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Throwing away kits

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  • Member since
    May 2004
  • From: Land of Lakes
Throwing away kits
Posted by cbaltrin on Saturday, March 12, 2022 10:06 AM

Been kinda feeling like Jacob Marley lately with heavy chains an locks hanging around my neck, except if I painted this image the chains would probably been tangled sprues and the locks kit boxes.  So I made the decision that it's ok to throw away a kit or three or more. I would venture to bet I have more "in work" or "shelf queens" than anyone on this forumn. Some have been on the shelf so long that I have lost all interest of the subect and working on them. Not only have I lost interest in the subject, but after 15 years on the shelf, my skill set has evolved making what ever previous work was done on the kit seem unacceptable to some extent.  For example, I just tossed an almost comletely built 1/48 Hasegawa Fw190A-4 (was actually painted) and a Tamiya F4F is proably not far behind.  I just finally realized I was never going to finish it and trying to sell it was not worth the time and effort.  So today I start going through my collection and a few more kits may end up in he circle file. Also finding lot's of boxes of previously built kits that I have hung on to for some reason--probably because of those un-used parts that "I may need someday"... Those have to go to.  On top of that I would say that half of my unstarted kits I look at and realize I wiill never have time or desire to build, so those are going in a box and off to the local hobby shop. 

This sound familiar to anyone?

On the Bench: Too Much

  • Member since
    June 2014
Posted by BrandonK on Saturday, March 12, 2022 10:13 AM

I am an oddity in this regard. I finish every kit, every    single    one, no matter what. I have a mindset that tells my I've failed if I don't complete something. I have two sitting on the shelf, not due to lack of interest, but I moved and they got caught up in all that. They are on deck and will be completed this year after GB obligations are handled.

I understand where you are coming from on feeling overwhelmed. Perhaps this is why I won't let that happen. I just can't toss a kit, to me that's money wasted and it erks me. 

PM me if you would like. I may be interested in getting some of those and getting you some cash for your efforts. I won't waste your time.

BK

On the bench:

A lot !! And I mean A LOT!!

2024 Kits on deck / in process / completed   

                         14 / 5 / 2  

                              Tongue Tied

  • Member since
    March 2007
  • From: Northeast WA State
Posted by armornut on Saturday, March 12, 2022 10:24 AM

   Yessir, I unfortunatly....for me.....have had similar incidents. The excitment of working that shiny new kit wanes when I have to sand a seam that really shouldn't be or I don't want to put a drop of paint when in six steps I can air brush.

     This hobby can be frustrating, time consuming, challenging, all of these make it fun. I just told a friend last week that I'm done tossing my kits, started or not as in six months I'm gonna replace them. To me why waste the money.

     Long story short....oh yea, a ton of plastic has mafe its way to the landfill, sometimes a few ounces....sometimes a few pounds, never tons....yetEmbarrassed

we're modelers it's what we do

  • Member since
    August 2021
Posted by goldhammer88 on Saturday, March 12, 2022 11:04 AM

I've got a huge stash, mostly in storage. Most will get file 13'd when I go.  Have plans they go to a couple friends here, but they're have a minimum of a days drive to get here.

  • Member since
    April 2003
  • From: USA
Posted by keavdog on Saturday, March 12, 2022 11:07 AM

I've tossed a couple out of frustration or massive failures.  Recently I went through my stash and pulled a bunch of stuff I decided I wasn't going to build.  I gave some away and sold some.  This lead to making room in the stash which I started filling up with new kits Stick out tongue.  

Thanks,

John

  • Member since
    March 2003
  • From: Western North Carolina
Posted by Tojo72 on Saturday, March 12, 2022 11:48 AM

I have definitely got frustrated and tossed a few kits that whipped me,after stripping them for useful stuff.I have also got rid of some older builds that don't measure up anymore.

But I have never tossed any unbuilt kits,I have sold off a few and given away a few,but I'm very selective when buying not impulse buying.I only have a stash of about 40 or so,and that seems like too many.

  • Member since
    December 2002
  • From: Fort Knox
Posted by Rob Gronovius on Saturday, March 12, 2022 12:01 PM

I would suggest passing them on to a neighborhood kid versus throwing them away. Introduce new modelers into the hobby.

Or if you wanted to make some money, put together an "as is" lot of started models and sell them on eBay. You might make $20-50 depending on the kits. There is some modeler who can't afford the price a new kits, but would jump at the chance to get a handful of partially assembled kits at an affordable price.

And some modelers like to customize or scratchbuild different variants. Getting bits and pieces of kits at a discounted price that you need to make the variant you want to helps.

My oldest unfinished kit is a Tamiya M2 Bradley that I started towards the end of my college days in 1986. It stayed in my parents' home in Vermont when I left for active duty. When I moved to Fort Devens, Massachusetts in 2001, it was still there, unknown to me.

