What's considered the 'Honus Wagner' (rarest) of model kits

[Chromecop]

And, speaking of rare kits....here's one You don't see to often:

Box says scale 1/24 but I'd say about 1/28 or so would be more accurate! The body is totally out of proportions and the multipiece-type. from a few yards distance and using A LOT OF IMAGINATION it looks like a Mercedes...LOL!

[unclescott58]

The rarest kit, is the one most of us aren't even aware of.So what is it?I don't know! What I do know, is the Corvair Rampside is rare. But rarest? Doubt it.

One of the "Holy Grail" kit for me. Premier kits were not good kits in general. But I love the Ramside and the Greenbriar.

Scott

[unclescott58]

Speaking of rare kits. Here is another I wish I had in my collection.

Scott

[ChrisBcritter]

Found thi$$$$ on eBay:

1955 Ford, roughly 1/19 scale. Wish the seller had taken more pictures; the shape looks somewhat accurate. Checked Google Images and only came up with shots of the box (which will not display on the webpage or as View Image). Anyone have a photo?

[ianguilly]

When's the last time you saw one of these unbuilt for sale? This is one of the rarest kits if you ask me.

Edited July 12, 2014 by ianguilly

[Tom Geiger]

When's the last time you saw one of these unbuilt for sale? This is one of the rarest kits if you ask me.

As we get closer to Round 2 issuing the new Demon kit, these will magically appear for sale at shows and on eBay. They exist, but guys have been hoarding them. Some will try to dump them for value, hoping buyers don't know a new kit is coming. Once the new kit is here, the value will drop a bit since half the market (those wishing to build the kit) will have evaporated overnight.

[Mark]

When's the last time you saw one of these unbuilt for sale? This is one of the rarest kits if you ask me.

All three of the mid-year '71 MPC kits (Dodge Demon, Plymouth GTX, and Pontiac Trans-Am) were pretty tough to find, even when new. A lot of stores didn't carry them because they might sit on the shelves until the '72 kits came out. The Demon isn't that good, to be honest: the hood is too flat (underside tooling is shared with the Duster hood, which is flatter), front wheel openings are the wrong shape, and the front bumper/grille doesn't fit very well. The new kit, when it appears, will drive down the value on "projects" and less-than-perfect unbuilt kits. Mint in the box originals should hold their value, though.

[ianguilly]

The recently released 75 dart kit has driven the original sealed kit way down. They're going for $40-60 since that kit was 're-released. If only round 2 would make the 68 coronet kit everyone is wanting.

Edited July 12, 2014 by ianguilly

[Belugawrx]

:lol:

Dittoes, Darin!

in my collection? A finished one.

more emoticons than allowed

Have to agree.... although.....

Tamiya's Walter Wolf F1 has got to rate up there (smiley)

Gold decals were a b...h

One of the only Canadian entries.

Had it when a kid (20)?1

Didnt do it any justice....Need to find one Now

[John Goschke]

Found thi$$$$ on eBay:

1955 Ford, roughly 1/19 scale. Wish the seller had taken more pictures; the shape looks somewhat accurate. Checked Google Images and only came up with shots of the box (which will not display on the webpage or as View Image). Anyone have a photo?

I remember seeing one of these in the '70s at a toy show. While the proportions are pretty good it's more of a glorified toy than a model. The mold was done very simply, without any undercuts, somewhat like a Tootsietoy diecast.

[Joe Spliggins]

This thread hasn't had any activity in a few years, but I just now found it and wanted to add my pair of copper coins...

Some of the kits I see mentioned here are truly rare (anybody got a Greenbriar they'd swap for a semi-functional left arm? LOL!).  Most of the others are what I consider, IMHO, to be "often hard to find and grossly overpriced".  AMT's "desperation kits" ( ie: 34 Ford 3-Window, 32 Ford Tudor, 25 Ford Paddy Wagon, etc.) of the mid-70s being among them.  There is one, however, that is not mentioned here (or seemingly anywhere else on the web) that is without a doubt "the card with Honus Wagner eating a griffon wing while riding a solid platinum unicorn". 

That would be a 1/25 WW2 White Halftrack, put out in the late 50s by one of the 'second tier' manufacturers (I want to say either Palmer, Premier, or Strombecker, but I honestly don't remember at this point).  A late friend had one that he bought new just before graduating high school.  Over the course of 12 years in the Army and 10 years of subsequent moves afterwards, many of the earliest additions to his kit collection took a first class beating.  By the time he first showed me his kits in around 1983, the halftrack had been reduced to a box bottom and about 2/3 of the parts in baggies.  Unfortunately, I found out about his eventual demise several months after the fact... by which time nearly everything he owned had already been sold off. 

