buying models

heh, that's a common affliction amongst us model enthusiasts.  I get obsessed with my "interest of the week" and just go nuts.  I've been obsessed with the Bf109 lately so I bought several and have 2 in progress.  Before that it was Shermans, and so on and so on.  I'm trying to get better about building what I have so the pile will start to go down.  Whenever I see a great build that someone has posted, I get all excited about that model and want to build one, next thing I know there it is in my hands, and now it's sitting on the shelf. 

I'm thinking my interest in modelling is half hobby, half obsession. 

espins1 wrote:

I've been obsessed with...

I don't know what you're talking about. It just does not exists in this hobby, if you plan carefully.  My last 5 build, in order,

P-51

P-51

Bf-109E

P-51

P-51

As long as you stick something different in the middle you can call it a "healthy interest" instead of obsession.

(A calming voice form behind me, "Your hour is almost over.")

I hear ya dude.

I have over 300 unbuilt kits sitting on my shelf right now. I can't stop buying.

I look at the shelves and all the history it represents and it just makes me want to add to it.

Mike

mikepowers wrote:

I hear ya dude. I have over 300 unbuilt kits sitting on my shelf right now. I can't stop buying. I look at the shelves and all the history it represents and it just makes me want to add to it. Mike

I am in a same boat as you are Mike.  300 + unbuilt kits and still purchasing average of 5 kits per month.  I don't even know what I have on my shelves anymore, but I still continue to buy for what ever the reason is. 

I used to be like that. Then I got very discouraged, when I took into consideration some of my recently finished projects, and how long they took. At present, I've managed to almost stop buying completely. The kits I want now will still be there later, and I've got my hands full as it is.

wing_nut wrote:

espins1 wrote: I've been obsessed with... I don't know what you're talking about. It just does not exists in this hobby, if you plan carefully.  My last 5 build, in order, P-51 P-51 Bf-109E P-51 P-51 As long as you stick something different in the middle you can call it a "healthy interest" instead of obsession. (A calming voice form behind me, "Your hour is almost over.")

I like your logic

I was starting to fall into the same trap as some of you guys, buy, buy, buy...
I thought I had to biuld my stash and keep adding to it, every time I went to Wal*Mart there sat a new car kit I just had to have. Every time I bought one, my son wanted one too, how could I refuse? My wife seen me going off the deep end, this time it wasn't booze or drugs, but little plastic model car kits!

We sat down and figured out a strategy.

• Exactly want I want in my collection.
• Wal*Mart has the newer releases and will carry them for awhile.
• Search for the older hard to find kits first.
• Setup a kitty or budget if you will just for modeling supply's.
• Once the older kits, if found, are bought, "slowly" buy the newer kits.
• All the time not altering from my original "Want List".

My "Want List" consist of model kits that do not exsist. But hopefully someday they may. I just listed a bunch of cars that I wanted models of and then matched what kits I could find to the cars. I'm not saying that this is a perfect solution, I've already screwed up and bought a few that weren't on my list. But mama was alright with it, I only had to spend a week in the padded room. 

I think part of my problem is, I'm a pessimist. Maybe a realist, not sure.

But,,,,

I think someday I'll lose my job and and then I'll have all this time on my hands so basically, I'm preparing for the end. :)

jim

as hard as the Whole problem can be, do you thing specializing in one area of model (in your case cars) is easier to control than in a person like me. i build all (ships cars planes armor and some odd stuff)

so all i see at the store is plastic  and i gotta have my plastic just like a person gotta have their booze  i gotta have my plastic  in any form

this is what is begining to get to me

I'm not a psychologist but you probably are a "compulsive consumer".  You don't necessarily need to buy model kits.  It happened that you like building models but you would have to buy something else if not models.  It is a good feeling to go to the mailbox and discover your last purchase in a box ... it's like christmas everytime.  It can be very addictive.  Think about it and it is probably the same way in other aspects of your life.

I always have no more than 6 models in my stash.  As soon as it is down to 3, I go buy 3 more.  That way, I don't make compulsive purchases.  I noticed that my interest change over time so I can be interested in a Sherman one week and the next week I'dd rather build a Battleship so the Sherman could sit in my stash for a long time and then I would have to buy other kits in between.

So if I buy one kit after the other, and build one at a time, I always build what I like when I like without going out of budget.

Alot of you guys probably have between $6000 and $12000 worth of models in your basement.  What if your house burns?  Do you have inssurance for those models?  That's alot of money and be realistic, most of these models will never get built.

