Stash Accumulation Strategy

[DeanKB]

Everybody here has a stash of some size. It seems to be part of the hobby itself.

 

I've been as guilty as anybody else in this respect! 

 

The "excuse" for me - and for many others from what I have read - is that buying a kit now is best as it may go OOP, or you may not be able to afford it in the future. That's what I've been doing.

 

However, I'm not sure this holds water any longer. The rate with which new kits are being  released seems to be increasing with new manufacturers ramping up 1/32 production like never before.

 

Does this mean that, if you hold a large stash, you'll find a significant proportion of it being "obsolete", as it's been overtaken by the latest shiny new kit of the same subject? For instance, I've sold my MDC Ar234 for £100 & bought Fly's version for £55. Swapping resin - albeit it very good resin - for an easier to make, just as accurate, injected plastic kit, for half the price. Trumpeter's Corsair also springs to mind - I remember the glut appearing on EBay! 109 kit's abound.

 

What do people think? 

[Out2gtcha]

Stash? Two fold for me:

 

1 - The obvious - If you see it, want it and you have the extra cash for it, you'd better get it now (weather kit or AM) cause no matter the 1/32nd output by manufacturers, there's NO guarantee whatever you are looking at will either be produced again, or produced in a better more updated version.  This for me seems especially true for the cottage AM industry.

 

2 - Insurance - If there ever comes a time when I dont have the disposable income to purchase any of the more expensive kits in my scale, (read here retirement without high cash returns or loose/quit my job ect, ect) I will have PLENTY to keep me building till im in the ground.

[dodgem37]

I have all of the kits I want.  If I buy a new kit, I buy that which I can rationalize the cost and/or want to build more than what I currently have in stock.  When I buy a kit that I want more than one that I currently own, then I sell a lesser one from my stock.

 

Sincerely,

Mark

[Lee_K]

My stash is down to 8 kits.  I have learned over the years that very little is so rare that I can't get it if I really want it and having hundreds of kits lying around presents its own problems in regards to storage.  I build just a few models a year, so keeping the total down helps keep my interest in new releases, makes me think hard about my purchases, and keeps the door open for new kits that can improve the quality of a given subject.  Another hard-learned lesson: avoid buying a kit just because it happens to be a bargain.  I once got a Revell Hawker Hunter kit for a song, but it stayed in my stash for a decade before I came to the conclusion that no matter how nice it was and how good a deal I got on it, I just didn't ever see myself being motivated to build it.  There was always something more interesting to build.  So I gave it away and vowed to avoid all the Hobby Lobby coupons, swap meets, estate sales, eBay auctions, and Squadron Black Friday sales.  This has ended up working pretty well for me.

 

Aftermarket items are a little more problematic.  There is definitely a run on stuff at the beginning and few vendors make a second run of resin or decals.  So I might be tempted to get an aftermarket item at the outset if I believe that sometime in the coming five years I will be more than likely to build a model that utilizes that aftermarket material.

[BiggTim]

My stash is down to 8 kits.  I have learned over the years that very little is so rare that I can't get it if I really want it and having hundreds of kits lying around presents its own problems in regards to storage.  I build just a few models a year, so keeping the total down helps keep my interest in new releases, makes me think hard about my purchases, and keeps the door open for new kits that can improve the quality of a given subject.  Another hard-learned lesson: avoid buying a kit just because it happens to be a bargain.  I once got a Revell Hawker Hunter kit for a song, but it stayed in my stash for a decade before I came to the conclusion that no matter how nice it was and how good a deal I got on it, I just didn't ever see myself being motivated to build it.  There was always something more interesting to build.  So I gave it away and vowed to avoid all the Hobby Lobby coupons, swap meets, estate sales, eBay auctions, and Squadron Black Friday sales.  This has ended up working pretty well for me.

