I've been in the modelling hobby for decades, so my home is always full of kits, no matter how many times I dump some or sell some on Ebay - I inevitably buy yet more! The worst (best?) period was when I edited a couple of modelling magazines and companies sent me their kits and accessories to review. The house was often overflowing with plastic - great fun for a while but eventually it drives you crazy trying to keep up with it all.
It's true that there are some guys who simply collect kits but most people are far more interested in the potential of building a model from the box's contents, rather than it's possible value in future years. In any case, even the rarest kits never really command much money, even if they're pristine in their original packaging. For the rest of us who are simply interested in the actual kits, the main difficulty is avoiding the temptation to buy kits with a view to building them in the future. What often happens is that a better (more accurate) kit of the same aircraft comes along and then you're left with an old kit that is only fit for the bin. This happens all the time.
The good thing about the hobby is that there are now some outstanding kits which are truly accurate replicas, full of detail. The days of the old "kid's toy" are gone really and when one looks back at the kits of 30 or 40 years ago, it's incredible to see how far the hobby has progressed. I guess the only problem now is that the constant striving for perfection often means that models take forever to build. You buy the kit, then the special decal sheet, the paints, the abrasives and fillers, the resin detail parts, the metal detail parts, the reference books... and then you realise just how much work you need to do in order to make the kit as accurate as you can... so you put it away and look at something else! This is a problem which has affected a lot of us. Ahh for the good old days when you grabbed a tube of glue and stuck the bits together and you were happy!
Been toying with the idea of making a few scale models of airfields along the same lines as the sand tables they used to make for briefing pilots. Guess I could vary the scale a bit if I want to not having them taking up my living room Getting the contours right will be fun!
You are so right Tim. Airfix was the standard for us wee lads in the fifties and sixties; a tube of glue, a pot of paint a rather dubious brush and we were happy for ages. And after the various assembled kits eventually lost their charm, they were demoted to wargames; bashed 'flown' and or set on fire. My present inroads into Tamyia kits don't enthrall me to go up the road of precise and sometimes, I think obsessive detail and authenticity that grips some modellers. I stick to the 'just delivered from the factory' look, and don't give a monkeys if MY colour scheme isn't authentic - !
Not just bashed and set on fire Simon, my HMS Victorious is still at the bottom of a pond in Windsor Great Park sunk by air rifle fire & the Bismark is in the Thames.
My mate sunk the Titanic in his garden pond.
English Civil War Re-enactor with the Sealed Knot.
Gentlemen, you can't fight in here! This is the War Room!
Years ago I toyed with the idea of building a 1/72 scale airfield - gave up when I worked out just how big it would be! Then thought of a 1/144 scale aircraft carrier - gave that up too [ although, I think, I still have, somewhere, a couple of the Hellcats with which it was to be equipped ].
I'm pretty sure someone DID build a 1/72 scale model of the flight deck and bridge etc. of H.M.S. Victorious papjuliet, as your post reminds me of an article, with accompanying photo, to that effect in a late sixties Airfix magazine. I don't recall the dimensions, but the builder must had a helluva big front room or shed - !
I have seen a scale model of St Eval, it was huge so I'm guessing 1:144th scale, I would love to know where it is now.
On the same subject I wonder what became of the lovely scale models of airfields that the Air Ministry made during the war for layout and camoflage development?
ATC cadets in Tayport (or was it Newport?) made a scale model of Leuchars. They donated it to the station, it was in the briefing room in the COC. I wonder whats happened to it??
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Getting the contours right will be fun! 
