Model inventory or how do you keep track of your stash??

hkshooter wrote:

... If I don't intend to build it I wont buy it. ..

Same for me. But I stil have a 100+ stash. I'm 28 so if I would build 5 kits a year then I will have finished my stash at 50.

And since I have reached the 100 kits mark I have been buying much less. The stash still grows but only with two or three kits a year. (build 5 buy 8 is net. + 3 kits)

I couldn't have said it better myself Robert. 

I started building my stash because when I put off buying a few kits I seen on the shelf, thinking I'll get them next week, they were gone forever. I too plan on building models in my golden years. Heck, at 48 I'm falling apart quick and have to plan for those sit down activities.

At first I was keeping track of my kits in a notebook. That became difficult real quick.

When I started ordering stock for my hobby shop I also created a database for my personal stash. I just add the info in a customized form. If I need to see for example what Corvettes I have I just run a report. I have a few reports already created for different subjects. I also have tables for different items such as paints and tools, etc... all including item numbers, prices the whole nine yards.

I'm even working on putting a version of the list on my web site, kind of a wish list for friends and family. One for me and one for my son.

Humm... am I an addict or a collector?
I'm classified as a recovering alchoholic, I take lots of doctor prescribed drugs to make me feel better, but I can walk past a model kit and leave it on the shelf. So I wonder....! 

I too am creating a cache for "leaner times" or latter years which ever comes first.  I do not consider myself an addict - though my wife might sometimes think so !

I was an Aerospace Engineer for 15 years with a salary not nearly commensurate with the stress level but comfortable just the same.  I survived 17 layoffs in those years and worked for two companies and those years took a toll on me physically and emotionally - come to think of it, I think I built one model during that entire time .  I must admit though that all the layoff scares did teach me to live within my means.

Anyway when I decided to make a life/career change to wooden boatbuilding, I began to execute a long range plan to purchase all the tools necessary while I still had the income to do it.  This strategy worked out well and I had a complete woodworking shop of tools by the time I left Engineering.

Now I'm a boatbuilder working for other people and continuing Phase 2 of the long range plan to build my own boat shop.  However, you know what they say though about the best laid plans...! I was laid off from one of my jobs and it took me completely off guard.  I wasn't prepared to have a lot of time on my hands and nothing to do with them.  I decided that I wouldn't be faced with this dilema again.  Now that I'm working, I'm slowly building up a stash for whatever eventuality may occur.

Hmmm...Sorry for being so long winded .  I guess I just wanted to point out that some people plan for the planned and unplanned events that happen as we traverse this field of life!

OK I'll get off my now!

hkshooter wrote:

I don't have it to burn like some. If it's not locked up in a kit I can pay a bill with it or buy that paint or supply I need.

This is pretty much where I am too. My wife and I combined earn a salary that enables us to live very comfortably with the ability to squirrel some away for our later years. Living costs and planning for our future are our top priorities. Pushing 50 years in age and with about 70 kits left in my stash, I figure if all goes well I should be able to make a sizable dent in that number. Most of my allocated hobby funds go into the supplies to build what I have. For me now, a kit would have to be pretty darn special to justify my purchasing it.

Since I have only 16 unbuilt kits on the shelf at the moment, I just maintain a hand-written list that I tuck into my pocket before going to the LHS.  That helps me from buying yet another Panzer III/IV variant (how many StuG's does one need?).  Where I get into trouble is when I'm away from home on business and I venture into a hobby shop without my trusty list... in this instance, I try to only buy something I haven't seen at my LHS.

I should develop a list for the PE parts that I order for those 16 kits- somewhere I'm going to wind up duplicates of one thing, which in turn will require me to purchase another kit to use them on.  My current method for tracking PE frets is to put them in the box with the intended kit- if I ever wonder "do I have zimmerit for the XXX?", i just pop the top and take a look.  But that often fails when I'm online and see a specific AM/PE thing that I might need...

I used to have about 30-40 unbuilt kits, and I got to thinking that my tastes will change and I may no longer want to build certain kits.  And also that even in ziploc the decals may not last forever.  So I sold off most of my kits and only keep 10-12 on hand at once.  I do use Access as a database for all my modeling ideas and links though. 

Dave 

djrost_2000 wrote:

I used to have about 30-40 unbuilt kits, and I got to thinking that my tastes will change and I may no longer want to build certain kits.  And also that even in ziploc the decals may not last forever.  So I sold off most of my kits and only keep 10-12 on hand at once.  I do use Access as a database for all my modeling ideas and links though.  Dave

This is exactly what I'm going through right now.

I no longer want to build the "weapons carriers". Well, a few for my son's air national guard unit and my all time favorites, the P-61 and Skyraider. So, now I am in the process of getting all of my kits that don't fall into those categories or fire bombers and trying to sell/trade them off.

Jon (CobraHistorian) is gonna end up with just about every 1/48 helicopter I have. The rest, will go up for sale or trade.

My grandson likes the colors on the fire bombers better than the mil stuff anyway. 

Microsoft works has (or maybe had) a program in to keep an inventory of CD's, so you wouldn't duplicate a purchase. I simply converted it over to inventory my LP's (yes I still use a couple turntables, and don't plan on stopping in this lifetime). When you have a thousand LP's it's pretty easy to loose track of what you got. This same program would also work well with model kits, and it's easy to use (for us old people that's a must!).

gary

 I have a very simple method of keeping track of my kit stash. They are stacked up in all the cabinets in my hobby room, all over the workbenches and stacked up in front of my bookcases in the living room. It is well-nigh impossible to look anywhere without seeing exactly what I have on hand. There are so many kits lying about that I suspect they may be breeding.

And yet...I continue to buy more kits. Just yesterday, I purchased a Dragon King Tiger with molded-on zimmerit. And next Saturday is AMPS East...doubtless, I will return with a few more kits...at this rate, I'll be able to open my own hobby shop

When I got back into the hobby a few years ago I tried to keep the stash under a dozen but then someone gave me a box of over 30 older models and the flood gates were opened.  I still have well under a 100 but it is still growing.

The idea of a database has me interested for other reasons than those already mentioned.  I kept a lot of models from my youth (those that did not suffer the dreaded firecracker or pellet gun fate) and now I'm frustrated that I don't remember which were built first or when.  Even those that I've built in the last few years are starting to get confused.  It would be nice to try to keep track for comparison reasons (ie: how my skills have progressed... or digressed).

For me it's a highly technical and complicated system of opening the closet door and looking at all 11 of em!

I use SprueMonster.com.  It's online.  It's full featured.  I can export my data.  It's free.

Cheers,

Duane