I have regularly searched the web since 1997 looking for one (for sale OR show-and-tell), and/or any info about the kit, with ZERO luck.  I can't even find a pic of the box art.  If I hadn't actually held the remnants of one in my own hands 30-some years ago I'd swear this kit was a myth!

Edited August 8, 2017 by Joe Spliggins
didn't like a word

[Mike999]

...That would be a 1/25 WW2 White Halftrack, put out in the late 50s by one of the 'second tier' manufacturers (I want to say either Palmer, Premier, or Strombecker, but I honestly don't remember at this point).

Thanks.  I'd love to see that thing.  I'm a geezer with a lot of books on scale-model history and I've never even heard of a 1/25 White half-track.

Instead of a "second tier" U.S. manufacturer, I wonder if it could have come from a Japanese company?  Back when Tamiya was still "Tamiya-Mokei," circa early 1960's, they released quite a few military kits in oddball 1/21 scale.  All are extremely rare today.  Bandai did some military kits in 1/30 scale.  Their Hummel WWII German self-propelled gun was the ONLY kit of that vehicle available until about 1992, when Dragon finally did it in 1/35 scale.

One other place I'll look: I have a couple of Japanese-language books about old kits.  One is called "Scale Model 1960," IIRC, and covers all sorts of weird kits sold in Japan at that time.  It might be in there, if it even was Japanese.

 

[Rocking Rodney Rat]

I have a complete collection of the original issue Revell Parts Packs that I collected over several years. Not sure what it's worth, but as a set, worth some dough (to the right person). http://public.fotki.com/jferren/revell-parts-packs/ -RRR

[waynehulsey]

I have a complete collection of the original issue Revell Parts Packs that I collected over several years. Not sure what it's worth, but as a set, worth some dough (to the right person). http://public.fotki.com/jferren/revell-parts-packs/ -RRR

I had a set of those along with the AMT and Aurora packs, but they were in the stuff I had stolen a couple of years ago.

A couple of rare ones I do have is the ITC 40 Mercury and Ford Leva Car (thought it was in the boxes of stolen stuff, but recently found it in another box. Did the Happy Dance).

Have several odd things, but not real sure how rare they are. Like this Union boxed 1911 Renault. Another real oddity is a 1/24 AMO-15 Russian Truck that is a Russian kit.

[Art Anderson]

"Rare"  in the context of model car kits, can be a rather subjective term, IMHO.   Many are considered to be "rare" today simply because they did not sell at all well when they were made for sale in the open market, and thus were never reissued:   The Aurora "Mod Squad" '50 Mercury wagon fits this description to a "T"  That kit languished on hobby shop shelves (Oh I know--you bought at least one is a common saying), but in reality, that model kit was in "close-out" status from hobby wholesalers (that's how model kits were distributed to hobby shops back in he day--still are) within a year of it's release--and they gathered dust and "shopwear"on hobby shop shelves.  Two factors:  First, the model kit was made by Aurora, which company wasn't even close to the "mainstream" of model car kit manufacturing--in a time when the model car kit market was dominated overwhelmingly by AMT, followed by MPC and Revell,with Monogram a very close 4th place. Adding to the relative unpopularity of the Mod Squad Mercury Wagon at the time it came out was simply that by the time the kit was released, the actual car had been run off a cliff and totally destroyed per the script of the show, in addition to its not having any building options, which were the norm for the then-"Big Three" model car kit manufacturers.  Thus, its rarity today is the result, not of a deliberately short production run--but a sincere lack of enthusiasm on the part of kids ages about ten to fifteen at the time of its being produced.

At the other end of the spectrum were kits such as the SMP 1911 Chevrolet:  That kit was tooled, and produced for Chevrolet as an exclusive promotional item in 1961--the 50th Anniversary of the founding of the Chevrolet Motor Car Company by William C. Durant and his partners. This model was produced both in kit form, as well as a ready-assembled promotional model (in raw black styrene with a dull metallic gold body, and gold-toned plated parts, curbside only.  However, this model was for distribution, on a "one-time" basis, to Chevrolet dealerships only, not for general mass distribution to all comers in the retail business (although some may have made it into hobby shops via a local Chevy dealership.  Once that production order was done at SMP,  the tooling  (ostensibly cut in aluminum) was destroyed, per terms of the contract with GM & Chevrolet.  As such, the vast majority of model car builders in 1961 (I would have been 16yrs old, going on 17 then) were completely unaware that the kit or promo even existed.  Also, quite likely, the model kit, if offered through the hobby industry distribution channel, would have died quickly, due to the obscurity of the subject (the '11 Chevrolet was a prototype only, the first production Chevrolet's only barely resembled it) and it was a kit of an antique car with absolutely no building options--which in 1961 were essential for the popularity of a model car kit.  That said, had I known of this kit or promo--I'd have hustled my buns to Horner Chevrolet (owned by a HS classmate's family!) at 11th and Main Streets in Downtown Lafayette in a NY minute, bought at least one, kit or promo at the time--but that's another story.
 

