The most unusual place I've purchased a model

This week Jon at The Combat Workshop asked this question to The Sprue Cutters Union: What is the most unusual place you’ve ever purchased a kit.

The year was 1985. I was in high school and working part-time at a local grocery store. We had a small toy section in the non-foods area of the store, and among the items intended for five year-olds was a small selection of MPC model kits.

The 1/72 F-86D caught my attention, but I didn’t buy it immediately. I’d pass it every time I had to run for a price check in that part of the store and every evening I’d “close” and be tasked with corning sweeping and dust mopping. I would imagine how I might build it and paint it, but I never pulled the trigger. This went on for months and months.

One day I finally bought the model. It was only five or six dollars as I recall, so it didn’t impact my meager budget all that much. I suppose that was the most unusual place I’ve ever purchased a kit, a grocery store. That’s a pretty lame story, I must admit. I hope other members of the Union have more compelling stories to share.

Ironically, I never build the model.

Improvements in 2017

This week Jon at The Combat Workshop revived the Sprue Cutters Union asking us bloggers where we've improved the most this past year?

A year ago I wrote about my disappointing 2106, so I’m happy to say that 2017 has been better. I’ve finished a few models without the drama that accompanied my P-40, Rafale, and F-16 last year, and I’ve slightly expanded my skillset.

A Hasegawa 1/48 F-16A that had been on my shelf of doom for nearly two years is now complete. It sat stalled because the colors I needed (for a US Navy adversary aircraft) weren’t readily available, but when I ran across a large selection of Vallejo paints at a contest I took the plunge and decided to try them. I’d heard mixed feedback about Vallejo, both to the accuracy of their colors and to their application, but I was pleased to find they sprayed quite well...though Tamiya remains my paint of choice.

I also purchased a set of Hataka’s red label paint for a Harrier I’m building; unfortunately, I’ve struggled with the paint. No matter the thinner, the thinning ratio, or the air pressure I choose, I cannot get them to spray with any degree of finesse or consistency. I haven’t given up on Hataka completely — I have a set of their orange label paints — but I’ll be selling this set and using the proceeds to buy some meds to squash the anxiety it caused me.

Speaking of my Harrier, no one produces a canopy mask for the old ESCI kit, so I had to go old school and mask it myself. I always find the task intimidating, but I’m happy with the way it’s turned out so far. Pushing myself beyond my comfort zone like this offers a surprising degree of satisfaction.

Looking ahead to 2018 I’m anxious to explore Hataka’s orange label paints, and I’m getting an itch to build something larger than what I’ve completed the last couple of years. It may be a 1/72 B-24 or Lancaster, or I might pick up a Monogram 1/48 B-25 and see what I can do in that scale.

No matter the trials and tribulations I face, I still enjoy the hobby. If only I had more time for it!

Happy New Year!

Here are other contributors to this Sprue Cutters Union topic.

Motorsport Modeller
Yet Another Plastic Modeler

Plan or plan to fail

This month’s topic from the Sprue Cutter’s Union is:

“Do you plan and prepare for every step of your build’s process, or do you wing it as you go?”

My answer is a simple one...plan!

As I’ve gotten older, now in my late-forties, I increasingly find it important that I plan my builds with more diligence than I did in my younger years. I blame this on a poor memory or simply the aging process. Whatever it is, when I “fail to plan,” a phrase Jon used in his introduction to this month’s SCU topic, I usually forget something important.

For example, I forgot to add the control columns in an F-15B I built a couple of years ago. I forgot to remove the masks from the under-fuselage observation windows on my F4F Wildcat build earlier this year. I assembled a Rafale fighter without first considering how I would fill and smooth various seams after subsequent parts were attached. And I installed headlight guards upside down on an M117 Guardian.

I almost always begin a new project by studying photographs of the actual aircraft or vehicle (as well as particularly well built models), reading conversations about the model across the interwebz, and studying the unbuilt model. I’m looking for areas that I can improve and areas that might prove to be troublesome. I look at the aftermarket and photoetch parts that I will use and make notes about how they’ll be added to the kit. I mark up the kit instructions using a red pen, noting changes or additions I intend to make and refer to them throughout the course of the build. I also make notes to myself as I build the model, reminding myself to add this or that piece, to scribe a new panel line after fuselage assembly, etc.

This planning process is now very important to me. Planning reduces the chance that I’ll forgot something important and be left with a model that doesn’t get built or wastes my time. And the gods know that time is the one thing we never have enough of.

