Old boxes

[parkflyrer 50]

Just a quick question to you guys out there..do you keep you're old boxes after the model is built?? Just wondering would they ever be worth anything or are they gonna just take up space..thanks

[gtx6970]

For kits made in the past 25 years , no.

But I do have several boxes for the old old annuals I intend to keep ( talking late 50s and early 60s kits )

[BIGTRUCK]

Model boxes are great storage for resin bodies and parts to complete them, they stack well.

[Roadrunner]

I've kept some, usually if I really like the box art, and some of the older ones, as Bill said, because they're cool, and remind me of better days.

[espo]

In the past I have used them to pack away my models when I moved. I still save them just in case as I have usually moved every couple of years in the past. Now I think I'm just "hording" since I've been at my present location for 15 years. I have never lived anywhere that long before.

[disabled modeler]

If the boxes are from the 50s,60s,70s era I keep them love the old box arts...reminds me of better days...if I am having a bad day just to look at them makes me feel better in a way. I also use them for storage of kits,build ups and project builds/restoration projects. I never cut them up but have also used them for wall art...push a thumbtack through the bottom into the wall and just slip the box cover on it.

[1972coronet]

If the boxes are from the 50s,60s,70s era I keep them love the old box arts...reminds me of better days...if I am having a bad day just to look at them makes me feel better in a way. I also use them for storage of kits,build ups and project builds/restoration projects. I never cut them up but have also used them for wall art...push a thumbtack through the bottom into the wall and just slip the box cover on it.

That's a really cool idea !

[angelo7]

I've kept some, usually if I really like the box art, and some of the older ones, as Bill said, because they're cool, and remind me of better days.

Same here.

[vintagercr]

I like the artwork on the old boxes so I have a few that I have kept.

[Tom Geiger]

I save them, heck if you blink, 25 years have gone by! I'm amazed at how old stuff I've saved over my life has become!

Note that most model boxes will fold flat. And that's how I store them. I have a huge amount stored in one big box. Why do I save them? Why not, I have the space. And soon enough someone on a board will ask, "Does anyone have the box for the Lindberg Little Red Wagon, original release? And I'll be happy to send one to him!

[High octane]

I don't have the space to store a ton of model kits, yet alone empty model boxes. So no, I don't save them as they go in the recycling bin when I complete the model kit.

[impcon]

Have a look on Ebay and they don't have to be old for someone to be willing to pay for them. Some sellers want as much for an empty box as what the whole kit should be selling for.. I amnot saying that they are getting what they want but you gotta give 'em "A" for effort..

[Tom Geiger]

Have a look on Ebay and they don't have to be old for someone to be willing to pay for them. Some sellers want as much for an empty box as what the whole kit should be selling for.. I amnot saying that they are getting what they want but you gotta give 'em "A" for effort..

Oh the eBay sellers. Those who will hope that some poor newbie doesn't figure out that they are just selling an empty box.

When I was new on eBay and eBay itself was new, there were few photos. The model category had no divisions between anything, so you scrolled through cars, military, figures... everything. And yet the category was small enough that you could browse through the entire thing.

Anyway... my first encounter with a shifty seller was in 1998 or so. I saw a kit I needed and bid. The seller even had a color photo of the kit box. I bid something like $17 plus postage. I got a regular size envelope in the mail with a kit instruction sheet in it. I immediately emailed the shifty seller, and although he had used a photo of the kit box, and the description was something like, "150 parts.. " he pointed out that somewhere in the several paragraphs he had included "ins". and that I was expected to know he was just selling the instruction sheet. And he wasn't making any adjustments.

There was no eBay protection of any kind back then, so I was pretty much stuck. It was a cheap lesson to learn and made me much more cautious in my dealings so it probably saved me a bunch more. And I gave him a Negative feedback, which he immediately retaliated. Yea, the good ole days!

[Rob Hall]

I save them..otherwise, the model would have no place to go

[slusher]

When i build the model the get thrown out...

[martinfan5]

Recycle bin to which they go .

[disabled modeler]

That's a really cool idea !

Thanks John....it does no damage to the boxes or walls really and makes really cool wall art. If its a cool box its stays...if not its for storage. I have a few cool old boxes...always looking for more and what was in them.

Edited June 22, 2015 by disabled modeler

[unclescott58]

I save them..otherwise, the model would have no place to go

Me too. I have more kits than I have display space. Must of models, after they're built, go back in their box and into storage. In someways sad but true. Yet I'm okay with it. I'm having fun.

Scott

[Tom Geiger]

Here's two walls of the back room in the International Model Car Builders Museum. They have done exactly as described, the many empty boxes are mounted with different eras represented. Came out pretty cool!

[W-409]

If the box is old and/or it's already rare even if it wouldn't be that old, it gets saved. Then if I like the boxart, I'll save it even if those kits weren't rare or old. Though nowadays when I buy lots of glue bombs and old builtups that often come without boxes, I haven't thrown a model kit box away for a long long time as they are great for storaging those projects. I'm having a bit problems with space, but at some point I guess that will make me sell some of my model kits or projects that I'm not so interested in instead of throwing those old boxes away...

[Russell C]

I ruin their collector value by using 'n abusing 'em. Here, for example is the box from the mid- late-'80s that provided me with the material to make my GTI pickup. But ever since that time it has contained pretty much my entire stock of model car wire material.