How often do you buy models?

  I batched syrups for Coca-cola for 30 years, and since there were only three of us, when the doors were open, I had to be there.  Lots of overtime. I got to buy a kit every OT week, with everything else going to our bank account. About 40 a year. As I got older, and got involved with table top miniature gaming, that number went way down.  

    I sold most of them, and only have kits that I intend to build. I probably average 3 a year now. 

    I have a lot of miniature armys  that I’m slowly selling off and putting the money back into kits.  

I have a stash of approximately 200 kits.  I've been building like a crazy man this year 12 already completed (2 of those begun last year).  

My lack of a job has prevented me from adding any kits to the stash this year, but I do have my eyes on a few for when I land my next position.

Since getting back into the hobby for about six years now, I have only accumulated 7-8 kits in the stash. At least 2 of these were from my previous stash when I built as a teen and a couple have been given to me by a close friend who frequents flea markets and swap shops. If I see a kit on sale and it’s something I’m interested in, I’ll buy it if I have the extra cash. I try to make it a point to not pay full retail for anything with my two hobbies, modeling and fishing, to not take away from household income. I figure I’ll build when I can and then hopefully have more time when retirement comes.

   I do have a confession to make here. Years ago, if I had a passing interest in a kit, I would buy it to see what was in the box, and then it would become part of the stash.  

    With all the unboxing and build videos on utube, forums like FSM, and other sites, I can enjoy builds that I wouldn’t want to attempt myself, and just buy the models that I truly want to have. 

I collect books, wargames, and models.  I rarely buy any of them new off the shelf, rather, I shop used book stores, thrift shops, flea markets, auction sites, and recently, model shows.

Up until I retired from the military, I bought kits occassionally as I could afford them and the price was right.  After the military and a much better pay package, my stash has skyrocketed in a few years from less than 100 to around 900 now.  But I still stick to getting most of my stash second hand.  My wife is an enabler and will keep an eye out for kits and wargames when we go thrifting and flea marketing.  She also goes through auction sites for older kits to put back for gifts and such for me.  I think she's a keeper.  I used to buy kits I might want to build one day if the price was right.  Lately I've been limiting it to kits I know I'll build.

I do try to support independent birck and mortar shops when I travel around.  I have a soft spot for a shop in Dayton when I visit family.  I usually try to make it a point to pick up three kits at their discounted retail price.  The staff is so friendly and helpful it makes it a fun visit every few months.  At the rest I try to pick up one kit at retail to help the small business cause.

 

Doug

My purchasing of models varies with the seasons. Most of my time in the Summer is spent outside working in my gardens. Very little time for modeling. Winter is different. That's when I purchase models and work on models.

 

I do not have a stash, I prefer to work on a model one at the time, because, I find unconformable to work on a model while having another pending. When I finish a model then I go and decided what will be my next one. There is 2 reason for this, first is that I want to make sure that the model interest me, knowing myself, if the project does not interest me, I won't finish it.

 

The second reason is economics, I am retired and so is the wife, and besides some savings, my main income at this point is SS, so I have to be very choosy when buying models and I prefer to get one good one ( and maybe expensive but large and interesting )  than getting 3 cheap ones.

 

The first model  I build, I was maybe 12 and received it as a Christmas present, did not have any paint and only glue, it was a US Navy war ship, do not remember the name. The second was a small car and did it on the spur of the moment while in Army basic training, did not finish it and gave it away.

 

Next one was the USS Constitution, about 1:90, which I started when I was about 25, then I got married, life got complicate and never finish it, I have no idea what happens to it, years went by and about 2 years ago my kids gave me a wooden locomotive that got me interested in building models again, so when this pandemic started, I decided to start building sailing ships (Like I said in another post, the rigging on old sailing ships, for some reason, fascinates me )

 

So there I am, I hope I did not bored you guys with the story, I tried to make it as short as possible.

 

Joe

 

That's a good story Joe. I agree with you, I only work on one model at a time. I think that I have three models in my stash.

Don Stauffer

I buy about a model a month.  I believe my average build time to be about six weeks.  If you look at the stash growth rate (leaky bucket differential equation) that means my stash grows at a steady rate.  I am trying to reduce the input flow a bit, but not sucessfully so far.

 

 

That pretty much sums up my status too! Out of boredom, I bought more kits than I should have over the Covid19 months.I need to start selling kits, starting with the ones that have been in the stash 2+ years. 

I'll buy a few kits a month. With the stash getting into the hundreds I tend to be more selective now.

Anytime I go out of town I try & visit a LHS. You can never leave an LHS empty handed. 

 

I am starting work on my new build, The British Man O' War, I just finish adding the primer, now I am waiting for the paints that I ordered to arrive so I can continue with the build.

Yesterday, The Admiral, was perusing in the Internet and discovered that Amazon had the Heller Le Solei Royal available, knowing that I wanted this model, she went ahead and ordered it for me, "Birthday present" she said (My birthday is not until September). Hey! I am not complaining!

So now I will have one kit in my stash: the Solei Royal.

Joe