Hi all,

I am learning how to model correctly. So far I have completed 2 armor model and working
on 2 more.

My wife is complaining that the 2 completed armor model and the 2 to be completed
model are taking up to much space at home and threaten to make them garbage bin armor
model soon if I do not do anything about them.....and they beautiful artwork boxes.... I still
have 3 more boxes of brand new sprues that is yet to be open !!!

Any of you has the same problem ???? What excuse you give your wife, if any ???
Help save my model.....

mikado,

i understand how u feel...in fact as time goes by, we will have a lot more collection than 2!! and most wives will say something like that.....

for me, i have setup a small display case..back then when i lived in a small apartment, i only display the smaller model and the bigger one i put inside boxes...

and women do love to decorate our house with flowers, vase, photos, etc..etc and many of them didnt like having tanks, submarines and a bunch of soldiers figurines taking up spaces in 'their' aprtment...

now i move to a bigger house then i got the previledge to display my models anywhere in the house as i like it..and from time to time she rearranged them and change their location to creat variety..hehe..i dont give excuse...just make sure the models are good looking.

Well Mikado,you are not alone in this situation.My builds go on eBay as soon as my friend takes photos of them.That is my record of the hobby.In exchange for not displaying the builds in the home,I set the budget for my hobby and it is not questioned.I set the hours I spend on my hobby and it is not questioned.After 21 years of marriage,this arrangement works.She gives the hobby a passing glance.Fine.No problem with me at all.Money and time spent on the hobby are not irresponsible amounts by any means.
Strike a resonable deal with her and live up to it.Talk about it and review the deal after a certain amount of time to make sure everything is OK.
It will work out..... :-)8 :-)8

Hi,

I agreed with rest and stress the need to strike an understanding with your wife. I, just like you started out and soon find myself with a stash of another 10 brand new, unopened kits.

My agreement with my wife is that the time, money spent remain within reasonable limits. And what a surprise last week, during our anniversary, she got me a "1/35 54cm Morser Loki"! And another "MORSER KARL" next valentine's day, now how bout that!

Yes you are definitely not alone in this! There is a secret rebellion being formed here that specialises in coming up with excuses for SWMBO. Naaah just kidding...we dont have a group like that but we do give good excuses.

Just tell her what i tell my missus which is that my modelling hobby helps me massage my creative side and if you take that away from me, i will just have to bother you for some lovin which i would have otherwise used for modelling.

She normally whips out the headache excuse so it then becomes a 2 way traffic. If she gives in...you win anyway!

Hi, Mikado. Had the same sort of problem when my wife & I had a small apartment and I was using bookshelf space for my figs. It was particularly touchy as my wife's German and didn't like to see SS figs around the living room. Now that we're in a bigger flat, I have a glass-fronted cabinet which houses my models. I suggest you find an unintrusive way of displaying your models, which might be the most subtle method.

Hi Mikado!

To be honest... I don't think tanks and aircraft kits are very aesthetic when displayed in a living room! And Even worse for SWMBO they are dust magnets!
I don't bother my girlfriend with my kits (I have 39 so far) and decided to display them in my workroom upstairs... I'm the only one to look at them anyway! :-)
It's really a space issue! I have a lot of kits in my stash and want to display them once they are finished, maybe with some dioramas... so I'm currently working on my SWMBO that she allows me to fit out the attic of our house for that purpose. If she don't agree, I still can display some ugly looking planes in the living room to change her mind! :-)

Jean-Luc

It displays fantastically in the garage if you have one though. That way you see it everytime you park your car.

Get a nice display cabinet with glass doors, that matches the rest of the living room furniture, and display them. In a cabinet theres no dusting needed.
Why cant we have one nice cabinet, when the wife clatters walls, shelves, and every other available surface with womanly knick-knacks.
A model that cost +/- € £ $30 and took a few weeks to build, deserves as much space as some obnoxious piece of china or glass, that was bought in a sale.

This is good stuff....thats going in my database of excuses. :-)

I think that most of us married men have the same problem with finding suitable places to store or models. All mine are hidden out of the way under the stairs, on top of wardobes & under beds in different rooms.
Out of sight out of mind the missus says. But we are moving to a new house soon with a garage, so i will be taking up Jazza's comment and make some shelves in the garage to put them in

I don't need excuses!!!

And I would definitively not try to find one!

[quote]
so I'm currently working on my SWMBO that she allows me to fit out the attic of our house for that purpose. If she don't agree, I still can display some ugly looking planes in the living room to change her mind! :-)


My GOD...

