Hello everyone. I'd like someone to answer this question, that I think is hard for me to understand. I subscribe to finescale magazine and every so often, I'd read about people having all these unbuilt kits in there collection. The recent issue January 2007 > A person wanted to know where he can donate his collection of kits OVER 5,000!!!!!! Holy cow! Like I said I see this topic in forums and magazines about people having all these kits and that they have not been started. I dont get it. If your wondering how many I have, only 2. I am commited to finishing each kit. I would have a hard time finishing these kits if I had over 5,000. PLEASE HELP ME UNDERSTAND Thanks........

That's basically how it creeps up on you....

David

Not gounting Figure Accy sets I have 70ish kits. Alot of it is "screaming deals" and Impulse buys. I'm getting more into kitbashing & Scratchbuilding....... so I can use parts of the kits in those builds........

But that's just me

There was a point where I only had a few kits in the stash and my goal was finish one before another hits the pile.
Then it grew into needing two or three kits for one diorama project. So my 2nd project on the list suddenly needs 2 AFVs and 3 figure kits.
Then as that grew and I started wanting to get the same subject in a different scale so I would get that one and put it on the shelf for later comparison.
Then there is ebay, can't pass up a deal. If there is something there that is at a good price - why wait?

Then it's just like anything else once you have a little bit you need more.

For some people, collecting kits actually becomes their hobby. They have the initial intention to build them but eventually just stop building but not buying. Then there are the people, who see a new kit or hear all about it and have just got to have it. So they buy it and it immediately finds it way to the "closet of shame" where it will lie in wait in hopes of being built someday. For others it is an addiction much like drugs or alcohol. There is one guy who lives in this area whose house is literally filled with unbuilt kits. I've never seen it myself but I have a friend who has been inside and said he must have 10,000 at least. (we often joke that if the house ever catches on fire it will be declared an environmental disaster ) With him it has become an addiction as he never even attempts to build any of them as far as I know. Why does this happen, who really knows? It could be just some quirk in the way they are "made-up", or some weird disposition to be addicted to something. For some it's food, drugs, alcohol, etc. for some it could be something seen to be relatively harmless like buying stuff. In the end it can still mess up your life. Ok, I'm climbing down from the pulpit now.

Mike

Here's how it happened to me...
I used to get uncomfortable when I had more than 2 or 3 unbuilt kits on the shelf. I wouldn't go back to the local hobby show again except for supplies like paint or glue. Then one day I saw a kit at the LHS that I had always wanted. But I passed on it because I had too many unbuilt ones at home. When I had my reserve of kits down to maybe one unbuilt kit I went back to buy it. Bad enough that it was gone, I also found out that it was out of production too (my first exposure to that term).

That's all it took. From then on, if I saw a kit I wanted, I bought it. It didn't matter if it was brand new to the market or had been available for years. I wasn't going to let another kit slip through my fingers. It didn't take long until I had a stash of almost 100 unbuilt kits on the shelf.

I eventually accepted the fact that I could never build them all in my lifetime so I thinned out the pile. Just keeping those I really wanted to build someday.

I'd like to think that I was smart enough to learn from the experience but sadly I'm not. I hardly build armor since I got hooked on painting figures. Sure enough, I've got a drawer full of unbuilt figures waiting for me at home :-)

Hope this helps you understand this sad disease that most of us here suffer from
Craig

Does Obsessive Compulsive Disorder ring a bell?

Clang?

The wife said I am no longer a builder, now I am a kit collector. Have shelves of them in two rooms.

Like others have said, with the 40% off coupons @ Hobby Lobby I can always use one more Tammy Abrams or DML Bergetiger P kit.

Shaun
/Collector...

If I started today, and just glued together, didn't clean up parts, fill seams or paint anything, much less do any research or corrections, I still would never live long enough to finish them all. Anyone who tells me this isn't some kind of mental disease disguised as a hobby is nutty than I am. :-) :-)

I don't see myself ever accumulating anything close to thousands of kits simply because I don't have the room for them. Currently I have 33 unbuilt kits and a like number of figure and accessory kits to go with them. Sure, some were bought as an impulse and will probably eventually be sold to aquire other kits. Most though will eventually be built. At least that's the plan.

Many members here have collections like the one you descibed. Another member buys kits and has another person build them. He has an incredible collection, but I don't think he's built anything he has. Many others are like you and buy as they build. To each his own I guess. It is a hobby, and however you approach it, as long as it's relaxing and provides enjoyment, that's what matters.

