RE: RC investment in the someday stash.
When you are into modeling as long as I have been (70 years), you tend to accumulate lots and lots of stuff. For example, I have ten giant scale airplanes ready to fly - fully equipped - just charge the batteries and go fly. Seven of them are powered by G-62's. The others have Fox 5.8 and DA-100 engines. I also have about 5000 board feet of raw balsa that has a street value of at least ten-thousand dollars. Also, I have over 1000 pieces of excellent grade balsa sheets in every size imaginable. I have over 500 balsa sticks of excellent grade, and about 100 hardwood dowels from 1/8 dia. to 1/2 dia. I have a good supply of fiberglass arrow-shafts - not easy to come by these days. My plywood racks are full. I have enough stuff in the line of packaged hardware on my walls to last me a lifetime, so that trips to the hobby shop are never necessary. I have at least 50 brand new giant scale props, from 16" to 28" sizes. I have at least a dozen old AM receivers, and a half-dozen old FM transmitters. I have about 500 pieces of music wire from 1/64 dia. up to 1/4 dia. I have a large box full of old engines - Ohlssons, Tiger Bunch, Madewell, Hornet, and the like; old single channel radios (Citizenship), old reed radios (Citizenship and Orbit), and a few Bonner Duramite servos used with reed radios.
Since I have moved to Sebring in 1994, I have cut 54 giant scale kits and given them away "FREE" to club members to build. The kits include all the balsa, plywood, and hardwood parts necessary to build the airplane. To date, all 54 airplanes have been completed and flown. That's one way to get rid of some of my inventory, and it sure does create a lot of good-will. Most of the kits are either 1/4 or 1/3 scale. I have given away two really nice 1/4 scale planes - to a couple of up-and coming youngster pilots who at age 15 can out-fly me a hundred times.
I don't know what my inventory is worth, nor do I care. What I do know, is that every time I give either a kit or a completed airplane away, to someone that will make them better enjoy this hobby, the look on their faces as they receive their free gift is priceless.