How did your stash get to where it is?

Good heavens! I've just seen Rob's stash! Its jaw-droppingly positively shocking! 

My stash consists of about 130 kits, most bought over the last five years at various model shows or web auctions. The plan is to have enough kits to see me through my retirement in years to come. 

Me to Tango, if I make it that far. :)

I have about 350 now.

I just love to sit there and look at em.

Yeah, I'm weird.

Rob Gronovius wrote:

Here's a post I made in 2005 about how big my stash ended up. http://modelgeek.kitmaker.net/modules.php?op=modload&name=SquawkBox&file=index&req=viewtopic&topic_id=55050#461658

Holy c^$p, Rob! I thought I was looking at the inside of an HS! And I thought I had a big stash!

Hey, if you ever wanna get rid of any of those Star Wars kits, lemme know; my kids are total Star Wars fans (they get it from my wife), and I'm running out of (built) Star Wars kits for them. They've already "requisitioned" my AT-AT and my X-Wing, and the Millenium Falcon is next.

I've collected my stash (100+) over the last 30 years or so, most of it over the last half of that; I average about a new model every other month. Oldest model I have is a 1/35th Testor's Sdkfz 234/3 Armored Car; newest one is a RoG B-58A Hustler in 1/48th.

flippersdad wrote:

... And that brings me to the topic of how did your stash get to where it is and what is it made of? Are you going to build you collector's kits or just going to collect them? Cheers , Eric

Well Eric, my young son resparked my interest in the hobby a couple of years ago. So I made a list of every car model I could think of, even OOP kits, that I would like to have. That appeased my wife as far as knowing where the money would go and it wasn't haphazard spending. The past few birthday's and Christmas' I would receive a few models from my list. Whenever we went shopping if either my wife or I spotted a model on my list we would pick one or two up. My wife would even surprise me an order some from the internet if she seen any from my list that said - "Discontinued, limited supplies". Then she went one farther, she pushed me along in starting our own Mom & Pop Hobby Shop. Now she tells me to include some of my "want list items" in some orders from time to time. 

I have all intentions of building the kits in my stash, given I live long enough and my health holds out. Unfortunately I can't delegate much time towards it just now. Once college is over with in a couple of years I'm hoping for more than a hit-or-miss per week time schedule.

Rob Gronovius wrote:

Here's a post I made in 2005 about how big my stash ended up.

Congratulations Rob on a wondrous stash. I wish you all the best Sir in enjoying building it as you did collecting it. Hopefully you have the facilities to showcase your finished works of art.

On to strategic plans phase 2 ...

I just managed to clear a path to my stash down in the basement this past weekend.  I did a count tonight and I have 310 kits - I'd say at least half of them are Waterline kits.  I don't have all of them, but it's probably close.  I have a bunch of armor and aircraft, too - I never could make up my mind what I liked best.  Except for cars.  The only auto kit I can remember ever having was a metal kit from my grandfather when I was little - around 8 or so.  I had no idea how to put it together, and of course reading the instructions was beyond my patience limit, so I just drybuilt it until parts started showing up missing.  It had a number of plastic parts as well - it was an old (1930's) car, that is all I can remember.

Anyhoo, I was sad to read in another thread that the Revell 1/32 Ki-61 Hien was retired due to lost molds - I built one back in the day (around 10th grade, I think) - my interpretation of the box art told me that the basic color was silver with dark green 'spaghetti' patterns all over it.  So I brushpainted the whole thing Testors silver - you know that thing was tacky for about a month, and retained plenty of my fingerprints all over the fuselage.  That was around 1973, long before I ever even heard of airbrushes.

Most of my waterline kits I got from Select Hobby Supplies in Glastonbury Connecticut, back in the late 80's-early 90's.  I guess they went out of business -  too bad, though, since they had some decent discounts.  Maybe they went bankrupt once I stopped buying kits from them almost every week, once we had our first baby.  The rest I accumulated from various hobby shops in the area, and at least a couple I'm sure I got from the local Woolworth's before they went out of business.  There was a toy store in the next town over (Bernardsville, NJ) - a few doors down from Woolworth's in a strip mall - I remember they had train setups in the back room, and there were always older kids hanging out there.  I felt intimidated whenever I went in there, so it wasn't too often.  They had a lot of Aurora aircraft and armor kits - my Dad got me an Aurora 1/32 B-25 kit there...the one with the busts of the pilot and copilot that you glued on top of the nonexistent cockpit - and the raised areas to show you where to put the decals.  I think I painted that baby something close to Kelly Green (Testors again, courtesy of Woolworth).  An early effort, but at least I got the general color right. Looking back, it was just about the coolest place in the world - but I was a pretty shy kid and those older kids hanging out there scared me into avoiding it.

That's all of my ramblings for now...

my stash numbers about 50 kits. But have detail set and usually aftermarket decals for almost every one of them. I'm a picky builder, what can I say.  Now my friend that's been modeling since I was born and use to own a hobby shop has about 500 unbuilt kits in his basement. I told him the only reason I'm nice to him is so he'll leave them to me in his will. 