Remember the The Five P’s that I learned in the military…Prior Planning Prevents Poor Performance.

My modeling imperative

This month Jon, our esteemed shop steward at the Sprue Cutters Union, asked this question for October:

We all get lazy at times but let’s face it, there are areas of this hobby that modelers cannot get skimpy. Whether it’s a part of the assembly process, a finishing technique, or a particular tool, what do you think are the essential aspects you cannot afford to cut corners on during a build? What are your imperatives?

I have to agree with the thoughts of the commonplacemodeler, who said his first imperative is to finish every model. That should be the priority for each and every one of us. If we don’t finish models, we don’t improve our skills and we amass a collection of half-built models that never get built. Neither is a good thing.

Beyond that fundamental imperative, for me the painting and weathering of a model is the most important aspect of every model I build. And every model I look at.

My favorite aircraft from the 2013 IPMS Nats, Bob Windus’s expertly finished 1/48 Hs-129.

As I think about the models I’ve seen at contests and club meetings, those that remain in my memory are those that were, shall we say, stunning. They weren’t necessarily the best built; they may have had construction errors that took them out of contention for an award; they weren't necessarily the most detailed. But they were exceptionally well finished. Whether they had very little weathering or significant weathering, their overall impact was the factor that creates a place for them in my memory.

Here’s the thing. You can put all the detail you want into a model, but once it’s on a contest table or in your display case, it’s very hard for a viewer to see unless he makes an effort to get up close and look for it. Most models are enjoyed at a distance of two to five feet, so it’s crucial that they’re painted and weathered to the best of your abilities.

And yet, I have to wonder why detail is also important to me. The models I’ve most enjoyed building are those to which I’ve added a bit of detail. I should build a few models de-emphasizing detail and focusing on finish. That’s what I did with my Academy F4F Wildcat and a Hobby Boss 1/72 MiG-3 recently, both with good results. Maybe it’s time to try again.

Why the large stash?

This month’s topic from the shop steward at The SprueCutter’s Union is why we have large stashes of unbuilt kits.

Here’s the thing. I don’t think anyone enters the hobby with the intention of having a large collection of unbuilt kits. I’ve never met anyone who, at the time, owned 25 kits and told me, “I plan to have 500 kits some day.” No, it just happens.

I had the beginnings of a stash when I was 16 years old, when my unbuilt kits could no longer be stored in a suitcase under the bed. There was that momentous day when my latest acquisition wouldn’t fit inside with the others, and that was when I started having a “stash,” and it’s been growing ever since.

I haven’t counted my unbuilt models recently, but there are more than I care to admit. Suffice to say, I didn’t indend for it to get this large; it simply grew one model at a time, each purchased for one of three reasons:

• It was a new release that I had to have
• It was on sale
• It was a bargain

We all know the appeal of a new release of a favorite plane, tank, ship, or car, particularly one you’ve been waiting for for years. When Trumpeter released their first T-64, I had it within weeks. Have I built it yet? No. In our excitement we forget, as Jon at The Combat Workshop suggested, that we’ll be able to buy that kit anytime in the future. Few models are “rare” these days.

I’m a sucker for a good sale. I always find Squadron’s Black Friday sale irresistible, and Rare-Plane Detective’s half-off sale on the final day of the IPMS Nats always entices me to buy a model or two.

And then there’s the bargain, that $25 kit you find for just $5. You probably would not have bought the model at retail, but the deep discount leaves you powerless. I wrote about this a couple of years ago, buying a Hasegawa 1/72 F-16 for $5 despite the fact that I already had six in the stash.

I've purchased every model with good intentions, and I can point to each one and tell you how I intend to build it and which markings I plan to apply to it. I want to build every model in my stash…even though my basic math skills tell me there’s no way I’ll ever build them all, at least not at my current rate.

I’ll talk about where that leaves me in a future post.

The elusive relaxing build

This month's topic from the Sprue Cutters Union is, "What subject relaxes you the most?"

Funny you should ask. After a few hours in the workshop I often find myself grumbling that I need to find a relaxing hobby.

While I say that in jest, it does have an element of truth to it. Our hobby, this supposedly relaxing hobby, is full of small, stressful moments where one task, one part, one brushstroke can be the difference between success or disaster. It's that moment when you remove the masking from your canopy hoping the paint didn't seep beneath it. That moment you attach that length of link-by-link track to your tank and hope that it fits perfectly as it did yesterday. That moment when you carefully attach a the railing to a 1/700 scale destroyer and hope you don't get super glue everywhere. I'd bet that each of us experiences a heart rate that rivals that of any marathon runner as he approaches the finish line. Well, almost.

