to have contacts who build stuff quite cheaply for the collection and others who also give me first refusal on bought built collections. In my mind at 53 years old providing I remain in reasonably good health I think most of the stuff I have will likely get built which to me is the acid test. I am not sure I will ever get an example of everything used by British & Commonwealth and the Luftwaffe as quite bit still doesn’t exist even in 1/72 but with 3D printing etc I will give it a damn good go. Then when mortality is catching up with me I hope to donate the collection to a good local museum who will love and value it, but we’ll see otherwise it might be for my wife and/or daughter to have to sell !
So many times i`ve gotten seconds when buying a kit. That`s a bit of an investment in the long run and you`ll feel better when parting with one of them although i`ve yet to start selling any of my roughly 1500 kits. Aftermarket i have no idea how much.
Ive made all the excuses you listed! My favourite is to look at some of my expensive kits, get them down, look inside, say nah, not ready yet and put them back and spend a hour or do wondering what to do! My favourite at the moment is to get a kit and immediately start thinking what kind of whatif I can do. Ive 7 tamiya pziv's all to be bases for whatifs
My main reason for my stash is holding on to models as they are out of production with no replacement, such as ITALERI YB-49 and XB-35 FLYING WINGS or MATCHBOX PB4Y2. Most of my stash is no longer in production with no alternatives. They may not be great kits in terms of todays level of quality or build but have no replacement if you want that particular model. I also find Nostalgia is a part of the reason for keeping a stash as it may remind you of kits you built as a kid. The other point is kits newly released are often sold out before reaching the store or not long afterward so you buy one you like before it becomes almost impossible to find.
All very valid reasons Rusty - especially in this day and age when sometimes getting that new kit can be harder due to supply constraints and/or limited runs. The new Border Models Lancaster rings a bell here!
lol, I am a bit different, I never go into a hobby shop, I only buy kits at flea markets, rummage/boot sales, it might take a while to find something specific but I've gotten some crazy cheap deals, once I got a early 70's airfix spitfire still unopened for $2.00
Hail Chin Chin! Yes i do this with my Hasegawa kits. The solution for me is to flatten the Hasegawa kit boxes and place them in binders would you believe. Most of the flaps are glued shut, so i just take my time and use a very long hobby blade and slice open right in between where the glue sits. It doesn`t take too long to develop this skill, but it can seem somewhat timeconsuming. The good ting is you can glue them back or restore the boxes should you ever need to do this. OCD modellers sure are a strange breed eh?! Anyway my dear chin hope you like my tip ;-)
I have a large house so its not that big a problem, with three very large display cabinets, but I also throw out some of my finished models - either give them to the children to play with, or give away to other modellers. Cheers Chris
I'm both reassured and worried that 30-40 is typical; Covid lockdown meant I was barely buying anything else, so for several months in 2020 I was buying models and aftermarket left and right.