So rob, buddy!!

My stash is a blissful zero, because I can't help opening kits and starting work on them. Of course, that  does leave me with 6 or more WIPs.

I have about 60 unbuilt kits in my stash.  Getting it there was dead easy:  I buy 'em faster than I build 'em.

I got back into the hobby a little over a year ago after a 20 year break.  I currently have about 100 kits on hand in what I'll call Stash I.  I have another stash (Stash II) in storage back in the US from when I was building kits 20 years ago, and I honestly don't know how many kits are in it, though it's at least 3 large packing boxes full.  Even worse, its been so long since I've been through it, due to several military moves, that I can't even remember most of the kits in it.

When I started building again a year ago, I tried to make it a point to keep only a small stash of kits I was most interested in.  I even sat down with my new Squadron catalog and made a list of 15 or so must-have kits, and that was all I was going to get.  Well, that didn't last long!  I usually buy on sale, or on ebay, though, so its not too big of a financial hit.  I'm also getting much mores selective of my purchases.  Just this morning, I actually walked away from a kit (Revell of Germany 1/48 F-5E)even though it was a great buy.  I've decided now to be content with my current stash and stop buying so many kits.  Right after I pick up a 1/48th Hasegawa Ki-44, that is..... Oh, and a Hobbycraft Avro Arrow..... that's it, really.... except for a Revell He-177 Grief......  OK, maybe I'm not cured

My stash is a small one roughly 10 Kits. Compared to Rob's I can't begin to call it a Stash LOL.

Rob,

After seeing you Star Trek Collection I couldn't help drooling and being jealous. I noticed you have some serious Collector kits as well, namely Star Trek and Star Wars. Great job on putting that stash together. If you want you can pass some of dem Star Trek kits to your new Guido friend LOL.

Guido

The last time I did an accurate count I had 350 kits on the shelf awaiting my attention; there have been a few additions since then. How did I get there, you ask? Thirty years ago, I got back into plastics after a 10-year sabbatical. Whatever was unusual in 1/72 caught my eye and my spare cash. Then it was a lack of confidence in my skills that made me postpone starting on "that one" until I got a simpler one under my belt, so I bought another one and went through the same process all over again. Then another period off on another tangent, this time about 20 years in RC. The net result? A lot of kit purchases and not too many builds. But Momma has lately been telling me to "Build 'em or sell 'em because you're running out of time" so here I am again.

Guido1081 wrote:

My stash is a small one roughly 10 Kits. Compared to Rob's I can't begin to call it a Stash LOL. Rob, After seeing you Star Trek Collection I couldn't help drooling and being jealous. I noticed you have some serious Collector kits as well, namely Star Trek and Star Wars. Great job on putting that stash together. If you want you can pass some of dem Star Trek kits to your new Guido friend LOL. Guido

Well I guess I need to learn how to do all these graphics. I did save some instructions from RonUSMC.

I don't get on here much but, let see, oh yea the oldest kid is out of college 4 years, wow, I didn't know I had that much money, So after subscribing and reading this site for a year, I spent a bunch, and built my first kit in 25yrs.

Mostly on Ebay. Some real good buys, some not so good. Some model shows and swaps, and now 200+ kits stashed in various places in the garage so the wife can't complain tooooo much.  About 100 to build (where to put them???) and about 100 to save..........basically the ones I blew up for 4th of July as a kid in the 60's (I know there are a few of you out there)

On top of that, I seem to enjoy dismanteling some old models I built years ago and rebuilding them to today's standards. Mostly the Monogram WWII navy planes.

I'll have to read those picture instructions...................

Hooker_jl wrote:

When I got divorced, my stash consisted of about 5 boxes. Since I met my new wife, the stash kept on growing, because my wife forces me to buy what ever I like.

 Your wife forces you?????

Oh, the humanity!!!! lol

MortarMagnet wrote:

Hey, Rob, I'll set up a website, and we'll turn your basement into an IHS...even split 50/50.  I must say I am overwhelmed with jealousy.  The only problem with stashes like those (there are many, many more out there) is that you could never really enjoy all the kits in one lifetime.  Feel free to share (with me) any 1:35 US armor and soft skin you wish to part with.

Not too shabby considering I paid $13, $15, $13 and $5 respectively for the four kits.

I did give a youngster on Armorama a couple of 1/35 scale kits.

Ah yes, i think it appears that ebay has to be one of the best resources for kits. Sometimes you could get a pretty good kit for cheap- always cool! Now if i can just get this one guy to quit sniping me at the last minute before the auction closes....

Of course, i've had a carton of milk in my fridge longer than i've had my small stash, so i may be wrong on that. only time will tell....

Now that I am older and have a job, I started purchasing kits that I wanted, but couldn't afford when I was a child.  That's how it all started.  Most of kits I have are duplicates of few kits and things that I purchased as a LOT sale.  If I see things that are hard to find, I tend to buy it whether I need it or not.   I have over 300 kits in my basement as of now.  I guess I have enough kits to build and kill my time when I retire.

Too much $$$ and too many great deals on

EBAY!