Always. Open. The Box.

[High octane]

I picked up a sealed kit for a friend of mine and sent it to him. Upon arrival of the kit he called me and said there was NO body in the kit. I thought that he was pullin' my leg, but no he wan't and I've known him since the mid 60's.

[Rob Hall]

I remember getting a new sealed Revell '59 Ford Skyliner as a teenager in the late 80s and wondering where the body was when I opened the box.   It was the first time I'd encountered a Revell multi-piece body. 

Close to 20 years ago, I bought an opened but advertised as complete MPC Dodge 'Thunderstruck' 4x4 pickup on eBay.   It arrived complete except for the cab. I contacted the eBay seller--he couldn't find the body, so he sent me a sealed version of the same kit (that was complete).   

Edited July 22, 2018 by Rob Hall

[D. Battista]

  On 7/22/2018 at 2:41 AM, Joe Handley said:

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.

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Thats a good point Joe. That could  possibly be a good reason  for a kit in the wrong box at a retail store. I didn't thik of that. But that does sadly happen sometimes in this hobby.

I bought a Stars and Stripes Corvette at a swap meet still shrink wrapped, it was a box of empty sprues and a couple pick up truck beds.

[1930fordpickup]

  On 7/22/2018 at 2:41 AM, Joe Handley said:

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.

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All good points Joe. The 2 AMT kits  that I have that are different bodies than the box were purchased at swap meets so you never know. One is the 65 Chevy Wagon  kit with the 63 Impala body ( other have posted about this problem)  Made in 2000 in China. The other is a 62 Catalina kit (Chrome and windows only correct parts) with a 65 (?) 442  body and interior. Made in Mexico in 1998.   I posted place of manufacturing and date just to show era of kit.   It is what it is as they say know. Both opened way too late to do anything about it. Being that I purchased them at a swap meet not much I could do anyway.