I gotta be honest with you and my fellow Union members. I can't think of a single model that offers me a truly "stress-free" experience. Every one of them comes with its share of challenges and stress. That said, I generally enjoy 95 percent of the modeling, painting, and weathering process; the remaining 5 percent I struggle to overcome and master, even after 30 years in the hobby and dozens of builds under my belt. I'm not there yet, though I hope to be some day.

In the meantime, when I want to enjoy something that's truly stress-free, I cook up a pot of risotto. I've mastered that and enjoy preparing it for friends. Maybe I should take some to the Nats in July for my readers!

1:1 scale risotto and shrimp; asparagus with pancetta and mushrooms.

Catch up with other members' responses to this month's topic here.

Vital signs

February's Sprue Cutter's Union topic is Vital signs: Is scale modeling on the way out? I'm just getting my response in under the wire, but it echoes the sentiments of many of the other bloggers who wrote about the topic.

Hobby shops

Jon at The Combat Workshop got it right when he wrote about the closing of hobby shops. "This is not our hobby's problem," he said, and went on to talk about the demise of many brick and mortar stores. What he didn't say is that it seems like for every LHS that closes, an online shop opens! Look at the home page for the Perth Military Modelling Site; there are roughly 20 online vendors advertising there. Steel Navy and Model Warships both show a plethora of vendors on their respective home pages. Although it's sad to see your LHS shut down, we have more choices than ever to acquire new products. That so many men (and yes, they're usually men) have made the substantial investment in these online business and that so many are still around is a testament to the viability of the hobby.

Old men

Jon also wrote about the old men that we often claim make up the majority of the hobby, pointing out that his informal poll on Facebook found the average age of his modeller-readers to be just 40. That jives with my informal observations at the IPMS National Convention last year. I made a point to casually look around the rooms throughout the weekend, and I saw many, many more men in their 40s than in their 50s or 60s. If the hobby is going to die, we have at least 20-30 years to go...presuming men in their 20s and 30s don't come into the hobby.

Kits and more kits

If the hobby were on its way out, I'd expect to see fewer companies entering the industry. And yet, every year one or two seem to join! There are a number of new players in the hobby with unfamiliar names: Must Have, Tanmodel, Fly, and Pilot Replicas. Seriously guys, those of us who've been at this for 25-30 years know exactly how god we have it. Hell, my concern is that at the current rate of new kit releases we may run out of subject matter in 10 years!

My advice

If you believe in a doomsday for the hobby, buy up as much as you can now so that when all the online shops and the manufacturers close up, you'll have enough to keep you busy for the next 50 years. That's what I'm doing...albeit unintentionally.

Is this subject interesting? Read other Union members' thoughts:

Kermit's Bench
Mattblackgod's World
Scale Model Workbench
The Eternal Wargamer
Yet Another Plastic Modeller
David Knights' Weblog
Motorsport Modeller
Doogs' Models

Old dog, new tricks

It's 2015, and the Sprue Cutter's Union is back baby! This time around Jon has kindly promised only a monthly topic, presumably so we bloggers have time to actually build models and not just write about them. Thank you, Jon! This month's topic, Old Dog, New Tricks, or, what new products and/or techniques will you purchase or attempt this year?

My friends know my biggest weakness. My basic assembly skills are mediocre at best. I'm not as diligent as I should be. I'm sloppy. I can do better.

It's with this self-awareness that I begin this new year as a scale modeler. I need to double-down and focus on the basic assembly and seam filling skills that many of you have mastered. I struggle with it, and I feel like it's holding me back, particularly at contests. (Not that I'm a trophy hog, which is one of those things we all need to forget about in 2015.)

My friends also know I'm not a big fan of the off-the-shelf finishing and weathering solutions that many of my Sprue Cutting colleagues have written about. But if there's one product I intend to try this year it's the building and painting stand that I bought at the IPMS Nats last year. I'm not sure it provides the precision alignment that I need, but I hope it helps me yp better assemble my aircraft.

Here are other Sprue Cutters who've written about their upcoming tricks.

Doogs Models
The Museum Modeler
Yet Another Plastic Modeler
Kermit's Bench
Motorsport Modeller
Shutter Ace
Eternal Wargamer

5 ways to pass the time

How do you stay in the hobby when you're away from the bench? That's this month's topic from The Sprue Cutter's Union.

