Collect or Use and Display?

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Axis Nightmare
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Collect or Use and Display?

Post by Axis Nightmare » Tue Oct 20, 2020 12:59 pm

This recent post has me asking the question: Collect or use and display?
viewtopic.php?f=3&p=341158#p341158
These items offered don't lend themselves to being hung from the ceiling, kitbashed or added to a diorama.

There are scale model enthusiasts who collect kits, not to build but collect the kit in the box never intending to build them. This isn't the same as those who stockpile kits to have them on hand if the urge bites them to build. As in the 1/18 stuff, there are those who stockpile items as spares and extras while generally using them for display, dioramas, etc. Apparently there are those who collect the boxed and carded units with no intention of ever opening them.

Some of us are a combination of these. We may buy a plane or tank in the box with no immediate intentions of displaying so we keep it in the box until such time commonly referred to as our "stash". I have a MiG and Sabre in the box I'm saving just in case the Museum branches into Korea. They could then be opened and displayed. Then there are those pieces we never get around to opening and displaying. We may change interests, want something different or for space reasons decide to part with them. I would find the collecting exclusively in box boring since once you acquire the piece, it's over. It sits with all the rest.

So are you the display out of box type or the collect mint in package guy? Or - a little of both?
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Re: Collect or Use and Display?

Post by tmanthegreat » Tue Oct 20, 2020 2:14 pm

I’d have to say I’m a little of both... I’ve probably got the majority of things out on display (my house is basically a museum) and I tend to rotate some items on display. Some items that are not on display I will keep boxed and stored in my garage until I decide to display them. It’s kind of fun doing that as I may keep something stored for a while and pulling it out of its box again is almost like opening a new item :) Then I still have other items I’ve kept boxed In MIB condition. Those either serve as backup or just a general stock of items.

As my collections have grown over the years and as I’ve gotten into new subjects (e.g. I’m now really into collecting premium 1/30 scale metal toy soldiers, aircraft, and armor) my biggest issue is starting to be where I store all my boxes! I’ve been tempted to get a storage unit, but paying for a place to store empty boxes seem like such a silly idea :P
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Re: Collect or Use and Display?

Post by Dauntless » Wed Oct 21, 2020 8:06 pm

A little of both. Learned one thing though is keep the original boxes unless you plan on permanent display. Though I still cant get my Stuka apart to put back in it's box. It's so old I'm afraid it'll break, any tips?

Also I lucked out when I got a friend deeply into 1:18 planes as he didn't want the shipping boxes for the planes he ordered online. Just started digging through my stash and outer boxes have kept them mint in the otherwise dusty desert climate I live in.

My RT Smith P-40B got so dirty and for some reason grimy I couldn't hardly clean it, but found a solution. I took the pilot and canopy off, hand washed them then put the plane upside down in the dishwasher top shelf. It worked and is clean till the next time. :)
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Re: Collect or Use and Display?

Post by dannyc » Thu Oct 22, 2020 3:59 pm

Dauntless wrote:
Wed Oct 21, 2020 8:06 pm
A little of both. Learned one thing though is keep the original boxes unless you plan on permanent display. Though I still cant get my Stuka apart to put back in it's box. It's so old I'm afraid it'll break, any tips?

Also I lucked out when I got a friend deeply into 1:18 planes as he didn't want the shipping boxes for the planes he ordered online. Just started digging through my stash and outer boxes have kept them mint in the otherwise dusty desert climate I live in.

My RT Smith P-40B got so dirty and for some reason grimy I couldn't hardly clean it, but found a solution. I took the pilot and canopy off, hand washed them then put the plane upside down in the dishwasher top shelf. It worked and is clean till the next time. :)
use a blow dryer to heat the joints a little bit before attempting to take the wings off the stuka. It worked for me and if you are careful it should work for you :D

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Re: Collect or Use and Display?

Post by Dauntless » Fri Oct 23, 2020 7:31 am

dannyc wrote:
Thu Oct 22, 2020 3:59 pm
Dauntless wrote:
Wed Oct 21, 2020 8:06 pm
A little of both. Learned one thing though is keep the original boxes unless you plan on permanent display. Though I still cant get my Stuka apart to put back in it's box. It's so old I'm afraid it'll break, any tips?

Also I lucked out when I got a friend deeply into 1:18 planes as he didn't want the shipping boxes for the planes he ordered online. Just started digging through my stash and outer boxes have kept them mint in the otherwise dusty desert climate I live in.

My RT Smith P-40B got so dirty and for some reason grimy I couldn't hardly clean it, but found a solution. I took the pilot and canopy off, hand washed them then put the plane upside down in the dishwasher top shelf. It worked and is clean till the next time. :)
use a blow dryer to heat the joints a little bit before attempting to take the wings off the stuka. It worked for me and if you are careful it should work for you :D
Thanks Dannyc I'll try that.
After which I'm puttin' it in the dishwasher as it's too big with the wings on to fit. Being the first release It's been out of its box since the beginning of 21st Century Toys. :shock:
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Re: Collect or Use and Display?

Post by granch » Sun Oct 25, 2020 2:22 am

I'm more in displaying and playing with my 1:18 collection. I got some pieces as a stock for the time I need a 2nd, 3rd ore more from the same model to make a temporary diorama (only outdoor, for example a kiowa squadron). So, I have a nearly complete collection of 1:18 Elite force modern figures under blister (want now to sell it, as I have enough out of the box).
Playing (diorama outdoor to make some pics) means the risk of breaking some small parts, for example wrists or elbows of the figures, so I had to repair a lot, also mismatching head sculpts to have different persons with the same stuff. It happens when you want to place 9 soldiers into the UH-60...). I've also passed a lot of time to make some improvements (thin grey and black foam for the cabin and cockpit ceiling in my blackhawks, colored pins for the nav lights of my little birds...). So, I have mainly modified models, keeping the boxes on shelves for a future resale.
I also bought not NIB but rare models with small issues that do not modify the global apparence, they might be cheaper.
So, I'm not a collector of only NIB stuff.

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Re: Collect or Use and Display?

Post by GIJosef » Mon Nov 02, 2020 1:45 pm

I have MIB stuff but only because I haven’t gotten around to rotating it into the limited space allocated for my collection. But a lot of it is specifically for my two grandsons when they are a little bit older. I want them to play with these cool toys like I did with mine and remember who the cool grandpa was. 😉 The boys are already used to outdoor play at our house in the sandbox I built for them and interact with their toys using their imaginations just as my generation did in the 60’s. I hope they don’t become like many of the young people I see walking around with no sense of where they are, looking at a phone.

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Re: Collect or Use and Display?

Post by rschaap » Mon Nov 02, 2020 6:17 pm

I really enjoy the hobby, I display about 1/4 of my collection and try to rotate them when I can. I enjoy converting some of the vehicles. I think I’ve converted at least 8-9 M113 APC into either Vietnam APC’s or the M113’s used by the U.S. in Iraq, thanks to Pickelhaube (aka Matt). I’ve also worked on a few M48’s and done both USMC and U.S. Army tanks. I have a number of planes for conversions and repaints in the future. Now that I’m retired I’ve made plans to step it up a bit and do two or three at a time, wife permitting of course. I guess the long and short of it is that I collect a little, and use and display a lot.

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Re: Collect or Use and Display?

Post by Crimson Pilot » Tue Sep 14, 2021 4:39 pm

When not being used in a diorama, they are displayed. Some rotated out by franchise. Never really kept anything in the box but I kept the boxes for most.
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