On Collecting Criteria: Inside One Collector's Mind

[LeoMuse747]

Here's my current collection criteria:

1) Brazilian aircraft ranging from 1982 to 1998 era.
2) International aircraft, also ranging from 1982 to 1998, which could have visited Brazil during these years.

I'm building a fictional airport which will feature these birds. Basically European, South and North American and a bit of African traffic is welcome, specially charter flights and cargo aircraft.

 

[CBL]

My criteria are simple:
- all house colours
- all F-registered aircrafts
- anything else that I like

 

[thiscooldude]

My current collecting criteria is of the following

1.RP-C registered aircraft
2.Classic Models
3.Aircraft that i like the colors of /i have a personal connection to
4.Aircraft that have visited Manila during the 80s - Mid 2000s

Ultimately i want to have 1 model of every airframe ever made in 400 scale, However i will do this after my current plan of getting models of Philippine Airlines / Cebu Pacific aircraft from the 60s up to the Early 2000s. And then procede with my ultimate plan.

 

[mike_charlie_lima]

While i dont have a fixed set of rules on which airlines, one of my criteria is that either the airframe length or wingspan is longer than 60meters, so in 400 scale they are at least 15cm long. that's why i only collect widebody but no 767s (except perhaps 764ER, which I have recently ordered) and a300/310s.
to me, 1/400 scale for narrow body jets are just too small.

 

[keji833]

Interesting to see these criteria, I always group mine as different dept. (in descending order of priority)

0) -- special liveries (particularly in series, i.e. WN "xxx one", JAL Disney from the 80s)
1) -- world airlines (modern representation): 787 or A350 for a full-service flag carrier in each nation, in extreme cases A330 will be accepted if they don't operate 787 or A350 (i.e. Iran, Nepal)
2) -- modern representation++: 737MAX or A320NEO for carriers in North America or Eastern Asia, particularly those at LAX/CTU/BKK.
3) -- memory tracers: ones that have special meaning to me
4) -- government/VIP aircraft
5) -- historical aviation: one most iconic example of each type (i.e. PAM AM 747SP, Aeroflot Tu-144)
6) -- box size: must be compact, sorry I don't have enough space for most of JC's orange boxes or NG's older huge box for a small 757 (your bank account will grow but space likely won't)

 

[Phantom]

(your bank account will grow but space likely won't)

Well, you can grow space by shrinking your bank account.

 

[abdulmohiuddin]

My collection criteria consists of three things:
- Anything that has flown to Karachi Jinnah Airport(or other airports in Pakistan but only if the subject matter is interesting)
- Models represent an aircraft from either 1975-85 or 2006-present
- Airlines and the aircraft I've flown on

Of course there will always be exceptions, but those are the 3 things I look for when I go to buy model aircraft

 

[Super727]

My criteria fall into two main groups:

Retro: This is my primary interest. Focus is on US-based aircraft from the 80s and 90s, but I do mix in the occasional foreign widebody that could've been seen at US airports during that period; the BA Landor Tristar from NG is a recent example.

Modern: I mainly stick to aircraft that visit my local airport, KRDU, or aircraft I've personally flown on. I'll of course make exceptions though for models that particularly interest me. I bought an AV400 Lufthansa A380 just because I wanted the A380 represented in my collection; at the other end of the size spectrum, I got one of NG's BA A318s for the same reason.

 

[SmallTimeAviation]

Modern: I mainly stick to aircraft that visit my local airport, KRDU, or aircraft I've personally flown on. I'll of course make exceptions though for models that particularly interest me. I bought an AV400 Lufthansa A380 just because I wanted the A380 represented in my collection; at the other end of the size spectrum, I got one of NG's BA A318s for the same reason.

Now that we're going to be getting Lufthansa, you better get a LH A330-300.

 

[josecolme]

I like to think i mostly base my collection on the following:

1 Airplanes that I used to see and flew on when I was little.
2 Get atleast one of each of the fleet of these airlines.
3. Airlines from Latin America
4 All KLM and Old colors American.
5 Any special livery I've seen in real life.

Most of those first ones have never been made by any manufacturer so I've resorted to making customs. So I lately what I mostly buy are donor models for those customs.

And obviously there are a bunch of models that don't follow any particular criteria.

 

[NoAddedSalt]

For me is aircraft I have flown on or have had photos reposted by airlines. I really hope to also get models of aircraft that I really miss to this day (IE: Qantas 747-400 and Air Nz 777-200 (Ng Said to me that the air nz should be coming around the end of the year))

 

[Eagle]

My collections criteria are:
1) Swissair and any planes visiting/visited ZRH (I like to display different decades)
2) Manufacturer roll-out liveries (e.g. N7470, N757A etc.)
3) Every classic 747 in the color that was represented on N7470 - preferably 1st 747 registration for the airline (e.g. HB-IGA, G-AWNA etc. if it does not cost an arm and a leg)
4) Wide-bodies with liveries I like - i.e. 747s, M11s, DC10s, L1011
5) every airplane type/livery combination only once
… even with these limits the collection is already exceeding 450 planes