Having just replied to D in What the Postman Brought I began to think about my stash . I have known for some time that I will not live long enough to complete all of them and I began to muse about which ones I would put in the “ Gotta build it before I die “ category . I think my stash is about 150 kits or so . Largely 1/48 aircraft , a few 1/48 vehicles, 4 WnW 1/32 aircraft , a few 1/35 soft skins, 2 1/350 naval , 1 1/12 formula 1 car and I have a 1/12 Model Factory Hiro kit on order. I am currently working on a 1/12 motorcycle and will be starting the 1/12 Formula 1 car when the bike is done .
Given the costly nature of MFH kits and the amount of time involved in building them , I plan on diving in on this one after the Formula 1 car .
After that I don’t know but somewhere in the time frame I would slot one of the WnW kits but beyond that it’s whatever strikes my fancy at the time .
Does anyone else ever think about this ?
What would you choose?
Cheers- Richard
All of them!
But I will focus on wreckers, engineer vehicles, bridgelayers, the really big ones. Basically the odd-ball stuff.
Mainstream stuff like Panzers and Shermans isn’t at the front of the build queue …
Robin, your build queue in real time is probably about 2 miles long anyway …
For me it’s very simple … Very small stash, only build usually in one certain scale and only things that genuinely interest me. Also I don’t buy randomly, it needs to be specific, so next probable buys will be for a Cent build coming up and I want a Leo 2 A7 for my modern MBT set. Next build will be campaign based so it’s the Panther G for the Bulgarian group build.
Great discussion topic Richard, this should be a really interesting thread to follow!
My stash is similar size to yours, probably 100 Auto kits, 40 Aircraft, 3 Ships, a couple of 1/35 trucks and some figures.
For me it would be the WNW Clerget Camel that just arrived, the collection of 1/12 Chevy kits ('57 Bel Airs, "67 Corvettes and a '69 Camaro), and the 1/24 VFS P-47 that has been on and off my bench for so many years because I 'm not confident that my abilities match my ambitions for that kit just yet.
Everything else in between will be built to fine-tune the techniques.
Cheers, D
I have a very reasonable stash of about 12-14 kits, so I hope I will live long enough to finish all of them!!
In any case, and as you never know, I would go first for the easiest/more pleasant builds, and also weird looking vehicles like the Bergepanther or Bergepanzer IV.
Excellent topic!
The is around ~155 unstarted kits and 8 started kits.
Must Finish - started kits
Tamiya Pz IV J - modelers block
Tamiya Pz IV J - 27 years and counting
Gunzy/DML/Imperial PZ IV F2
DML Panther D
Tamiya Panther G
Tamiya T-55A
Must Finish - stash kits
Tamiya JagdPanther from 90’s
Tamiya Late Tiger x2
Tamiya Mid Tiger x2
Tamiya Early Tiger
Tamiya Initial Tiger
Tamiya Panther G x4
Tamiya Panther D
DML Pz IV A
DML Pz IV B
TriStar Pz IV C
Tamiya Pz IV D
DML Pz IV D Afrika Korps
DML Pz IV E Vorrpanzer
DML Pz IV F2/G x2
DML Pz IV G x3
Gunzy/DML/Imperial PZ IV G
Tamiya Pz IV H old
DML Pz IV H x3
DML Pz IV J x2
DML Late Tiger x3
Tamiya JS-2
Tamiya JSU-152
Cyber Hobby T-34 1942 STZ
Tamiya Challenger 2 Desertized
Takom Chieftain Mk10
Italeri Crusader
Italeri Leo 1A4
Meng M2A3 Bradley
Meng Panther D
The started kits, 90’s Tamiya kits, the Pz IV’s, top of the Must list.
My stash is pretty small, around 30 kits but I bought all of them in the last 12 months after getting serious about the hobby (I might have a problem)!
But I too only buy stuff that absolutely interest me. So as above they are all must build. But my holy grail kits I really want to build but are my two accurate miniatures avengers (love that massive plane), my leopard C2 Mexas from Meng and probably my Dragon Sdkfz 7/2 and 10/5. I have a deep interest in German self propelled guns and flak half tracks/panzers
My must builds will sit for a while though as my skills progress
28 models in my stash all are “must be built” kits.
Also “must be built” kits on my wanted list, but I prefer to avoid to buy them. First I have to reduce my stash.
Don’t Wait!!!
If you like it now build it now!
Your skills are most impressive 
Waiting for my skills to improve is why I have 150+ kit back log 
Life has a way of wrecking that plan in my experience.