G'day Chris, I've been viewing your older videos and I find this one, and the stash preview that went with this, most interesting. You've hit the nail on the head many times in these two videos. I think most serious modellers are guilty of most of these 'misdemeanours' over time, I know I have, except no one's ever accused me of having too few kits. Seeing this excellent video and having, recently, had my 66th birthday, led me to recall a great modeller I saw on CZcams a while back. He is an American with a New York accent right out of Central Casting. A good bloke. He says his wife came up with the fantastic acronym: S.A.B.L.E. = Stash Accumulation Beyond Life Expectancy. Now, I don't have any bad illnesses but I do suffer from a bad back, the result of an incident while I was in the RAAF. The doctors, back then, told me it would get worse as I got older. I was still a young bloke and largely forgot about that warning. But they were right. I'm wondering how long I can bend over my modelling table. I did take the advice of our mutual mate, Harry Houdini, and got myself a standing desk, however, I have to be realistic and get comfy with the thought that there will come a time when modelling, for me, is no longer possible. That's why I sold some of my rarer kits recently to finance a proper airbrushing set up so I can speed up some of my building goals. I look at my stash and see so many kits that I truly 'need' to build. I've decided to do my favourites first; the most challenging first to get the most satisfaction I can, while I can. I am interested by your preference to model with the 'gear up'. I nearly always do my aircraft with the gear down as that was the way I got to 'meet' my favourite aircraft while in the RAAF. Landing gear certainly does take an inordinate amount of time, compared to the rest of an aircraft build. Also, landing gear are not all the same and change with most aircraft types. They can be fiddly and sometimes downright frustrating so, now, I'm thinking about trying some in the gear up setting. Trouble is I don't know anything about suspending aircraft from a ceiling. Most I've seen suspended hide large parts of the upper parts of the models. Unlike the old days, models rarely come with stands anymore. I guess I could make stands but that would take up the time saved by not doing the landing gear. I'd really like to hear your thoughts on this matter. After having spent a year or so searching for most of the aircraft on the RAAF inventory, I've found a few aircraft, like the Caribou Mk 4 and the CA-27 Avon Sabre all but impossible to source these days, even though they were significant and popular airframes in the history of the RAAF. I'm told that the Caribou we had was only ever modelled in 1/72 and, yes, there are conversion kits for the Avon Sabre but the resin parts for that conversion are extremely poor quality and there's a squarish part on the conversion sprue nobody seems to be able to identify and where it fits on the model! For these and other reasons, I get a bit worked up when I see people who have 6 or 10 identical kits, or more. Given that all kits have a finite production time, long or short, it doesn't seem fair that there are Mk4 Caribou kits I know that are out there but are just sitting in dark cupboards somewhere. Just recently, I pre-ordered the new tooling of the Airfix 1/72 Vulcan only to have my money refunded and my order cancelled. That actually happened with 2 more model sellers with this kit. The pandemic aside, why does Airfix do worldwide publicity on new kits and then seem to sell them only to the home UK market? The pandemic, no. Many UK suppliers are still fulfilling international orders and to Australia; I know this because I'm still getting kits from the UK. My childhood ‘love affair’ with Airfix is starting to disintegrate, big time. Anyway, mate, I didn't mean to turn this long comment into a whinge session, sorry about that. I've really been enjoying working my way through your older videos. Cheers, BH
Gday Bill, always good to talk to you here! Yes Ive heard of SABLE before. My breakeven point is 20 something kits a year need to be completed or the stash grows exponentially - Im WAY behind! It takes forever to film kits on CZcams so ever since I restarted the channel, my output has diminished considerably, although I have nearly 40 kits started. I need to redouble my efforts! I will be doing some videos on how I do aircraft in flight soon, there are some very easy methods to achieve it. Cheers Chris
I just buy what I like so I'll have one when I'm ready to build it. I keep the stash below 300 - a small collection compared to some of my friends' stashes. Ten years slip by and my 1/14 Ferrari XYZ1000 or whatever is now super rare worth five times what I paid for it. Hmm, time to thin 10 kits on eBay. It fuels a round of buying 2 or 3 kits I've been wanting that are getting stale in the market (discounted). So, theoretically I never actually spend money because I buy high value kits when they are common as fleas. Then sell them when people can't live without one. Heck, I've made a lot of money doing something I'd do for free anyway. I keep a running inventory with acquisition date/cost, current estimated value and other data to keep me honest with myself. The high cost of shipping as well as new changes in US tax laws mean less profit. I know I can't build all of them. But which ones I plan to build is a list that is constantly changing.
@@beckersmodels I'm mostly into limited run car kits. Other genre's like armor are tough to make money because the manufacturers are constantly leap-frogging over one another with new tooling investments for the same subjects. Easy to end up with a closet full of near worthless kits. I only buy a Tamiya kit if I'm starting it that very night, haha.
Can you recommend a good place to order model kits from. I dont have a local hobby shop near me. Been looking to build a pair of F100 super sabers, 1/72.
