How long do you keep your finished models?

Just a couple of weeks ago, I gave my kids a couple of old Star Trek starship builds as "hand-me-down" toys to play with. The models were about fifteen years old and reflect my mediocre skills at that time. I try to keep mine as long as possible, but so far I've had display space for them all. I have two display cases that are filling up fast, so I'll need to find a new solution soon.

Chris

I usually keep completed models until a better kit is issued.

Now I sorta wish I'd kept the earliest builds just to have something to compare current skills with my earlier work.

I kept mine going far back as to my early years (my youth years) totalling at least 100 kits. When my beloved grandmother passed away in 1995, I had to take them out of her cellar when we we're in the process of cleaning out the house so it can be put on the market. My grandfather had built me a couple display cases for my model cars and aircraft kits way back when.

Anyways, I had packed them all carefully in boxes and only weeding out the really terrible builds. Fast forward to the Summer/fall of 2013. I once more had make room in my cellar by weeding out more model kits. Sadly, just about all but 3 car kits were falling apart but the thankfully half of my aircraft kits were salvaged. I'd say I have roughly less than 25 kits on hand from my early model building years.

My most recent built kits were the P-47 Thunderbolt (gave it to my bro-in-law) and a Tuskegee Red Tail P-51 Mustang on display in my den.

How long do you keep your models?

As long as I live.   When I fill up a display cabinet (I mean as many as I can comfortably squeeze in), I plan for another cabinet, and begin looking for the space in which to put it.  But, at the rate that I'm (not) building them now, that may be a while still...

Gary

I have all my builds on display,about 100 various builds,some are 10-12 years old.I got rid of some of my early builds.You look and say",I can't believe I thought that was good".I still got plenty of room,so they will be around.I imagine as I run out of space I will trash the less acceptable ones.

I keep them as long as possible. I have a few that I built as a kid, but those are rare. The rest went to my kids as play toys, or were thrown away when I got them out if storage. The few that were salvageable, were saved. I have most of my adult builds, except for a few that had fatal mishaps, or just needed to be weeded out due to various reasons in my past couple of moves.

I trash very few of them. If they get busted up, or I build another one that turns out better than the first try.

some of mine are 42 yrs old from when i was a pre-teen & all the models i've got i'll keep til the day i die.

As long as possible.  I had a couple of Strombecker solid wood models that I made when a high school kid, in the 50's.  They finally self-destructed, the decals peeling off and the paint yellowing, so I finally trashed them when we last moved. They were over 50 years old.  Same with an old Saturn rocket from the 60's.

Too many moves through the years- school, Air Force, back to school, and a couple of different jobs.  Nothing from my early years survive.  My oldest model is a scratchbuilt ship from around late sixties.  A few old ships from seventies and eighties. Oldest plastic model is about twenty five years old.

I donated one ship model to a national museum.  Kind of soured me. Instead of being on public display it ended up on a manager's desk :-(

When I get bored of them they go on Ebay and sometimes bring up good cash. The oldest build  I have is the old Esci  1/9 scale BMW motorcycle with side car that came out in the early 1970's. Built it right after my brother bought it for me and still have it. I have a 1/24 Bandai Jagdpanther that I built in 1976. I also have the old Monogram 1/48 Thud and F-4 from when they were originally released some 32 years ago.

I keep them all, or course they are not all on display, no room for them all.  A lot of them have ended up in boxes in the basement.  A lot have been given away.  Those I built in the early 60's were given away..  The oldest survivor is a Monogram panzer 4 that I built in 1970.  It's in a Box O" Honor'.  I have no numbers on them, except they number in the hundreds, maybe thousands.   They have been busted in moves, however I have not destroyed any on purpose due to age.

Doug

I try to keep as many as I can.  The old ones I made when I first started I use/used as junkyard parts.  Ones that are better that I like or have memories I keep no matter what, even if I have to box em up.  My Indy cars are displayed always along with a few diecasts.  So basically I keep all in some form or another unless I made it for someone.

