69 kits Doug? Imagine having ten times more kits! I’m not one of those kit hoarders that tries to have the biggest stash, or buy one of everything that comes on the market. I know guys of both types and that’s not me. I buy most of my kits at shows, where the kits are plentiful, stacked 7 feet high, and mostly 40% off MSRP. No shipping. I see a kit I have to have, I buy it, not thinking of the 600 kits I have in the basement at home. That doesn’t enter my mind one bit when I’m shopping at a show. Then when I get home and add the kit to the stash shelves, that’s when it sinks in and I know I’m doomed to leave a legacy to my son to sell off. Even if he sells everything for 30 - 50% of it’s value, he’s still going to make a lot of money! But when I’m at a show and I’ve squirreled away $600 in model money, I’m determined to spend it all. I’m caught up in that show excitement and I come home with kits, conversions, tools and paints - there’s always something new that I don’t have. And it doesn’t just sit there - I build. I’ve got enough kits and supplies to last me the rest of my life, and I’m expecting to get another 20 - 30 years out of this old body. Until I go to the AMPS Nationals this year and come home with another haul.
And then there are the rather rare types like me. I have one on the bench and only two on the shelf. Planning on making the Richmond show barring bad weather where with any luck I’ll find 2-3 kits on my wish list. Other than that I might pickup some AM tracks and paints, etc. No massive stash for me.
On the one hand I wish I kept a large stash but on the other I’m just not wired that way.
Matt your stash is impressive but there’s a guy in our club that has over 3500 in his. If you include all his paints, PE and other AM accessories he would rival most hobby shops. He also has a very impressive collection of books on modeling and military history.
I compiled more statistics to satisfy my own curiosity. Since May of 2023, I completed 23 models.
6 New stockpile models
3 Old stockpile models
3 Scratch build models
9 Old stalled models from days of yore
1 Thrown out
1 Pulled back into shop
The 69 models leaves out about 15 models purchased in 2022 and 2023. That includes a bunch of MiniArt figures and trucks I have no business owning.
Including the old stockpile, the total must be north of 150 models. Say 50 of those are built in boxes and awaiting paint. Say 40 I no longer want. That leaves about 60 to build? Maybe?
I also want to get rid of most of the after market stuff. No interest in that anymore.
Thinking this through, increasing model production is not going to happen. In fact, the better I get, the slower I become because time investment per model goes up. Two things need to happen.
- I need to finish those 50 or 60 (or 70?) models awaiting paint. Those are my painting practice models. Duh.
- I need to sell on everything of zero interest. After subtracting the ones awaiting paint, that is about half of my stockpile.
@SSGToms Your setup is awesome but will not work for me. I cannot explain what is going on but the more incomplete models I acquire, the more I want to throw them all in a dumpster.
@Armorsmith I think your setup is closer to my Goldilocks solution. Maybe 15 models in the stockpile. Buy on demand as needed.
Four months into 2026, i have yet to finish a model.
It is now obvious my building ability is in decline due to age related problems. I can work with that.
Painting continues to be the demon on my back. Just now, I had a long conversation with a computer program about painting models. After asking many questions and discussing various steps in the painting process, it is clear I have walked all the ground there is to walk, yet my models do not improve. Sometimes, they get worse. Talent is a really big component of painting and sadly, I do not have much.
Is it possible to get a really good result doing less? Have I missed some technique that would help? Is it possible to break out of the model painting box using some completely different algorithm? Is there some way to overcome my strong dislike for painting? I keep looking for answers to these questions and others.
A few months back, knowing my limitations were increasing, I began selling off models and after market parts. The goal is to increase model building fun by getting rid of anything that no longer interests me, annoys me, or just has a high probability of failure. It led to some interesting decisions on what to keep and what to sell. It left me with plenty of money and space for new models and supplies.
Ron wrote something interesting in the Sci Fi campaign. He mentioned building an old Tamiya Quad Gun Tractor because it is easy. Many people have suggested I take the same route. I keep resisting the suggestion but maybe that is very unwise.
Only the front portion was blown up, the section between the front tracks was dropped as a demo charge and the vehicles then retreated so markings not that odd
Over the last couple weeks I examined the models in my stockpile and came up with 5 potentially good projects.
All of these were purchased over the last year or so, after coming to the conclusion that some models are just not good for me. There are no interiors here. Three models have link and length tracks. One model has hard plastic wheels. All vehicles are finished in a single color and I already have the paint. Accept for the Merkava, brass parts are at a minimum. The Merkava is the most complex project of the lot so I will save that for last.
After making my picks I washed all the part trees and started building.
The Dragon Command Panzer I is an easy model with a low part count accept for the individual link tracks. Those are a serious bother but I am already past the hurdle.
The Airfix Jagdpanzer 38 Early, really an Academy model, is an easy project with two exceptions. First, the Ejector Pin Fairy makes her home in the Academy production building. Second, mounting points for the suspension components are strangely petite. These are minor issues and I am mostly past both hurdles.
