A MODELMAKER’S LIFE: JUST THROW IT OUT!

2nd October 2025

I don’t suppose I am any different from the vast majority of modellers who hoard crap for a rainy day. My loft is full of older kits that I know I’ve robbed parts from, now rendered useless thanks to those missing pieces. And yet still they remain, steadfastly in place within my collection of unbuilt kits.

Today, I decided to alter my approach to this wholly unnecessary practice, by throwing out two incomplete kits that have been used in part for my latest build.

I actually considered keeping the remaining detritus, but wondered if I would ever need the remnants that sat so forlornly in the boxes. Looking at them and then working out what I was likely to build in the future, I elected to simply box everything up and fire it off into the bin.

I could have kept them for a rainy day, but that would then have meant going through each one when the rain began to fall, collating the contents to see if I had something close to a complete kit and then starting work. Given that that was likely to be way off into the distance, I concluded that it would be easier to buy an entirely new kit should the time come (the ones I tossed were in no way rare…) thus saving me both time and ensuring my enthusiasm was not dampened by a hunt for parts I would inevitably not want to partake in.

I’ve always been one to throw out anything from a project that I’ve not used (I don’t have a spares box, never keep instruction sheets and rarely keep small remnants of decals) so this is nothing new, but it was still refreshing to see the unwanted rubbish end up in the bin. I just hope that I’ve not thrown out anything that I actually needed for my build and that all of the necessary parts I have not yet glued in place are still on my desk!

See you tomorrow.