Builder or collector...???

How about criteria for this?

IF:

You own more un-built kits than completed you are a collector. (me)

IF:

1/2 or more of your kits are finished you are a builder.

To make my situation more accurate I would have to add 30-30 to my affliction, that is 30% of my kits are 30% or more complete.

That being said I would be a 70-30 modeler.

Confusing? A bit... It will be interesting how others reply...

I'm primarily a builder, but I hedged on one kit. I had long wanted an Ace Midget race car kit, a balsa wood scale model produced by Ace Mfg, a california company of WW2 and forties era.  I finally made contact with someone on net who had one and bought it from him.

I wanted to have my cake and eat it too- to build and yet still have the kit.  This was possible.  The kit was a collection of balsa wood, with four composition wheels/tires.  Many of the body pieces were pre-shaped only in profile, some were just plain stick stock.  I bought balsa of the needed thickness, traced the kit pieces on stock and cut out with bandsaw.  I then started constructing the pieces using the new balsa, while saving all original pieces (made RTV molds from the wheels).

Hung up on the grill- the kit used a decal but I want to make something a bit better and that will be a real job.  It is possible one of the grills from the new Revell midget might work but I doubt it.

SuppressionFire

How about criteria for this?

IF:

You own more un-built kits than completed you are a collector. (me)

IF:

1/2 or more of your kits are finished you are a builder.

To make my situation more accurate I would have to add 30-30 to my affliction, that is 30% of my kits are 30% or more complete.

That being said I would be a 70-30 modeler.

Confusing? A bit... It will be interesting how others reply...

 

I started out as a builder, but am creeping up on collector.  Still able to tell myself I have every intention of building all that I have.  I have built more than I have in my stash, but the number is catching up.

But I would probably use the term "accumulator" for myself rather than "collector", as "collector" seems to imply some kind of sense or strategy to acquisitions, rather than the haphazard way I seem to go about it.

Paul

I'm just a slightly slow builder, I buy them quicker than I can make them and I only do one at a time, I always buy with the intention of building the kit, usually by the time I get to build the new one I've purchased I've changed my mind and go get another

Cheers...

i'm a buildellor

A Builder

Regretably collector.  Best intentions to build, but many reasons it doesn't happen. However lately the trend is towards building, so maybe I can make the transition. 

Definitely builder. The stash is at over 100 kits, but almost half have been started......I'm admittedly a very slow builder.

I bought a 1970's 1/25 International Transtar cabover by ERTL (1st in the series) in absolutely mint condition. It's gonna see glue and paint someday....

Guess I'm a collector.  The stash has some 50 kits and I've only built six. 

Maybe I spend too much time in the Forum?

...collector...but I do build sometimes

Question -- At what point does a group of unbuilt models in storage become a "stash"?  Is there any specific number, or is it a state of mind? 

For over 30 years I had a grouping of model kits in the closet, meaning to build them some day.  If you continue to add to the group in storage without building any, are you officially a "collector"? (Must be because you sure as aren't building any.)

Just wondering.

MAJ Mike

Question -- At what point does a group of unbuilt models in storage become a "stash"?  Is there any specific number, or is it a state of mind? 

For over 30 years I had a grouping of model kits in the closet, meaning to build them some day.  If you continue to add to the group in storage without building any, are you officially a "collector"? (Must be because you sure as aren't building any.)

Just wondering.

MAJ Mike- To me a stash is any number of unbuilt kits in storage that the owner intends to build. A stash could theoretically be just one kit.

I differentiate 'builder' from 'collector' by considering that the kits I own will be built someday. It's not necessarily a fixed date, but the intention. If I say that I will not build kits but still buy them, then I'd consider myself a collector.

Since my purchases out pace my building and the stash is ever growing, I'm more of a collector. I honestly don't see how anyone with a sizable stash could ever complete it if they keep buying new kits, which most of us do. I do buy single subjects (no duplicates) with the full intention of building them. But we all make impulse buys and our styles change. 

I have a stash .i build . im a builder .

Ron

During my conversations at my LHS,  a stash seems to be any groupment of unbuilt models.  Apparently all modelers "of a certain age" have resources beyond a kit-at-a-time production schedule.

Sooo, a stash is whatever you/we choose to make it.  I really do intend to build models from my stash, but much like a child with ADHD, I'm distracted by new model kits.  Of the six kits I've built since returning to the hobby, five are new purchases.   Go figure.

A VERY slow builder.

Jim

Definitely a builder.

.......yes.............

A stasher as I have probably 15 kits with some started.  Not a collector as I do not have them stored properly to save the boxes in perfect condition being crammed on shelves in the laundry room.

I buy way too many kits and only get a few built a year so I guess that would put me in the collector category.

I am a stash-ollector that that would have most of my kits built, if I didn't have higher priorities with serving God, work, home ownership, and family commitments.  Just not enough time.

I would say I am a builder with a lot of kits in my collection queue.

I guess it depends on your intentions.  If you buy model kits with intentions on building them you are a builder.  If you buy model kits so they sit in a shed so you can look at the box you are a collector. 

Having a "stash" doesn't make you a collector due to you planning on someday building the model kits. 

That said, I am a builder. 

i am more an accumulator than a collector though my 250 kit stash doesn't necessarily reflect that. i have 2 or 3 of kits i really like because they were on sale. and some big kits  like 1/35 rr stuff that i do hope to get to. i am a half builder with about 14 kits in progress. this will change as my painting improves as most are at the "ready to paint" stage and i am just learning airbrushing. hopefully, with practice, i will enjoy the painting as much as i enjoy the building, seam filling, and paint prep work.

fox

A VERY slow builder.

I am a collector of alot of stuff, but I dont buy model kits to collect them.  when I build a kit its for one of two reasons.  One, the price being amazingly low, the second being a want for the kit or seeing how it could be used usefully in the future.

I dont finish alot of kits, I work on them untill I get bored or frustrated, I just keep building to keep learning.

I'm a slow part-time builder.  My stash is probably about 6 and a couple on the bench.  I got into the hobby intending to just build replicas of the USAF aircraft I had been involved with, but have added a few others.

Ken

Well i have 22 finished kits, 16 in the stash unstarted, 2 hanger queens and 5 under construction so to be honest i'd guess i'm a builder...

I started out as a  builder. I am back in the hobby room now that my wife is doing better. I buy kits to build. I didn't mean to become a collector but I  do admit I have more kits than I can ever build.  I still have factory sealed Aurora and Strombeck kits I haven't built yet.