Hi Guys,
I may not have the biggest stash (proabably around 100- 150), but bought my house on the basis of the hobby! My ground floor has a study off the kitchen (about 10 x 12 ft) and it was that room that made me buy the house. That study is now my newly renovated hobby room (Home Depot utility cabinets are great!). The Mrs. was introduced to my "illness" early on when we started dating, so she knew up front what she was getting into (oh yeah, the china cabinet in the dining room houses my built collection!). She's even asked about building a tank! I knew I married the right woman!
Regards,
Georg

I too am infected with this illness…having over 800 kits waiting for my time. My wife has other ideas at times too!

i feel so .... so over matched lol. I just avoid the hobby store cuase I kow that if i go there I am gonna want to buy a bunch of them, instead of finishing what I already have. They are closing up shop though, so now i have to buy through the internet.

Sabot,
NATURE ABHORS A VACUUM !
If you look at your picture ther,there is space for 1 more model,in the center,up high.
Your mission,should you accept it,is to go to the nearset Hobby Shop,and buy a kit to fill that void.

You have your instructions,now move out.
(++) (++)

ahhh but heres the trick- It has to be just the right size for the space. not too small, not too big.

LOL,

You guys are cracking me up - I almost sprayed my computer monitor with apple juice...

Sabot, nice collection. Some of you have really nice set ups. A whole basement? WOW! Your own Floquil paint racks? WOW! I have a teeny little desk in a corner of my house. My Academy Hornet doesn't even fit on my desk, it lives on my Dining Room table.

I have the proverbial model closet. It is filled with about 40 or 50 kits, which is about 1/3 of what it used to be. I have traded, sold, and bought smaller quantities of higher quality kits, along with many more detail parts.

Thanks for the pictures, guys...

Scott

Man...I wish I had u guy's problems...I wouldn't mind havin hundreds of model kits to choose from

Yes, it's clearly a sickness we all have.

Looking through the Rogue's gallery is always a treat. There are too many of us with enough gear to open our own hobby shops!

Cheers
Andy

You win. I surrender!!!

I like the carpet on walls and ceiling! Is that to keep the kits safe?

Cheers
Andy

I love this site! I look at some of these stashes and I think, "I am but a grasshopper."

Two tips that I want to share to keep domestic bliss. One, it helps if your wife also has a hobby. We're heading off to Hobby Lobby to pick her up some glass for her stained glass. Of course while we're there I just MIGHT pick up a kit here or there. Two, I keep mine in a plastic tote. Out of sight, out of mind. THAT way she can't see if I've got any duplicates and she doesn't know exactlly how many I have.

Since I now have a digital camera, I have added to my pics of my stack, to include my workspace and the stand I have some of my In Progress models on. To include 2 Karls (1/35, 1/72) a DUKW, Tiger I, my 1/16 R/C Tiger II and a Rally Car and M-5 stuart (those are actually finished. The workbench has a M-3 stuart, a Marder IIIM and a Marder III, Wespe, Sherman 105, British Gun Truck w/ 25pdr gun, and a Panzer II, + various other odds and ends. Not to mention the M-12 GMC that I just picked up today. When I said I was headed to Hobby Town, I wasn't kidding. Add another one to the Unbuilt Plastic Army I am stockpiling.

Actually, the mail man brought me a Trumpeter JGSDF Type 89 IFV and the Academy M151A1 w/105mm Recoilless Rifle. Besides, that's where I keep my aftermarket tracks. I got them down to answer a question on the panzer IV separate track links in another thread.

That doesn't take into account when the local shop has a $25 kit that you have been eyeing marked down to $9.99. Plus, I win quite a few kits in club and show raffles as well as online contests. My luck of the draw is quite well renouned.

Well guys, the carpet on the walls and beams are fromt he previous owner of the home, but believe it or not, it makes the place feel warmer inthe winter...and keeps the noise down from my compressor. Sorry, no dead bodies in the tub, or fat chicks down cistern holes...

And Rob and I have onther thing in common, luck with raffles. I always buy $10-$15 worth of raffles at the local contest, the Nordic Con. I have always gotten 7 out of 10 back. Not always the best stuff, but the kits are decent and aimed at being built instead of collcted so...

And I started out in 1993, fresh out of college, with about 8 kits, mainly monogram, revell, and a couple Tamiya tanks. I worked in a hobby shop for 2 years so I had access when things really started to get into high gear. And I ALWAYS look for deals online and in stores. WHen we go visit friends, I check out ht elocal Hobby shops. I keep my eyes open on the net too...eBay can be a good place to pick up stuff, but I have dealt with model-expo when they clearance stuff and have gotten things like 12 Italeri M4A1 shermans for $5.25 each etc...so I have not put in nearly as much as it looks to build the vast empire I now have today. And I don't drink, don;'t smoke, don't gamble, and I have no taste in fast cars or fast women...at least not for me to own/touch. So my wife is VERY understanding...and she is a minister. She is rather proud of the artistic side of it, so things are ok between us. I just can't spend the grocery money on models is all ...which I agree with.

