Am I the only collector that suffers from the seeming inability to limit myself to just a single scale, era, or diecast brand? If I could do this, things would certainly be easier on my wallet, marriage, and limited storage and display space. But alas, I am weak—hopelessly weak it would appear.
Last year, to prep for a move, I sold off almost all of my Franklin Mint 1:48 collection. The boxes, as you know, are HUGE and I’d become a bit disillusioned with the brand. FM just hasn’t kept up with the times and its molds are continually under-detailed and come with more than their fair share of “Friday afternoon specials”. (Poorly made models that appear rushed out the door right before quitting time.)
I decided instead to focus on 1:72 for a while, reveling in the smaller boxes, higher detail, and the ability to cram more models into the same amount of display space. This also made the wife happier, as I got rid of a considerable amount of boxes (I save ‘em all in case I decide to sell in the future.)
Then, shortly after we arrived at the new locale and I got everything unpacked and displayed I became disillusioned with 1:72. To me, the scale just doesn’t display well, other than the heavies. They look like a bunch of toys and the allure of “cramming” is just too hard to resist and the resulting display suffers for it.
So, I sold off a bunch of my 1:72 fighters and some heavies, too, to free up space and some $ to reinvest in 1:48 and larger scales. Seeing as FM is really the only player in 1:48 in terms of breadth of product offerings, I found myself going back to that well after saying “never again”. At least THIS TIME I am able to resist the 1:48 jets, as those are really impractical for my display room and I was never happy with their quality (aside from the very well done A-10s and F-4s). Well, almost resist, I have picked up a few more Phantoms. But that is my favorite jet and therefore, “doesn’t count” against my limits. (There I go, rationalizing again…)
I took most of the 1:72 out of my Billy Cabinet and replaced them with fewer, but larger, 1:48 models. I like the display much better as a result, but also can’t bring myself to divest my collection of scads of my personal favorite 1:72 models, even though I will likely never display them. Sigh.
Also, I’m a sucker for deals and right now you can make a killing on many good FM models on the ‘bay and elsewhere. I’ve snagged several P-38s, a Spit, a Mossie, a Lib (see previous “Bombzilla” post), a B-25, an He-111, a Corsair, and a few T-bolts for an average price of $40 each, delivered. Not bad ‘tal (MSRPs on all are $60-$175). Yes, FM has issues with QA and lack of detail and exposed screws and such. But the liveries are great, the metal content is high, and the scale just looks cooler to me than 1:72 so it’s worth the trade off.
This turnabout also had me set a limit of not collecting any more jet aircraft, as I just don’t have the space to continue doing so. In fact, I sold off quite a few and am selling more. I told myself that I would stay away from jets and focus on 1:48 and larger props (picking up a 1:32 Working Range Corgi Hurri and 1:32 HM SBD).
Then I discovered 1:200 Gulliver and Herpa military fighters at a local hobby store, and now I find myself getting around my “no more jets” limit by snapping up these smaller scale beauties. The detail is amazing, they really look like 1:72 Witty or Gaincorp models shrunk down to 1:200. This also led me to pick up a few 1:400 models of birds I’ve seen at air shows that we’ll never see in anything larger than 1:200 – a Globemaster and Galaxy, for example, and C-130.
Then, in the interest of diversity and adding some new categories to my web site, I snapped up a few oddities – just for fun: 3 FM 1:24 Corvettes and a 1:24 Abrams, as again, the deals were too hard to resist and I’ve always been curious to examine these.
I truly do seem to be beyond help. Am I alone?