My parents were downsizing and becoming snowbirds, moving to Florida in the winter and returning to Vermont in the summer. So, in 2004, they asked if I wanted any of my old stuff. I found some of my old, completed model kits that were stuffed in kit boxes.

Some of those ancient kits that I built as a kid had a lot of sentimental value to me. There was an AMT VW Rabbit that was a model of the very first brand new car I bought in 1984 (it's an earlier model). Another kit was a very old Monogram M48A2 that I built in junior high school and later, after I became a tanker, painted it to look like an M48A5 I trained on in 1985.

They represent a snapshot of my model building nearly 40 years ago. While I've been tempted to finish the M2 Bradley, I doubt I ever will. I know I'll never part with it.

  • Member since
    July 2008
  • From: Vancouver, the "wet coast"
Posted by castelnuovo on Saturday, March 12, 2022 12:24 PM

cbaltrin

I would venture to bet I have more "in work" or "shelf queens" than anyone on this forumn. Some have been on the shelf so long that I have lost all interest of the subect and working on them.

 
This is the reason I don't have a big stash. Change of interests, big pile of boxes may look overwhelming, sort of create that "I'll never build them...". I have 3 or 4, then off to LHS again. 
If you like, can you take a photo of your stash or PM me what you have. I may buy some.
  • Member since
    May 2009
  • From: Poland
Posted by Pawel on Saturday, March 12, 2022 6:30 PM

Hello!

I can understand clearing out stuff, and I respect a clear decision when something just isn't going to get built - but I can't endorse throwing stuff away. Al least a try to find someone who might be interested would be cool here.

Good luck with your builds and have a nice day

Paweł

All comments and critique welcomed. Thanks for your honest opinions!

www.vietnam.net.pl

fox
  • Member since
    January 2007
  • From: Narvon, Pa.
Posted by fox on Saturday, March 12, 2022 10:48 PM

I had quite a few builds on the shelf of doom for various reasons. Some were waiting for parts, some for ordering paint, some for repair of broken parts in kit to be repaired. One that I actually realized I wanted to build as a different version so I stopped work on it. Took care of most of them during the pandemic. Only have 4 left on the shelf. Sometimes I give away kits to kids or grownups that I'm trying to get involved in the hobby and sometimes I give away completed models to friends, relatives and others. I have scrapped a few old builds over the years for parts.  I have computer paper boxes full of old build parts, car bodies, frames, plane fuselages, wings, and loads of parts for all the aforementioned models.  

When I go to the Great Workbench in the Sky, all remaining kits and finished models have all been marked for members of our club except completed WWII planes and other WWII builds. They are going to the WWII museum that I have been doing restoration work for.

I have never or will I ever toss a kit, parts or completed model in the trash.

Jim Captain

Stay Safe.

 Main WIP: 

   On the Bench: Artesania Latina  (aka) Artists in the Latrine 1/75 Bluenose II

I keep hitting "escape", but I'm still here.

  • Member since
    July 2003
  • From: On my kitchen counter top somewhere in North Carolina.
Posted by disastermaster on Sunday, March 13, 2022 12:26 AM

I always finish what I start.

 

 

 

 

 

Sherman-Jumbo-1945

"I was so much older then, I'm younger than that now"

 

 
  • Member since
    May 2004
  • From: Land of Lakes
Posted by cbaltrin on Sunday, March 13, 2022 12:35 AM

disastermaster

I always finish what I start.

 Strange considering your screen name Wink

 

 

 

 

 

On the Bench: Too Much

  • Member since
    May 2004
  • From: Land of Lakes
Posted by cbaltrin on Sunday, March 13, 2022 12:36 AM

castelnuovo,  messaging seems to be broken on this site.  Maybe it will let you shoot me a message?

castelnuovo

 

 
cbaltrin

I would venture to bet I have more "in work" or "shelf queens" than anyone on this forumn. Some have been on the shelf so long that I have lost all interest of the subect and working on them.

 

 

 
This is the reason I don't have a big stash. Change of interests, big pile of boxes may look overwhelming, sort of create that "I'll never build them...". I have 3 or 4, then off to LHS again. 
If you like, can you take a photo of your stash or PM me what you have. I may buy some.
 

On the Bench: Too Much

  • Member since
    June 2014
Posted by BrandonK on Sunday, March 13, 2022 11:54 AM

I was afriad the PM's might be broken. Shoot me an email BLKelly197@gmail.com

I am willing to purchase some and pay shipping if you're interested.

BK

On the bench:

A lot !! And I mean A LOT!!

