Well, my wife and I finally picked up a digital camera. A panasonic FZ20.. And hee is one of the first pics taken with the new toy.. Now Im no photographer, and the lighting in the basement really sucks.. but here is my stash..Id say half was given to me some time ago and the rest were purchased at a closing sale.. Oh, and the stash is growing as we speak.. just this mornig I ordered a whack mre kits.. SWMBO is going to freak.. LOL... oh well, now the camera is here I can post some pics.. Am currently working on an M1A1. Its almost reay for paint...

Mojo

This looks like my starter set :-) Gotta start somewhere. Have fun and enjoy them while you can remember what you have. Mine have taken on a life of their own. LOL. "Q"

Thats a great camera Dave, I have the FZ10 (the 20 wasn't out yet). I am amazed at the zoom capabilities of this thing and the gyro helps when your to lazy to get the tripod out. I guess we are both "starters" when it comes to stash size, mines about the same size , but I say quality not quantity :-) :-)
Have fun with your new toy, and lets see some pics!

LOL.. Starter set is right.. I saw some pics on here some time ago, and the fella looked like he had himself a store.. I mean its a disease.. LOL.. The only thing is where to go after I finish the abrams..

Bruce, this is a fantasic camera.. 12x optical zoom... Leica lens.. . But Im looking forward to getting the hang of it..

Maybe this is something you guys can help me with: why is it so many of us have such a large stack of models in the waiting pile? It seems to me to be a waste, as full-time modellers don't even have enough time to finish all of them considering new ones just get added. Maybe it is just me and my busted bank account. Sorry, I don't mean to sound arrogant or "Shame, shame!" for a lack of better description. I am just trying to figure out a problem most, if not all, modellers have. Sort of a psychotherapy lesson.

By the way Dave, first of all, no need to be modest about your picture quality. You do not need perfect lighting to take a picture of a bunch of boxes . That being said, the quality is actually pretty good. Great snag.

Jeff

thats a real starter all right .. I got more than that hidden around and i've only been building since dec 01... the trick is to spread it around...

my wife is short therefore I got the top shelf of the linen closet full with about 20 kits jigsawed in... and I build a false ceiling over the small utility/laundry room to get to my stuff I have to stand on the washer.. .. a sure guarentee that the wife won't look there.

Provided she doesn't peruse the forums here!

Jeff

Jeff, its a never ending cycle. The way I see it is this. Company "A" comes out with a kit. The kits is nice and is on the LHS shelves for several years. The kit then goes out of production OR company "B" makes a better kit of it. Now we "Have to" get one of these as well. Multiply this times "X" number of kits and you can see where the bulk comes from. Why do we (Modelers) do it? beats the hell outta me. I know I have more kits than I could possibly build in the next ten years, but I'm happy with that. I will trade off some that I know I'll never build, or donate them to my clubs as raffle material. And believe it or not, most of the huge amounts of stuff I have I either traded for, or got some extremely great deals on. ie. $12 for a Tamiya Dragon Wagon still in shrink wrap.
In 1992 I asked a guy in my club in NC how many kits he had in his stash....he quit counting in 1989 at 3000!
If his house ever catches fire, just look for the huge black column of smoke, I'm sure I'll be able to see it here in Colorado! :-) "Q"

LOL....hey Red, didn't you just bring home a stash from the local hobby club's auction about that size????

But hey, we have all been there, starting off in a small stash as that, mind you there are a few things there that I wouldn't mind having....like I need to add to my own stash!!!!!!!

Mine started like this. When I left for college, I didn't have a lot of room in the car to bring kits with me so I left my kits at home. (Stash #1)

When I got to college, I was relatively far away from home (250 miles) and did not have a car at first. Friends I met at college showed me various hobby shops that had a much wider selection of models than I had at home. (Stash #2)

After college, I brought all my kits home and went into the Army. I did not have a lot of room in the car (2-door VW Rabbit), so I left my kits at my parents home. (Stash #1+2)

After I arrived in Germany, I found a lot more kits that I hadn't seen before. Verlinden aftermarket items were basically the only AM items on the market at the time. They were plentiful in Europe and relatively inexpensive. Besides, I had virtually no bills and a pretty good income.

