Rethinking the whole "Stash" thing

[mattd8589]

I mentioned in an earlier post that I have a new philosophy for "stashing" away models.

With a wife, two sons, and a busy career to take care of, time and money are scarce. I never had a huge collection of models, but at the rate I can build I had enough to keep me busy for about two years.

Recently I became frustrated that the kits that I bought two years ago (club auctions and whatnot) have been outdated by newer releases. With so little time to build, any kit I buy without being able to work on it within the next 6 months runs the risk of becoming obsolete.

I decided that (for me) there was no point in hording kits I had no chance of building. Instead, I plan to work through the six kits I currently own, and then buy a new kit when I'm ready to start a new one.

The advantages to me are:

1) I'm not tying up money in kits that will just sit on my shelf.

2) I can always respond and buy the newest (or currently best) version of any kit I feel like building (within reason, no resin flak tower guns from ebay).

3) It will keep me from getting distracted (I am notorious for generating "shelf queens").


I will continue to collect figures, storage, etc because those ALWAYS come in handy.

So, there it is. The new "less is more" theory. It's not nearly as much fun as my former "Kit of the month" approach, but I think I'll like it better. (Right now, my "future purchases" list is about 15 kits long - yikes).

[alanmac]

Hi Matt

I'm like you, not a large collection and certainly not as much disposable income to buy at the rate others appear to.

It seems broadly speaking there are two types of people involved in this hobby. Those who make kits and those who collect them:D

I try to be in the first type but feel the pull to be in the second although I've resisted quite well the model manufacturers are not helping, bringing out all these desirable kits just lately.

My Daughter commented to me one day recently "Dad, would it not be a good idea to finish one kit before starting another" Silly girl. But I did pack away everything except the one kit and have only worked on that, so far so good :rolleyes:

I think some have worked out at their current rate of production they would have to live to 350 to complete what they have stashed already, not counting the ones on the to get list !!

I keep a few in the cupboard so I can say, look this is all I've got, not many. Of course because its cold, dark and has the odd spider lurking around nobody but me goes in the loft :thumb:

Alan

[greybeard]

Yup. A familiar plight for all modelaholics.

I dumped my stash some years ago, got maybe 10¢ on the dollar, and went on to other things. I hung on to a dozen or more kits of Soviet armour (my main interest) and probably as many resin turrets and conversion sets. I dug everything out of storage a few weeks ago, dusted it all off, and realized that it was now worthless. DML's T-34s and the Trumpeter KVs blow the doors off the ancient Tamiya kits, so I doubt now if I'll ever build any of the stuff I kept. Dummheit.

It's not a total loss though — several friends own hobby shops, and I will pass the kits I haven't started cutting up on to them to donate to up-and-coming "junior" modellers.

I have also decided not to buy a lot of kits. In the past few weeks I've been on a splurge, bought a Trumpeter KV-1, CyberHobby T-34 STZ, DML PzKpfw IV Ausf E and their PzKpfw 38(t) Ausf G. That's about one a week, and I'm set for at least six months worth of happy hacking. At least six months! I won't be buying many more until I have some of them on display.

That said, I do have a "gotta get" list. It's about eleventeen pages long. Most of it I won't buy, and I'll be happy that I didn't. By the time I get halfway to the bottom of the pile, most of what's out now will be obsolete.

I wonder how many modellers have the Alan SU-76 in their stash? I wonder how many have actually built it? The SU-76 is absolutely on the "must have" list of every Soviet armour buff, since it was a pretty important vehicle for the Red Army from 1943. I'm sure pretty well everyone much interested in Soviet armour bought one, like I did. I'm not a rookie builder, but I will never build the Alan model! It's ghastly! The Russians didn't particularly like the SU-76 because of the lack of credible crew protection. They called it the "Suka", meaning "bitch", and the Alan kit lives up to the name. Now that MiniArt have announced a SU-76, the Alan kit will get tossed — I wouldn't inflict it upon some youngster lest it be the last tank he ever attempted.

That's just one example of what happens. Fifteen years ago, there was Tamiya, and there was . . . well, Tamiya. Italaerei had a few kits, and there were a handful of others from other manufacturers, but things in 1/35 scale were dominated by one company, augmented by a handful of fringe players who were beginning to produce resin kits. Today it's very much wide open, with some decent competition from a variey of companies in China and in Eastern Europe and elsewhere. This is a good thing. We suffered for too long with less-than-accurate kits of too many subjects while many others were completely ignored.

No more. We're finally seeing these dogs replaced by new models, yippee! This is a good time to be modelling. It's also a bad time to be hoarding kits. Chances are, with the increasing competiton between manufacturers, we'll continue see kits get better and better. DML have even taken this to the point where they're making incremental improvements in their kits without the hoopla of a re-release — witness their PzKpfw IV Ausf E, #6264 where they replaced the original sprues with more accurate parts from their "Vorpanzer" kit. Chances are, people who bought the kit when it came out and stashed it will end up robbing it for parts before they build it.

