The Little World

Like a stock broker, but smelling of cement, not gin.

A recent conversation with another modeller about yet a third hobbyist who is late, led to the question of what will be done with his accumulated scale model production. A great deal of it resides at his former hobby club, and is magnificent, but somewhat overpowering. In a room that claws at space to display further production from current members, it occupies a significant amount of shelf space.

There are other models there from late members, as well as some from people who may still be living, but do not belong to the club any more. They all require so many square centimetres of glass or wood shelving. This is possible in multiple-shelf cabinets, but eventually even adding more surfaces is overborne by the sheer number of models.

Is this the case with your club? Or at your house? Is there a time coming when you will no longer be cutting and gluing, but your collection will still be there? What to do?

I’ll not canvas the idea of throwing it all in a dumpster as that is sad and disrespectful – and wasteful, too. You may be able to find some institution to take the models – say a museum that deals with military or naval subjects – but these are rare and often very picky. And they have their own on-site modellers.

Can you give them to a club – well if you can, the club has the problem.

Sentimental relatives? Sentiment for many bereaved persons can be calculated to the dollar. If the legacy generates none of them, the dumpster becomes an option. You just don’t have to see it being delivered.

Sales is a possibility, but how is a question. We have all had experience with eBay or other sales sites to some extent, and they can have problems if you are trying to ship delicate items anywhere. Local interest in many items can also be lower than you might expect. It takes time and connections to move some of the more arcane – or some of the more common – collections of models.

And what we really need is a good styrene broker. See Part Two