When I left Germany, I had the kits packed up as household goods. I gave a bunch of stuff away, both built and unbuilt, but basically brought what I wanted back with me. (Stash #3)

When I arrived back in the states, I was shipped back overseas (Desert Storm) but all my stuff was on a boat. It all went into long term storage while I was deployed. When I came back, I arranged to have my stuff delivered, but picked up a few kits to work on while I waited (about a month). (Stash #4)

Stash #3 and #4 combine and contine to grow each time I move. A few moves and 14 years later, I'm only 100 miles from my parents home. My parents are cleaning out the house in preparation for retirement and the move to Florida. I collect up stash #1+2 and combine it with the current stash #3+4.

That's how the stash gets so big. Many of my in progress kits get damaged in transit. I hate to throw away the kit since it will still be good for parts. Seems like I'm always dipping into an old kit box to send some parts to a modeler in need.

Also my interests change. I used to build as many cars and planes as I did armor and sci-fi. Now I stick mainly to armor and sci-fi. My armor tastes have focused on 1/72 scale recently so I now have amassed a good amount of 1/72 scale armor kits.

Matthew also has another reason. I spent forever collecting up the various aftermarket items needed to build the ultimate M41 Walker Bulldog. Then Skybow and AFV Club both come out with new ones that are superior to the old one plus AM. Multiply that by all the Jeeps, Hummers, tanks, etc. that have come out and the stash gets enormous.

My oldest unbuilt (but started) kit is an original issue Tamiya M2 Bradley with interior. I probably bought it between the fall of 1986 and summer 1987 when I left college for good. It is about ½ way completed but just never got around to finishing it. I've had it in my possession again since the fall of 2001.

Then you don't want to get into the sci-fi kits. Those things seem to increase exponentially in price as the movie comes and goes. Seems a shame to get rid of a kit that is literally OOP in a matter of months and is then worth 5 times as much. About the only sci-fi movie that had kits that aren't worth a bunch of money are Star Wars Episode 1 the Phantom Menance kits.

I've got the same disease and got it badly.. hench Operation Shrink the Stash: Build More in 05.
There is a thread over in the general DG, I think to that effect.

I've had the problem of living in a smallish apartment and not having a permenant place to leave things in progress so I would build things up until the point that one more part meant that it would not fit into the kit box, also not being able to airbrush at home contributed as well, and finding Ebay and generally being a kit collector.
So I have a large collection of partly built kits.
Like 50-100 partly built kits...

My plan is to finish off one of these every 'stash queens' a month for the year.
So far this year, it's the end of month 3 and I've finished 4 kits with another 3-4 within a day's time of being done. None of these will be contest winners, none will be the pride and joy of a collection, but I'll have the fun of finishing up something I stared, trying out new things and seeing how my skills have developed over time.

There is hope,
Mike

Would this be what you were thinking of? ( I know, shameless self-promotion, I ought to be ashamed... )



On the serious side, when I went off to college I only had about 6 or so kits. When I left college, it had doubled to 12. Then I went to work at a Hobby Shop and moved to a large metropolitan area. My collection EXPLODED! And now, I am just trying to build all the kits I can as fast as I can...and only buying at a very moderate rate now. But when DML and Trumpeter come out with such good kits nowadays, it is hard to ignore them...

I feel for you Jacques, working at a hobby shop, seeing all the new releases coming in, would be hard to resist.

I am actually in the process of starting an online/Ebay store hobby business, and seeing what some of these cost, I am having a hard time not spending all of my profits on these kits for myself!!! Some places have some wicked markup on these, anywhere between 25-60% depending on the kit!!!!!

So far I have resisted, not sure how long I can hold out mind you, my only 2 lines so far are Trumpeter and Academy, but I am working on Dragon as well. Hopefully I can get it!!!

AHHH, Jacques, you have a small hobby store! I guarantee if you tried, you could see some of them for decent money on eBay.

