Ever file 13 a kit or kits in progress?

[Oldbaldguy]

I cringe at the thought of trashing any kit, partly because I am cheap, partly because I refuse to be beaten by a couple of ounces of plastic, but mostly because there is someone out there - maybe a kid - who doesn’t care about panel lines and would love to have it, partially built, fully built, still in the box.  Whatever.  This is all a bit altruistic but better, in my opinion, than adding to the local land fill.  We’ve all heard that old saw:  One man’s trash is another man’s treasure.

[tomprobert]

I’ve never binned a kit but have quite a few shelf-queens. I tend to hop about a lot with kits - I love the assembly and making stuff, but often lose interest when it comes to painting. I will occasionally lose momentum with a longer term project if I encounter a problem that seems insurmountable at the time and then put it out of sight and mind for a while - and will then go back to it once I’ve had a fresh look. 
 

I’ve got at least 10 builds in the loft patiently waiting for me to pick them up again - I quite often go up there for a rummage and come across a partly completed build and suddenly fancy having a go at it again… in many instances I won’t have touched it for years!

 

Binning then seems a waste as I never know when the juices will begin flowing for that model again and the last thing I want to be doing is wishing I hadn’t trashed it. But that’s just me!

[Lee White]

This hurts to read, although I’ve been there myself. All that effort, energy, and enthusiasm down the drain. I guess that’s why I don’t do RC, all that work and “SPLAT!”. I remember almost being sick when Ruzlkampf binned his 80% complete 1/32 SR-71. Ugh.

[dmthamade]

Yes, many times. Builds that go bad, if i don't return to them in a short time(varies) they get binned. Clutter as a rule disturbs me, so i keep to a bare minimum if at all.

 

Don

[williamj]

1 hour ago, dmthamade said:

Yes, many times. Builds that go bad, if i don't return to them in a short time(varies) they get binned. Clutter as a rule disturbs me, so i keep to a bare minimum if at all.

 

Don

     That's very much like me, hate clutter, Have a twin engine kit that has been pulled down from the shelf so many times and recently close to the trash can,

         But I am determined to finish it even if it looks like crapolla in the end,  that's not to say some havent hit the garbage, they have.

[hworth18]

Great opinions and a great discussion!! To be a little more specific, I was one that would never throw a kit away. It would sit on a shelf somewhere and collect dust until I finally decided to get it wrapped up because it was money that I had spent and couldn't see wasting. I think my decision to finally just clear the shelf was the fact that I have switched scales to concentrate solely on larger 1/35, 1/32 stuff. The kits being binned are all 1/48 that I just don't have any interest in anymore. The remainder of my 1/48 stuff is being sold at the local IPMS show coming up and I'll be done with that scale.

[geedubelyer]

Life's too short.

If you can afford it and it's not harming others do what makes you happy 

[Dave J]

Yes plenty of times. I stick everything aside and take a fresh look at it a few months later. If I deem it not worth saving or I have lost interest, I will list it on the local eBay or Scale Model Graveyard Auction page on FB for $1. I am surprised by how much I get for them most of the time and gives me some money back so it is not a complete loss.

Edited February 5 by Dave J

[Out2gtcha]

Yeah, had a problem child that was actually a consignment build for a customer................he wanted a Mig-15, and since I had already built the kit for myself, I thought it wouldn't be that bad...............

 

That thing gave me NOTHING but headaches. To the point that after some fumes from some undried CA got on the canopy (as well as the intake not coming together no matter what I did) , I Godzillaed that thing and sailed the flattened remains into the circular file. Gave the client the money for the kit back and a bit more for disappointment, but it was not worth my sanity. 

[ScottsGT]

When I moved almost three years ago.  
 

I had a half built “phantom” P-51 that the working gear gave me fits over.  I tried to make them retract with the doors shut all the way flush.  My OCD would not look past the fact it just wasn’t designed to do that.  Broke a landing gear leg fiddling around with it, another modeler provided me with a replacement years later.  
I was simply overwhelmed with packing for the move.  So it went in the trash along with a beautiful Revell F-15 that fell from the ceiling and lost a bomb rack and a very dusty 1/32 Testors YF-22 that was hanging in the boys room.  
Somewhere in that move I’ve misplaced a 1/1000 Romulan bird of prey from TOS that I packed and cannot find now. I still have a few boxes of SOD kits and I think I dropped it in with them. 

[Stokey Pete]

I’ve junked a few half built/nearly built kits over the years. Done so for a variety of reasons, from exasperation at poor fit, to spilling plastic weld on the surface. 

[ChuckD]

I've pitched a few.  The Trumpeter Hellcat and the Revell P-51D are the most recent examples.  On the other hand, I've pulled a few kits off the shelf after years and ended up turning out examples that I was/am really happy with.

 

The Swamp Ghost was shelved for a year:

 

The Tamiya Zero languished for 2 years.

 

And the Tamiya E8 kit sat for 2 years, got paint splattered on it, parts lost, boxed and moved, then one day turned into this:

 

So, at the end of the day, before I pitch a kit, I have to know that I'm absolutely, completely over it and it's BS.

 

But, as I always say, life is too short to build crappy kits. 

 

[Greif8]

I have thrown away a few builds and my Shelf of Doom is the trash can.  If a build is turning into a chore instead of being fun, the kit gets trashed; it rarely happens but if I reach the point where irritation starts to outweigh fun I don't have a problem trashing a kit.

 

Ernest  

[John Stambaugh]

I made a rule when I restarted modeling that once started; a kit would be finished.

 I did last spring put my 1/32 He-111H on hold and built 3 less demanding models but have recently returned to the Heinkel. 

 Silly as it may be, but I would feel bad if ever I tossed an unfinished model.

[ScottsGT]

8 hours ago, John Stambaugh said:

I made a rule when I restarted modeling that once started; a kit would be finished.

 I did last spring put my 1/32 He-111H on hold and built 3 less demanding models but have recently returned to the Heinkel. 

 Silly as it may be, but I would feel bad if ever I tossed an unfinished model.

Just started my He 111 last week.  I’ve come to realize that if the instructions were a little better and clearer and the friggin parts on the sprues grouped into build sections and corresponding parts numbers had some sort of order, it would be a much more enjoyable kit. 
Cannot believe the time wasted searching every damned parts tree for part #87.  
Kit has 7 or 8 sprues.  Someone should have taken a tip from other companies that letter each sprue.