I suppose I could be classed as a 'hoarder'. My closets contain no less than 200 model kits in various subjects and scales. Many of those kits are complete with serious AM details and decals. There is enough in my home to keep me busy until I'm 150yrs old at my current build rate.

Originally, I purchased kits simply because I enjoyed both the shopping and collecting. Now, I'm happy I did collect so many, as my purchasing motivation is quickly changing with the times.

I live 2 1/2hrs motor travel(one way) from the nearest LHS. That means its usually a full day if I spend a few hours in the city. As such, most of my stash has come via mail-order. Today, it looks as though the mail-order system is in peril. Through example, this is why:

I tried to order 3 sale kits from a foreign mail-order house at a total cost of $74.76. The check-out raised that total to $120.71 due to shipping fees. This sounds like $45.95 shipping fees, forgetting about exchange rates and possible import taxes. All of a sudden, these kits were no longer on sale.

My stash has become a very happy sight. Most were purchased at reasonable shipping rates in times now past, and many of them are sought after out of production. I appreciate the stash so much, and look it over with joy.

I know this is a rant, though, I doubt I stand alone in pain. And my shopping habits will change with the times; there will likely be more trips to the city.

But, man, am I glad I have that happy stash!!!

I hear you on the happy stash . My current count is 240 kit's . At one time I used get all my kit's from doing trades or buying on line when shipping wasn't bad at all . Now it's a crap shoot . I try and support my LHS more and more . They can pretty much get what I'm looking for and I even get a discount from time to time . Even to ship in across here in Canada is getting on the pricy side and I don't have a lot of faith in our system . The cost of kit's aren't bad , it's the shipping which kills you depending on where you dwell in the world . But yes , I'm very happy with my stash and glad that I took advantage of this many years ago !




Terri

I always buy from model shops where I live. They can order just about anything.

It may be a tad more expensive, but I am supporting local businesses ( there used to be five model shops in my vicinity, now there are three)

I don't have anything against ordering on line, I just enjoy going to a shop, talking with the shop staff and buying supplies. To each his , or her, own.

Happy modeling!

PS - my stash is now down to one, I'm saving it for the 'Overshadowed Fighters GB' starting in the autumn, so I'll be off a model shop soon to buy a new kit.

I had to look it up (dumb American) Wow! Alberta is Huge and Empty.

I make the round trip from Portland to Seattle every other weekend. About 220 miles each way. I can think of 7 hobby shops within a half hour's detour off of my normal travel route.

My stash is hovering around the 200 kits mark. Right now, a kit has to one of the few on my must have list or the subject of an upcoming Kitmaker Group Build before I drop the bucks either at the LHS or on line.

Here in Norway the peculiarities of the customs system keep me in line. Any parcel below 200 kroners are VAT free, and most consumer goods are dutyfree.

Unfortunatly above 200 kroners you have to pay vat on the whole cost including postage. And the postal service takes a fee for custom clearance as well. (200 kroner = ca £20 or €25)
So unless you plan to buy a lot you better keep below the magic line! Fortunately I've found a few easter European shops who doesn't charge more than €7-9 for p&p, so the cost is still well below Norwegian prices. (And naturally a much wider selection.)

In my town there is just one hobbyshop where I buy the occasional kit, as well as a model railroad shop. Thee used to be a shop specializing in radio controlled toys, who also had some model kits but they became an internet-only store last year.

The positive is that Norwegian mail is quite dependable, as as we are not part of the Eu many webshops in the EU sell tax-free to us. (Not all though, I think it's more paperwork in some contries than others.) put italicized text here

Lady & Gents,

With a huge sigh I ponder just how many models I have. When I prepared to move 6 years ago I parted with about 30 models, including several I did not want to give up but did because of space limits. Five I wish I'd kept are the 1/72 Blohm & Voss 222; 1/32 Hawker Hunter; 1/32 F-104S; 1/48 PBY; 1/48 Su-15. I still have about 40 boxes (mainly file boxes) of models (Although many are model railroad items and scenery items.) but don't know how many individual kits that is.

Anyway, I prefer to buy from the LHS (just did yesterday!) because I like supporting locals. I'd rather not buy off eBay but that's the only place I can find some oddities. I will go to OMK if I seek an old kit.

Yeah, the new postal rates are harsh. LHS is the place for me!

Hmmm, interesting reflections on folk's own modelling stash. I vacillate between feeling overwhelmed and overjoyed by mine. (Overwhelmed by the prospect of never getting to them all and the challenge of prioritizing the projects yet overjoyed at the range of options and of the splendid variety of quality kits I could not have imagined even existing when I was a child.)

I've crossed the 200 kit threshold recently. I won't lie to myself and pretend I won't buy anymore, (I will buy that ICM Do 17/215 when it comes out) but I'm focusing a bit more on acquiring accessories for those kits I want to build and corrections for models with design errors that are noticeable enough to distract me.


