....Buying new kits is a big part of our hobby! However, having a physical stash on-hand does allow one to get into the cabinet, closet, room, basement or stash-building (I've seen all degrees of stashes!) and browse and choose the next victim at will and spur-of-moment, and for some, that is important and very rewarding. I think that it may actually be the biggest single reason many folks do go to brick-and-mortar LHS... To see lots of stuff and just pick something right at that minute.

I hope that most of us don't worry about how that stash of aging boxes and styrene devalues with time. You spent that money up front. It's spent. The same as if you paid for a movie or a nice supper or a trip to the golf course. The difference is really that you or your heirs MAY get some of it back after you go! Where one should get worried about the stash is when you actually are unhappy about spending money to buy kits and stuff - but you keep on adding to the pile. DON'T buy stuff unless it makes YOU HAPPY to do so!

Bob

Bob, Mario,
You both hit the main point I was trying to make-- there really is no such thing as "extra" free time. We must make decisions on how we spend our time, retired or not. If you enjoy building models, you'll budget time for it, as you would any hobby or pastime. My experience has been the opposite in retirement that I believed it would be. When I'm around others, I prefer to spend my time with them, rather than alone at the bench-- other times, I just like to be alone working on one of many projects I have on the bench, but I must balance time-- all work and no play makes a dull boy as they say-- the opposite can also be said-- all play and no work makes a boy equally dull. Here's another way I look at it-- and I'm surprised no one has said it yet--Modeling is a hobby, some (including me for a while) have turned it into a profession (believe me there's not much fun building for others against a deadline, when you want to be building for yourself). But in the end, do you want to be remembered as a "great modeler" or as a great person. Most of my family admire the models I build, but that's not why they appreciate me. There's the real rub here-- the time you spend building shouldn't be more than the time you spend with others, especially family. I'm not including the time you spend socializing with modeling friends here-- that time is spent with others also. I've made some lifelong friends who share the same hobby (at least for the time I have remaining) but if I spend all my time at the bench-- I'd never be able to spend time with them would I? I think the upshot of all this discussion is 1) have fun; 2) be well rounded; 3) remember, retirement should be a time to have fun and be well rounded.
VR, Russ

I'm retirement age but still working full-time. I have started culling my stash a bit, but mostly buying fewer kits. Maybe no more than a dozen a year now. Won't even do most review samples, and I never enter the raffles at events because I DON'T WANT MORE KITS!!!

I don't need any more kits but I still purchase raffle tickets just to help the group putting on the show. Any kits I win I give them to any kid standing next to me. The look on their faces is more then worth the ten or twenty dollars I spent.