@gblair George - I'm sending the pic of your garage to my wife, so she feels SO MUCH BETTER about my own addiction! 🙂

I have a fairly large stash of unbuilt models, but I have been working on "thinning out the herd" by building them. Then Airfix and Tamiya announce new kits... so much for that plan.

My collection isn't as large as George's but it might be close...

Originally I wanted to purchase only a few kits, but then the actual hunting part of finding ones that were elusive became almost as much fun as the actual building part. It was the thrill of the chase...

During this time when I was buying I didn't have the actual time to devote towards building. I had the money, but very little spare time.

Before I knew what happened, several years went by and the stash had grown considerably. Once the quest was obtained, and I had almost every plane I wanted, I started looking for "odd ball" or unusual paint schemes and began purchasing duplicate models of the same kit. This would explain my 30+ 1/48 scale Tamiya and Hobby Boss F4U's just waiting... This is also why I started building my similar kits at 3 - 4 at a time. I call it my "Iron Werks" building method. Even still I probably will not get most of my stash built.

I will have fun doing what I can...

But recently a turn of personal events has changed my thought process entirely.

My dear wife of 25 years was diagnosed with an aggressive cancer, and her outlook is grim... 🙁

So I have been spending a lot of quality time with her, and the modeling has taken a back seat. I still get some time to work, and believe me it has been VERY therapeutic. I have needed this hobby as an escape of sorts to help free my mind from wandering into dark places...

The bottom line is this.

Treat each day as a gift, as it really is. Do what makes you happy and spend time with whom ever or whatever makes you feel good. Tomorrow is not guaranteed to come . Life is precious and our time here on Earth is limited.

If you want to buy a model kit then do it... If you want to build it... Do it. If you want a stash, and it doesn't cause unnecessary financial hardships on your family... do it.

Try to do something good or helpful for someone else, and leave a wonderful legacy for others to remember you by. I have sold off some of my stash, as I realized I would never build it.

In other instances I have given some of my kits away to youngsters. Doing good makes you feel good, and just may hopefully inspire someone, or introduce a new person to our wonderful hobby.

Keep your faith and things will fall into place.

Like many of you, I will likely never build all that I have in the stash, which is around 70 kits. I do plan to retire someday, ride my bike to exercise the body and build models to stay out of my wife's hair. I told her, in the event of an untimely passing, to contact a friend of mine and he will help her sell them for some money for shoes and purses. 🙂 Or, she can give them all away.

But since I'm not planning on leaving any time soon, the stash may get bigger. I. just. can't. stop. myself.

Well I can, but like was mentioned above, Airfix or Tamiya will come out with something that wins me over. I can say however that I research kits for a long time before I buy them. Sometimes that pause lets the impulse subside.

Hey, it's a better hobby than sitting around watching TV. 🙂

Louis, sorry something like this provides the push to do something with your models. Sadly, I think it eventually happens to a lot of us. My thoughts and prayers are with you and your wife.

My prayers are with your family, Louis.

You and yours are in my prayers, Louis. I've had a kind of a rough year myself, gotta slug it out and like you said, keep your faith.

Hi there!

Stashes... I had a moderately large stash, around 200 kits, I got rid of about 120 or so, of never build ones, now I only buy what really pokes me. Such as that lovely Spitfire Mk.1 by Tamiya. I'm no pro like some of you, and build mostly for my own pleasure, but I do enter the local competition just for fun when work allows me.

I completed about 10 models last year, and that I consider slow, I have already completed 1 this year, and stand to complete at least 3 on my next time off. I have quite a few on the go, I vary back and forth between scales and kits, and sometimes the itch gets me and I just have to start a new one. the Spitfire is VERY high on that list.
Thankfully there haven't been TOO many new promised releases that tweek my feather, but there are a couple. Oh well, 14 daysl left on my hitch and I get 21 days free to model all I want!

21 kits in the stash unbuilt. 5 in work most nearly ready for paint. This stash is the smallest its been in my life (other than when I first started out). Three times before I sold off nearly everything. These days, I am trying to find kits that really pique my interest but stll get attracted to the wunderkits. Just recently acquired the Eduard P-51D. Amazingly enough, I've never built a Mustang in my entire life! But my Hobbycraft Hawk 75 conversion is nearly ready for paint.