Well I have to have a hobby shop at my house because I don't have any good hobby shop around me and iam a fulltime model builder so I order kits I will get sometimes 5 or more of the same kits .I took over my Whole entire basement I have in my basement over 400 model kits just in my work area and I have probly 500 kits in storage unit right Across the street from my house which makes it very convenient . But I'm also sponsored by a lot of different model company so i get a lot of kits for free .and I collect tools and paint its really bad .but I make very very Good money in the hobby.
There comes a point for the older plastic modeller at which realisation occurs one has a STABLE. Now that's not a crisis which will make the earth topple from its axis, but it is a red flag to stop buying more kits, or at least be extremely discriminative and selective buying anything additional. Unless your hobby is the collecting aspect and building and finishing, you have the space and budget, so # of kits is completely moot.
You mean SABLE? Stash Acquistion Beyond Life Expectancy? I've definitely got a "collectable" pile in my stash, but I am moving towards reducing the "buildable" pile - as the red flags continue to go up!
I’m one of those who has thousands of unbuilt models. I think the fact that I am into planes, trains, automobiles, ships, military, and sci-fi is part of the problem. I have never bought for investment, it has always been to build some day. I am not delusional and realize I will never build them all.
guilty as charged. heck I buy a half track, 105 or 3in gun, then I have to get the ammo, then I don't build the diorama, I'm looking at my diorama builds now .
i guess im the only one that will comment i dont have a stash of kits the most i have had on hand at any one time is 3 at a time and i dont have an airbrush as well
Warren Zevon famously noted that, “We love to buy books because we believe we're buying the time to read them." I think the same may be said of plastic modelers.
Thanks for posting this!
Thanks for the advice and you’re a good father, too! I’m getting back in to model building after a 65 year break. I have 13 kits 12 aircraft and 1 an M43 ambulance like the one I drove in Korea 1966/67. I’ve told myself not to buy any more until I’ve completed two kits. I’ll start with a F6F-5 Hellcat 1/48 then try an A6A Intruder 1/100. The B-24 1/48 will be next year. I was afraid my hobby was starting to become “Buying Kits”instead of “Building Them”!
When my husband retired he had amassed over 500 unbuilt kits, mostly aircraft. About 15 years ago he sold lots of them on ebay and now the inventory is just over 200 kits. He has around twenty 1/72 P-3C Orion kits from different manufactures, mostly Hasegawa.
Today he doesn't build as he use to and says the Testor's Model Master paints are just too expensive ($15) for a 1/2 oz bottle. They use to be $1.69.
Our sons have the same interest in model building.
Paint and other supplies have become much more expensive compared to kits. I'd advise him to sell some spare kits and invest in really good paint and tools!
I love people with large stashes because every so often these people suddenly have a change of heart and decide to make room in their house for other projects or they just don't fancy that kit anymore and decide to sell it off at 50% at the local hobby store and I would snap them up :)
Great video. Good to see an Aussie making modelling videos for a change. I started modelling 8 months ago and made a promise I would never have more kits in my stash than completed models.
Tally so far....... completed 2, stash 16. Doh!
Completely ops normal mate. 😄
Better than my ratio... 10 on the shelf for every one built... 😂
I'm hoping to get my kids into it and my nieces and nephews, so they can build some of them.
Yes...I, too, have a 'stash' and an 'actual stash'. I have a very good idea of what comes next for at least ten kits out...My over-the-top stash (600+ kits) is dedicated to a young man presently too young to build. He may never use them, but he can sell them for whatever cash he can get.
Great idea with the mini ' ready to go' stash. I gotta get this sorted. Thanks for reminding me. Loving the channel.
Great video, Chris! I like the idea of the ready to build shelf. I began selling kits from my stash on the Military Model Graveyard back in December, 2015. I realized I had way too many kits that I would never get around to building, so why not sell them to someone who perhaps wanted to build it. Started selling the doubles first, then my old MPC Star Wars kits, then the old Revell & Monogram stuff. The money has gone into good tools and paints (and, sadly, a few newer tooled kits).
