How often do you buy models?

There's definitely something to seeing a kit that you want, and buying it, and then just looking at it, thinking about building it, how much fun it'll be, etc, etc.  And you buy it, and if you don't build it right away, it's just another kit in the stash (with apologies to Pink Floyd). 

I know that I've gone on binges to buy kits, for specific collections or themes.  For example, I was on a yellow-wings kit, especially after I saw Accurate Miniatures' F3F and SB2U kits, and Classic Airframes' Goshawk and F4B-4 kits.  So I picked up a bunch of those.  That was almost 20 years ago; those kits moved with me to my current house in 2002.

Next was a collection or theme of "All US Plane Types Used at Midway". Then I read "Doomed at the Start", and started acquiring kits of USAAF aircraft in the Philippines at the outset of the war.

And I've got a stash of 1/72 Italian fighters from WW II, and 1/700 kits for the theme of "Our First 10 Carriers".

All that time, it was fun to think about building them, but I'll never really finish them all, nor be able to display them all.

So I may just take a table at a show some day and unload them, so someone else can enjoy them.

I really don't buy kits any more. I already have neither the time to build nor the room to display what I already have.

I am quite happy with the decisions I've made.

I'm not a very serious modeler, I guess. There's other things that my disposable income goes to, mostly improving my domicile.

Bill

My buying habits have evolved over time. As a kid it was go buy one when I had enough spending money to get one. As a young single adult, it was go buy one when I felt like it, build it, then go buy the next one. Early married life when things were tight was to squirrel away a few dollars here and there to eventually save up enough for a kit that I wanted. Then came a more affluent time and eBay... models could be had at real bargain prices and my wife and I were doing really good paywise at work... what had been a stash of a dozen or so kits multiplied like rabbits. The good times ended like for many people and it was back to squirreling away a little cash when possible and bargain hunting. But now I was in model clubs where guys would bring in some of their stash kits to sell off. So my stash continued to grow, but at a slower rate. Nowadays finances are better, I have a pretty extensive stash,  and my purchases are mostly of the few previously unreleased subjects that interest me which come along every so often. Not the latest rehash of a subject that has been kitted repeatedly for the last 60+ years.

I never knew what a 'stash' was until after I returned from hiatus (like most everyone here) and joined up here several years back. Swore I'd never have one. What a silly concept, a pile of models to build someday, thought I. Oh, maybe one or two kits for a rainy day........

Uh huh. Right.

That hasn't worked out quite like I had planned. Unlike Tojo, turns out I am quite the impulse buyer when it comes to kits. I'm more like John, (build one, buy 3). Another of those realitiies not exactly matching the vision things.

the Baron

As an adult, there's no frequency.  If I feel like it, if I'm focused on a particular subject, then I may buy a couple of kits that fit the subject.  But I have gone for long stretches in which I didn't buy any.  I've bought far faster than I build.  Now, I'm looking more at getting rid of kits, because I know I'll never get to building them, and I have no place to display them.

As A kid it was on and off, pretty much as I had the money. As an adult, ditto Baron. I buy when I see a subject I want or off my wishlist as I have the means to do so. Mostly what I buy now is AM for the kits I have.

Shows are a completly diffrent story. I'll grab as much as I can depending on the deals. If fact, I was able to scratch 5 off my wishlist last year. Now I'm working on getting the AM for them.

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.

JimiJimo

I'm just really curious how often you buy models, either back when you were younger and now. 

When I was a kid, I guess there was a routine or a frequency.  I'd get a kit as a Christmas present and as a birthday present, and those are roughly half a year apart.  And I had an uncle who'd take me to the store (Kiddie City) and let me pick out a kit.  That was probably once a month.  And when I was old enough to have my own money (paper route), I bought myself a kit every few weeks, maybe once a month.  I guess it was finish 1, buy 1.

As an adult, there's no frequency.  If I feel like it, if I'm focused on a particular subject, then I may buy a couple of kits that fit the subject.  But I have gone for long stretches in which I didn't buy any.  I've bought far faster than I build.  Now, I'm looking more at getting rid of kits, because I know I'll never get to building them, and I have no place to display them.

I have tried to do similar to John but i spread mine throughout the year. I aim to only buy half the number of kits that i build in the year. This year i had bought 6 new kits by the end of Feb, and then last week i just ordered my first 2 since then.  So now i need to build a few befopre i allow myself to buy any more. We will see how long i hold out.

I keep a small supply of 6 models and after I build one or two I order one to replace each one I built. So averaging it out I would say I probably buy a model every couple of months.

Well,I bought 2 in 2020 so far.I have a stash of 30-40 right now of most kits that i wanted,and there is nothing in my mind right now that is on my list to buy.I will eventually get a Tamiya P-38 but not now,it will just sit there anyway,got enough to build.I don't buy just to increase the stash,I don't binge buy,I am more of a targeted buyer.No impulse buying.

I want to apply my own rule of building 3 and buy 1... but my behavior is to build 1 and buy 3 lol.