How Many Models Have You Built?

[mywifehatesmodels]

This question has probably been asked here, before. However, it came up recently in my family, when someone asked me. I wasn't exactly sure, as I hadn't really given it much thought until that point. My answer, at the time, was "probably a couple hundred". But, it really started to eat at me, so I sat down to try and figure it out, with at least some level of accuracy. Beyond that, I was also curious as to how many of each scale I had built, as well as what the most built types were (although, I had a hunch of what subject(s) would be at the top). 

 

From memory, I sat down and started to list them out. I won't break down the entire list here, but the total was kind of shocking. I can account for at least 297 different models. I'm also sure that there were some that I have forgotten about, so it's likely well over 300 (and I just realized that I forgot car models, but there were only a few I can remember).  By scales, I came up with the following:

 

1/144 = 10

1/72 = 36

1/48 = 172

1/35 = 31

1/32 = 46 (but in all fairness, this is the scale that I've put the most time and effort into, per model, in my adult life).

1/24 = 1

Plus one of Revell's 1/426 scale USS Arizona kits, which I built as a young lad.

 

The top 3 most popular subjects were as follows:

 

Bf 109 = 41

Fw 190 = 26

A6M Zero = 18

 

 

 

I'll be 50 years old in about seven weeks. I'm curious to see what some of you may have been able to complete. I know (hope) I still have a long way to go.

 

Cheers,

 

John

[Shoggz]

There’s two phases to my modelling. Childhood to marriage and then my ‘born again modeller’ phase!

 

I’m sketchy about the first phase.. I think it was about 10 models - mostly 1:72. I remember my dad praising a Stirling I built - which was a rare thing, so he must have been impressed. I also remember been really pleased with a Harrier I did.

 

Second phase is much easier as I’ve kept a record of everything I’ve done - and it’s 79! Which has a certain symmetry - as I have 79 models in the stash.. So I’d say I was getting close to 100 completed, therefore nowhere near you John, and I’m older than you!

[ScottsGT]

Like Shoggz said, two phases.  
Childhood?  Probably well over a hundred.  My bedroom ceiling was covered in aircraft.  All my shelves were covered with armor, cars, figures, syfi, etc… Now keep in mind those were the carefree days of not knowing what filling and sanding out seams were, how to use an airbrush, or even using masking tape for fine lines. Dropped the hobby in early teens when I got the fumes. Gas fumes with cars and perfumes with the girls! 

As an adult I started picking up a few kits here and there back around ‘94 when I was around 31-32 yo.  I was still building those few kits like I did as a kid. Still had no idea about skills listed above.  I maybe built 4 or 5 in this time period since RC flying was my main hobby.  I gave that up in 1999 to focus on restoring my Mustang. 
Started reading modeling sites in 2005 and started learning things.  And then it happened.  I was hooked as an adult and started building a stash.  But after those initial 4 or 5, doing a count looking at pics of my display case and memory, about 70 built.  

 

Edited January 12 by ScottsGT

[vince14]

When I was a kid I used to build at least one a week - the local corner shop used to order in Matchbox and Airfix kits for me!

 

Then I got slowed right down due to work, and now I'm lucky if I get a kit completed in under a year - my record is just over seven years from starting to getting the kit into the display cabinet!.

[LSP_Kevin]

I started building models when I was around 5 years old, and continued to do so pretty consistently into my late teens. Like Vince, at one stage (before I discovered I could paint my models), I was building one a week - sometimes more. So during that phase of my model building, I would have built hundreds of kits. I kept my hand in after that and built the odd kit, and even had a couple of minor comebacks to the hobby, but I started doing it seriously again around 2006/7, and have kept records ever since. These tell me that I've finished 77 kits in that time.

 

Kev

[LSP_K2]

Interesting question. I actually have no real idea, but I can say that I was quite prolific in my younger years, building primarily car models and small scale aircraft. Then in my early 20's, I picked up the pace again, finishing a good number (which I no longer have), then about 10 years ago, something happened to my process, and while I still start lots of kits, I actually finish very few, yet continue to buy more all the same. At present, while I had just two that had been finished in the last 10 years, both have now been destroyed by me, so I now actually have zero finished models here that have been completed in all that time. 