Three months ago my stash exceeded 500 models. I also had a box with close to 200 HO-scale models. Now, I've cut that in half and will likely halve it again by June 2019. Sad, but I won't live long enough to finish them all. The good news? I'm making a ton of money selling them.🙂👍
I buy a kit based on what I want at the moment, I also have very little time to visit the shops but more time to build the kits. This makes my stash very small, the largest amount of unbuilt kits I had at one time was 2. Most are Tamiya and Italeri because they're the cheapest and most plentiful where I live.
Chris great video, I'am so so guilty of everything you mention in this vid. and you have inspired me to thin out my stash before it's all to late. cheers
I'm 13 years old and broke so my stash never exceeds 6 or 7 lol. I love warbirds! (Rn I'm working on a f18 though)
Later you have the money, but no time, though (-:
You will probably go through a period where you discover girls and cars and the come back to the hobby I did in my thirties am now in my early fifties and my stash is currently 250!
I take a few favourites that I pick from the stash and have been known to carry them from room to room inspecting them before putting them back in my stash. I know, I know... 😒
Lots of ideas in here that are really useful for a would-be-builder like me... thanks for helping me look reality in the eye and get stuff done. Some. In the very near future. ;)
I've got a bunch of old Tamiya 1/12 car kits... just like looking at them- might build when I retire
It's my experience that most kits have a very short production run. They appear in the shops, maybe there is plenty of them but when they are gone they never come back. Or ages later, as a vintage kit.
One such item is the Airfix 1/32 scale Beach Buggy. For more than 40 years it was gone and if you found one it cost a small fortune (for such a small heap of plastic anyway). And now Airfix brought it back, at a normal price and in large quantities. Until those are gone ...
Ive had a similar shorter term experience, it seems that Tamiya stuff was almost always available, while Hasegawa would only pop up every now and then. We of course got a lot of the Chinese stuff too, whereas Airfix would come and go as you said...thanks for your comment, cheers Chris
Great tips Chris! Just subscribed and I'm enjoying your channel. Happy modeling!
I have an inventory of my stach, helps to get aftermarket items to increase detail, lots of decals and figures to go with the 1/35 AFV
Me too - I have detailed files in a big excel spreadsheet...its half the fun!
Hi Robert, me too. Every Tamiya kit I have got gets Cartograf decals. Tamiya make beautifully engineered models but the go cheap on the decals...
Hi Chris, I have a stash of about 30 kits. The best one was the Bandai 1/72 perfect grade millenium falcon, I bought it when it was first release because it was a limited edition. When the wife found out about a year later she went a little crazy at the $400ish price. I sat her down and showed her the current prices on ebay and amazon and she shut up and has never complained since. Please note that she owns horses.
I have that Bandai Falcon too, its in my "Top Ten" of my 100 or so kits.I haven't checked how much they are now, but I think they're worth every penny.
My daughter wants to get into horses, now that can be an expensive hobby! (I used to ride BMW motorbikes, thats just as bad....Bring More Wallet as they say) This hobby is super cheap.....
I've no stash, never had one. This happens when a modelers build rate matches new purchases coming in the front door. A narrow, limited or specific interest can once again make new kit numbers also limited, or much fewer than a builder with wide interests and loves everything.
You are a rare duck then Bruce - my interests keep changing, and one day the stash will draw down, but not yet....cheers Chris
Hi Chris I absolutely agree with you and my Stash is just about to be a lot lighter .
yes sir very true on what your saying iam in that rut thank you for sharing
There was a guy who passed away with an enormous aircraft stash (by my standards, 2-4000 maybe), but every box had the instruction and decals packed separately, with a huge code system catalogue, made by the owner, to keep track of it all... The Hobby Shop that bought the stash spent days returning all the papers to their boxes... No space saving in the effort, since he kept all the boxes... I am still mad that, as one of their most frequent customer, with a fidelity card and my phone in their files, the Hobby Shop never called me, even though much of it was my scale/Era. I missed out on practically all of it. It happened in just the one very rare two week stretch that I did not go there... I am sure I was one of their very top customers, and given that the scale/Era matched for most of it, I really wonder what these people expect me to think of them...
