Always. Open. The Box.

[iamsuperdan]

Somewhere around here, I think in the rare kit thread, there's a discussion about opening your boxes. When you get a kit, do you immediatelty unseal it, open it, and inspect it?

I always do, some don't, it's all preference. 

Now when a kit becomes vintage or old, and it is still sealed, that can increase the kit's value.

However, it also makes it just about impossible to go back to the manufacturer to get a fix.

So recently, I did a trade and received a mint, unopened Monogram kit of the ZZ Top Eliminator.

Super stoked, as I've been after this one for a while.

I remove the shrink wrap, open the box, and start checking it out. First thing I notice is the chrome tree. Hmm...maybe it's the wrong tree, as the wheels are off. 

Then I look more closely. Definitely the wrong tree. 

And there's something not quite ZZ Top-ish about this decal sheet.

Wait a sec...

 

 

Yup. Monogram put the Beach Boys kit in the ZZ Top box.

 

*le sigh*

Ah well.

Anyone want to trade an Beach Boys Li'l Deuce Coupe for an Eliminator?

 

[stavanzer]

Original Eliminator or the one that is on the shelves now?

[iamsuperdan]

There's a new version?

[Rob Hall]

  On 7/18/2018 at 1:47 PM, iamsuperdan said:

There's a new version?

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It was reissued a few months ago, one of the last Revell US releases before the end.  

[Mr. Metallic]

  On 7/18/2018 at 1:47 PM, iamsuperdan said:

There's a new version?

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Same kit, but in a new box, with the Original ZZ Top album cover style box art.  I think it's molded in white plastic(please correct me if I'm wrong) Decals should be better too. Just released this Spring by Revell.

[gtx6970]

https://www.ebay.com/itm/Revell-ZZ-Top-Eliminator-1933-Ford-85-4465-1-24-Model-Car-Mountain-FS/382371173392?epid=15020018813&hash=item5907191410%3Ag%3AGkQAAOSwoFVadhI8&_nkw=zz+top+eliminator&_from=R40&rt=nc

 

not mine

[Greg Myers]

[Ich_Will]

LOL. Red coupe...same thing really. 

[Leonidas]

At least there's no flash on those parts...

[iamsuperdan]

It actually looks like a decent kit, just not something I'm interested in. 

I don't know, maybe I'll build this, try my hand at something I have never built before.

[Ace-Garageguy]

All. Old. Red cars. Look the same. 

[Mr. Metallic]

  On 7/18/2018 at 3:53 PM, iamsuperdan said:

It actually looks like a decent kit, just not something I'm interested in. 

I don't know, maybe I'll build this, try my hand at something I have never built before.

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The majority of the Beach Boys deuce coupe kit you got is based on the old Monogram Little Deuce tooling. It builds up really well if your aim is a traditional rod. The problem is the 3W body they tooled up for this kit is wrong. The roof is the culprit. If you're interested I can send you a roadster body/interior and windshield if you really want to build it. I've bought a bunch of these kits over the years for the suspension parts, so I have a few extra bodies

[Richard Bartrop]

I tend to be on the opposite side of the wrapping issue.  In half a century of modelling, wrong contents have happened to me exactly once.  On the other hand, I've learned all too well what "kit appears to be complete" really means. Buying on eBay is a gamble anyhow and If the wrapper's intact, it means one less random factor..

Edited July 18, 2018 by Richard Bartrop

[Art Anderson]

  On 7/18/2018 at 6:58 PM, Mr. Metallic said:

The majority of the Beach Boys deuce coupe kit you got is based on the old Monogram Little Deuce tooling. It builds up really well if your aim is a traditional rod. The problem is the 3W body they tooled up for this kit is wrong. The roof is the culprit. If you're interested I can send you a roadster body/interior and windshield if you really want to build it. I've bought a bunch of these kits over the years for the suspension parts, so I have a few extra bodies

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Actually, the entire body shell is way incorrect.  The '32 Ford Deluxe Coupe (most know it as the 3-window) body is actually about 9" wider across the doors, making it supposedly a 3-place car.  Sorry, but Monogram really dropped the ball on this one.

Art

[1930fordpickup]

At least you have the whole kit in the wrong box.

I have 2 AMT kits that are half and half, Totally Useless. 

[Mark]

  On 7/18/2018 at 10:20 PM, Art Anderson said:

Actually, the entire body shell is way incorrect.  The '32 Ford Deluxe Coupe (most know it as the 3-window) body is actually about 9" wider across the doors, making it supposedly a 3-place car.  Sorry, but Monogram really dropped the ball on this one.