As usual for me, I am already dreading the next step: painting.
Just about any of the early Tamiya kits will be a low stress pleasure to put together.
Just examples of easy to complete kits.
I always liked the LRDG truck. It was so adaptable and just about no two looked alike in the way the crew set them up.
As far as painting goes, just build solid color vehicles. Desert sand, olive drab, ob4 green, panzer gray, bronze green. Lots of vehicles to choose from. You could easily use a rattle can. When you have a challenge like the love of painting…You can just plow through 8 or 10 kits until the feeling of confidence starts to settle in or you can choose other options than an airbrush. There is the rattle can option or the brush option but for me that is the most challenging technique.
The Jagdpanzer and Command Panzer are fairly far along.
In some ways, the Airfix Jagdpanzer 38 is easier than the Takom Jagdpanzer 38. Everything fits and it is less fiddly. Most ejector pin holes are modestly unobtrusive. The return rolled uses a much better mounting design. I look forward to comparing the two models when this project is finished.
The Dragon Command Panzer is a great little model but the tracks are hard mode.
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@TopSmith The new(ish) Tamiya Hotchkiss 39, PaK 38, Panzer I, Panzer 38(t), and Renault 35 are all on my Want List. I also picked out a new airbrush and am waiting for a sale.
Some of you may find this amusing.
I keep most unfinished projects herded together in one corner of my work area.
Most boxes contain one project but a few contain two or even three projects. Most are completely built and in some stage of painting.
The box does not necessarily correspond to the contents. For example, the Takom T30 box contains a beautiful Trimpeter E25, all ready for paint. The Trumpeter E10 box contains the equivalent of a Tarot deck Death card–a pair of Peerless Max Quad Gun Tractors in horrid condition. They were a model show purchase and my personal best/worst example of self inflicted agony.
About a third of the models are fully painted with the airbrush and await a bazillion hours of tedious detail painting.
About a dozen of the models were started for Armorama campaigns. I ran out of time or lost interest in the project. This is a terrible habit I must break.
Every year I say to myself, “This is the year I will make this pile smaller!” Every year, the pile gets bigger.
A few weeks back, an estate sale hunter scooped up a gigantic stockpile of models from someone like me who went belly up. The hunter sold off the models on eBay three, four, five at a time for weeks. About 80% of the models were sitting in the box, completely built but unpainted. I so do not want to be that guy. I gotta fix this.
In case you are wondering, the thing on the left, under the pillow case, is a pair of workshop screw cabinets, the kind with a bazillion little drawers. Most of you have a few of them. The pillow case does an excellent job of keeping dust out.
The unfinished models rest on two moving boxes. The left box contains supplies I rarely use. The right box contains about 10 new models.
I wish stack was a nice and neat looking. Most of my unfinished projects don’t fit back in the box/es that neatly.
Found one more in the stockpile that should be fun.
As with the others, this one is now washed up and ready to go. TriStar models get kinda crazy but I like them. I can paint this one Gray or Sand for an easy project. If airbrushes go on sale, I will try Ocher/Green.
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@Tank_1812 I have a few like that in the downstairs office, waiting for airbrush time.
After almost 5 months, I forced myself to sit down and paint. That pretty much broke the dam.
This is one of my ongoing saga projects, a Dragon Firefly IC. Eleven months ago, I repaired the broken tracks and primed all the new bits. Last night, I attacked the model with oil paints. The goal was to paint the tracks and running gear so well it is impossible to tell where everything broke and new bits were added. In my opinion, this effort was fairly successful.
My inclination is to put on the antennas, give it a clear coat, and call it done.
This is another saga project, a Takom Panzer III N. It was finished. Then it was not. Eleven months passes since I last worked in it. In my opinion, more painting somewhat improved the running gear. The drive sprocket is a beautiful thing.
More painting definitely improved the turret. This is genuinely pretty okay. It holds up when zooming in.
The big winner of more painting is the upper hull. This is way better than before.
I could stop here but, what the hey, this is now a paint mule. Next up…rust. A really adventurous move would be to sand out the old decals and repaint those areas. Very tempted to do that.
glad your staying on it!
Takom Panzer III N
I decided to go for it and remove the painted over decals on the turret. Using isopropyl alcohol and a cotton swab, I began removing paint on the sides of the turret in preparation to remove the decals. Then a miracle happened. The alcohol removed both acrylic and oil paints on top of the film, leaving behind a nearly pristine decal. In other words, the alcohol removed the poor effects oil painting that caused me to paint over the decals in the first place.
Realizing what this meant, a cotton swab with alcohol was used to remove most of the effects painting on all decals. There was no need to remove the decals and paint and start over because the alcohol left the decals in such good condition.
Ignore the shine. The model needs a clear coat.
Red ruined my Panzer IV F1. I feel like it ruined this model as well. I may repaint and try a fourth time.