Expensive & collectible kits. Do you build or keep?

[W-409]

As said earlier, I don't buy kits if I plan not to build them.

Well actually I don't have any ultra rare kits on my stash, only a few Jo-Hans (the rarest is maybe the '60 Dodge Phoenix promo), I'm planning to build them all, but otherwise I don't have any that rare kits. Building old & rare model kit could be compared to building 1:1 '32 Ford from original sheet metal body and period correct Hot Rodding parts and not using modern NOS parts or something.

I think I'm a Model Car Builder, not a Collector.

[maltsr]

I only buy kits that I intend to build or use for parts.

Personally anybody that pays more 50 bucks for plastic is crazy

As for rare/collectible/high value kits, all kits here are high value . Around US$25 and up plus shipping off a local auction site, $30 off eBay including minimum shipping, and $40 plus at hobby shops for recent releases. I've seen overseas shipping on eBay vary from $11 (thank you, vendors :angry: for a single kit. As you may imagine, I don't buy many kits for parts anymore, and unfortunately don't have a big collection to draw from.

Speaking of which, this thread is also a good counterpoint to the one about hoarders.

[ZTony8]

This is really two separate questions.You can buy a new issue expensive kit that will still be fairly common like a Big Deuce or even a Studio 27 multi media kit.Those would be definite builds.

Then there are the old,possibly never reissued, kits that can be cheap or expensive.Those I may or may not build.Good examples of each-I had an unbuilt,factory wrapped MPC Cosma Ray Vette kit.I was sorely tempted to open and look at it as I had never seen the kit contents.But I knew that if I did that I would lower the value of the kit.I kept it sealed and sold it last year.Since then,another modeler found an opened,started one and brought it to our meeting so I finally got to see the contents.I also have unbuilt AMT '61 Buick convertible and hardtop kits that I bought for about $8 each( a fortune at the time) at a toy show about 30 years ago.They're in bags and have photocopied instructions and no decals so the collector value is almost nil compared to a boxed,complete kit.I haven't found the right inspiration to build them but I have no qualms about building them when I do get the right motivation.

[MsDano85gt]

-i build them and I build them well I have aquired. Quite a few fox body kits pace car replica anyone -I have 2 opened them both! building both! 1 t top 1 hardtop love building them no matter how old! I'm right there with you on this good buddy nick!

[ReptileGuy]

My most successful post yet.. Guess I touched on the right subject.

[Erik Smith]

Personally anybody that pays more 50 bucks for plastic is crazy because that all it is. I have lots of old kits and I have a desirer to build it nomatter how much its worth I will that is my two cents worth. Plus this days you have no idea what the model companys are coming out with anyways.

John Pol

Depends on how much money you have. It probably seems insane to a Haitian person when I spend $12 on a kit with a 40% off coupon at Hobby Lobby. To me, $50 for an old, out of production kit is not out of reach or any more unreasonable than that $12 kit.

I don't have a huge stash or a lot of old kits - but the old kits I have purchased, I purchased with building in mind. It just makes the unbuilt one more collectible

[Draggon]

Hey Before you build that, can I borrow the headers and resin cast them so I can build the two I have?

Steve Scott is selling his last 2 kits, recent bid for two was $410!

[peekay]

Why do some people think that I'm somehow morally bound to build every kit I buy?

I ACTUALLY LIKE OLD UNBUILT KITS!!!

I feel no shame in saying that out loud and now that I've come out of the closet I feel a great weight has been lifted from my shoulders!!

I know that most of you will now look away in embarrassment when I post but I must live my own life the way I see fit.....

[Olskoolrodder]

Well,I would say "build" cause I'm not a collector,but I haven't built much these last 2 years since the house burnt/we moved,so I guess "keep until I build"

[1272148]

I just like to think whenever I question if it right ot open a kit. Hay if I ever do get to selling anything if I build it well enough it may sell for more than the boxed kit, I have found many people out there willing to pay prices more than the value of a sealed kit for a pro built work of another builder with the skills rather than build themselves, and that makes me feel better. Anyway I like to start with a gluebomb, especially one that requires lots of work, (helps me lengthen build time).

[pandamonium2112]

The most i've spent on 1 kit was a Testors 1/12 Lamborghini Countach LP 500S. 1987 it was listed for $150.00, they sold it to me for $120.00 and i had no intention of not building it, i could barely hold composer for the drive home.

Oh the smell, never forget it. Because of the rubber they made the tires out of, the kit smelled like a Tire Store. It was incredible..

I still have it and probably never part with it (and it still smells the same)

Edited January 3, 2013 by pandamonium2112

[Daddyfink]

I have a few kit I know I will probably never build, due to subject matter, but I do enjoy owning them and will keep them in my stash. I am selling off the stuff that is common or that I have no interest in building them. And using the money to buy stuff I do want!

[Guest]

I intend to build every old/rare kit I have in my stash. Whether or not it actually happens is another thing. Sometimes when I score an old or rare kit, I drop everything and start working on it right away. Other times, it gets placed in the "to do someday" pile. I have one kit that I can't bring myself to build and it's this one...