Well, I used to keep all my models until something happened to them - cats, broken monofilament, falling shelf, whatever. If they could be repaired I'd do that and put them back on display. If not I'd strip any useable parts off and trash the rest. Unfortunately when I moved from Texas to Utah in 1999 I couldn't bring them with me. It was 7 years before I made it back to my dad's house where they were stored and by then they had all been lost.

Now that I'm building again I plan on keeping them as long as I can. I'm still working out a good way to display them where they'll be safe, but once I have that figured out I'm good to go. All I need now is a steady supply of kits to keep me busy!

I wish I could have kept all mine from my youth!  Thanks to TMO, I lost or got broken most of them.  I still have a few of them (all my Revell History Makers!) and the few my dad did for me.  The few I do have left are also broken and the "youth" quality is abundantly obvious, so I use them for parts or as my "experimental" fleet to try different techniques on.  The ones my dad did are very special and they have a place of honor on shelves.  So to answer the question....for ever!  But when they get to point of no return, I start to look for some firecrackers or M-80's!  

Eagle90

Hi :

    I do have , caerfully boxed up a re- painted Strombecker wood and plastic DC-7-C from the time . I managed to save most of the Decals and rewetted them and re-applied the old yellowed things . Why ? Well , I wanted it to be as original as possible . I also still have my first iteration of REVELL'S - U.S.S. BUCKLEY ! Still with thread railings and rigging . It has not need repairs yet ! Yes ,  I keep them as long as I can  .Given the circumstances over the years that has not been easy .

Unfortunately, we think the models from my youth are gone.  We can't find them, and they would only be in the attic.  I just don't remember getting rid of them.

Now, I'm keeping the finished models until I find a reason to get rid of them.  So, hopefully for a while.

I've only been back into the hobby for a few years so my collection only numbers around 20 which are all on display. I am beginning to run out of room though so I've been thinking that some of the older ones will start to go to some of the kids in my family as toys.

I've only now, in the last year, begin to sell some of my first models that I build starting in 1983 or so. That should tell you volumes... :)

I started building model airplanes when I was around seven years old. That was 70 years ago. It was a wooden kit. I still have it along with others I built back then. My wife and children call me a pack rat.

I keep them until they turn yellow or get broken beyond repair. Many were, of course, in boxes, but now I have more display space. The biggest problem I have with yellowing is not the paint (I've use Tamiya white since it came out and it never yellows). The problem is the decal adhesive under the clear film. Most of them seem to turn brown, but ScaleMaster seems to be the worse. Some i strip and refinish.  

You know, when I was a yout (that’s youth for those who haven’t seen the movie “My Cousin Vince”) most if not all of my finished models ended up in the bathtub or in the back yard shot up with my Crossman air-rifle or obliterated by black cat firecracker.  

Now days, I have shelves upon shelves of finished models that go back to my last move (about three years ago).  I have built some kits and gave them to friends like my “what if” of a US Navy F-19 stealth fighter preparing for carrier launch for a shipmate friend of mine.  Even took the time to make decals for the canopy “LCDR Jack Super Chicken Bagley” to personalize it along with a fictional VFA-69 squadron emblem whose motto is “You’re not Afraid of the Dark?”

I guess that when I pass into the here after my exactor will have to find homes for all my projects or there is going to be a lot of polystyrene in the trash that Wednesday when the garbage is picked up in our neighborhood.

Radarider

My ex-wife said I needed to grow up and stop building toys and playing with model trains.  

Radarider

My ex-wife said I needed to grow up and stop building toys and playing with model trains.  

I note that you referred to her as "ex"-wife.  Heh heh....

Yea, after eighteen years together she married Jesus.  It is extremely hard to compete with someone who is perfect in everyway, can do no wrong and is never around.  After six years of that, and sleeping on the couch, I threw in the towel and said he could have her.  She’s happy, I am happy and the big old world just keeps spinning.