 Several years ago I was crossing a street in New York City and was hit by a car. I broke my wrist as a result of the subsequent fall, which required surgery to fix and a couple of months to heal. Needless to say, I didn't get much modeling done during that time, and ironically my urge to work on a model was never greater!

There are times in our lives when we have to take time away from the workbench for one reason or another. Maybe you have to travel for work. Family obligations require your attention. The holidays call you to one gathering after another. But even during those times, I remain engaged in the hobby. Truth be told, I think about scale modeling a lot, more than I care to admit to anyone outside of my circle of modeling friends, even when I haven't had my hands on plastic for weeks.

I'll bet you're not much different, so here are five ways that I stay in the hobby when I'm away from the workbench.

1. Watch military-themed movies. Nothing gets me more excited about a project than watching a good war movie. When we're working on models it's easy to focus so much on the craftsmanship that we forget the real-world application of those aircraft, tanks, and ships, and the people who manned them. I won't recommend any movies because I know you have your favorites!

2. Deep dive into the forums. Here's something I bet you've never done. When you don't have the time to sit at the bench, go to your favorite forum and click far back into its conversations, maybe to 2010 or further, depending on how long the forum's been around. You'd be surprised at how much great information is there waiting for you to find it. This is particularly good for newcomers.

3. Catalog your stash. If you haven't cataloged your stash, you should, especially if you have more than 50 models. It's a great resource for your every day usage (ever catch yourself asking, "Do I already have a Tamigawa Fruitbat Mk. Vc?") and a better resource for insurance planning. God forbid your house should catch fire, you'll want to show the insurance adjuster proof of the substantial investment you had. Of course you'll want to store that information in the cloud somewhere. I recommend Dropbox or Box. Or simply email a copy to yourself every few months.

4. Browse your stash. If you're not building the models in your stash, the next best thing to do is look at them. Take some time to peruse what you have and consider the possibilities. Extend your browsing into your collection of aftermarket parts and decals and your excitement is sure to prepare you for your next project.

5. Call friends. Sadly, my closest friends live many states away from me, so when I'm not actively working on a model I always enjoy picking up the phone and talking to them. We always have something interesting to discuss, and I always come away from the conversations more excited than I was before.
One final suggestion, as heretical as it is to this month's Union topic. It's okay to disengage from the hobby from time to time. Life is bigger than our hobby, and it's good to spend time with family and to pursue other interests. I love to cook -- probably should've been a chef -- so I enjoy a day in the kitchen almost (almost!) as much as I do a day in the workshop. If you're passionate about scale modeling as I am, that interest will be there, even when you're away from it for a time.

Where the magic happens

Show us where the magic happens. That's the latest topic of the Sprue Cutter's Union.

Do you remember the old MTV series, "Cribs?" Every time a film crew would visit some celebrity's home, they open the door to their bedroom and proclaim, "This is where the magic happens."

Well, there's not magic happening in my bedroom these days. You have to go deeper into my house -- all the way down and to the back corner where the cave crickets go to die -- to find a space where something resembling magic happens, the dork magic that is scale modeling. That's where you'll find my workshop. I don't like the term workshop; it seems to imply the presence of large tools and lots of sawdust. (Well, there is a Dremel and resin dust, so maybe that counts for something.) I sometimes like to use the term studio, but since I'm not an artist I probably come off as some kind of pretentious arse, and that's certainly not going to bring any magic into the bedroom upstairs.

I usually just call it my model room. That's what it is. Simple.

I'm extremely fortunate to have the room I do. Until I moved into this house two years ago my workshop/studio existed on a shabby desk in my bedroom, which also served as my work-at-home desk for work and a plant stand. All of my tools were stored in two drawers, a toolbox, and a small footlocker. Always the optimist, I look back and realize that it forced me to be neat and clean, because after every modeling session I had to pack everything up and set it aside.

The 10 foot workbench (with two modeling "stations") in my model room today is a cabinet made specifically for the space. It has several drawers and under-counter cabinets for boxes and larger items. I used kitchen organizers in the drawers to store the many tools we use. I wanted to reserve the wall behind the workbench for displaying photographs and the various aviation collectibles I've gathered over the years. I love the space, though it tends to be chilly this time of year.

I've been planning to write more about my model room and offer some advice for those of you who might one day design your own space.

And yes, that is a Debbie Gibson card in the lower left corner of the photograph. That's another story for another day.

When the spirit moves me

What inspires me to build a particular model? That is the topic of this week's Sprue Cutter's Union.
When my grandmother would ask my grandfather when he planned to do something around the house, he would usually say, "When the spirit moves me."