I just got into this hobby and I already have almost run out of room in my closet. I have found really good deals so my stash has quickly grown to about 20, yes I am a noob. Also, there are certain models that are only out a few years then they sky rocket in price like sci fi models (except star trek). My nre airbrush and paints are on the way!!
Great video Chris , I enjoy having a large stash as when its time to start a new model I get to spend a relaxing hour trying to decide who my next victim will be. Nice display of wheels up planes behind you how are they mounted ? I build all mine wheels down as kits do not come with the plastic stands as they did in the old days.
My Mrs just found this and made me watch it, she said you have described me to a tee, i think one thing that holds me back is a fear of making the kit and its not being good enough.
Just remember that collecting kits can be a different hobby from making them - and also one way to address your fears is to remember that A. Its just plastic and B. use the 70% rule - go for a really good job, instead of fearing about not making it perfect (aka 90% plus!) You can always do the kit again (usually speaking). Don't be afraid, we all start somewhere....cheers. Chris
a lot of model builders are guilty of these things, but afterall i know that i will be able to keep me busy for a looong time :) i rarely get precious kits, i actually enjoy these old imperial series dragon kits. they are rather easy to build and that way you can get through a project rather fast instead of having the latest up to date kit which is extremely complex.
@Hamilkar Barkas Although I also buy current slide moulded and detailed Dragon Smart Kits, I like their reboxed Dragon Cyber-Hobby Orange Box kits too. And with a set of Series 1 figurines included which are pretty decent for IM sculptures. That said, I'm not the ferocious rate builder you are.
You are so sensible! That’s what I need right now…………I’ll take up the stupid n crazy a little later!!
Bob
England
Dont be too sensible though, there is room for some craziness here and there...should see my latest stash!
@@beckersmodels firs time I have thought this about an Aussie but I wish you lived next door!.., 😝
Great video. Maybe not the best control of a stash of model kits but I have promised myself not exceed 100 unbuilt kits and I only buy a new kit if I am actively building :)
Monster kit in the background Monogram/Revell "Full Stack" Space Shuttle in 1/72.
Sadly that kit has gone now - not enough room with all the other monsters I have planned...cheers Chris
Great video!
I have that issue too with the excuses. I finish a project then I can not decide what to build next. I look at the stash and procrastinate for a few days. I just make excuses in my head for each why I don’t want to build each kit.
The problem with not buying the bargain when you see it is that in 3 months time when you want to build it, it is no longer available.
That can be true sometimes Max! But only in the case of the "rare" bargains - I find stuff comes around again and again, especially the popular kits. But yeah, I now have a shelf of things that rarely turn up stashed away for that reason. Cheers, Chris
Some kits in the stash may never get built. They are special and I love the engineering. Periodically I pull them off the shelf admire the sprues and then put it back on the shelf... i.e. Tamiya 1/32 Spitfire, 1/32 Academy SUFA etc.
Lot depends on what you want from the hobby I am more of collector than just modeller I get great pleasure from having a built example in the collection and have them well stored in glass cabinets (currently about 1100) I also focus only on one scale 1/72, one period WW2, one type powered aircraft and within that only those operated by the British & Commonwealth forces or the Luftwaffe. So my collection is targeted and focused - still about 250 in stash though !
I agree with you about having priority groups I have done a lot of captured aircraft over the past 6 months in particular Japanese stuff captured and used by ATAIU SEA, prior to that I did about 30 P 40s and P 36s, French captured aircraft, Spitfire PRs and prior to that a bunch of Hudsons etc etc. I also tend to buy stuff for stash if reasonable price and I think it will be difficult to source in the future. I have a quite considerable set of Magna resins as I believe they have now gone out of production for example. However even with ubiquitous things like Airfix there are now limited runs for example souring the 1/72 Blenheim IV is now quite difficult and the TSR 2 (not for me) is now going for silly money. Furthermore with a lot of the Czech limited run and Hasegawa for example you know that it will not be available for very long.