Even winning piles and piles of trophies 
I didn’t think my skills were up to doing a 1990’s Tamiya Panther G etc justice 
.
Better kits can and do replace all of those kits one saves until their skills improve.
It’s my goal to never have a stash big enough for this to be a dilemma. I think I’ve got 8 kits total between boxed and on the go and I’m not buying any more until I get at least two of those knocked out.
If I have too many options available I get distracted and just find excuses to plow through or put things aside in favour of new shiny.
I too have limited my selection to stuff that really interests me. No token Tigers for me. This is a double edged sword though as stock levels continue to be low in my LHSs and I then end up fighting the urge to spend my tokens on fleabay.
I have my RG-31 and an M109 on the go that need to get finished but I have no idea what’ll be next on the pile.
I agree with you there, the only problem is that some of nice kits are hard to find at the deals I got them for, especially with living in Canada 
The dragon SdKfz 10/5, 7/2 and the leFH 18/40/2 sf Geschutzwagen Panzer III (that’s a mouthful) I found on eBay we’re all $30 and anywhere else I can find them which is a chore in itself have them for $110+
Knowing I’ll likely never buy kits of those subjects again I want to leave them until I’m really in the mood. But in terms of other kits like tigers that are easy to find I have no problem cracking those open and starting.
As you state I’ve built a couple kits that are probably way above my skill level like the Miniart t-54 and tbe bronco archer I am building now, but I find doing these kits slowly and methodically has drastically improved my skill and confidence to tackle complex kits
My ‘must build’ is ALL the kits (150 +) in the stash, but lacking the life expectancy to do so!
True that, when we bought them they were. I at least try to put a few in queue. Right now I’m working on a Mig 31 the next ones I’m planning are
Hasegawa F-16 with some special decals
Tamiya JS-2 a group build
Tamiya P-38 because it’s time
After that,we’ll see
A very good topic.
Technically all of my kits (around 100) are must build as I bought them all for a reason. No duplicates in the stash.
That being said there are ones with a higher priority. Planes go to the bottom. I do like a plane every 18 months. Ground vehicles in the middle and ships on top. I do tend to build more vehicles than ships simply because the ships take me so long to do.
If I had to pick 2 from each category I would likely pick the following:
Planes
- Eduard 1/48 Spitfire Mk VIII
- Airfix 1/48 Hawker Hurricane MK1
Ground vehicles
- All my shermans
- Dragon 75mm Pak40
Ships
- Tamiya 1/350 USS New Jersey (To be built as the USS Wisconsin using the Pontos set)
- Trumpeter 1/350 USS Texas
I don’t think mine qualifies as a stash. But the Tamiya P-38 and Phantom are the next kits I plan to start.
The Tamiya P 38 is just incredible and should be on everyone’s list . I have no reason to doubt that their Phantom will be great as well . I know I am repeating myself but every modeler regardless of favorite genre should assemble Tamiya’s P 38 just to see how good a kit can be - don’t even paint it if you don’t want too - just put it together. It’s that good.
If you guys keep talking about it my finger is going to find its way to the buy now button!
This one is for sure going on my Christmas list
Do it now Mead93 - push the button-you know you want to …
All you guys with small volume stashes. It makes me feel I may be overcompensating for something…
My absolute must builds:
Australian Centurion Bridgelayer (part AFV Club and part scratch build)
Centurion AVRE (Amusing Hobby)
Australian Centurion Mk5/1 (AFV Club)
( seems to be a theme here)
Australian Matilda (Tamiya and Firestorm )
M113A1 with T50 Turret (AFV Club)
M19 Diamond T and trailer combo (I Heart Kit - ex Merit) with a load being…
Bishop (Bronco)
Archer (Bronco)
Conqueror Mk1(Amusing Hobby)
Bulgarian Steyr 1500A/01 (Tamiya)
My ‘Must build’ after the absolute must builds:
LVT 4 Late (AFV Club)
Panzer 1 Ausf A (Takom 1/16)
SdKfz 2 Kettenrad (Dragon - ex ESCI 1/9th scale!)
Scammell Tank Transporter (Thunder Models )
Dorchester (AFV Club)
Su-76 (Tamiya)
Sturer Emil (Trumpeter)
ZSU 23-4 (Meng)
M16 Halftrack (Dragon)
Bergepather Ausf A (Takom)
…all the ones for group builds I have committed to…
…and finish all my shelf queens (yeah, okay… but a man has to stretch his goals a little)