Cabinets & real life

Published 06/19/19

Just recently my collection passed the 300th model mark. Yeah, it’s great to have a nice collection, and I’m certainly proud of mine. But as with all hobbies, real life always ends up playing a big roll. And for me this time it was space. When I got the 300th model, I only had space for more six race cars. I still had more space for passenger cars, but my focus is race cars. So if I wanted to display new models, I needed more cabinets.

New cabinets are easy to find and not absurdly expensive, so they were not the issue. However, I needed walls to hang the cabinets on. And that’s an issue. I have an agreement with my wife (wife and Supreme Executive Commander) that I can rule the office. But right now the office doesn’t offer any spare walls for additional cabinets. Therefor I would have to expand my collection’s domain – if I wanted more cabinets up, I would need walls on another room. So after some very fierce negotiations, I was allowed to use one of the walls on the upstairs’ living room. Yay!

I also had to really behave myself for a whole month (and sponsor a fancy lunch), but in the end I got the green light for the cabinets. They weren’t exactly cheap, but are of the same model as the ones I already had. BUT, when they arrived, who would put them up became an issue. I thought I was perfectly capable of doing the deed, but my SEC disagreed. She wasn’t 100% sure that I could get them up in a professional manner. So even after the fancy lunch and one month of my best behavior, I still got my balls busted. For a job that I hadn’t started yet but that I could screw up. Well, among other things, SECs are psychic…

However, I (bravely!) held my ground and went ahead with the cabinet installation. On my own and without her direct supervision. Even though I was shitting bricks, I got all three cabinets up. And all in perfect alignment with the ceiling and with the exact spacing between them that I predicted beforehand. Well, they’re actually 14.5 cm apart instead of the 15 cm that I told her. But no need to upset her for measly 50 mm that you really can’t notice, right? In the end, heck, if I may be so bold, they look professionally installed.

So with the three cabinets up, I almost doubled my display space. However, as I said elsewhere, this hobby is a bottomless pit. In other words, it never ends, there’s always more cool stuff to have. Therefor, either I keep my focus or I’ll run out of walls sooner than expected. What I’m saying is that focus is good and buying just because the “price is good” is not good. For me that’s following the Only Le Mans rule, and I plan on sticking to it.

So if I can offer some advice, keep focus in your collection. Of course, buy what you like but do NOT go overboard, even if the price is great. I did that in my 1:18 days and it certainly didn’t go well – lesson learned.