So yeah, Matt. I agree completely that over the long term, stashing kits is not that wise a policy. There are a few kits that are not likely to be replaced, ICM's T-28 and T-35 come to mind, but even so, old models never die — they just come back in new boxes.

Cheers
Scott Fraser
Calgary

[mattd8589]

That was one of the kits I bought early on in my re-entry into the hobby. I'm glad I built it before I knew better. It really wasn't that bad - okay - yes it was. The worst of it was filing each track link to fit onto the road wheels, and filling the gaps with styrene strip, and thinning the fighting compartment walls, and replacing the tools.

Painting it was fun, though, and I still like looking at it.

I say have a a go at your Su-76 before the MiniArt one hits the shelves.

[greybeard]

(The Suka) was one of the kits I bought early on in my re-entry into the hobby. . .

I say have a a go at your Su-76 before the MiniArt one hits the shelves.

LOL! Good on ya' Matt, but there's no way that I'm gonna build that dog! I expect the MiniArt kit will be based on their T-70, as were their T-70M and T-80, and will therefore have its own problems, but I'm sure they won't be as numerous or as serious as the Alan kit. I have a long list of projects to complete before I tackle anything as challenging (read bad) as that one!

Cheers
Scott

[Panzergrenadier]

Well where I live there are really only two hobby shops and so any new and interesting kits get bought really quickly. It means you grab while you can. Also, I like the idea of being able to look at the boxes at home and pick another one to build and not have to order anything of go to the LHS for it. I have so far avoided buying just for the sake of it so 99% of my stash are kits that I wish to build and have interest in. I take it as an investment into the future and since my stash contains kits that are considered ''new generation'', then I'm not that bad in a situation.:)

I really feel for you guys who have all those old Tamiya kits waiting and now seeing them all be replaced by new ones.:rolleyes:

The theory is good, but how many of us plastic addicts can keep to it?:D

[majormambo]

I have to admit with any career, family etc its hard to spend quality time to put out quality product in any amount of reasonable time.

I picked up building again after a 21 year hiatus so experimentation in building and weathering is still occuring so about 5 kits on standby for armor, not to mention 6 sets of DML/figures/accessories, and not to mention another 4 planes on the shelf (i know this isnt a plane forum...!)

Since mainly Im a OOB builder not too concerned about the latest and greatest, cept for a few photo etch and tracks to help the production....:eek:

sometimes on ebay a few steals can be had in lot purchases (snaked a cool pz III, king tiger, and tiger late for the price of one...):thumb:

[marcb]

I hardly buy kits nowadays, instead I buy reference books and sometimes aftermarket items if I really like em. I find it more frustrating to own a kit while not being able to get a good reference book on it, than the other way around. I can always choose another subject to model, but building a kit without any reference book available, that's no fun...

I do agree on the theory, fe it's no fun hacking away at the Tamiya M5A1 Stuart, when AFV Club releases theirs. A reason for buying before you build, is probably (at least sometimes with me), the fear that the kit will go OOP before you decide to buy it.

[viperatl]

I have way too many kits to build in my lifetime but I still buy at a ridiculous rate anyway. About 4 or 5 years ago I changed my buying habits to 1 kit of a subject unless it's something that I really, really, really got to have another one of. Hence I have 4 DML M1A1 but I plan to do a dio with all of them.

Currently I have been thinking about changing my habits to buy only short run kits since they are only around for a short time and may never be produced again. If you look at Hasegawa for instance they have released the 1/48 F-4 Phantom kits with marking for just about a quarter of the squadrons that flew them and still they have more to go. In 1/72 it's worse. With DML constantly upgrading their kits the same will hold true some day.

Oy!

[astralscooter]

Currently I have been thinking about changing my habits to buy only short run kits since they are only around for a short time and may never be produced again.


Then you'd have to define "short run kit". The Cyber-Hobby range obviously is, but I find that the regular range of DML kits are as much short run as anything. The Initial Tiger I is sold out. The Late has been updated and is to be replaced with a zimmerited version. In our time there seems to be more and more turnover of kits and I guess the constant rush for news makes it less viable for a model maker to keep the same stuff in their catalogue.

Seems to me this has only escalated for the past couple of years. Now there's new stuff coming out about every week, and you'd be hard pressed both financially and storagewise to buy it all. Let alone build it before it's rendered obsolete.

Arild :)

[Charlie-66]

I suppose I'm safe posting on this thread as long as my wife doesn't read it! My stash is ridiculous, and I've recently started giving my older Tamiya kits to my boys as a way of getting them into the hobby. They can sit down and knock out a T-34 in a couple hours, and they don't care if the sponsons are filled in or not or if the engine screens are plastic. In that regard having the old kits for them to learn on has been a plus.

For me buying the new kits is a hobby in and of itself. I love to pore over the instructions, print and slip all the on-line reviews into the box, and look for pictures of paint jobs and markings. While my current production rate isn't what I would like it to be, I have hope for when I retire. Partly it's remembering when I couldn't afford to get a kit I wanted.