[Chuck Most]

What I want to know is- would any of these kits change hands for millions of dollars, like an authentic Honus Wagner card? 

[Art Anderson]

"Rare"  in the context of model car kits, can be a rather subjective term, IMHO.   Many are considered to be "rare" today simply because they did not sell at all well when they were made for sale in the open market, and thus were never reissued:   The Aurora "Mod Squad" '50 Mercury wagon fits this description to a "T"  That kit languished on hobby shop shelves (Oh I know--you bought at least one is a common saying), but in reality, that model kit was in "close-out" status from hobby wholesalers (that's how model kits were distributed to hobby shops back in he day--still are) within a year of it's release--and they gathered dust and "shopwear"on hobby shop shelves.  Two factors:  First, the model kit was made by Aurora, which company wasn't even close to the "mainstream" of model car kit manufacturing--in a time when the model car kit market was dominated overwhelmingly by AMT, followed by MPC and Revell,with Monogram a very close 4th place. Adding to the relative unpopularity of the Mod Squad Mercury Wagon at the time it came out was simply that by the time the kit was released, the actual car had been run off a cliff and totally destroyed per the script of the show, in addition to its not having any building options, which were the norm for the then-"Big Three" model car kit manufacturers.  Thus, its rarity today is the result, not of a deliberately short production run--but a sincere lack of enthusiasm on the part of kids ages about ten to fifteen at the time of its being produced.

At the other end of the spectrum were kits such as the SMP 1911 Chevrolet:  That kit was tooled, and produced for Chevrolet as an exclusive promotional item in 1961--the 50th Anniversary of the founding of the Chevrolet Motor Car Company by William C. Durant and his partners. This model was produced both in kit form, as well as a ready-assembled promotional model (in raw black styrene with a dull metallic gold body, and gold-toned plated parts, curbside only.  However, this model was for distribution, on a "one-time" basis, to Chevrolet dealerships only, not for general mass distribution to all comers in the retail business (although some may have made it into hobby shops via a local Chevy dealership.  Once that production order was done at SMP,  the tooling  (ostensibly cut in aluminum) was destroyed, per terms of the contract with GM & Chevrolet.  As such, the vast majority of model car builders in 1961 (I would have been 16yrs old, going on 17 then) were completely unaware that the kit or promo even existed.  Also, quite likely, the model kit, if offered through the hobby industry distribution channel, would have died quickly, due to the obscurity of the subject (the '11 Chevrolet was a prototype only, the first production Chevrolet's only barely resembled it) and it was a kit of an antique car with absolutely no building options--which in 1961 were essential for the popularity of a model car kit.  That said, had I known of this kit or promo--I'd have hustled my buns to Horner Chevrolet (owned by a HS classmate's family!) at 11th and Main Streets in Downtown Lafayette in a NY minute, bought at least one, kit or promo at the time--but that's another story.
 

[gtx6970]

What I want to know is- would any of these kits change hands for millions of dollars, like an authentic Honus Wagner card? 

Not in our lifetime, in all honesty. Not ever.

[Chuck Most]

But a boy can dream...

[dartman]

How rare is an Entex (?) 1976 mustang II cobra kit? I have one I recieved as Christmas gift in 1976 and have never seen another.It is half built and thinking of pulling it apart and starting 0ver as my building skills have vastly improved.

 

 

Edited August 22, 2017 by dartman
.

[Mike999]

 

How rare is an Entex (?) 1976 mustang II cobra kit? I have one I recieved as Christmas gift in 1976 and have never seen another.It is half built and thinking of pulling it apart and starting 0ver as my building skills have vastly improved.

 

 

I did a quick eBay check. An Entex 76 Mustang sold for about $40 recently, with 8 bids.  They don't seem to come up very often.

And...the real Honus Wagner was on TV just last night!  Along with his famous baseball card.  The latest episode of "American Greed" on CNBC covered fraud in the collectibles market.  Specifically the collapse of the Mastro auction/collectibles company in 2009.  What a story!  Shill bidding, bid-rigging and apparently outright theft in some cases.

It's probably not a good idea to commit fraud when one of your customers is a lawyer who sees it nearly every day. Also a lawyer who has defended John Gotti Jr. and drug lord "El Chapo" Guzman.

If you have CNBC, it re-runs "American Greed" all the time.  The title of this episode was "Fraud Collectors."  Here's the preview:

 https://www.cnbc.com/video/2017/08/15/next-on--american-greed-fraud-collectors.html