5000 Kits well not quite in my case , but close - OCD ? I'll admit to that, but in my defense I intended to build everyone of them when I purchased them. It's taken years to build up a HUGE stash (which was not the intent). As Grumpy stated, I'll never get them all built now, not enough time left, but I'm working on them, and TRY to minimize the purchase of any new ones

Today I can pull any of the kits I have and recall my original plan for it, some too grand for me to ever accomplish. As some common sense has started to set in, I have given several of the the larger kits in my stash away to good homes. As I set here today, I hope that I can get the most important (in my mind) build knowing I have another four years before I can become a stay at home build builder. I am hoping my eyesight lasts and I can avoid the shakes long enough to accomplish my goal. Enough of that.

OCD sure, but everyone needs a Hobby :-) Building kits helps me deal with my affliction

Well to keep from getting bored I usually have about 4 or 5 projects going at once(both AFV and ship) and keep a few laying around in wait. The rest of my stuff is all OOP or limited edition kits just because wether I build them or not I won't be able to get them later, duh...Its not like you can't always sell them later(like the 6252/6253 tiger stash). If something like the CH wittmann Tiger 1 comes along, what am I going to do, wait untill I have time to build one??

I do have a few in the stash that either I moofed and are awaiting rebuilding or just a break from it untill the frustration passes) or that I started and didn't like the kit's quality or one like the italeri M1 I had started when the Dragon AIM came out and that one quickly got packed up(and not with much care) into never-never land, or the Revell Panzerhaubitze 2000 I was all reved up to build until I saw how utterly poor the plastic quality and tracks with no aftermarket were..

Although I just got back into styrene in the past few years so my 'stash' is all newer dml/trumpeter state of the art stuff and I don't have hundreds of revell and ESCI kits that I would never bother building with all the newer kits being out.

Have to love the student budget for this :-) If it wasn't for that, I probably would have kits stashed. Right now, I just finished a vehicle, so my stash is down to 3 figure sets, and a couple of accesorry kits.

Although when I do get a decent job....I could see myself having maybe a hundred at a time, all in 1/35.

Its not just this hobby either thats has this problem. My wife is into scrapbooking and its the same thing when it comes to having a stash.

On her scrapbooking sites they talk about the exact same thing as this. They sneak supplies into the house so the husband doesn't know. Sound familiar? :-) A new product comes out and they have to have it for a future project.

She was showing me a thread the other day that was about the size of their stash complete with pictures. Just looking through my wifes supplies its amazing how much stuff she has aquired!

We buy kit in case it goes OOP. She buys some paper with a fancy pattern because it also goes OOP.

However we are both pretty good about not letting it get out of control. I have been thinning out my stash quite a bit lately. I have about 35 kits now.

Different medium but same affliction.

Jeff

I am convinced that there is a "collecting gene." Some people have it, some don't. For myself I have it! Before I got into this hobby I collected books. I still do but not to the same extent as models. Before books it was board games. I have always had far more of something than I really needed. Like others have said when I bought each kit it was with the very real intention of building it. I still think that someday I will build each and every one. (Though at the rate DML is releasing new Allied kits that might change soon.) Also like others have said I just can't pass up a bargain. I'd say that 25% of my kits I've bough at retail, on impulse. The rest have all been purchased for up to 90% off list price.

I will say this, I have "only" about 75 to 100 kits. (I have them all listed but I really don't want to add them up.) I justify my addiction by saying I'm not as bad as some. Even though I can't resist a bargain, I really can't see having five of the exact same kit, which I know some people do.

One thing though I want to emphasize, my wife and kids have never wanted for anything because I've bought a model or two. As long as somebody with 10000 kits can say the same, then it's their money, and they are free to spend it. If anybody ever buys a plastic model rather than pay the rent, or put food on the table, or something like that, then it's gone far beyond a hobby, or even a harmless collecting bug, and somebody should get some help.

It will hit you after the first couple of times you think "I want to build a xxxxxxx" and find out that the last time the xxxxxxx in question was kitted was before you were born and now selling for stupidly large sums of money on eBay. Then suddenly every new release is measured in terms of "would I want to build one someday" and this slowly, creepingly becomes "I might want to build one of these someday"

Then you start having storage space issues.

At least that's how my friend that has this problem tells me it happens...

Wiz

A Tamiya Pershing
A DML M4A3E8 Thunderbolt
A Tamiya Marder III (What the hell? German?)
They are the untouched in my house.
There are no others...
Except for the Sherman III which iwill be my Christmas gift for myself, from myself...