However I can say I have never bought a kit as an investment or without the intention of one day building it. I am lucky to have contacts who build stuff quite cheaply for the collection and others who also give me first refusal on bought built collections. In my mind at 53 years old providing I remain in reasonably good health I think most of the stuff I have will likely get built which to me is the acid test. I am not sure I will ever get an example of everything used by British & Commonwealth and the Luftwaffe as quite bit still doesn’t exist even in 1/72 but with 3D printing etc I will give it a damn good go. Then when mortality is catching up with me I hope to donate the collection to a good local museum who will love and value it, but we’ll see otherwise it might be for my wife and/or daughter to have to sell !
Great comment and enthusiasm John and I admire your efforts in 1/72 scale! Cheers Chris
@@beckersmodels thanks Chris.
So many times i`ve gotten seconds when buying a kit. That`s a bit of an investment in the long run and you`ll feel better when parting with one of them although i`ve yet to start selling any of my roughly 1500 kits. Aftermarket i have no idea how much.
Ive made all the excuses you listed! My favourite is to look at some of my expensive kits, get them down, look inside, say nah, not ready yet and put them back and spend a hour or do wondering what to do! My favourite at the moment is to get a kit and immediately start thinking what kind of whatif I can do. Ive 7 tamiya pziv's all to be bases for whatifs
I love the what ifs - done quite a few myself, including a VVS A-Wing!
step 1 to cutting down the stash? I've gotta kick the video game habit.
Yeah Im glad I dont go down that road - I play Star Wars Squadrons on my kids PS4, but thats it!
My main reason for my stash is holding on to models as they are out of production with no replacement, such as ITALERI YB-49 and XB-35 FLYING WINGS or MATCHBOX PB4Y2. Most of my stash is no longer in production with no alternatives. They may not be great kits in terms of todays level of quality or build but have no replacement if you want that particular model. I also find Nostalgia is a part of the reason for keeping a stash as it may remind you of kits you built as a kid. The other point is kits newly released are often sold out before reaching the store or not long afterward so you buy one you like before it becomes almost impossible to find.
All very valid reasons Rusty - especially in this day and age when sometimes getting that new kit can be harder due to supply constraints and/or limited runs. The new Border Models Lancaster rings a bell here!
@@beckersmodelsI Enjoy your work, cheers.
lol, I am a bit different, I never go into a hobby shop, I only buy kits at flea markets, rummage/boot sales, it might take a while to find something specific but I've gotten some crazy cheap deals, once I got a early 70's airfix spitfire still unopened for $2.00
I think you need a 1/48th Karaya Short Crusader that you can pick up from Dwayne via Paul.
I like hoarding empty boxes of kits I already finished, help me...
Hail Chin Chin! Yes i do this with my Hasegawa kits. The solution for me is to flatten the Hasegawa kit boxes and place them in binders would you believe. Most of the flaps are glued shut, so i just take my time and use a very long hobby blade and slice open right in between where the glue sits. It doesn`t take too long to develop this skill, but it can seem somewhat timeconsuming. The good ting is you can glue them back or restore the boxes should you ever need to do this. OCD modellers sure are a strange breed eh?! Anyway my dear chin hope you like my tip ;-)
I have a one year rule if it not progused i keep it but any thing i can re sell/buy gos
I buy armour kits,mostly,because I love the hobby.
Cool 😎😎👍
Hi, sorry about the translator's English. Excellent video, I liked it. Now, how do you manage the assembled kits and the lack of space?
I have a large house so its not that big a problem, with three very large display cabinets, but I also throw out some of my finished models - either give them to the children to play with, or give away to other modellers. Cheers Chris
I dont have too many models just options
Smart!
I'm both reassured and worried that 30-40 is typical; Covid lockdown meant I was barely buying anything else, so for several months in 2020 I was buying models and aftermarket left and right.
