Do you keep unused parts?

[Firebuild]

Does anyone else keep unused  parts? Wondering what to do with mine. Just finishing off an Airfix M3 Grant and there's a lot of unused parts. I don't want to throw then away but I see a shoebox full of random unused parts in my future... 

[spruecutter96]

In as much as you have no way of knowing what you might need in the future, I would say keep EVERYTHING. 

 

Happy New Year to you. 

 

Chris.

[bentwaters81tfw]

^ Wot E said.

 

Your next kit might be missing a part, and your spares box can, and frequently does, come up trumps.

In addition, we frequently swap or donate or scrounge spares with other needy members.

[Pin]

Yes. I don't consider them "unused", rather "spare".  This "WhatIf" is built entirely from spares

 

 

[bentwaters81tfw]

6 minutes ago, Pin said:

  This is built entirely from spares

 

 

 

 

As were most British Leyland cars.

[Tojo72]

Sure,extra tools road wheels,ordinance,stowage everything useful.Many have an elaborate filing system,mine are all just tossed in an old box.Oh also leftover decals,like stencils,stars,swastikas, crosses and the like.

[Lazy Modeller]

What else...

Cheers

LM

[dogsbody]

These two little drawer units are filled with " spares " and bits of kits going back to the late 60's. Most have been sorted so that like objects are together.

 

 

 

 

 

Chris

[spitfire]

At the end of each build any spare parts go in a jiffy bag and then a box for future use, comes in handy at times.

 

Cheers

 

Dennis

[Rick Brown]

Always keep em!

Mind you, I always forget what I've kept anyway. 

 

HNY!

 

Rick.

[ivan-o]

Sod’s law though isn’t it?keep everything for years have a clear out and then you want what you threw out 😂

[Billthebattler]

13 minutes ago, ivan-o said:

Sod’s law though isn’t it?keep everything for years have a clear out and then you want what you threw out 😂

Ah yes, a familiar story, especially if the other half does the clearing out. Never again though.!

[Seahawk]

I've just this month used some bits consigned to the scrap/spares box in 1972.  Knew they'd come in useful sometime.

[Max Headroom]

I had half a MK.IX Spitfire left over from my AZ post war MK.16. A £4.99 injection of Aldi Airfix MK.I sees me 95% towards a prototype MK.III👍
 

Trevor

[Pete in Lincs]

Yes, Never throw parts away. You can always sell the box of spares at some point in the future.

If not to a fellow armour builder, then to a Sci Fi scratch builder like myself.

[Don149]

`Never chuck any spare parts out . I`ve boxes and drawers full , including a box of transfers/decals of about 1kg in weight , mostly from using other sheets ,

mostly Kits World on my many 1/32nd models . Over the years , at the end of a finished model I`ve thought no those odds and sods bits wont be any further

use , chuck `em out , and on second thoughts they just might , and so they have just multiplied , and in several models they have come in useful . The only

items to not stay in the " parts department " were the sitting aircrew figures , there still aren`t enough of those ! .

                                                                                                                                                                                    Don .

[dogsbody]

Yes, the old farmer in me doesn't let me toss anything away that may potentially be of some use in the distant future.

 

A few months ago, I found some small stick-on labels in the bottom of one of the larger drawers in my storage unit. So I did some labelling.

 

 

 

Chris

 

[Paul J]

I sometimes scour the wanted section here to see what parts other members are looking for or advertise my spares I have to offer free to a needy home.

[MrB17]

I have kept everything since about 1975. Bigger components and ordinance I put in toffee tins and tiny bits go in little transparent bins like dogsbody shows. Some are salvaged from old model wreckage and I use them when I build the same kit decades later, so I have a little bit of the original build in the original paint, it works great for my B-17’s. I have a huge lot of crew figures in various scales also. Some components get carved up when I have to scratch missing parts. I also keep a pile of straight runs of sprues from various kits, as the plastic is different from the various kit manufacturers and if I need to make parts, the bond is better with the same plastic.

 

Jeff

[Pigpen]

6 hours ago, Pin said:

Yes. I don't consider them "unused", rather "spare".  This "WhatIf" is built entirely from spares

Oooo a quiz!

 

I'm seeing Starfighter wings and a Fouga Magister empennage?

 

[Npal21]

Of course you do, what else would you sacrifice to try to appease the carpet monster? Haha 🤣

[Yorkshire man]

I too keep any spare parts, as  others have said parts have come in useful if you have a missing or damaged part. I usually just sort into allied/axis categories, separate into re-sealable  bags (i.e. Sherman parts) and store in medium sized plastic storage boxes.

[Bullbasket]

As every reply has been 100% in favour of keeping parts, I think you know which way to go. But spend some time sorting them. It's a pain looking for a particular part and you have to go through umpteen boxes, searching for it. I have kept a load of the kit boxes and labeled them up with things such as "Sherman VVSS units", Sherman HVSS units", "Stowage Items" etc. Makes life easier.

 

John.

[Don149]

I`m just the opposite of you John , my hundreds of bits and bats are only in boxes/drawers according to size , mostly . When I go hunting for a 

useable part I pass many an interesting minute rummaging around with a pair of tweezers . A few weeks ago , when going through the transfer

stack I found a small sheet of 1/72nd Luftwaffe crosses and swastikas from a wartime kit . They look like they were printed with actual paint , hadn`t

seen them for so long , I`d forgotten they were there ! . I`ve even still got the instruction sheet for the Frog Penguin Spitfire VII , although it`s 

rather brown now , looks to have bits of wood in the paper .

                                                                                               Carry on rummaging ! .

                                                                                                                                   Don .

[Don149]

Sorry ,I meant Spitfire XII .