The (inevitable) pledge

Last week's visit to C4 Open has put me into slightly reflective mood - seeing all these great models had made me very happy over the fact that I have returned to the hobby. At the same time it made me take stock of my personal 'achievements' and led me to what I suspect is the same conclusion every modeller sooner or later arrives to - there are too many models and too little time.

What am I driving at, you may wonder. Well... when I started to build that Spitfire I from Airfix, I figured that I would be able to complete on average one model per month. One look at my display shelf is enough to know that my productiveness is much lower than I thought it would be - there are at the moment six completed models there and the Stuka I'm currently working on should be ready within a week or two. That's less than a model per two months.

During same period of time, I've been going through something of a shopping spree and bought a shedload of models. I don't have the exact number available to me, but if I had to guess I'd say that I've gotten 20+ Airfix models and about the same number from the other 'usual suspects'. And that's just the airplane models, another 20+ boxes containing models of 1/72 tanks fill the remaining space in my drawers, storage boxes and shelves.

So what's the problem, you say? Probably nine out of ten people in this hobby are having exactly same problem, right? Some of you may even say that 60+ models in the pipeline is small potatoes!I'm sure you're right on all accounts. Still, the idea of just hoarding those boxes is nagging me a bit. Buying in itself isn't the point of this hobby, it's the building!

And so, with that in mind , I am making a personal pledge to my self - from now on it's 'build two before buying another one'. My hope is that it will have twofold effect; first of all that it will make me build models at quicker rate. After all, there are so many models I still want to get. :-) And second, I think that this self imposed restriction will force me to think a bit more about what I'm getting. No more impulse buys, just the stuff that I really want.

 I know that this promise has all the traits of New Year's Eve promise - it's a bit silly and it will be very easy to 'forget' it. In a year I intend to run another 'State of the hobby'-evaluation and we'll see how it went.