When this hobby becomes an addiction

[Cartier Aquino]

Hello all,

Just wanted your opinion on something.

I've been in the diecast collecting hobby since I was about 12 and back in the day, I played with the old Herpa models that still had the rolling wheels and of course over time those broke. But I never stopped loving them and asking my parents to buy me more whenever the chance presented itself. When I finally stopped playing with them and started caring for them and eventually getting a display case to showcase them, I was 22 and was just at over a hundred models total.

Fast forward to now and on the cusp of turning 30 with a relatively stable job as an air traffic controller for the military and I just passed the 750 mark a week ago with my last ebay and facebook market purchases, expanding my collection of almost exclusively 1:500 scale models and starting 1:400 scale and 1:200 scale models mixed in between.

This morning, I woke up to my bank account in the negative. I am deep in debt from a massive buying spree I went on about two years ago, and if I average out each of my planes being about $30 when bought new, that puts my collection at over $21,000 that I've spent.

Honestly, I think I have a problem. Whenever I get bored at home or at work there I find myself on ebay looking at what gaps to fill in my collection, even though I'm still massively in debt and will be for several years before I can get it under control. These latest purchases were fueled by me having a tiny bit of extra money to spend, which I should have put right toward credit cards.

How do I stop? I need help of some sort.

Thanks in advance guys.

[Sludge]

You can’. But you probably need some type of coach. (It sounds like you are single, but, if you are married, you need to take action NOW.)

One bright spot is there is a healthy secondary market for our planes. With most hobbies, there isn’t.

As others have written, this is serious. Anytime someone goes into debt over a hobby, it’s serious.

https://www.daveramsey.com/blog/do-hobbies-hobble-you


https://www.aol.com/article/finance/...bies/20812056/

[Siegerflieger]

Seek professional help. Most people on here have the same problem to some extent.

Sometimes it helps to simply define a budget every month. The hard part is sticking to it.

Best wishes.

[speedbirdsfo]

I am totally with you and I do exactly the same. I 'suffer' in the same way. It's easy to blow the budget each month. Thank you for sharing, brave of you but it's good to know you're not alone!

[speedbirdsfo]

What I do is try and identify from the new releases ones that might sell out or be popular and keep my purchases that month to those and within a given budget, then I keep list of the models that I cannot afford to buy in a month and gradually collect them over time either as they are still in stock or on ebay. I'm still buying items off my list from several years ago. I keep a separate budget for those too. There are times you will go over budget and other months you maybe under. Good luck with keeping on top of it. Where are you located btw?

[vahancrazy]

One time I realised I had spent 1 full month during a year time. Considering all other costs, it was more than my balance allowed.
My way to face it was:
1)to make scale of preferences, models, airlines, liveries, uniqueness and give rating. <<<it helps to decide the models really worth to buy and not just cool
2) set myself a max expenditure per year.
3) I allow myself to hunt for models on 2 occasions per year (birthday and xsmas). <<<it helps to limit the temptation of an extra purchase every now and then

although I buy less, the models I now buy have am extra pleasure.

Hope this can help you!

[maccabist]

Hello everybody
I'm kind of new here: 7 months already from my first purchase.
As a collector of Israeli 1:72 military jets i found myself in a very bad starting point. more than 70% of the Israeli diecast were either on ebay on a high price or just impossible to find. the other - i was lucky to find on descent American stores. it meant to me i had to spent more than expected and in a short time since i realized that even from ebay these planes disappeared. i dont have all the planes i wanted. still few are missing. it gives me sometimes headache. as time passed i felt terrible when loosing control on my pocket but more than this - i become addicted to it. i want now other history important planes. i realized that what was once started modestly and innocently turned to be lustfully and competitively. i feel the adrenalin and excitement when placing an order, watching the parcel approach to Israel untill it gets to my door. and once again. time after time.
I found a formula that keeps me continue with that hobby but with sanity. its my wife. she is in charge on the budget per month for this hobby. at least until i recover.

[747438]

Believe it or not, one thing that reduced the amount of models I would buy is plane-spotting and photographing aircraft.
It is a way to kind of preserve the memory of an aircraft without needing to spend money on models.
Depends if you're into modern or classic airliners though, as modern airliners are a lot easier to see obviously,
If you absolutely have to reduce your collection size, sell the models you've photographed in real life, print out a copy of the photo and put it in the cabinet where the model was.
As COVID struck, I have begun collecting again due to all my favourite aircraft being retired, and not much point going to YSSY anymore.
Good luck!

[aviationcombr]

Believe it or not, one thing that reduced the amount of models I would buy is plane-spotting and photographing aircraft.
It is a way to kind of preserve the memory of an aircraft without needing to spend money on models.

It didn't work for me! Since most of my collection is formed by aircraft I had spotted at nearby airports (and I wanted to have a model together with the pictures), my collection reached about 1100 models. But due the lack of space to keep it (and the lack of funds, of course), I decided to shorten my collection criteria for future purchases and now I consider as "must have" models just brazilian and portuguese airliners and aircraft I had flown.
I sold almost 50 models from my collection, will customize about 20 (with liveries of brazilian and portuguese airliners I don't believe will be released by any model manufacturer) and still have 80 on sale (and maybe more others in the future).

Few years ago I used to buy 10 or more models per month. With today's exchange rates, high custom taxes and the rise of price models, I'm buying a maximum of two models instead.

Regards,
Daniel

[hercybird]

Choose an era, country, aircraft you've seen or flown on, etc. I had a good job before retirement so I could afford my collection at 550. I could afford more, but I didn't. I stayed focused on airlines and military aircraft of my country, airliners that I had flown on and my real weakness, four engine kerosene burners, such as 707, DC8, VC10, CV880 and 990. I have now gone up to 6 months sometimes without buying. It is difficult when I see all those beautiful 1/200 airliners and 1/72 fighters not to bite, but I have stayed true to my focus and I am more than happy with my collection. Good luck.

[AvGeek]

I wonder, what about a career in aviation?