Heh heh, don't worry its perfectly normal. I worry about the folks who have no stash at all! Cheers Chris
I have 15 in my stash an Build 3 or 4 tanks A year so not to bad
G'day Chris, I've been viewing your older videos and I find this one, and the stash preview that went with this, most interesting. You've hit the nail on the head many times in these two videos. I think most serious modellers are guilty of most of these 'misdemeanours' over time, I know I have, except no one's ever accused me of having too few kits.
Seeing this excellent video and having, recently, had my 66th birthday, led me to recall a great modeller I saw on CZcams a while back. He is an American with a New York accent right out of Central Casting. A good bloke. He says his wife came up with the fantastic acronym: S.A.B.L.E. = Stash Accumulation Beyond Life Expectancy.
Now, I don't have any bad illnesses but I do suffer from a bad back, the result of an incident while I was in the RAAF. The doctors, back then, told me it would get worse as I got older. I was still a young bloke and largely forgot about that warning. But they were right. I'm wondering how long I can bend over my modelling table. I did take the advice of our mutual mate, Harry Houdini, and got myself a standing desk, however, I have to be realistic and get comfy with the thought that there will come a time when modelling, for me, is no longer possible. That's why I sold some of my rarer kits recently to finance a proper airbrushing set up so I can speed up some of my building goals.
I look at my stash and see so many kits that I truly 'need' to build. I've decided to do my favourites first; the most challenging first to get the most satisfaction I can, while I can.
I am interested by your preference to model with the 'gear up'. I nearly always do my aircraft with the gear down as that was the way I got to 'meet' my favourite aircraft while in the RAAF.
Landing gear certainly does take an inordinate amount of time, compared to the rest of an aircraft build. Also, landing gear are not all the same and change with most aircraft types. They can be fiddly and sometimes downright frustrating so, now, I'm thinking about trying some in the gear up setting. Trouble is I don't know anything about suspending aircraft from a ceiling. Most I've seen suspended hide large parts of the upper parts of the models. Unlike the old days, models rarely come with stands anymore. I guess I could make stands but that would take up the time saved by not doing the landing gear. I'd really like to hear your thoughts on this matter.
After having spent a year or so searching for most of the aircraft on the RAAF inventory, I've found a few aircraft, like the Caribou Mk 4 and the CA-27 Avon Sabre all but impossible to source these days, even though they were significant and popular airframes in the history of the RAAF. I'm told that the Caribou we had was only ever modelled in 1/72 and, yes, there are conversion kits for the Avon Sabre but the resin parts for that conversion are extremely poor quality and there's a squarish part on the conversion sprue nobody seems to be able to identify and where it fits on the model!
For these and other reasons, I get a bit worked up when I see people who have 6 or 10 identical kits, or more. Given that all kits have a finite production time, long or short, it doesn't seem fair that there are Mk4 Caribou kits I know that are out there but are just sitting in dark cupboards somewhere.
Just recently, I pre-ordered the new tooling of the Airfix 1/72 Vulcan only to have my money refunded and my order cancelled. That actually happened with 2 more model sellers with this kit. The pandemic aside, why does Airfix do worldwide publicity on new kits and then seem to sell them only to the home UK market? The pandemic, no. Many UK suppliers are still fulfilling international orders and to Australia; I know this because I'm still getting kits from the UK. My childhood ‘love affair’ with Airfix is starting to disintegrate, big time.
Anyway, mate, I didn't mean to turn this long comment into a whinge session, sorry about that. I've really been enjoying working my way through your older videos. Cheers, BH
Gday Bill, always good to talk to you here! Yes Ive heard of SABLE before. My breakeven point is 20 something kits a year need to be completed or the stash grows exponentially - Im WAY behind! It takes forever to film kits on CZcams so ever since I restarted the channel, my output has diminished considerably, although I have nearly 40 kits started. I need to redouble my efforts!
