I've already told you a little bit about the stash I've assembled over the years. By some standards, it is large, by some it is paltry, but all the kits were acquired because I intended to build them. I still do, as a matter of fact, but…
My current inventory count is somewhere in the high 1,800's. Why so many? Well, the first reason is access—having worked in hobby shops, the kits are readily available and carry an employee discount. That would explain the half-dozen copies of Classic Airframes' P-6E kit to go with the four of their F4B-3 (the plan was to kitbash a few of them to get an F4B-4). It also explains why I have every variant of the F-111 in 1/72 scale, and how I managed to get a bunch of the Hasegawa 1/200 scale “Purple Box” L-1011 TriStar kits and decals to go with them.
But I digress. I do have collections mapped out for all those kits. To wit:
1/48 scale World War Two aircraft. This was my original collection, and much of the stash fits this description. At the beginning, everything was 1/48 scale—fighters, trainers, bombers—but these days I limit it to fighters and twins in 1/48 scale, all the four-engine heavies are now in 1/72 scale. To be honest, even the twin bombers are in 1/72 scale, but they're repeated in 1/48. One of these days, I'll decide which scale to stick to for the larger subjects…
1/72 scale modern aircraft. I branched into jets after building Monogram's then-new F-105G kit while in my sophomore year of college—I'm a Thud fan, and the kit was then and still is a very good kit. I donated that model to the AFROTC Detachment there at the school, and a year or so later decided I wanted an F-111. Well, back in those days, the only 'Vark kit in 1/48 scale was the Monogram revision of the Aurora kit—it ain't much to look at. The more I started to look critically at the kit, the more I was convinced that I could never get it to meet my standards (which were then and still are fairly lax—if I can compare the model to a photo and see discrepancies, I'll either fix them, ignore them, or simply don't build the kit.) and I gave it to a friend who thought it was the best think since bottled beer. I went to the local hobby shop and found Monogram's 1/72 F-105G and built it. Basically, it was a smaller version of the kit I built the year (or so) before. I decided that a 1/48 scale Thud was the same size as a 1/48 scale B-25, and I had already started to downsize that group, so I stuck to 1/72 for the jets as well. A few years ago, I realized that there was no way that I would ever build one-let alone two—1/72 scale Convair B-36 Peacemakers. Hobbycraft had just released their 1/144 scale kits, so I decided that modern bombers would be done in 1/144 scale, so that became a collection-within-the collection…
1/35 scale armor. After college, I caught the armor bug. It came on slowly—a Sherman here, a Panther there—and before I could say “General Patton”, I had a whole bunch of armor kits. When we moved, I culled the stuff I was sure that I'd never build—mostly German WWII—and sold it off in favor of the modern tanks, multi-wheeled armored cars, and anything from the Middle East wars. I've been pretty good at keeping within the framework, although I've added WWII Mediterranean Theater equipment to the list—which has had the consequence that I've replaced a lot of the kits I sold off. Never fails…
1/350 scale ships. Ship fever has always been with me, since I built Revell's Arizona kits—1/720 and 1/426 scale—multiple times. I've settled on U.S. Navy and selected others in 1/350 scale. I dallied with 1/700 scale (and still have some aircraft carrier kits in the smaller scale) and 1/400 scale, but I've decided that I can get most of what I want in 1/350 scale without a lot of hassle, and wait on the rest. If nobody does an injection molded kit, there's always resin.
1/144 and 1/200 scale airliners. I've always had a soft spot for Air Florida and Braniff, and those two carriers form the basis of my airliner collection. I also have been known to toss in some Southern Airways, Delta, Eastern, and European carriers into the mix, too. Narrow-bodies get done in 1/144 scale, wide-bodies in 1/200…
1/24 and 1/25 scale automobiles. I started out collecting MOPAR musclecars (Road Runners, 'Cudas, and the like) and NASCAR Stock Cars. Well, the sheer numbers of subjects I want to do has meant a pretty large collection…
100mm and 120mm Military Miniatures. I've been ignoring this group for far too long—I started collecting figures when Michael Roberts was producing his superb 100mm figures from the American Civil War. It has been a few years since I painted a figure, I should probably get back to work on one soon…
Also, each collection has some collections-within-the-collection. I have a 1/72 scale USCG collection, a 1/48 scale Century Series collection, a 1/48 scale Florida Air National Guard collection, and the beginnings of a 1/48 scale South Carolina Air National Guard collection. I've already mentioned the IDF and WWII Italian and Braniff and Air Florida collections as well. Sometimes, they can be pretty straightforward, other times, they can get convoluted a bit…
Having all those models in the stash can be troublesome. Moving them all is a hassle—and I've done it eight times! They take up a lot of space, for sure. They add temptation to stray from a current project–or, on the flip side, they get forgotten. And, even if I were to finish one model a week for the rest of my natural lifetime without buying anything new, I'd wager I still wouldn't finish what I have. The answer? SIDNA…
SIDNA—Stuff I Don't Need Anymore—is exactly as the name implies. Every now and then, I'll do what a friend calls a Fleet Rationalization Plan where I go through the stash and cull those kits that have either been superseded by better ones or subjects that I'm fairly sure that I'll not build anytime soon. They get sold off at shows, via the Interwebs, or at kit auctions. I'm about due again…
And even after I cull the dead inventory, I still have a backlog of kits in work. Right now:
1/72 scale FineMolds Ki-100b, started by a friend. He gave it to me several years back, all it needs is a tailwheel (the original got lost) and paint. Not my usual scale for single-engine WWII fighters, but this is a nice little kit—or so it appears. I'm looking forward to getting it finished.
1/48 Revell (Monogram) A-10A. This is one of those “For Someone Other Than Me” kits, and it is shaping up nicely.
1/700 USS Independence, being converted to USS Cowpens. This is one of those rare small-scale ships I have in the collection, and is currently more of a back burner kit than anything else, especially since Dragon released their 1/350 scale kit a few months ago!
1/35 Sturmgescheutz IV. This is one I'm doing as part of a group build with the local AMPS Chapter, and I'm woefully behind…
1/48 Special Hobby Aermacchi C.200. No progress lately, and there really needs to be some soon. I have to get this one finished and in the books. There's a review that needs to be done…five or six years later (don't be alarmed–the in-box look was done in a timely fashion).
And, on the back-burner, I have:
1/48 scale Monogram F-106A. If there ever was a back-burner project, this is it. I started this one in 1995. I decided to re-scribe the panel lines. What was I thinking….
1/24 Monogram 1995 Dale Earnhardt Silver Monte Carlo SS Stock Car. This is another kit I started years ago (1995), I finally unearthed it during the latest inventory effort. And now I find out that there might be a new set of decals for the same scheme coming out—this one might wait a little longer.
Reheat 120mm Space Shuttle/SR-71/U-2/ER-1 pilot. He's painted for the most part, I just need to do some of the detail painting. You'd think I'd sit down for a few hours and do it….
120mm Reheat Neil Armstrong on the moon. Someday, I'll finish this one. The basic figure is built and primed…has been since about 1999!
1/144 scale Minicraft C-32/Boeing 757 with Ethiopian Airlines decals. Another review sample (the review was done ages ago—1998 or thereabouts), the decals were produced by a company that's been out of business for at least five years. If the kit itself weren't so horrible…
I promise, I'll make the time–once the days stretch to thirty hours long….
Thanks for reading. Be good to one another, and I bid you Peace.