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Sealed or open?


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On 6/17/2018 at 8:32 AM, thatz4u said:

I never buy kits on Ebay, too many horror stories from others, too overpriced, etc. I have found some great vintage kits at swapmeets at reasonilble prices, & I can look in the boxes.

I pretty much buy all my kits on ebay. Its almost always a better deal than in store. But i dont buy vintage kits. Mostly just tamiya/fujimi/aoshima newer stuff. So I assume quality control is better.

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I myself only open 'bout 30% of my kits as I know that I'll never get to build all of them. With sealed kits, I have found them easier to sell in the future as well as donate to club auctions, raffles, or trade. People have a good feeling about sealed kits knowing that it's "all there."

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On 6/14/2018 at 7:49 PM, Ace-Garageguy said:

And frankly, I still find just looking at the parts, decals and instructions in something new to be part of the fun.   :D

I like to look inside the box, old or new, for the reasons already already mentioned, but mostly I like to look at the parts & instructions! 

On 6/17/2018 at 11:01 PM, peteski said:

If I feel nostalgic (like that old price tag on old kit's shrink wrap). I flip the box upside down and using a hobby knife I cut the wrapping using the gap between the cover and the bottom of the box to guide the  knife. I do this on 3 sides.  At that point the box can be opened but the wrap stays intact on the cover. When closing i fold the bottom part of the wrap into the cover anc close up the box.  That way it still looks shrink-wrapped but it can be opened.

I open all my kits this way, only I usually cut all 4 sides & discard the shrink wrap bottom. This way the box is protected from "shelf wear"...

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So the answer/question seems to be, Are you a builder or collector.  For builders, I find it unlikely that shrink wrap protects the model itself except perhaps in high humidity areas.  Protecting the box from wear is a collector thing.  "Original condition" is a collector thing.  For the builder, as long as all the parts and instructions are there, it is good to go.  As for me, I just keep the box, because it keeps all the bits together.  I am not a collector, though I have a collection.  I guess it comes down to intent.  I honestly intend to build everything I have, but know that I am not likely to live that long. The collection is a self defense mechanism to keep from paying high after market prices and having what I want on had to build it when I am ready.  It is a fine line we walk.

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1 hour ago, Pete J. said:

For builders, I find it unlikely that shrink wrap protects the model itself except perhaps in high humidity areas.

Humidity, at any level,  has absolutely no effect whatsoever on polystyrene parts. Styrene plastic doesn't absorb water. Neither do vinyl/rubber tires. Decal sheets are another matter. It's best to place decal sheets inside a ziploc bag and store them in a cool, dry location. Throwing a couple silica gel bags into the drawer, box, etc. to absorb moisture present in the air also helps.

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4 hours ago, SfanGoch said:

Humidity, at any level,  has absolutely no effect whatsoever on polystyrene parts. Styrene plastic doesn't absorb water. Neither do vinyl/rubber tires. Decal sheets are another matter. It's best to place decal sheets inside a ziploc bag and store them in a cool, dry location. Throwing a couple silica gel bags into the drawer, box, etc. to absorb moisture present in the air also helps.

Not to mention, that with old decals, if one has ANY concern about them splitting, breaking up during the soaking and application process--an airbrushed coat of your favorite clear model lacquer does an excellent job of making those decals very workable indeed!  Years ago, in my Indy Car modeling time, I latched onto a small stash of decal PAPER, that is, the paper backing, with the gelatin glue already applied, but NO DECAL FILM WHATSOEVER.  I simply airbrushed clear acylic lacquer on that paper, then hand-painted such graphics as I needed, and when dry, cut out the graphics, and applied my own hand-painted decals as usual!

 

77coyote1-vi.jpg

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Bear in mind, if you will, that the process of shrink-wrapping didn't really hit until about 1967-68 or thereabouts.  So, any kits older than that, that are now shrink-wrapped have been done much more recently.  For that reason,  if I am looking at an older kit with the idea of buying it, I much prefer it to be completely unwrapped, unsealed.

Art

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4 minutes ago, Art Anderson said:

Not to mention, that with old decals, if one has ANY concern about them splitting, breaking up during the soaking and application process--an airbrushed coat of your favorite clear model lacquer does an excellent job of making those decals very workable indeed!  Years ago, in my Indy Car modeling time, I latched onto a small stash of decal PAPER, that is, the paper backing, with the gelatin glue already applied, but NO DECAL FILM WHATSOEVER.  I simply airbrushed clear acylic lacquer on that paper, then hand-painted such graphics as I needed, and when dry, cut out the graphics, and applied my own hand-painted decals as usual!

 

77coyote1-vi.jpg

This is good to know because I have quite a few old decals that look kind of brittle.

 

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12 hours ago, Pete J. said:

So the answer/question seems to be, Are you a builder or collector.  For builders, I find it unlikely that shrink wrap protects the model itself except perhaps in high humidity areas.  Protecting the box from wear is a collector thing.  "Original condition" is a collector thing.  For the builder, as long as all the parts and instructions are there, it is good to go.  As for me, I just keep the box, because it keeps all the bits together.  I am not a collector, though I have a collection.  I guess it comes down to intent.  I honestly intend to build everything I have, but know that I am not likely to live that long. The collection is a self defense mechanism to keep from paying high after market prices and having what I want on had to build it when I am ready.  It is a fine line we walk.

I'm a builder, but I know that I'll never be able to build all the models I collected accumulated over the years.  I'm also hoping to be able to at least try to sell some of my unbuilt kits before I leave my mortal coil (assuming that there is still interest in them at that time).  So keeping them in good condition is a plus.

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I do have one exception to my opinion of "still sealed" does'nt matter. And I like to see what the condition of kits are. I have a complete set of AMT Millinnium kits that have the word Millinnium scrolled across the shrink wrap at an angle. I have chosen to keep the wrap on these. I think this is kind of part of the box art packaging.  But I do have a some doubles of certain Millinnium kits that are open.

5b2e95521848d_amtmillinniumkit.jpg.83202ea3d783d71c87bc784833b6e4b0.jpg

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