2024 Kits on deck / in process / completed   

                         14 / 5 / 2  

                              Tongue Tied

  • Member since
    January 2021
Posted by PFJN2 on Sunday, March 13, 2022 6:45 PM

Hi,

A couple of timesover the past fewyears I have gone through my stash and given away some of my kits to various people collecting for after school groups etc, who have posted under the "Charity/Goodwill" section of these boards.  If you are intending to get rid of some stuff, it mught be wirthwhile to put a posting there to see if anyone wants your stuff, rather than just throwing them away.

 

Pat

  • Member since
    April 2003
  • From: USA
Posted by keavdog on Sunday, March 13, 2022 7:13 PM

Contact Tal Afar Dave here.  He teaches at a military academy and does modeling with the kids.  I sent him a bunch of kits a couple years ago for the students to build.

Thanks,

John

GAF
  • Member since
    June 2012
  • From: Anniston, AL
Posted by GAF on Sunday, March 13, 2022 8:21 PM

Always hope for old kits.  Good thing you posted!  But considering the cost of shipping today, I can see throwing them away (unless they live close by).

Gary

  • Member since
    January 2015
  • From: Katy, TX
Posted by Aggieman on Sunday, March 13, 2022 9:14 PM

On occasion I've run into a kit that, for whatever reason, I simply can't build.  Typically these have been WWI biplanes, where I just never could get the cabanes lined up right, and frustration sets in, then anger, then seathing anger, and I've gone HULK SMASH on them.  On another build, I dropped it, resulting in severe damage that I immediately assessed as total, and I deep-sixed it.

But usually, such as the Kitty Hawk POS F-86D that I have been struggling with this past month, I push on to completion.  I really can't imagine simply tossing an unbuilt kit.  Although I did something such as you described, with a tool box full of unused parts that "I might need someday", and I just got rid of all that stuff.  Kept the pilot figures that I rarely put into my builds.

I have a decent sized stash that should last me for a number of years, into my retirement years possibly.  There are some duplications in there.  Still, I imagine that I'll build everything I currently have.  I'm interesting in acquiring a few more kits, but for me, despite my large house and approving better half, I am truly running out of room. That 1/24 Hellcat sounds so very appealing until I start to wonder where I'll display it.  

  • Member since
    July 2014
Posted by modelcrazy on Sunday, March 13, 2022 9:53 PM

I don't believe the OP was taking about unbuilt kits, just the shelf queens.  I could have misread it through. 

Steve

Building a kit from your stash is like cutting a head off a Hydra, two more take it's place.

 

 

http://www.spamodeler.com/forum/

  • Member since
    December 2002
  • From: Fort Knox
Posted by Rob Gronovius on Sunday, March 13, 2022 10:23 PM

modelcrazy

I don't believe the OP was taking about unbuilt kits, just the shelf queens.  I could have misread it through. 

 

Yeah, started kits and shelf queens, but still, to some guys that don't have the funds, these kits can find a good home. When I was in college, my mom asked if she could sell any of my old kits. I had a bunch of old Monogram car kits, custom Chevy vans, Jeeps, a few race cars.

This guy who like model building but had fingers the size of thumbs bought many of them and was trying his had at painting them. Back then, most of my model kits were unpainted (car bodies) and just in the color of the plastic. Other items were painted, just not the main color of the body.

  • Member since
    March 2003
  • From: Western North Carolina
Posted by Tojo72 on Monday, March 14, 2022 5:52 AM

modelcrazy

I don't believe the OP was taking about unbuilt kits, just the shelf queens.  I could have misread it through. 

 

These were his words at the end of his post:

"On top of that I would say that half of my unstarted kits I look at and realize I wiill never have time or desire to build, so those are going in a box and off to the local hobby shop."

So he is either selling or giving away a lot of his unbuilt kits.

  • Member since
    July 2003
  • From: On my kitchen counter top somewhere in North Carolina.
Posted by disastermaster on Monday, March 14, 2022 6:44 PM

cbaltrin

 disastermaster

I always finish what I start.

 Strange considering your screen name Wink

 

Yes, I even finish the disasters.

I can learn that way.

 

 

 

 

 

 

Sherman-Jumbo-1945

"I was so much older then, I'm younger than that now"

 

 
  • Member since
    December 2003
  • From: 37deg 40.13' N 95deg 29.10'W
Posted by scottrc on Monday, March 21, 2022 10:20 AM

After dealing with the cleaning of my parents home this last year, I just threw out three boxes of old, built and partially built models. Lots of memories, but thats all they were.  Now they were just lumps of dusty plastic taking up room and frustrating me as to what to do with them.  So I tossed them in the huge dumpster I rented along a bunch of other family memories are are now junk.  

  • Member since
    March 2022
  • From: Twin cities, MN
Posted by missileman2000 on Tuesday, March 22, 2022 8:06 AM

While I do occasionally scrap partially built kits, I always mine them first of useable acessories, like wheels, props, canopies, PE, etc.  They can be useful on conversions, scratchbuilds, and damaged parts.

 

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