I also do my best to sell kits to make the money to buy more kits, so that eases tension too.

And just so you know, I am not a fanatic....I gave up that up for OBSESSION! #:-)

I usually spend only $2 or $3 on tickets.

Man! I'm just glad I'm not alone! I just counted 98 kits on the shelf behind my modeling table and thats just the latest kits, there's another 150 in the basement (mostly the old Tamiya stuff from the 70's that cost me 1 to 5 bucks each when the yen was 350 to the dollar).

I think the problem is that the kit companies make a production run and then don't re-issue them for 3 to 5 years. If you don't get it now it might not be available for years. I'm still kicking myself for not buying at least 3 of the DML Pz111, Ausf. E kit or a couple of the DML Pz1V, Ausf. F1.

Also, they keep bringing out "new and improved" kits, and kits we could only dream about 30 years ago.

Will I live long enough to build all of them? Probably not, but I'm happy.

Well, Nordic Con is a pretty good deal for modelers, being a good quality regional show, and the raffle helps pay for the show so I always throw in to help out. While I never sit and hope to win all the stuff I have, it is nice to be "lucky". 'course I probably just cursed myself and won't win anything this Sept.

And with the hobby shop situtaion the way it is in MN, there willprobably be fewer raffle items due to fewer donors...and that got me thinking too...maybe I should sponsera "special" award this year...best ground based ADA system! (Nordic Con is run by IPMS airplane guys for the most part, and I like to rib them constantly)

You guys have to post some more picture. This is awesome. I'm working on it as well. I have to consoloidate all of mine together first. I have been using "the multiple spot with only afew in each spot" - to make it look like there isn't as much.

Is there something to this or is it just the pack rat phenomena?

I'm next door in North Dakota. There is one local hobby shop (in Grand Forks) and 4 in Fargo, about a 200 mile round trip. So I feel your pain. Where is Nordic Con held?

I am also in the four figure zone on kits. About 1,100 kits here, although most of mine are cars. I have realized that I will never build them all, and I can't fit any new kits in the house, so I am selling off a ton of them this year.

I will try to take a couple of shots of my stash tonight when I get home, but at last count I was up to 218 unbuild kits and a crap load of aftermarket products (a lot of which won't be readily apparent as I store them in the boxes of the kits they will be used with).

I have 26 kits in hand of which 3 are in progress. I have invested about $1000 so far in kits, tools, painting equipment and books. So far my wife has been pretty understanding and I think that is because she has an even more expensive (and time consuming) of a hobby-a horse. I do know that my offering other people's level of 'involvement' to my wife in a debate would not care much weight. I have known her long enough to know to avoid getting into such a debate-even if I win the battle I would lose the war. So I have tried to limit my area of kits to post-World War II. My 'wish list' only has 15 kits on it right now and none of them are of the 'got to have' status. Even went to local hobby shop yesterday saw a Centurion kit that is on my wish list and left it on the shelf. Did buy some paint and thinner though. I definitely do have the disease and seem to have it under control. But I definitely do not want the cure.

My parents live in Crokston, so I know about McGiffin's in GF, and I was pissed to see Hobbytown had vanished to Fargo...yeesh. SO I know about Hobbytown in Fargo, and another store called "Omni"...what else is there? Otherwise it is to MPLS/St.Paul for me...Duluth is so far "unscouted"...I know there used to be a good shop there.

ok, Nordic Con is held in the Twin Cities, at the Thunderbird Hotel about 2 blocks North of the Mall Of America. This year it is also the IPMS Region 5 competition too. It is run by the AeroHistorians, a IPMS chapter. As you may guess, they are mainly airplane oriented. They have MANY big names in thier club like Steve Hustad and some ship guy (oh, he will flay me for forgetting his name! ) It is a good time, and we pull in people from Chicago, Kansas City, Omaha, Fargo, and many other smaller towns. If you need an excuse, it is worth the drive.

Ok. Here a a few pictures of my stash. The first 5 shots are of my plastic kit collection (notice in the last photo on the top of the stack is what was my holy grail for a couple of years until I found it at the Richmond IPMS show a couple of months ago). The sixth picture shows my rather small collection of full resin kits. The last picture shows the following: the top shelves are finished kits, the 2nd shelves down are in progress kits, the 3rd shelf down on the left are all conversion kits, the 3rd shelf down on the right are mostly figure sets with a couple in progress kits, the bottom left shelf contains all update and detailing sets, and finally the bottom right shelf contains all of my track sets (MK, Friulmodel, RHPS, AFV Club, etc.).