I will be doing some videos on how I do aircraft in flight soon, there are some very easy methods to achieve it. Cheers Chris
I just buy what I like so I'll have one when I'm ready to build it. I keep the stash below 300 - a small collection compared to some of my friends' stashes. Ten years slip by and my 1/14 Ferrari XYZ1000 or whatever is now super rare worth five times what I paid for it. Hmm, time to thin 10 kits on eBay. It fuels a round of buying 2 or 3 kits I've been wanting that are getting stale in the market (discounted). So, theoretically I never actually spend money because I buy high value kits when they are common as fleas. Then sell them when people can't live without one. Heck, I've made a lot of money doing something I'd do for free anyway. I keep a running inventory with acquisition date/cost, current estimated value and other data to keep me honest with myself.
The high cost of shipping as well as new changes in US tax laws mean less profit. I know I can't build all of them. But which ones I plan to build is a list that is constantly changing.
I totally get the "fuelling another round of buying" - this is my cycle basically!
@@beckersmodels I'm mostly into limited run car kits. Other genre's like armor are tough to make money because the manufacturers are constantly leap-frogging over one another with new tooling investments for the same subjects. Easy to end up with a closet full of near worthless kits. I only buy a Tamiya kit if I'm starting it that very night, haha.
Can you recommend a good place to order model kits from. I dont have a local hobby shop near me. Been looking to build a pair of F100 super sabers, 1/72.
look on FB. scale model graveyard
hobbylinc, Squadron nowadays thinks their kits are made of gold
I have 2 kits in my stash 🥺
Well I have to have a hobby shop at my house because I don't have any good hobby shop around me and iam a fulltime model builder so I order kits I will get sometimes 5 or more of the same kits .I took over my Whole entire basement I have in my basement over 400 model kits just in my work area and I have probly 500 kits in storage unit right Across the street from my house which makes it very convenient . But I'm also sponsored by a lot of different model company so i get a lot of kits for free .and I collect tools and paint its really bad .but I make very very Good money in the hobby.
I wonder how many kits you could get in exchange for a kid. ???
I have 4 words: Subject/scale/Era discipline.
OR dont build one up in the first place! Heh heh, thats where I'm out, slowing pulling it down in size, listening to my own cooking...Cheers Chris
There comes a point for the older plastic modeller at which realisation occurs one has a STABLE. Now that's not a crisis which will make the earth topple from its axis, but it is a red flag to stop buying more kits, or at least be extremely discriminative and selective buying anything additional. Unless your hobby is the collecting aspect and building and finishing, you have the space and budget, so # of kits is completely moot.
You mean SABLE? Stash Acquistion Beyond Life Expectancy? I've definitely got a "collectable" pile in my stash, but I am moving towards reducing the "buildable" pile - as the red flags continue to go up!
I’m one of those who has thousands of unbuilt models. I think the fact that I am into planes, trains, automobiles, ships, military, and sci-fi is part of the problem. I have never bought for investment, it has always been to build some day. I am not delusional and realize I will never build them all.
Nothing wrong in collecting models; its just a different part of our hobby!
guilty as charged. heck I buy a half track, 105 or 3in gun, then I have to get the ammo, then I don't build the diorama, I'm looking at my diorama builds now .
i guess im the only one that will comment i dont have a stash of kits the most i have had on hand at any one time is 3 at a time and i dont have an airbrush as well
I got a airbrush kit off amazon a few months ago, I've built 5 kits since I bought it.
I also will buy ww2 German and Russian kits if any one has any that they want to sell .mostly dragon kit or meng or Takom hobby boss no junk
Getting UP your goat is illegal in the UK.
What the fuck does that mean? Are you on the same video or planet?
MANY PEOPLE HAVE THE THEORY ITS NOT THE POINT BUILDING THEM BUT INSTEAD HAVING A HUGE PILE OF PLASTIC WHAT A WASTE OF MONEY
Why do you people always think it's cool to drink a cuppa whilst being filmed, get it down yet neck beforehand!
Relax Peter. Its to get people to relax and enjoy the video. Sometimes I even have something in the cup!