As far as sourcing, I'm very saddened that we don't have much of an LHS presence in my town. The old mom and pop store provides me with my paint and adhesives but they don't/ can't stock much in the ways of plastic kits and accessories. In fact I'm pretty sure I've already bought all they have to offer!

I refuse to patronize Hobby Lobby so that leaves me doing the lion's share of my hobby purchases on line. Being the manager of a bricks and mortar business myself, it sort of hurts my feelings but given how esoteric some of my modeling buys are its pretty much too much to ask that a local shop should stock it or even have access to vendors who stock it. I try to comfort myself with the fact that most of the online entities I buy from are, in their own way, mom and pop outfits too.

Cheers,
Fred

I just counted my stash, a whopping 7 aircraft models, with one more on the way. I have two more models on my to buy list for the year, and that's it. I long ago in previous modeling eras gave up buying everything and anything, as I never built 90%+ of them. Unfortunately, modeling collecting is a hobby unto itself where the value usually goes down. And yes there are some kits that the value goes up, but today molds are sold and re-sold. How many companies have or are producing Accurate Miniature kits? And who wants a kit with raised panel lines, and isn't up to todays standards. I have friends that have 1,000s of old kits, and their new hobby is trying to sell them for whatever they can get at every local show and contest.

I have not one, but two LHS within 2 miles of my house, one I can actually walk to, and never go to either of them. One is slot cars and the other RC specialists. They both carry a small amount of old, outdated kits, and nearly no supplies. I do frequent a LHS that is a 30 min drive. He does have a huge selection of plastic kits, and most new releases are in stock. For me the issue is the basics. He's always out of the needed paints, carries too many lines of paints which is another issue, and it's hard to find anything, as there is little to no organization.
So I tend to order most of what I need from Sprue Brothers or my new online source, Scalehobbyist. What they list they have, and they have just about everything. Shipping costs are offset by the fact that there still isn't any tax unless you live in the state that they're located in, and I don't. I can get my orders in 2-3 days, but I take standard shipping and wait a week. Nothing I order is ever needed ASAP. It's always the next build or even further down my build list.

While I would love to only buy locally, it's just not practical nor possible. If I find the model I want, half the time he doesn't have all the Tamiya Acrylic colors I need. He has some AM decals, an PE, but usually not want you want. So I'm forced to order online anyway.

For me, price isn't the prime consideration, it's selection, having what I want, when I want it. Like all small companies, he has to wait to have a min order before he can place an order with a distributor. So out of stocks in basics like paint becomes an issue. How about carrying Alcads, but running out of Aluminum 101. Or Tamiya Olive Drab. Even Flat black & White have been out of stock for weeks.

I keep extra bottles of Xtra Thin, X20-A, and a few certain colors. But I'm not interested in backing up everything I need all the time. Nor do I want to have to drive back a week or two later for the needed supplies.

So, I've become more of a online buyer then a LHS buyer. My time is limited, and I rather not just wander around the store, as I always end up buying something I don't really want. That's how my stash got to 7 models. 4 of them I'll never build.

Joel

Hi folks,
I see, I'm not alone with my addiction for the bacillus plasticus and sniffing glue. I have stopped counting my unbuild kits but it must be something between 300 and 350 I guess .... About 95 % of my stash consists of 1/48 aircrafts from the propeller era and 1/35 German Bundeswehr vehicles. In my hometown we have 2 LHS and one is only 300 meters away Well that guy is more a model railway shop but has also some plastic kits on the shelf. There I buy most of my paints and in the meantime most of my Revell kits. All others usually come online and some I buy at expos if I find something interesting (and cheap). But I don't buy from Ebay and I don't pay postage because I told my online dealer (here in Germany) to send me the kits when I have reached the limit to p/p free. So I only get a parcel once in a while and not every week. I can wait. But I don't buy so many kits now as I used to. Though there is still some great stuff out there which I need to have, especially reboxed kits, which I didn't get earlier.
But in the end, aren't we lucky to have the time and enough money left for one of the greatest hobbies?

Happy modelling!
Torsten

You're lucky, there's nothing here, except a small library with about 30 different paint bottles from Tamiya, the 10ml sort. He has some plastic models he hopes to sell one day to clear the space and add more books.

So that's why I have to rely on Ont and N-B online shopping and once in a while: evilbay

ps: I'm in St-Jean-sur-Richelieu

I have noticed the radical increase in postage to and from Canada recently. I just cant stomach buying stuff from Canada, because of that.
Down here in the lower 48 we still have the incredible values of first class package rate, and parcel post. I buy and sell stuff all the time, my stash is in constant flux as my interests shift.
I hope the wing nuts never succeed in their loathsome plan of privatizing the USPS.