Boy, reading all of these is like looking in a mirror. It's scary. My wife and I just moved and when it came to move my models and supplies, it took me 3 trips in my GMC Sanoma truck (filled the bed of the truck up!). I couldn't believe that I had accumilated that much stuff. I thought my wife was going to kill me.

Fast forward a week to yesterday and I was "just passing through" Hobby Lobby and found Hobby Craft's 1/32 P-38 not only on sale but on clearence. I bought it for $19.99! Plus it was all there. I also picked up Tamiya's Me262 with the Kittenkraft(sp?) 1/48 for $9.19.

My wife - being the great wife she is - didn't say anything about them when she got home from work. Am I lucky or what?

leadsled wrote:

Boy, reading all of these is like looking in a mirror. It's scary. My wife and I just moved and when it came to move my models and supplies, it took me 3 trips in my GMC Sanoma truck (filled the bed of the truck up!). I couldn't believe that I had accumilated that much stuff. I thought my wife was going to kill me. Fast forward a week to yesterday and I was "just passing through" Hobby Lobby and found Hobby Craft's 1/32 P-38 not only on sale but on clearence. I bought it for $19.99! Plus it was all there. I also picked up Tamiya's Me262 with the Kittenkraft(sp?) 1/48 for $9.19. My wife - being the great wife she is - didn't say anything about them when she got home from work. Am I lucky or what?

You bet!  Mine is going crazy everytime I'm about to go to the LHS.

My ex Gf always wants go to the LHS with me. I got me a bounus sheck a while back and spent  close to $400 on a bunch of 1/32 kits from e-hobbyland. And onother thing i gues we cant complane about the other half and all the shoes and clothes they have, i guess thats how we deal with them spending money, "You spent how much on shoes and makup" i guess i can get that 1/6 scale dr1 now LOL

I keep my buying well under control.

I only bought 7 Spitfires last week.

I almost went completely nuts and bought 8.

Whew! Close one!

Yann Solo wrote:

I'm not a psychologist but you probably are a "compulsive consumer".  You don't necessarily need to buy model kits.  It happened that you like building models but you would have to buy something else if not models.  It is a good feeling to go to the mailbox and discover your last purchase in a box ... it's like christmas everytime.  It can be very addictive.  Think about it and it is probably the same way in other aspects of your life. I always have no more than 6 models in my stash.  As soon as it is down to 3, I go buy 3 more.  That way, I don't make compulsive purchases.  I noticed that my interest change over time so I can be interested in a Sherman one week and the next week I'dd rather build a Battleship so the Sherman could sit in my stash for a long time and then I would have to buy other kits in between. So if I buy one kit after the other, and build one at a time, I always build what I like when I like without going out of budget. Alot of you guys probably have between $6000 and $12000 worth of models in your basement.  What if your house burns?  Do you have inssurance for those models?  That's alot of money and be realistic, most of these models will never get built.

I'm not a compulsive consumer I just get what I want when I can afford it.Besides their may come a time you can't buy any and you have a back-up.
   Whats a budget? If my house burns and lose all my models built and unbuilt I just start over. Been There Done That. Got the pictures too. 

In a sense, those of us with large collections of models (built and unbuilt) are not unlike others who are "collectors" like comic books, baseball cards, toys, books, music.... or whatever.  It's the same mentality and enjoyment, so having a large collection is not necessarily a bad thing as long as it's not preventing you from putting food on the table or paying your bills.    If that happens, then it's an obsession and a problem like gambling.

Hey I didn't want to offend anyone, i'm in the same situation where I have to be carefull not to buy too much.  In a certain way, we don't need so many kit so it is unecessary purchase.

I didn't say it is insane, it is not whorse than the ones who collect stamps like espin1 said.

I'm sorry if I said something wrong!  Plus my first language is french so I may have difficulty to chose the proper words.

Anyway, I agree that buying models is very addictive and I have to be carfull not to buy excessively.

Compulsive purchase means buying something you don't need.  Like espin1 said, as long as your hobby is not preventing you from putting food on the table.  There's no problem, at the end, it is just money and money is there to be spent.

I don't think you offended anyone at all. 

I started falling into this trend then i stoped and thought about it, and what i wanted.

I came to the conclusion that I pick models on a whim, if i do not have something that i want on hand i go hunting which may lead to spending more then what i want to. Thus i like to keep a diverse stock of kits, I buy cheaper models without that much thought but for expensive kits I think hard on weather i really want this or not.
 
