Tuesday, February 5, 2013

Out With the Old (Glory)...

Sometimes, we are faced with our own version of The Amazing Race.  As in the television show, project activities present a Roadblock.  In my situation, the roadblock addresses how to contend with the unpainted lead pile.  The choices are:
  • Paint It
  • Sell It
In Paint It, you work diligently to conquer the lead pile by methodically painting down your inventory of unpainted figures.

In Sell It, realizing you may never paint your way out of the corner in which your spending has placed you, you attempt to cut your losses.  That is, sell off some of your unpainted lead.  To offload these figures at a profit or loss really does not matter since these sunk costs are irrelevant (for the most part).

With luck, a solution may present itself before you are really ready to face this problem.  Such was the case for me last week.  An opportunity arose in which a potential buyer surfaced for some of my long, unpainted 18mm Old Glory Napoleonic lead.  Now, I had not considered my 18mm Napoleonic project complete and planned on continuing to add more units.  I do, however, have a rather large painted contingent hovering around 6,000 figures.  Enough figures to field combatants for most battles at a scale of 100:1.  I'll hardly miss the pile of unpainted lead and, besides, I didn't actively work on this project much in 2012.

Anyway, I sold about 20 pounds of lead and virtually extinguished my unpainted lead pile for this project.  A great weight (literally) has been lifted.  I did retain a few odds and ends but for the most part, this project is complete.  

4 comments:

  1. Good lord, 20 pounds of lead? I hope it helped replenish your PayPal account!

    I have this strange affliction where I fear lead mountains so much that I limit my lead purchases. I tend to work a single project until it's done and then panic until I get the next going. I can't imagine buying 6000 figures at a go. Someone is very ambitious! Enjoy your new found freedom!

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    1. Monty, I envy your restraint and control.

      The 6,000 figures mentioned above are the number of painted figures in my 18mm Napoleonic project that I kept. The totals in this sale included about 1,000 unpainted, loose figures and 16 unopened bags.

      Yes! It does feel good to have that load off my mind. I wonder, however, how many of those figures I will repurchase at some later time? Have you done that?

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  2. I'm like a bee in a field of clover. There are so many armies I want to paint that I jump around a lot.

    I don't have any 1,000+ figure projects under way or contemplated BUT, I do have this affliction where I feel like I can't nail an army in the first pass so I paint it a 2nd time. Romans x2, Gauls x2 and Later Hungarians x2. I'm thinking of selling my Carthaginians and painting them a 2nd time with the Scutum shields, to reflect how they looked in Italy. Luckily, Saga painting is keeping me busy for now!

    6000 figures to go. You have stamina!

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    1. My interests are diverse too. I typically have a number of projects all at some stage of completion. That way, if interest wanes on one, another project is ready and waiting in the wings. Keeps me from getting burned out on painting by changing it up. I change scales, periods, manufacturers freely.

      Looking forward to seeing more of your Saga armies and reading your Saga AARs.





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