And so it is with scale modeling.

Like most of you, that spark comes from any number of sources. It might be a movie, an article in a magazine, an inspiring build online, a new kit release, or even a video on YouTube. The process is magical in a sense, and I often feel like I'm waiting around for that spirit to move me, to walk me over to the stash and pick out something good. I usually find something interesting, but there are times when I find myself working on a model that doesn't really "call" me on a day-to-day basis, as is the case with the Trumpeter M1117 Guardian I'm working on at the moment.


Meh....

But beyond this simple discussion of what inspires us is the more important issue of why those choices are important, and that's what I'd like to discuss here.

All too often I hear from modelers who talk about the many half-built models they have in their workshops. One guy on Armorama even posted a photo of his half-complete projects; there must have been 20-25 tanks! Seriously, that would depress me to no end if those were mine. I don't know how you get excited about a new model when there's such a strong pattern of defeat.

I'm amused when guys post to the forums to ask our opinions about what to build next. How should I know? My response is always the same: Build whatever it is that excites you the most!

I offer that advice because I firmly believe that you should build only those models that most excite you. Life is too short to pick something from the stash that offers little reward. Your goal, assuming you're looking for more than just the experience of *building* models, is to finish each and every model you start, because only by doing so will you a.) have something to show for your efforts, and b.) improve your skills.

As with my Guardian, I've been guilty of not following my own advice, but with the New Year 'round the corner, I plan to commit to not wasting my time on any model that doesn't excite me to my core. And that's the point of my response to this week's Sprue Cutter's Union topic...follow your passion, follow your gut, invest your time only on models that you care about.

It's all about the finish

This week's Sprue Cutters Union topic: What makes an outstanding model?

A timely topic for me, as just this past weekend I was talking with a friend on the phone, whining about how long it's taking me to build my Trumpeter M1117 Guardian. I'm enjoying the project, mostly, but there's so much damn photoetch thanks to the ET Models set I have that it's taking me a very...long...time. And if I haven't mentioned this yet on Scale Model Soup, I'm a very...slow...modeler by nature.

So I said to my friend, "You know, Zebulon," (that's not really his name, I just want to use it), "I wonder if I could get as much satisfaction out of my armor if I didn't use any photoetch on them. I could probably build two or three models for every one that I superdetail."

1/35 AMD Laffly 80AM from the 2013 IPMS National Convention.

Here's the thing. When it comes to building aircraft, I really enjoy the detailing process, so I don't think I could forgo photoetch or scratchbuilt detail. It starts with the detailing and ends with a realistic finish. I feel a connection to the aircraft I choose to model, and I want them to be "complete." Not so with armor. I like the look of certain tanks and APCs, but aside from seeing them in museums, I don't have any first-hand experience with them. So when it comes to armor as a modeling subject, the part of the process I enjoy most is painting and weathering.

I share this experience because it reflects my priority in building models, whether aircraft or armor, the finish. My friend and I agreed that a model that is perfectly constructed but poorly finished isn't as successful as one that might have some construction flaws but has a fantastic finish.

1/48 F-51D from the 2013 IPMS National Convention.

When I reflect back on the many contests I've attended and the thousands of models I've seen, the models that linger in my poor memory are those that looked good. When I ask myself which models I'd like to own and have in my display case, invariably they're the models that "pop," not those that are perfectly constructed.

As I look at the many armor kits in my stash (ignoring for a moment the many more aircraft kits), if I have any hope of building even half of them I may need to ignore the fiddly aftermarket and go out-of-the-box. If I don't ol' Zebulon may inherit what I can't complete when I pass on to the big workshop in the sky.

The five P's

When I was in the Air Force I frequently heard the mantra of the Five P's: Prior Planning Prevents Poor Performance. But does it apply to scale modeling as well?

I'm in my mid-forties, and I have to admit that my brain may not be as sharp as it once was. If I don't think through the process of assembling a model there's a strong chance I'll forget something. Like installing the control column in an F-15 (done that) or adding weight to an F-117 to avoid tail sitting (almost done that). The best modelers I know have the keen ability to "see" the assembly of a model before they actually bring the pieces together, so for me to even begin to approach that level of competence I have to spend a good bit of time preparing.

But I'm getting ahead of myself.

Fixin' to build a model (as my friends down South would say) begins with research. Once I select a model, I look through my library for books on the subject, and I surf the interwebz for reviews, online builds, and reference photos. To gather the latter, I create a folder on my laptop's desktop and drop photos or copy the URLs of helpful web sites. For larger, more complex projects, I've been known to create subfolders to better organize photos, such as Wings, Fuselage, Landing Gear, etc. Or for armor: Hull, Turret, Running Gear. Yes, I can be anal retentive.

