I buy model cars because I don't possess the skill level or tools to make them myself. I also buy what I'd like to own and would probably never own (to a reasonable financial degree/other priorities).
For me, my initial reason was keeping control on my discretionary spendings. Basically If I want more, I let go of some; minimize new costs incurred.
Then it became a case of running out of storage space. I'm trying my best to contain all my collectibles' boxes within my room only without it spreading out to other parts of the household. I'm not interested in the idea of developing a man cave or walls of things of little significant meaning to show off. A whole wall of model cars to me indirectly shows off how much disposable money I have. I could be putting up my own artwork/other creations instead and that would have infinitely more value/meaning.
After that, I've been cutting back even more because I've been keeping myself relatively broke (in my eyes), never paid attention to how much I've been spending per year. I learned a few years ago I'd be drastically wealthier today if I made better use of my money back then, so with the saying "better late than never", I'm on the road to making that change. Instead of narrowing what I would consider buying down to only decent quality brands, I'm narrowing it down keeping what cars are the most special to me. A shoddy all-plastic and sealed Minichamps Ford Fiesta WRC opened my eyes to that.
It is easily the lowest quality model I have, and I rather keep that over others of greater quality such as:
In realizing that allowing myself to
collect anything so long as it was of good quality, creating the mancave would've been inevitable. I like too many cars for too many reasons. It would mean more if I can be more selective in what makes the cut. I've been reviewing what I currently own every now and then for the last month, and there are only about three more I think I can let go of (if I really have to). In the last 2 years, I've recovered about $4400 by letting go of things (all scales) that I've no strong attachment to.
Collecting things was an experience I didn't fulfill when I was younger, and now that I've had 8 years of it, I'm content with dialing it down. I can't deny there is a thrill of hunting discontinued goods, appreciating the beauty of the work, and basking in the prospects of profiting off a resale. I don't foresee me graduating from this entirely yet, but I'm definitely not going to be as active as I once was.
Edit: These are great discussion topic questions you're dishing out by the way. I'm enjoying this quite a bit.
), then I think I’ll go for the AUTOart one instead of the Almost Real version, in spite of the latter having more gimmicks, because from what I see, the AUTOart version’s tyres are more realistic, and Almost Real’s gimmicks don’t aid in the ‘photography realism’ bit. And also because I’m not a fan of the blue+orange interior colour combination on the Almost Real, but that’s an aside.