Hello everyone my name is Clair

I have been a kit collector since my early teen years. I have amassed over 100 1/25th and 24th car kits, 20 1/25th semi trucks, every kind of modern combat aircraft you can think of totalling over 100 kits, 10 or so 1/350th battleships, a few wooden ship kits, and then the tank bug bit a few years ago when one night I was reminicing about my old days in the guard (105mm gun on the Abrams days). It started with a few decent kits, just 4 or 5. Then I hit some very troubling times and the hobby and collecting became my chocolate. During the course of single parenting 2 kids for 3 years I have managed to amass close to 120 tanks so far and keep buying more almost every week. Most with all the add-on goodies too. At least 4 per month anyhow. I have 2 closets jam packed with kits and store more at my mothers house, yet I keep buying more with good intentions and plans for each and every one. It just seemed to snowball out of control.

These days I also collect history and refference books and spend time reading them as I can, which has helped lower my build rate to 2 finished models a year. Every model I buy anymore I'll say "Thats it for a while, I have enough to keep me busy till I'm 240 years old", but a few days later I see another one I want.

I guess it isnt all that bad, when the personal problems kicked in and left me litterally grasping for straws to just carry on another day, models were my escape. The few times I thought that it was time to end it, I couldnt because I wanted to finish that Tiger or some other kit. I firmly believe that armor modelling saved both my life and my sanity in that period, and has become such a love and obcession that I cant imagine life without it. I sort of feel like a kid again everytime the box arives with my latest addition to the collection, and I go to a happy place in my own inner self.

Not to be acting like a bummer but thats why my modelling and collecting has become a daily part of my life. Sites like Track Link, Perth, and Armorama were exreamely helpful too, the brotherhood and kinship are wonderful things.

OK, I'm done,

Model on,

Clair

Rodger Cole, I think you are correct about the "collecting gene". Personally I think it's a manifestation of the hunter/gatherer instinct. Only, instead of doing it for survival, we do it for grins and giggles.

I have collected, over the years:

Matchbook covers
Stamps
Cartridges
Books
NASCAR die cast
NASCAR kits...and decals
Armor kits

I cringe when I think of the massive amounts of time and money that I've poured into these varied obsessions. At least the armor kits I can DO something with. (He says, knowing d...d well he won't live long enough to built the 600+ kits in the stash..)

Now, if you'll excuse me, I must check my bids on eBay...

Clair - thanks for your post. It takes a lot of courage to be brutally honest about some of that stuff. Glad to see you're still with us!

As for me, I buy way too much. I'm a sucker for a sale as well as the latest releases. I guess for me, I have a wide variety of interests and want them at my fingertips when the creative muse lands on my shoulder. I also try to ensure that I've got my interests covered before a kit goes OOP. Where I try to catch myself is when I start buying multiples of a subject, which is my latest tendency. Always with the best intentions, of course...

I guess it's a compulsive thing for me, as I always throw myself totally into whatever hobby I'm into. I played paintball for five years and spent a few thousand dollars on equipment and guns. What started out as a $125 gun, $30 hopper, $50 mask, and $20 CO2 tank evolved quickly into a $1400 gun, $130 hopper, $70 mask, $250 HP air tank, $30 gloves, $50 jersey, $100 pants, $50 harness, plus the $100 gear bag to haul that to the field, as well as an almost identically priced backup gun, hopper & tank. And each year brought new technology and new gear.

As for my kit collection, I probably have around 200 armor, aircraft, ship, & car/truck kits right now. Build about 1 every month or two. However, I find my 8 year old son looking through my collection constantly and best of all, asking me questions about each subject. He has his own little stash, but covets alot of my stuff, which I'll occassionally treat him from. From that perspective, I love the bonding and the time together.

All in all, I guess I subscribe to the "if you're gonna do it, do it right" club.

- Frank

I personally have a stash that's hovering right around the century mark in terms of unbuilt kits but don't have any duplicates in the stash. I recently did clear out some of the subjects that I'd picked up, about 10 kits, either on sale or on a whim that I might someday be interested in but realized I'd likely never build and donated them to the local IPMS chapter as raffle prizes.

I keep an Excel spreadsheet that inventories which kits I've got in the stash and the AM that goes with each one. By keeping it tracked and organized, I can be sure that purchases are directed at a specific project and not every project becomes a "mega effort", some will be done OOB, some with a couple extras, and occasionally a massive push will be employed if the subject is of high interest.

As far as the collecting gene goes...the stash serves a dual purpose...my goal is to produce a collection of built vehicles and to do that, you have to have the kits to start with! :-) As my wife fondly says periodically, there are a lot worse things I could spend the money on...

The way I look at this is I have my own little hobby shop in the basement. When it’s time to start a new project I slip down and look over the pile of about 15 to 25 kits and if nothing catches my eye then (and only then) off to the hobby shop I go. My stash stays about the same due to a lot of OOB and the cost of some of the kits.