I stick to kits and finish them,or completly abandon them. No in between.

I limit the number due to the fact that i'll have to mail them to myself every few years (pritty soon i'll be moving a lot)

DURR wrote:

so all i see at the store is plastic  and i gotta have my plastic just like a person gotta have their booze  i gotta have my plastic  in any form this is what is begining to get to me

The words of a Plasti-holic Welcome to the club!! I think we can all agree that this is an addiction. A healthy one if we take the proper precautions

I have the exact reverse situation, in that my purchase rate is about 1-2 models a month . I'm getting hooked on jets (mostly modern), and looking around the Internet makes me even more itchy for a job. And Revell Germany just HAD to show select model instuctions...... so much choice, so little time and money

i havent any finantial prob (but sometimes i need some extra money). the problem is the frequency i can get them. its like 1 for every 2 months. as i cant buy them thru internet, and in my city isnt any decent store, i have to buy them in Santiago, and my father jus' goes there something like every 2 months. sometimes i have some luck, and he has to travel twice a month, but it still dont fill my needs

*sigh* i had an impulse buy today.

There was a sale for a 1/35 humvee and a 1/48 jagdpanther (tamiya). I knew i was going to buy them, but then i noticed the 1/35 tamiya king tinger. It cost slightly less then both the other kits combined and i like it more then the other two, so i payed more then it was worth (prices can be high sometimes at LHS's). But i have a single kit i really like rather then two i like, quality over quantity.

Of all the responses here I'd have to say that Yann Solo's is the one that most closely reflects my trian of thought.  I probably have about 20-25 kits under my workbench and even I think that is excessive.  Most of them were purchased before my first child was born.  That was three years ago.  Before she came along I was probably building 8-10 models a year.  Now I'm lucky if I get 2-3 done per year and that's IF I'm incredibly lucky!  I just finished a 1/48 B-1 that's I had been working on for the past 17 months.  But back to the topic.  Personally I think anyone who has hundred if not thousands of unbuilt kits does, in fact, have some sort of compulsive issue.  If you heard of a woman who had 700 hand bags or pairs of shoes then you would instantly think there's a problem there.  I think a person can make a joke of it but when you boil everything away, there's a problem lurking inside the person.

 

The way I've been controling myself is two-fold.  One, when I'm downstairs at my bench I'll scan all my unbuilt kits and do the quick math.  I often stop when I get around $400 because I start to get depressed.  That's a car payment and then some.  How many dinners could I have taken my wife to with that money?  What happens if I get killed on my way to work?  What would my wife have to go through to get rid of 300 kits or three truckloads of kits?  Secondly, when I'm at the store and I've got a model clutched in my hands, I instantly think of all the kits under my bench and I wonder how many years will this new one sit under there?  Or how many MORE years will the others sit under there while this one is being worked on?  Thinking of that makes it so easy for me to put the kit back on the shelf.

 

Just my two cents,

 

Eric

@echolmberg

I quite agree with you. No one needs more then 200 kits. Now it can be different if collecting models is THE main hobby, but if you just want to build them, there is something up.

For those with large stashes, perhaps you can contact each other and share wish lists. One person whats such and such, another wants this and this (listing more then one item to increase chances of getting a trade going). And you simply mail each other the kits you want. This way you do not increase the size of your stash or spend much more money (shipping) while improving your collection.

For those wanting to reduce their stash size, perhaps you can give away some, knowing you helped someone else out with this hobby.

And when buying kits, only go for kits that really inrest you. If its on sale and you'll never build it, it's just a waste of money that can go toward that really big niceeeee kit you're waiting to come out.

200 kits should be enough to cover the best kits of the type of models your into, have on hand what you need to start at least 5 dios and odd ball stuff if you want to do something different.

This is all great advice.

I like the idea of trading lists so we can add to the quality of our collections and not the quantity.

But, the reason I continue to buy is this:

Looking at all of the boxes of kits on there shelves and all the history it all represents, helps give me motivation when I'm down in my cold damp basement all alone with just the spiders and centipedes to keep me company.

There is just something about the atmosphere it generates.

This is of course if its all displayed on shelves and not all boxed up so you can't see any of it.

And thats my 2 cents.

 

Mike

 

It's funny, I have probably close to 80 kits in my stash and there is not a single one that I don't want to build.

I want to build every one that I have.

And thats about 300 or so.

Since I plan on living forever that should be no problem. :)