You need to beg for permission to transfer a non-used attic into a space for putting your models???

No Honestly...

I have been in a relation like that. It didn't last. Guess why ;-)

Now I am very close and living with a woman who is not at all interested in plastic models (but still buys me one for my birthday ).

She would also prefer that the house would not smell like a paintshop once in a while and she hates that the office table is always covered with plastic thingies...

And she never complains... just like I never complain about the heap of geological and archeological stuff in the cellar, the living room and the garage (her hobby).

On the contrary, we quite enjoy each others hobbies.

Actually, I should all of you who dare to express their "swmbo" problems here be very grateful. You do remind me of different, less happy times, when everything I wanted to do had to "receive approval" beforehand.

And above all, it confronts me with my current, very happy situation.

For you out there that are really serious about "not being allowed to"... think well whether your own behaviour is reasonable and when your hobby is not "out of hand". And yes, you need a very serious talk with swmbo.

The rule at my house is "no models on the ground floor." This works out great. I put up shelves in the upstairs den, where our two computers are and have a small display case out on the enclosed sun porch. I model in the basement and store unbuilt kits on shelves in an upstairs closet.

Compromise is where it's at, brother.

Shaun

/Have a huge 150 year old house...

I understand the situation. I am glad that you guys have found good solutions.

I also remind my wife that this hobby keeps me home and there are worse things to do such as going to strip bars to pass one's time

I have three very nice barrister book cases with glass fronts, but they no longer suffice.

If you like, I can send you photos of:
Our dining room table,
Our kitchen sink area, littered with bits of wet/dry sand paper,
Our living room,
Our study,
Our bedroom, and finally-
Our garage.
Between my models, my military gear (which could easily outfit a squad, and actual Soviet tank parts,
our decorating style can only be described as
"eclectic." After seeing what my wife endures, yours will probably feel lucky.
I assume your wife is Chinese, as is mine. Thank God we're used to sitting on the floor when we eat. I haven't seen my dining room table since Christmas.
I hear the term "ho mafan" quite a bit.

Im already out searching for suitable cabinets for the garage as there is alot of wasted wall space in mine. So share some photos when you have your shelves set up as i need some ideas.

Yo fellow country man Mikado! As the other guyz have mentioned, it's all about balance. Try to work out some kind of compromise and do some housework once in a while to make the missus happy. It's been harder for me lately as I just got a baby girl to look after too. As for storage, if the missus don't really dig our hobby, advise u to get an Ikea glass display case and put at one corner of the house that she doesn't pass often. It's all glass and have 4 sections. I have 4 such cases and once the space ran out, I halved each section DIY so that I double the storage space. I can be considered lucky as I have one whole room just for my hobby.

Hey Guys,

How about some photos of the storage.....glass display case, garage... Then I can show my missus what I am doing is normal and there are crazy folk (according to her) out there like me and we are very nornal....

How under the thumb are you guys, stand up for yourselfs you sound like a bunch of whimps, lets face it you suppose to be the man of the house, if the wife dont like ya modelling tell her you'll go spend your money and time at the pub that should keep em quiet. Bob

My friend, shorten the chain with which your wife is tied to the kitchen, then she will not give you trouble in the other rooms...

No seriously, build a display cabinet, be creative add glass in front(very handy to keep inquiring hands away, because some people look at a kit with their hands) and add lights. Further discuss with your wife that you could be out with your buddies drinking and meeting loose women, but if you moddel she knows where you are and you stay away from bad habits.

Perhaps I'm lucky, I have my own "little world", ie a garage! All my stuff is in there, models in display cases, ex Ikea, & the motorbikes, & it's mine all mine (sorry got carried away there)! The rest of the family tend not to venture in there, except to get their push bikes, which are near the front door! There's no room for a car of course, & this is as it should be.

Well, I have a different approache to the problem. Basically I don't really care about the model when it is finished (except for a couple of really expencive ones). To me it is the building which is the important part. So I display my models at work. Since i work in the Army they "fit very nice into the environment". My boss even gave me a huge display cabinet outside the office. So when I get a new posting my models will still "serve" in the old unit.

Cheers
Erik

PS. But then there is the problem of storeing all the stash...

You got a photo of it? Im thinking i might start placing my models in the garage too but not sure how to arrange it. Need some ideas.

Demand equal space for your knick-knacks. It was my house before I got married, so I buildt a display area for my wifes stuff. After the divorce it became MINE !!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!