 

Aftermarket items are a little more problematic.  There is definitely a run on stuff at the beginning and few vendors make a second run of resin or decals.  So I might be tempted to get an aftermarket item at the outset if I believe that sometime in the coming five years I will be more than likely to build a model that utilizes that aftermarket material.

 

My approach is pretty much exactly like Lee's. 8 or 9 LSPs, a few odds and ends of other stuff, some of which will likely find a new home soon. 

[Zero77]

I have some "theme" fever, from time to time. For example, i can be in a special state of mind where i want to build Spanish war aircraft, so during one or two months i will buy Spanish war aircraft. Sometimes i am not even able to start any of those "theme" kits before i swap to a new "theme". But the kits are here in the stash. And the next time i'd have this Spanish war fever, i can take a Spanish war aircraft there.

 

For some special manufacturer, like Wingnut Wings or Special Hobby, i try to buy all that i want (it means every kits for WNW !) before they go OOP. For those like Hasegawa or Revell, who dont produce their kits in a continuous way, when there is a run of a kit that i like, if the price is correct i buy one. If i missed it, too bad i'll wait for the next run (for example, i missed the Ar196A, but i'll wait for the next batch in a few year. However i may buy the single float one this time !).

For very limited production resin kits like Aerotech, i try to buy them as much as i can, even if i'd build them in several years.

 

Regarding the kits becoming obsolete, i dont really care. Anyway, selling an obsolete kit would be a waist of money, as you would sell it for very cheap. So i'd prefer build it anyway, or keep it for my kids, or keep it until it become a collector. I also have the MDC Ar234, but i keep it jealously, as it is a great resin model. For sure the Fly injected plastic would be easier to build, but i'm sure i can have an amazing result with the MDC, so i'll build it without any doubt.

And very old kits, if they are good enough with enough AM to bring them to the modern standart, can be great, and mostly cheap. On last Christmas, i've bought all the old golden age Hasegawa kits. I also have the old Revell Mirage III (with a full bunch of resin !) and i'll build it, even if there are the forthcoming release of new Mirages. Recently i've even bought the Revell Mig-29A, i cracked when i saw the Cold War Studio Mig-29 cockpit. Now i'm saving to buy the Zactoman corrections.

 

Then, there is the bad surprises, like Tamiya who stopped producing their F-16C block 32, or Trumpeter stopping their Mig-19. Difficult to anticipate. But maybe they can make some new runs later, or sell the molds to another manufacturer (I dont think so for Tamiya, but there is still a chance for Trumpeter).

Edited May 12, 2015 by Zero77

[sluggo]

My stash strategy has evolved over the years. Like Lee, I use to buy stuff that I considered bargains. I'm over that now. I recently sold off all my 1:48 scale stuff. I decided that the replacement stash will be all LSPs and only stuff there's a snowball's chance in hell I'll build. Therefore, the kit must be something in which I have interest in.

 

Unfortunately, my areas of interest have expanded beyond WWII props and now include cold war jets and a handful of WWI stuff.

 

I currently find my self struggling to resist the temptation to jump on that Airfix VE Day special. Both kits fall into my range of interest and are nice kits, but I've been madly repopulating my stash of late and have 5 kits due in from Scale Hobbbyist in the next couple days. That puts me around 18 kits since Christmas.

 

Maybe "evolved" is wishful thinking........................now that I'm thinking about it, my strategy is apparently little strategy and more of a get it while you can approach.

[Tony T]

There are too many in my stash: fifty 1/32 kits, of which five have been started and *need to be completed* so I can justify and enjoy new acquisitions such as the new Mossies.

I will be selling six a year over the next four years, to thin things down, as what's going to be built is pretty much settled. Twenty-six plus new releases is sufficient for seven years' modelling.

Will I regret parting with some ? Maybe one or two.

 

The dearth of new jet releases has helped reduce acquisitiveness, though there are some near misses to which I may succumb in weaker moments (e.g. Hobby Boss P-61) and there's the forthcoming Mossies, Lancaster, Mirage III/5's, Bronco A, and the prospect of a Jaguar, Six, Vark, Spey Toom (conversion), Ju 88 C-6 and Do 217 nachtjagers and all new Beaufighter before I snuff it

 

So, it'll likely never go much under forty unless my building rate goes up significantly.