Thanks for the replies all. I appreciate the clarifications.

Jeff

Hi all,
has anybody ever told you that the plastic things inside the boxes should be assembled then painted ? :-) :-)

I'm ashamed to take any picture of my so poor a stash with only 6 kits to build.

olivier

The part-built stash.

Most everything in this shelving unit is started and built to within a part or two of not fitting in the closed box.

I am NOT a well man!
Mike

I do not work at the Hobby SHop any longer...been a few years. It was what got me started with the insanity...

Yeah, I know, it is disgusting...adn I do sell a few of the kits from time to time.

Just for an example, I just sold a 1/72 Contrail M-52 Bounder for a few bucks. But I am SO SAD to have sold it off... Needed seed money to buy other kits.

Also, the pic above only shows my ARMOR stash. I have an extensive collection of aircraft, ships, and sci-fi. Oh, and figures.

Of course, now I am just braggin', and that just ain't right.

Maybe MLD and I should build some kits?

I don't like to pay a lot for shipping so in order to make it seem more reasonable, I buy 2 or 3 kits. Don't like paying $7 for some small item so I add a kit to balance it out. That with all the kits that go OOP you get them so when you do want to build it you have it

OMG MLD.. LOL.. now, I could help you out there.. My wife and I are heading To New hampshire this August.. I could take a few of those kits off your hands for you.. *L*

Mojo

Mojo,
Where in NH are you headed?
Not much in the area for hobby shops I'm afraid. Most of that pile came from mail order.
If you're going to be anywhere near the Hanover/Lebanon area of the Upper Valley, drop me a line.
With any luck, I'll have 6-7 fewer models in that pile by then.

Mike

Honestly, I think there's a pheremone or chemical the manufacturers put in the kit plastic that make you want to buy kits. I've got my own modest "to do" stash, and I've been fairly successful in not buying any kits of late (since the holidays, at least). But every single time I go into the LHS just to "look around" I get an urge to pick up at least two or three kits. Then I take a deep breath, put them back, and can justify getting a couple bottles of paint, or some AM detail that catches my eye.

Here's a photo of the stash:

I'll tell you why I have so many kits....I'm totally, completely NUTS! I need a shrink. I'm obsessive/compulsive. I go out of my way to look for hobby shops and sales. I guess I buy an average of 1-2 kits per month. My stash is huge. I think my wife is starting to suspect something..i can't keep on telling her that we are victims of identity fraud and that's why we don't have any money in the bank! As soon as i get the gumption (and knowledge) I will post a few pictures of my stash.
I sometimes work on 2-3 models at a time. Right now I have 5 models in various stages of completion. I'm about to run out of room in my work area. I'll have to move my collection to the Garage!!!!!
All joking aside...I do believe there is some element of truth to the "sickness" aspect of collecting more than you need.
I think my sickness stems from the fact that when Iwas young I used to collect and play with Airfix 1/72 scale plastic figures. Mostly WW I & WWII. My mother was sick and my father was doing the house-cleaning..he told me if he found one more "soldier" on the floor he was going to throw the entire collection away.... well he found another one on the floor and it jammed up the vacuum cleaner and he threw all of my (hundreds) of figures away! I was heartbroken. I was only 8 or 9 years old.
I guess I just feel that I'm in charge now and nobody is going to tell me what i can and can't keep, buy or collect. I hope I do settle down at some point or i'm going to have to buy a bigger house!

I am making progress, I am making progress, I am making progress. I have a D-520 and a P-47 nearing completion. Now, to just avoid the temptation to buy anything else in the near future. (Deep breaths, deep breaths, steady, easy boy, thats it) I might even finish three or 4 by the end of the month. April holds a whole new bag of kits to get to completion. Any body got and sedatives? :-) Have fun guys. Its just a hobby.....yeah right :-) "Q"

If they're using pheremones in the plastic, then I must be really receptive to it.

That pile starts on the floor, is six feet wide, and the ceilling is about 7 and 1/2 feet.


It's tough to convince my wife I need more kits.