I just looked in my display case where I have my finished kits, and there are 23 finished tank models in there on Friuls, with another 7 or 8 sets in the stash, un-used as of now. Talk about wondering where the money went....

Quoted Text

---

I just looked in my display case where I have my finished kits, and there are 23 finished tank models in there on Friuls, with another 7 or 8 sets in the stash, un-used as of now. Talk about wondering where the money went....

---

Hey Russ!

Bringing anything good to SuperCon this year?

Richard! Howzit goin?
Ah, PM me the date? I've kind of dropped off the edge down here (Dripping Springs) but would love to try and make it. I imagine I could bring a couple of models.... I miss the DFW bunch.

I was driving along the other day and was contemplating the cost of the kits in my stash and of the many accessories and paint I have ordered for those kits. If the kits average $50, I am looking at more than $3000. Accessories probably average close to that with Photoetch, metal barrels, aftermarket track, and paint. Humm... That is a lot of cash sitting on the shelf. Careful what you ponder.

Quoted Text

---

I was driving along the other day and was contemplating the cost of the kits in my stash and of the many accessories and paint I have ordered for those kits. If the kits average $50, I am looking at more than $3000. Accessories probably average close to that with Photoetch, metal barrels, aftermarket track, and paint. Humm... That is a lot of cash sitting on the shelf. Careful what you ponder.

---

Greg,
Having worked in the local Hobby Shop industry, I have to say you are really looking at it the wrong way. Models are a lot like automobiles, they lose about 20% of their value after you "drive them off the lot" so to speak. If you are estimating retail value alone, all LHS on-line shops buy at or below wholesale, and many of the on-line shops sell just above wholesale if they deal in volume, which is why they charge variable rates for postage. It's even worse for paint and accessories. I've bought, sold and traded models for years, and I've never gotten what I paid for them. So really, your cash isn't really "sitting on the shelf", it vanished when you popped that box open to look at the sprues. The right way to look at it is the pleasure you get from either collecting or building those kits, not how much they cost you. I'm discounting the "classic" and rare" resell market, where a classic or rare kit can fetch high market value on eBay or other secondary market. However, not all kits will qualify. So, when I survey my stash, I try not to think of the $$$ invested, but the ability and latitude I have to choose a kit when and where I want to build It, not at the whims of what's available on the market. That's what my investment brings, and it hasn't got much to do with the price tag on the box.
I'm rather selective in what genre I buy into, so as not to be overwhelmed by every "new thing" to come along. I've seen folks who have amassed huge stashes, then lost interest because they were buying everything, and building nothing. I've also seen folks drag massive stashes into a Hobby Shop, expecting the owner to buy them back at retail prices---that's not going to happen. So, when you look at value "on the shelf", don't add up the $$$, look at the pleasure level that stash produces.
VR, Russ

Quoted Text

---

Quoted Text

---

I was driving along the other day and was contemplating the cost of the kits in my stash and of the many accessories and paint I have ordered for those kits. If the kits average $50, I am looking at more than $3000. Accessories probably average close to that with Photoetch, metal barrels, aftermarket track, and paint. Humm... That is a lot of cash sitting on the shelf. Careful what you ponder.

---

Greg,
Having worked in the local Hobby Shop industry, I have to say you are really looking at it the wrong way. Models are a lot like automobiles, they lose about 20% of their value after you "drive them off the lot" so to speak. If you are estimating retail value alone, all LHS on-line shops buy at or below wholesale, and many of the on-line shops sell just above wholesale if they deal in volume, which is why they charge variable rates for postage. It's even worse for paint and accessories. I've bought, sold and traded models for years, and I've never gotten what I paid for them. So really, your cash isn't really "sitting on the shelf", it vanished when you popped that box open to look at the sprues. The right way to look at it is the pleasure you get from either collecting or building those kits, not how much they cost you. I'm discounting the "classic" and rare" resell market, where a classic or rare kit can fetch high market value on eBay or other secondary market. However, not all kits will qualify. So, when I survey my stash, I try not to think of the $$$ invested, but the ability and latitude I have to choose a kit when and where I want to build It, not at the whims of what's available on the market. That's what my investment brings, and it hasn't got much to do with the price tag on the box.
I'm rather selective in what genre I buy into, so as not to be overwhelmed by every "new thing" to come along. I've seen folks who have amassed huge stashes, then lost interest because they were buying everything, and building nothing. I've also seen folks drag massive stashes into a Hobby Shop, expecting the owner to buy them back at retail prices---that's not going to happen. So, when you look at value "on the shelf", don't add up the $$$, look at the pleasure level that stash produces.
VR, Russ

---

I see my stash as an investment for when I retire and have to live on my pension, possibly not being able to buy kits.
I will not need to buy any kits then and what I am paying for them now is probably a lot less than what they might cost in the future
/ Robin

I'm just floored at the cost of kits these days. I got excited this morning when I got an email from Squadron saying that they were running a sale. I have been absolutely jones-ing for the Trumpeter FROG-7 / Luna-M kit. It's still $108...on sale!

...For $70, I get a kit I can enjoy finishing and displaying on my shelf. For $100, my son in law gets a round of golf and ends up with sweaty clothes, a card and a little pencil....

I'm just floored at the cost of kits these days. I got excited this morning when I got an email from Squadron saying that they were running a sale. I have been absolutely jones-ing for the Trumpeter FROG-7 / Luna-M kit. It's still $108...on sale!