Also, since we are editorializing, with Cinzano, I will never ever go in Hobby Lobby, though I have finally, developed a relationship with Micheal's.

The three hobby shops that sell plastic model kits in my area have diversified, one sells model railroad supplies, one sells comics, sponsors RPG's and sells SciFi related stuff, and the other is heavy into RC planes. That is what shops have to do to survive. Even I have had to adapt, now that I am retired my modeling budget is in the cellar.

There is a RPG games store in my area that sells Games Workshop acrylic paints. They are excellent for brush painting and can be thinned for airbrushing.

If I don't have a colour I need, I mix it up myself, what the heck. Most of my modeling is WW1 aircraft, so it is near impossible to nail down an exact colour, even by the experts. As for WW2 aircraft, close enough is good enough for me, and besides, with weathering, staining, bleaching and so on, what started out as an exact defined colour, changes over time. Try nailing down exact colours of a Malta Spitfire.

At a metropolitan population hovering about 400,000, I guess I am lucky to have three shops that sell plastic models.

I really need to actually sit down and catalog what is in my stash. Educated guess is around 700, which is exactly why my wife wants me to get and inventory, if nothing else if something should happen to the house or worse me...she has something to go by as would the insurance company.

Being the owner of an LHS, makes it all too easy to add something to the stash.

Pardon the digression but:
Quoted for truth! This paint range is severely underrated by many. They can seem a bit expensive but if you handle them with care and make sure the lid is on they go a looooong way. (I have some Citadel paints jars in use that I bought and started using 15 years ago!)

Even now where I use other pain ranges like Agama, I prefer Citadel metallics!

Up until fairly recently, I was an avid wargamer and collector of all things Games Workshop, but I'm cured now! I realised that a good drug habit would have been much kinder to my bank balance, so I sold all my stuff, and got back into model making.

I've found that by restricting myself to a particular niche of aircraft (anything post war in british colours) I have been able to keep my stash at a manageable size, and it also helps me to not get involved in too many campaigns at the same time.
If memory serves, the stash currently stands at 15(ish).

My LHS is a little unusual in as much as they exclusively stock Revell kits, paints, glues etc. This is handy as it helps me avoid the temptation to overspend every time I pop in for a tin of paint! Other than that, Airfix's HQ and shop is just up the road. I must admit, I find it easy to keep the number of kits down, but I do spend quite a bit on aftermarket (most of the time more than the kits cost!)

My location dicates mail-order due to to sheer lack of local hobby stores, which I would rather support.It certainly baffles me why shipping costs are so unbareably high from some mail-order houses, and not from others. Is that just pure greed?

A US company mean't to smoke me for some $45.00us shipping, so I make the same order from England for $14.00cdn shipping. No contest, on the same kits selling for roughly the same price.

Personally, I've edited my preferred supplier saved list to only include those with reasonable shipping rates. I can swallow $100.00 for a kit, but not 45.00 s/h. I even sent an e-mail query simply questioning s/h rates to what used to be my favorite outlet. That wasn't important enough to deserve a reply, I suppose.

I believe in (and hope for) a resurrgence of the LHS. Hopefully the s/h costs will help that happen. And I'm glad to see so many have those joy bringing stashes, as they may soon be the only stream we can afford.

My stash resides in my garage on black plastic shelves, under my workbench, in a storage box and on top of a piece of furniture amounting to probably 200(ish). My problem is I buy a kit and tend to have enthusiasm to build it which quickly dissipates hence I have such kits as a Matchbox German SP gun, LRDG truck, Revell B17G and Lancaster, Airfix Vampire, Hurricane, Sea Hurricane and quite a few Spitfires.

I support my local model shop in Wellingborough Rd Northampton as they hold a good range of kits, railway (another interest) paints and glue. I go to mail order for accessories e.g. Eduard. I also like Revell acrylics and visit a chain 'hobby' store for those I also visit Model Railway and Model shows for 'ideas'.

As I am taking part in some campaigns I will get to finish some of my stash, I promise

When starting out in modelling it never occurred to me to collect a stash. I bought models and that was my next project. I collected paints, you never know...
The second time around, I've been building a stash. This stash is about 30+ kits and growing, all 1/72nd scale armor and airplanes. Braille scale models are less expensive and don't consume as much space. I try to buy on sale as much as possible. There are two mail order hobby shops I use. The shipping is more than sales tax so I try to max out my order to spread the shipping costs out over a larger amount of products. I have a LHS I like to frequent, they are well stocked. I will buy paints and supplies there and I buy models when I can find a good deal. As I've said, I pay more in shipping than I do in sales tax, so it is an advantage to buy at my LHS.
I've saved all my receipts since starting to build models again. The amount I've spent over the last 2 1/2 yrs. kinda shocked me. But, I think I've done well as far as product vs money spent.
I think this is a conversation we all have with ourselves and the people in our lives. I find it therapeutic to converse with others in this hobby. What I'm saying is we all must come to terms with our passion for plastic.
Regards,
Firstsergeant

When I started building kits again I bought plenty of cheap (dirt-cheap, like £2 a kit) eastern european kits, as I needed to get the "feel" again, and it's better to mess up a cheap kit than something expensive and well made that deserves better. So now a couple of those cheap kits reside in my stash, and probably will end up as quick-fire builds when I'm bored.