 

Tony

[wunwinglow]

My stash is too big, but actually having it is a great pleasure in itself, so I don't beat myself up over it. I don't spend any money I don't have spare, I only buy things I really intend building, along with a few accessories as I find them. My trouble is that there are so many new kits coming along, even for my very limited 'Brit Only' constraint, I am falling way behind. I will have to get a couple of Mosquitos, The Lancaster, I am 5 behind on WNW, I still havent any Silver Wings kits, and a lot of gaps with existing stuff, AND with a decent Hurricane and Wessex coming soon, let alone anything else we don't know about, it is tough.

 

But it is way cheaper then gambling, drinking and womanising...... And golf.

[Iain]

I have no strategy - I just accumulate 

 

Cheaper than flying too!

 

Iain

[TonyT]

Well I have to insulate the loft with something

[DeanKB]

I have no strategy - I just accumulate 

 

Cheaper than flying too!

 

Iain

 

Well, that's one hell of an excuse!

 

I find I'm buying stuff if it's limited run, or if it's Wingnut Wings - in both cases because they genuinely do sell out after a while, at which point the price jumps, especially for WNW. So, Silver Wings, PCM, Special Hobby and the like I'm generally on the look-out for.

 

I'm trying not to buy "mainstream" kits, like Hasegawa, Trumpeter, Revell, Roden, etc. I've got enough as it is and I just can't justify to myself adding to an already bloated stash kits that are generally available & will continue to be so. 

 

After market is a bit different, as has been noted above. It's more of a cottage industry - on steroids compared to how it used to be - but availability is far less certain, so I buy when I see something I want.

 

Decals tend to be the same, especially Pheon's, which I tend to buy as they are released.

 

Finally, some kits are good investments in their own right. I'm talking about, of course, Wingnut Wings. The combination of absolute top-notch quality, allied to limited production runs (despite long-run production techniques) and "sold out" signs appearing regularly - with no warning - means I buy every WNW kit I can lay my hands on.

[Jasta 14 addict]

I have enough 1/32 kits to build for the rest of my life, that said.....my stash isn't that big, about 20 kit's, so yes, i'm a slow modeller iff it comes to building models.

I don't care about limited run kit's, or kit's that are not long in the production proces. Iff i want a certain kit, then i will buy it, iff it's OOP, well so be it.

 

I recently switched  from 1/48 to 1/32. My whole stash of 1/48 kit's are mostly sold, with some still in my hands, i know i will never build them, some day i will find a buyer who want's them.

So in recent years my stash of 1/32 growed to about 20 kit's these day's. Some of them, also i will never build because i lost intrest in them, but maybe some day this will change.

These day's i am mostly intrested in WNW and Tamiya kit's, so my two un-build WNW kit's ( Fe.2b and Albatross D.Va) and my 3 Tamiya kit's (F4U-1 and F4U-1a Corsair and Mustang) will keep me busy for the next years to come.

 

Greetz

 

Danny

Edited May 12, 2015 by DannyVM

[NORMCO]

I propose something like a "White Elephant" exchange.

Select ONE kit from your stash, and it goes in the pool.

You can't say what it is. No clues! None! Except it has to be LSP Legal.

Somehow.. We work a "blind exchange."

Don't like what you get? Throw it back in The Pool!

 

OK...got mine selected! Who wants it?

Edited May 12, 2015 by NORMCO

[dutik]

Easy. I look where the roof lacks insulation and buy kits of suitable box sizes.

 

Sometimes when checking the roof I discover a kit I'd like to build and take it to the workbench. Of course the insulation gap has to be filled - see above...

 

 

 

 

Oh, and I also buy stuff I like, just for fun

 

- dutik