Art

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That's not even getting into the asymmetry...rear window is off-center, and some of the side "trim" jogs up and down.  I wanted to combine one of the coupe bodies with the Early Iron issue of the roadster to create a "phantom" Early Iron coupe, but that hot mess of a coupe body won't hold my interest for any length of time...

[Greg Myers]

  On 7/18/2018 at 4:52 PM, Ace-Garageguy said:

All. Old. Red cars. Look the same. 

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Just like all the red Camaros on the covers of Hot Rod  Magazine.

[RickRollerLT1]

Finally, someone on here brings up a scenario like this! Least it's the same make and model type and not a totally different car that looks similar but still the wrong kit in the wrong box. 

Case in point, about 10 years ago my Dad and I went to a now defunct LHS to get the AMT '69 Rivera they had so he could make a replica of the 1:1 his parents drove. The AMT '69 Rivera was the 2005-ish RC2 issue in this box:

 

When we opened it, the entire contents (even instructions) of this kit

was in the Rivera's box instead. We were both like ??????

 

Maybe the RC2 factory packer somehow thought the Buick was the same car as the Dodge? (even though they don't look anything alike) 

 

Maybe the worker had a blind condition of some sort and though both cars were the same since they were molded in grey plastic??

 

My dad joked "maybe the General Lees at Michael's are Rivera's in disguise?". There was no way RC2 was going to get a replacement due to the Round 2 takeover, so we then grabbed a RC2 issue GL at Michaels with a 40% off at his insistence to see if his joke turns out to be a freaky coincidence. Opened that one up and yup, had a full '69 Rivera in the Charger box.

 

Then about 3 years ago I bought a Revell '65 Chevy Stepside 2 in 1 from Michael's

 

and then get this: the contents and instructions were of

 

 

Now talk about bizarre....

Edited July 19, 2018 by RickRollerLT1

[PARTSMARTY]

How many of you guys remember the HEMI UNDER GLASS with the wrong year body in it-bummer !!!

[disabled modeler]

  On 7/19/2018 at 9:26 AM, PARTSMARTY said:

How many of you guys remember the HEMI UNDER GLASS with the wrong year body in it-bummer !!!

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Marty..I had that one...and the issue of the 65 Chevelle wagons that for some reason had a 63 Impala HT in them instead..???...Then there was my Revell Unimog snow plow truck kit missing the tires and wheels..???

[john sharisky]

 

I won on eBay a sealed AMT '75 AMC Matador X. Factory seal/wrap. Opened it. No chrome tree.

John

 

[Plashdaddy]

I got this one off fleabay, it even said it was ‘checked and complete’ and by complete they obviously meant no engine, wheels and half the frame

seller was a total gent about it though and apologised, gave me a refund and Iet me keep what was there. So at least I got this neat box for my shelf.

[Mike999]

  On 7/20/2018 at 10:57 PM, Plashdaddy said:

I got this one off fleabay, it even said it was ‘checked and complete’ and by complete they obviously meant no engine, wheels and half the frame

seller was a total gent about it though and apologised, gave me a refund and Iet me keep what was there. So at least I got this neat box for my shelf.

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Same thing happened to me on eBay, with the 1/35 scale kit shown below. That Dodge ambulance kit has been re-issued many times by Italeri, Bilek and others. But I like the original Peerless "action" box art from the 1970s.  And none of the re-issues have the figures of a stretcher crew and casualty included. 

The eBay listing said "mint & complete."  But when I got it, the chassis and all related parts were missing. I had the same result as you.  The seller refunded my money and told me to keep the kit.  If I ever glue-bomb the body of an Italeri kit, at least I have spare parts handy.

 

 

 

[D. Battista]

  On 7/19/2018 at 12:43 AM, 1930fordpickup said:

At least you have the whole kit in the wrong box.

I have 2 AMT kits that are half and half, Totally Useless. 

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Wow... I have been collecting kits for 23 years and have never run across a kit in the wrong box or half and halves....  Guess I have been lucky...

[Joe Handley]

  On 7/21/2018 at 3:43 PM, D. Battista said:

Wow... I have been collecting kits for 23 years and have never run across a kit in the wrong box or half and halves....  Guess I have been lucky...

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Same here, but as somebody who spent 24 years working retail including around the time stores started this "we'll take anything back, in any condition" nonsense, I wonder how many weren't so much of a factory mistake as it is somebody reboxing and reshrink wrapping something then returning it, or taking it back with a mix of parts and unwrapped, returning it no questions asked so long as it looks to have a model in it, then the store employees not knowing any difference, re wrap it and put it on the shelf since there appears to be nothing wrong with it.