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Time and Space

After reading Al's comments on the lack of correlation between retirement and spare time, and his comments on the amount of stuff he has accumulated, I realized that the new commodities we as modelers need the most and are least able to afford are more time and more space.

I too am retired (though I do free-lance writing, it is nowhere near a full-time job except for short spurts around deadlines), and I never seem to have enough time. Family matters absorb a great deal, which I do not begrudge, and they'd be there whether I was wasting time in commute traffic or not, but there are always things do to, so my actual modeling time is usually less than five hours a week. This amounts to about 250 hours a year, but with some of the limited-run and vac projects I have,

50 to 100 hours on one model is not unusual for me. Meanwhile, by dint of 'brutal' thinning of kits and explicit setting of priorities, I've managed to reduce my stash to a mere 376 kits, and I continue to acquire kits at a rate about four times the rate at which I build, sell or give away kits. Storage is becoming a critical issue, but the much bigger problem is display space. When one has a hankering to build the BV 222, PB2Y, PBM, PBY, Do 24, Do 18, Sunderland, Stranraer, Emily, Mavis, Lockheed Constellation, Ju 290, B-17E, P.108B, not to mention about a dozen twin-engined fighters and a couple of dozen single-engined types, the amount of display space required boggles this mind. The only thing saving me from the display space shortage is the time shortage. I don't expect to get more time, and I certainly don't expect to take over more space in the house, except for the possibility that I could move built-ups not on display into the garage. However, if they are worth keeping as built models, it seems pathetic to store them where they can't be seen. As it is, I have about two dozen built-ups (mostly early efforts) in storage. I haven't reduced them to components yet, mostly because they do show a baseline from which I can measure my progress in the hobby. Even so, I suspect some of them are going to be salvaged for parts before much longer. Providing I have the time.

Mark Schynert

Reply to
Mark Schynert
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my coin collecting had been reborn this decade with all the great commems and state quarters. those new buffalo nickels are a knock out, the upgraded jefferson portrait pops out. the keelboat and treaty nickels are great. and i love wheat pennies. i pay 2 cents each if you have any.

Reply to
e

Yeah, it is. I've finally woken up to the reality that I don't have anyplace to display four-engined a/c in 1/72 so have pretty much resigned myself to doing those in 1/144 scale. Sigh...

Reply to
Al Superczynski

It's amazing how things can rapidly grow out of control. I had that with three hobbies and eventually got out of one almost entirely. The second is being whittled back and I'm trying to hold tight rein on the last.

Bill Banaszak, MFE

Reply to
Mad Modeller

In article , modeleral@

eyestrain and migrane guage. well, the mavis kinda needs that scale.

Reply to
e

Interesting topic. I am planning to retire in 2 to 3 years. I returned to the hobby about a year ago after a very long absense. It became clear to me that it is going to be hard to do a lot of building over those next 3 years. It is also clear that storage and display space is a problem. What I decided to do was concentrate on building my skill level (including airbrushing)so I am building some lower end kits, most of which will probably hit the junk pile. At the same time, I am working on getting my tool box, work bench (I added a new large Artograph Paint Booth), and display area up to snuff while I still have the income to do this. Yes I have bought several good kits during the Hobby Lobby 1/2 off sale but I am selling many on ebay for a nice profit to help offset costs. It is hard to resist building a collection on unbuilt stuff but I am afraid to get too deep in unbuilt kits and getting frustrated. My goal is to have a supply of unbuilt kits on hand simply because I will have less imcome after retirement, but not so many as to overwhelm.

Reply to
unimodeler

I noticed a similar problem with my collection of books, magazines and mongraphs re military history. I had a lot stuff on aircraft, ships and armor, as well as a few books on campaigns and general weapons data. I ended up getting rid of all the armor stuff, and though I kept the naval material, I have not acquired any more. After five years, I am finally running out of book space again, with all the new material being aircraft-related (mostly magazines). This time I'm going to have to thin the aircraft stuff, but I'll be surprised if I'm willing to get rid of

3% of it.

Mark Schynert

Reply to
Mark Schynert

going to ebay it, mark?

Reply to
e

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