But all in all my hobby have cost med less than £250 pound for the whole of 2013, (+ 2 glass cabinets, but they were less than £100) and that's plenty of pleasurable hours!

Unfortunately many of us are hemmed in buy what the postal companies charge us. I know for myself I charge the customer what Canada Post charges me to ship it. And while I can complain about CP pricing, it is still the cheapest form of shipping in Canada.

When CP was on strike a few years back I looked at going with a different company, and the next cheapest was Fed Ex, but even then, the same parcel shipped to Toronto was $14 via CP, it was $17 via Fed Ex, and they were the next cheapest....others like UPS, Purolator, Can Par were more than that again. And for the extra $3, it got to it's destination only a day quicker.

CP rates still suck, but it is all I have to work with and still maintain somewhat of a sensible shipping rate.

Living in North East England we have at least 4 LHS within 25miles, all with the same Airfix/Revell/Tamiya stock. To get a 1/48 P-39 recently I had to go to London. Most of my favourite subjects (WW1 to 1930s) I can only get mail order or by driving 250 miles each way. I have heard rumours of a new shop......... My stash numbers about 30 kits and that is enough now, one in, one out from now.

Wow, that's harsh. Are the shop owners not willing to special order for you?

It's ironic to me that after years away from the hobby how much stash I still have! About 20 aircraft and 7 ships.

My problem unlike most of you is that we have very few LHS here in Las Vegas. And the ones we have are VERY over priced. When I can buy paint, building material and kits cheaper online...Well it's not much of a contest. But I will visit the LHS if I need something right now (if they have it in stock).

My stash in the past would run around 70-75 kits and this was when ebay was pretty good, say over 10 years ago. One move and I am down to a 4 kit stash. I have not found a LHS yet here that is worth the effort to ride the bus to. What is called a hobby shop in Austin, TX is either Hobby Lobby, Hobby Town or some such dismal place and then there is Michaels. So there is no LHS that I know of and I agree that postage kills any savings that may have been on any online sale. Boy do I miss the days of Bobbye Halls Hobby House and the new arrivals each month of a .98 cent kit either in 1/72 or 1/48 scale, those were the days now I just look at the $ in the 4 kits sitting on top of my bookshelf and wonder back.

Bob

TRUTH!

Sailboats, racehorses, or restoring Victorian houses also qualify as cheaper than a GW habit!


Like others here I have a local shop (20 min away in an area I shop and work in) and a gaming shop.
I refuse to spend another cent in the local shop after a kit I was very proud of was stolen or dropped and discarded by an employee.
I've never gotten a completely straight answer.
I did get back the resin cobblestone base and the one wheel pinned to it.

He accepted NO responsibility for the loss/destruction, made NO attempt at restitution, and barely apologized.
So I buy NOTHING there, not paint, not glue, not files, not putty, and certainly no kits.

The gaming store sells new Citadel paints and some Vallejo/Reaper stuff and I do love their metallics.

I've got a lifetime of kits many with piles of aftermarket additions or conversions already, but still pick up bargains, mostly from Squadron sales or daily deals.
Many kits I am interested in come WAY down in price if I am a little patient. The trick is being patient enough without being TOO patient and missing out. Trumpy's T-64's and T62's are a good example. These days they are going for about $30 on random Squadron sales or sale days. I do want these kits, but my personal 'must have kit' price point is closer to $30 than to the initial MSRP of $50++
So I will wait for the current crop of T80's, 90's , BMP2's, and BTR 80's to come down a bit.

For me the days of ebay being useful for finding things at decent (read as: a steal) prices are long gone and ebay is way too overpopulated with shops listing their entire inventories.

I hit Armorcon for finishing supplies every other year or so. Even the kit prices there are generally more than I want to pay, but I am willing to pay a little more for a difficult to find accessory if I see it.

When the kid's swim meet takes me to the Boston area, I swing into Spare Time or Hobby Emporium. I appreciate the fantastic stock in both shops, but MSRP retail (even with a club discount) means I buy few kits.

Lucky Models has gotten my attention a couple of times, but I generally pass on their sales.

HLJ still gets me with new Sci Fi offerings, mostly Mak/SF3D stuff. I missed a lot of kits when they were first released in the 80's and remember how hard it was finding them. So these I stock up on. Fine Molds Star Wars kits and Kotobyura option sets are also good from them.

Mike