I spent most of my life in the Army and, therefore, moved - a lot. As you all know models do not travel well and only a handful of my early kits survive. As models reached a point where I could no longer repair them I scraped them for parts - I have a lot of parts.

Only in the last few years have I became stable enough to have a problem with what to do with old models. Fortunately (or un-fortunately) I live alone and have a lot of space to put models on shelves.

What is going to happen to these models, and all my equipment, when I go is something I have considered. I have left instructions with my family to go onto sites such as this one and offer all my “stuff” to anyone interested in it.

I'm taking them all to my grave!

I've spent a lifetime in the military, most built kits end up as cann fodder in a moving box awaiting repair or removal of a piece or two I now need on a current project.

I recently opened up a box of old sci-fi kits I built in college in the mid 80s. It was one of the boxes of models I retrieved from my parents' home before they moved to Florida.

Lots of memories in that box as well as valuable "junk" that I have been offered money for by other modelers.

I haven't kept the models I built as a kid, as they were poorly painted 1/72 glue-bombs that were hardly worth the description of  "scale model".  The stuff I built a few years ago as I restarted the hobby are not much better than those others, so cull the herd as I finish new kits.   Old kits become paint mules and home-made zimmerit test pieces.   I'm not too sentimental about my old stuff.

Interesting stuff guys. I store them until my modeling skills have advanced enough to make them look awful to me and then I toss them into the spare parts bin.

You'd think we'd have scale boneyards with stripped down a/c, or a junkyard of cars with motors and wheels stripped off them. I don't toss many, but the ones I have, I strip off any usable stuff for the parts box and let the boys play with them.

Glenn

I have but a handfull left that I built in the years before I joined the Army. Most of those were at least given a new paint job as I learned how to airbrush. Of the rest of those that I built then, and there were a LOT, I stripped some for parts, and the rest I gave to my kids to play with. Those eventually all ended up getting thrown away. Of those that I have built as an adult, most have survived to this day. Those that have not due to some form of damage have been stripped down of parts and thrown away.

This kinda brings up the question of what is gonna happen to your model when you are no longer around.

I get rid of my older models which I don't belive are worthy of being viewed anymore. If they have any useful parts as spares I take them off, and sometimes they serve as test beds for my next build but ultimately they go in the bin.

In almost 13 years if have 80 or so in display cabinets in my basement,and I still have surplus room left,so I have not got to that point where a decision has to be made.i have relegated a few older kits which I was not happy with to technique practice though.

I have recycled builds.

Mostly old AURORA ship and tank parts recycled into Sci-Fi

Well, half of my early stuff was built as displays for a local toy store. The other half were built with firecrackers in them, and every so often, I'd have an epic "battle" with Cox glow fuel induced fires & "blackcat" fireworks explosions.  That was over 40 yrs ago.  The new stuff is just a handfull now, & I can see "recycling" parts as required.

After I'm "gone" - I don't care what my wife does with em.

I just build more/bigger shelves!

Tail draggers hang (by the tail) nicely on the wall too.

The plan is to keep them.  Have a big ol' empty nest of a house.  As skills progress (just started up again recently, after nearly 49 years), I might display some more prominantly than others.  I'm going to will them to institutions, if they'll have them.  For me, that's something to deal with sooner rather than later.  I suppose I may raid the stuff I'm building now for parts someday, or maybe give one or two away sometime.  But,in general, I'm keeping it all. - I share them with others, but mostly they're for me to look at.

The models I made between the ages of seven and 14, I blew away, much as OMCUSNR has described, when I was 15-16; ladyfingers and better over, under and in 'em, with a little lighter fluid in the mix.  Lots of Aurora, Hawk, Revell and Monogram stuff, blown up and burned.  LOL.

I build 1/20-1/25 firetrucks ,among other subjects, i always try to donate the built firetrucks to the station i built the model of mostly local volunteer fire departments which they can display or auction as a fundraiser.Either way i get the fun of building them, lighting them with LEDs and sound and then i let others enjoy them and go to a great cause.

mitsdude

This kinda brings up the question of what is gonna happen to your model when you are no longer around.

I would think many of my built kits will end up in the local landfill. Unbuilt kits would probably be eBayed (is that a word?).

The oldest surviving model kit I own that I built as a child is an Aurora MBT70 that I built around 1970, give or take. I restored it in the mid 1990s with a partially built "parts kit" I bought on eBay in the early days of their website. Back then, it took maybe an hour to look at all model kits listed for the week. It was one of my first eBay purchases; I bought it for $5 plus $3 shipping (back when the USPS had the $3 boxes).

I am now keeping mine

I just a few years ago culled out a lot of the finished models, and I cut down to what is "on topic" to put with what I build from now on

as a themed collection, I need to keep them, and display them in order, if my viewer is ever going to make any sense out of what they are looking at

since I already had almost enough case space for the "new" intended collection,,,,,,after that culling I have a lot of empty display shelves,,,,,,,that looks so wrong to me that it acts as an incentive to build,,,,,,I feel the need to "fill the shelves back up to what they used to hold"

Rex

Overall, I strip 'em and clip 'em..  With only a few exceptions, I've tossed out about 3000 built models.

I had a collection a few ago that I gave to an aunt for safe keeping while we moved house. Between 1981 and 1990, I had spent in excess of $4,000.00 on 8 expensive museum grade models and several smaller 'in-between' models of classic cars.

She dedicated a large lounge room to display the models which were all in separate glass cases, and as she was widowed, she had no use for the room anyway in such a huge house.

We did the move, then a few years later after I heard that the aunt had died, no one knew what had happened to the models.

Recently I started collecting models again, and I am now back into the madness. As for the old models, I have never found out where they got to, but in any case, I would never have scrapped or thrown any out, but somehow I did end up with a collection of spare parts, but I cannot remember how I accumulated the spares. Spooky, huh?

Errol.

I keep most of them. When I build a better version of the same thing I will often move the old version to a 1/48 version of AMARC.. Pretty much a box in the closet where I try to store them mostly in tact. It is too hard to judge what might be needed later. It could be just a pitot tube.. Or a whole wing off an F-15 due to a short shot.

I have a box from a 1/72 KC-135R that acts as my spares box where the leftovers from the sprues end up.

I have kits I built when I was a kid still in the attic in boxes. My parents brought them to me when they moved. That was back when putting together a kit cost next to nothing and I built it seemed like one a week. LOL

I wish I still had some of those models I built as a kid 35-40 yrs ago but they were either shot up or blown up... some both!  I suppose my kids will look over my "new" collection and curse their old man at what was he thinking building all these things.

I am afraid to even pull them out of the boxes. I thought they were awesome builds back when. Especialy after I tried using a pencil to trace the raised panel lines LOL. I know there are a couple that may still look pretty good...a car here and there and that old PT109, but there is also a gold P-38 lurking around in that stash too.  

Hercmech

..............but there is also a gold P-38 lurking around in that stash too.  

If there is a gold P-38 somewhere around there.........................

Sell it !