Next I'll study those online builds and photographs and make notes on the instruction sheet, usually with a red pen. I'll highlight any kit parts that will be enhanced or replaced by photoetch pieces, and I'll note any areas that I think may require special attention.

Finally, as I build the model, I'll informally check off the parts and pieces as I assemble them. That's not really part of the preparation phase per se, but each step essentially prepares you for the next.

There you have it. I failed to mention the ongoing prayers to any god willing to listen, but I assume y'all do the same thing. Prior preparation doesn't necessarily ensure exceptional performance, but it gets me a step closer.

Did you enjoy this article? Just a little bit? Check out the thoughts from my blogging colleagues of The Sprue Cutter's Union.

Kermit's Bench
Martin's Bench Corner
Fill 'n Sand
Sven Harjacek Scale Models
Yet Another Plastic Modeller
Motorsport Modeller
Miniature and Model Painting
Doogs' Models
D. Knights' Weblog

Models and money

Last week the Sprue Cutters Union's topic had to do with our spending habits. I'm coming into the conversation a little late, but reading others' thoughts on the subject got me thinking about how I spend my money. Of course this kind of self-reflection, especially when it comes to money, can be painful, but looking over the responses by the Union's participants gives me hope that most of us are fairly careful.

I can haz a Su-24?

One of the recurring themes when it comes to money is our working with a limited budget. In that respect, I'm lucky. I'm not wealthy, mind you; I don't drive the Aston Martin Vanquish that I'd love to have, nor can I afford to pave my short, gravel driveway, but being single and having a decent job allows me the privilege of being able to afford most of the plastic thingees that catch my eye. My modeling budget is constrained only by the other necessities of any home budget, such as building and maintaining an emergency fund, paying for heating costs, the rising price of gas, etc.

I know, it's a good problem to have, right? But when I sit amid my stash of a few hundred unbuilt models (it could be 150,000, I've lost count) and realize that I'm in my mid-forties, I'm forced to acknowledge that when I die most of these models will still be unbuilt. That makes me very sad; not that I'll die (well, that kinda sucks, too), but that so many projects -- and I have a vision for each model that I own, as I'm sure you do as well -- will not come to fruition. There's a chance I may never build that Kinetic F-16D in MiG killer markings of the 56th FW! What will my friends say? "That Steve. He never fulfilled his destiny. How sad." And then they'll fight over the model and the related aftermarket.

These days I find myself being very selective in what I buy. It's tempting to buy every cool new release, but just how high is my enthusiasm for that new Wolfpack 1/48 T-38? Sure, I'd like to build it, but there are so many more models in the pipeline that I'm much more excited about. Maybe that's the trick in managing our money. Before you buy a model, ask yourself, does this model get me more excited than the "top 20" models already in my stash? If the answer is no, you can probably skip it.
Here's what I've learned about buying models these last few years.

1. If you don't buy a model when it's first released, odds are good that you'll be able to find it on eBay or from another modeler 5, 10, 15 years from now. True, the price may be higher, but that will determine just how much you want the model.

Real life example: When Hasegawa released their 1/72 series of F-111s I was spending my time building armor. Fast-forward ten years and I'm back to aircraft, but alas, I ain't got an F-111 in my stash! It took a few years, but I've since acquired one each from the series, which makes me one step closer to what Maslow referred to as "self-actualization." Or something like that.

2. To point #1, even if you never buy that one rare model you've been looking for, aren't there at least ten others that you own that will provide just as much satisfaction?

Real life example: I'd like to have the old Otaki C-5 Galaxy. I'm not sure it's rare, but it generally sells for around $120. I will probably never get one, but I'm pretty sure a few dozen of the other kits in my stash will keep me very happy over the next 40 years of my life.

3. If there's an expensive kit you want, wait for it. There's a good chance you'll find it at a good price in the future. It may not be this year or even next year, but eventually you'll find it on sale via Squadron, Sprue Brothers, or at a contest.

Real life example: I've wanted the Trumpeter 1/48 Su-24 since I saw it at a contest several years ago, but the $130 price tag put me off. I just couldn't justify that much money for a model. But then Squadron had it on sale for about half that, and I took the bait. Add in a couple of other models for friends and I got their free shipping deal as well.

I've ranted long enough. Time to log off of SMS and go check the classified on ARC and Hyperscale.