It was still sealed when I got it and I left it that way for over a year. Temptation set in and I couldn't resist any longer and I broke the seal and I was really glad I did! This old kit has all kinds of cool extras with it and that's the main reason I won't build it. Plus, there are so many thousands of other AMT '57 Chevies that have almost the same parts or at least the parts I would be using. I know it isn't worth a great deal to most, but it's still cool to open it up and check out how the old kits were done back in the day and to smell that old styrene. To me, that alone is worth a lot. It's also made me understand to a degree the mindset of people who only collect them. Someday, I want to get one of the more common AMT '57s and build it just like this box art portrays.

[Jantrix]

I have very few old or rare kits. Maybe two. Both Johans.

But I would not own something for very long if I don't plan on building it. I will build both Johans.

[johnbuzzed]

I collect only kits that I have all the intention in the world to build. Whether or not I actually will is another thing. I do kick myself for once having a never-reissued JoHan '67 Fury and butchering that kit to make it "better"... if I ever find another, it will be built box-stock (maybe... ).

[CAL]

I got many rare and collectable kits, it was never about the status. It was about someday build it because I liked it for some reason.

I always wait for a screaming deal on it though. I am not going to pay stupid money for a kit. I just wait and eventually something comes around other than a Pocher Mercedes for a fair price.

I refuse to pay $60 for Monogram Jaguar... as much as I would like one

Edited January 3, 2013 by CAL

[Rob Hall]

I keep to build...over the last 15 years I've bought a few hundred '58-80 vintage kits, most are restorable builtups, though about 100 are mint in the box unbuilt that I paid anywhere from $50-200 for. I do have a soft spot for AMT, MPC, and Johan '60s-70s annuals, esp. the full sizers.

[Gramps2u]

100% Builder here.

[Ace-Garageguy]

I bought a few primo oldies a while back, mostly things I'd built as a kid and just to revisit the feeling of opening whatever it was for the first time. Kinda silly, I suppose, but there are a couple I'll probably never build and just take them out from time to time, look at the parts, smell the old smells, read the instructions and put them away 'til next time I need a little shot of time travel.

I've been buying badly-mangled, awful gluebombs to get some of the interesting subject matter from the dim recesses of time, and I can usually get enough parts together to build one nice car, or often several, for a fraction of what I'd pay for a virgin kit. Works for me, and they're all fair-game builders, no matter how rare.

I just kinda hope the really rare kits, if they get built, get built by competent builders, done well. Kind of a shame to see the old stuff just trashed.

[gtx6970]

Over the years I picked up a couple unbuilt of these. I have also since picked up another 2 or 3 builders as a 'just in case' (not a big fan of the Revell kit)

This one was still sealed inslde when I built it. And yes they are the original MPC decals that actually were usable. I also have a 2nd one that will stay sealed inside because this is just one of those kits I had as a kid when it first came out ( yea I'm old)

Edited January 3, 2013 by gtx6970

[Zarana-X]

I just spent $56 on a kit. It was Christmas money, otherwise I wouldn't be able to afford that. I've already started on it. I took pictures of unboxing it for posterity, though.

I'll also second opening sealed vintage kits. I recently got my father's stash of early 80's kits. Mostly AMT. These have been stored in the garage for, like 30 years...

Half of them, had tires melted to the parts or windows. While it is certainly fixable, to a degree, I'm sure it affects any resale "value". I intended to build a few for my dad, as he is too old, and is busy with his honey do list since retiring.

[Mike_G]

The most i've spent on 1 kit was a Testors 1/12 Lamborghini Countach LP 500S. 1987 it was listed for $150.00, they sold it to me for $120.00 and i had no intention of not building it, i could barely hold composer for the drive home.

Oh the smell, never forget it. Because of the rubber they made the tires out of, the kit smelled like a Tire Store. It was incredible..

I still have it and probably never part with it (and it still smells the same)

Wow, that's almost exactly like my Doyusha 1/12 LP500s- it sat in the LHS for months while I drooled over it, then they finally put it on sale for $58 and I bought it. That was in 1986, so about the same time. The gold wheels were what did it for me.

I have a Gunze Sangyo "High-Tech" Ferrari 250GTO full-detail kit on eBay right now- I can't afford to build that.

[cobraman]

I have several kits I will most likely never build. My unbuilt ones are all A.C. Cobra's or Daytona's. Some are old and some pretty new. I won't build them not because they are rare or expensive I just like having them with the orginal box art and unbuilt. Sometimes when they are reissued ( there are 2 now ) I will buy 2 so I can build one and keep one sealed in the box. I guess I will die with them and my daughter will inherit them. I guess her future husband will either build them or sell them on ebay. I may have to rethink this not building thing. : )

[lordairgtar]

I think I have only two vintage sealed kits, an MPC Ford mark IV with clear Transport Trailer and an MPC Gangbusters Chrysler. The Mark IV is pretty cool with it's trailer and you can find the trailer as it's own kit cheap and the Mark IV is out there. The Chrysler has had reissues of it as well. Don't think I will ever open those. I have a bunch of Renwal 66 Revival kits and built ups plus an IMC Ford J car that are opened, and I intend to build them...eventually.

[towtruck]

just got the JoHan '60 Desoto Adventure for Christmas. the kit is complete but open already so problem solved. it will be built... carefully of course but built.that's what the were made for. it's amazing to me what some people want for these old kits..