[LSP_Ron]

I have no idea,  Like Kev, I started around 5 years old.  I would guess on the order of 100's and that doesn't include R/C planes or wooden ships.

[Dennis7423]

This is an interesting question. Like @Shoggz above, I had two phases: Before marriage, and after marriage. I will turn 40 this year, and have been married since 2017.

 

Before I got married, I built models like a madman. I started building when I was very young as a form of motor skills development and patience building therapy for a stroke I suffered at birth. Doctors felt it would be great for my development. And it was. And I love it.

 

My very first job was at a Hobby Town in Westminster, Colorado, and I remember buying a 1/48 ProModeler Me-410 with my first paycheck. Got a sweet discount at the store. Once I could buy my own models, I built a lot, and often. I remember donating about 20 built models, a mix of armor and modern aircraft, to a recruiting office in Westminster near the hobby shop. Before I started my first big-boy job as a police officer in 2008, I would build roughly one model a month. After I started that job, it shrunk to a few models a year. Once I got married, it shrunk yet again to about one model a year. And it's remained that way, roughly, since 2017. Now, I have several I have started on in that time span, but none that are completed. My shelf of doom currently has 14 models on it, and all have been started since 2017.

 

In 2022, I completed two models. In 2023, I completed two models. In 2022 I moved across country, and in 2023, I worked primarily from home, so I'm a bit ashamed that I only popped out two finished kits. Especially because my hobby desk it literally right behind my work computer, so if I want to take a break and work on models, I have to walk a mere three feet.

 

I guess to answer the thread question  as I finish my rambling, Before I got married (age, let's say 10 until I got married at 33), I built about 200 models, in various scales. Since I got married (age 33 to 39 currently), I've completed maybe 10 models. At the moment, I am actively working on 10 kits, most for museums (but a few for myself).

 

I need to finish more models.

 

- Dennis S.

   Mount Juliet, TN USA

[Out2gtcha]

Yeah, having started around the 6-10 year age, and then having hung them on the ceiling, or set on a shelf in my childhood bedroom, a house fire at my parents house probably took out more than 100 models.

 

Hard to tell, if Included some of the ones I managed to save, as well as the ones built in my modern Renaissance.

[JeepsGunsTanks]

Yeah, no idea either, since I started so young, and so many of them got blown up with firecrackers or shot with a BB gun! Maybe 100 or so as a kid. 

 

As an adult, about 12, including the RC, none blown up or shot with a BB gun... Yet!

[Joe Hegedus]

I can only state with certainty the number since the beginning of 2011, but in the years since then I’ve completed 414.   The period between mid-1987 and then would probably account for at least that many again, but I don’t have any records of them.  Nor do I have any records of those built between the mid-70s and mid-80s when I was a kid, but the total since I started build is likely on the high side of 1500.

[Christa]

I thought I had built lots of kits until you pitched your figure Joe. I am amazed.

 

There was a step change for me when I realised that we can model a specific machine at a particular time. Doing that well requires study as well as craft skills.

 

My annual tally is way down now, but each build is undoubtedly more satisfying.

[Oldbaldguy]

Not surprisingly, we’re all the same guy with different names.

[Rick Griewski]

Younger i.e., before I discovered girls: 45-50 1/72

Working world: 10 vacs. Tossed when done.    Many partial builds still around and  haunting me today.

 

Post retirement: 1 since 2017

 

 

 

[Dandiego]

Well for me, and this is just a guess. 200 plus.

 

There were the childhood years and then nothing for quite a while. There was a trigger that got me modeling again, it was Star Wars. I went out and bought an X wing after seeing the movie.

 

First modified kit was an Otaki F-16. It had the smaller nose of the first prototypes. I inserted a balsa plug to extend the nose. I've been modifying kits ever since.

 

Dan