how many is too many

[philp]

A grand total of four. Three of which are in progress. Do I win?

I'm starting pretty much from scratch in this area - I'm mostly a sci-fi/wargaming builder, so I do mostly Imperial Guard tanks and the like. Just got a hankering for some aircraft one day, so I bought a couple. I'm terrified of trying to paint in a "realistic" fashion....

Ok, But how many unbuilt Warhammer tanks/vehicles, how many unpainted figures?

[Radish]

He who has the most wins at the time of their shuffling off to the great loft in the sky

[Jeffry Fontaine]

now i don`t consider myself to be totally obsessed by model aircraft but after some prompting from my wife I`ve moved some kits into the loft, now as i did so i counted up that I have 51 unmade kits in my stash. Is this about right or am i excessive with my trips to hannants and ebay etc ?

give me an idea so i can fend off the avenging fury that is my wife with those golden words........." other people have more than me " and  " think yourself lucky your not married to ************ he has ?? kits in his loft "

If you need a reference image, just show her the attached.  It is my 10' (3.0m) X 24' (7.30m) storage unit located in Bremerton, Washington that is filled with my kits, parts, tools, and accessories.  Since that image was taken it has become a bit more difficult to navigate in thanks to more acquisitions which seem to outweigh the disposals.

[frank2056]

With all the buying and trading I've done, sometimes I wonder if we don't all have one giant dispersed kit storage system.

You "sell" or "trade" kit A to B.
B sells or trades kit A to C
C sells it to D, who includes it in a big lot of kits that you buy or trade from him.

So a kit floats around the country (or several countries) for a few months or years until it gets built - by a buyer or by you, when you retrieve it in a buy or trade.

[Jeffry Fontaine]

With all the buying and trading I've done, sometimes I wonder if we don't all have one giant dispersed kit storage system.

You "sell" or "trade" kit A to B.
B sells or trades kit A to C
C sells it to D, who includes it in a big lot of kits that you buy or trade from him.

So a kit floats around the country (or several countries) for a few months or years until it gets built - by a buyer or by you, when you retrieve it in a buy or trade.

Would that be "Kit Karma?"

[Dork the kit slayer]

Looking and listening to various "stash" threads has me begging the question"WHY?"

I have about 100 + kits in the stash havent really finished much in the last couple of months ,yet I bought another Hasegawa A4 B Skyhawk yesterday.( I have five unbuilt Skyhawks now)
Why do we do it?
What reasoning makes us take up whole lofts and garages to keep multiple purchases.?
Its not even an investment,try selling a kit you paid ten quid for at market price.................try selling it for £10. The usual asnswer is I only paid £8 for the six I have in my stash or something like you can get them on Ebay for less. Why buy kits to sell at a loss.
Hell there are loads of free loaders on every forum asking for freebies,knowing the likes of "us" will just post something off.
So why do we buy them? some sort of "jackdaw" syndrome.? Its certainly not to make a profit ( like coin and stamp collecting)
I personally like box art and thats always an incentive,some laugh at the idea of box art ( they wont give you their old boxes though) but not many will offer a fair price for an unboxed kit.

As I said (I know it was too long ago)  WHY??

[B777LR]

A grand total of four. Three of which are in progress. Do I win?

I'm starting pretty much from scratch in this area - I'm mostly a sci-fi/wargaming builder, so I do mostly Imperial Guard tanks and the like. Just got a hankering for some aircraft one day, so I bought a couple. I'm terrified of trying to paint in a "realistic" fashion....

Ok, But how many unbuilt Warhammer tanks/vehicles, how many unpainted figures?

Hmm, this makes me think of the 200 + unbuilt and/or unpainted warhammer figures ive got lying around, and the 200 + 1/72 airfix figures i didnt even know i had!

[frank2056]

Would that be "Kit Karma?"

Yeah... of the modeling equivalent of a Christmas fruitcake.

"Oh look... it's that Merlin kit I sold 5 years ago... wait! It's the same kit! Doh!"

[Jeffry Fontaine]

Would that be "Kit Karma?"

Yeah... of the modeling equivalent of a Christmas fruitcake.
"Oh look... it's that Merlin kit I sold 5 years ago... wait! It's the same kit! Doh!"

I actually experienced something like that recently.  Back in 1986-1988 while I was stationed at Fort Bragg, North Carolina I had joined a local modeling club and started to network with the other members.  Some trading and buying went on between a few of us and I remember trading off some odd looking stuff, basically it was ordnance such as missiles and bombs that were of no immediate use to me to another member in the club.  Speed forward to 2008 and reacquainting myself with one of these guys that I had lost contact with over the years.  Once again some trading went on between us and I was quite surprised to find a number of the same parts and pieces I had originally traded to him twenty years ago.  So there might be something to that kit karma thing after all.

[Howard of Effingham]

about 200 or so, with not a biplane, spitfire and only one set of spats in sight! 

[pyro-manic]

Ok, But how many unbuilt Warhammer tanks/vehicles, how many unpainted figures?

Maybe 50-60 infantry models, and no unbuilt vehicles. I suspect I'd have a lot more if I actually had any money, though.

[Hobbes]

What reasoning makes us take up whole lofts and garages to keep multiple purchases.?

I asked myself the same thing when I re-entered the hobby. I started out buying everything I wanted to build, but I soon realised my build rate wasn't keeping up with acquisitions. In about two years, I collected around 100 kits. This was getting pointless, 100 kits = 10 years worth of building. I don't kitbash to such an extent that I benefit from having a huge 'library' of parts to use. 
So I've limited myself: these days, I'll only buy a kit if it's a rare subject or otherwise unlikely to be available when I get around to building it. My stash is still growing, but at a much slower pace.

[NARSES2]

I'm probably around 4 figures but as to why ? When I got back into the Hobby I bought like mad, probably because there was so much out there compared to "olden times" thought they might all go away ! Now I'm more careful but as my interests are slightly esoteric I do buy for stash on the basis that a lot of it is limited and I want it while I can get it.

Gradually trimming and concentrating the stash, watch this space

Like Dork I'm attracted by boxart and cut it out and save the good stuff, which is why the new Airfix stuff pleases me - gone are the days of PC "don't offend anybody" boxart , although I still can't remember any boxart showing a US subject being shot down ?

As for Wargames figures ? Probably more troops then the ancient chroniclers attributed to Darius & Alexander combined 

[kitnut617]

To add a note, the rational behind my stash is since being on a number of forums, a recurring subject comes up again and again.  Quite a few of the older members (retirees) seem to say the same thing --'Now I'm retired there's not too many pennies to buy models, etc. etc.',  I aim to build my stash now so in the event I can't afford to buy any more later I will have plenty of models to keep me happy.

[ysi_maniac]

To answer Dork, I honestly and seriously think that we are addict to the pleasure that buying a new kit produces. You go home, take the model, open the box, take main peces and dry test them, look in your documentations, imagine paint schemes, ... All very addictive activities. By the way, acquiring mentioned docs is equally asddictive and the combined effects of both syndromes are synergic.

We really need help ... going to connect eBay ...