Price of rare kit's

[FujimiLover]

Hey there. When is it worth paying around 200 dollars or more for a 1/43 scale model car? My all time favorite tuner-car AKA Koenig Specials Ferrari Testarossa, is available in 1/43 but only as resin kit's or professionally built kit's from BBR. I've never seen theme for under 180 dollars on ebay.

Is it worth getting these? Should I just get the cheaper kit, or save up for the professionally built kit's? How easy is it to put these resin kit's together? My modeling skils are okay, but I dont' think they validate paying 200 for a resin kit only to be ruined by unskilled hands. At the same time, is it worth paying extra for one that's professionally built? I love these cars alot, and would love to some day have a collection of theme in 1/16 scale, 1/24 scale and 1/43 scale. I always thought as a collector it's cool to have the same car in multiple scales all lined up.

What's the most you've ever paid for a rare 1/43 resin kit? Or any 1/43 model for that matter? Would I be nut's to buy one at that price? BBR certainly makes some beautiful models of K-S cars.

[george 53]

Fuji, the most(and ONLY) expensive 43rd scale I own are the 2 kits Revell did about 20 years ago.They were a 67 Vette an a 65 Cobra.They were done in plastic, so they weren't any trouble to build. You might ask Bill Geary about how much they tend to run, as he has build a few. But I DON'T think they were cheap! I guess when you cast in such a small size, your detail work becomes ALOT harder, hence the price. But in reality I have NO idea WHY they're so expensive. They're just TOO small for me and my eyes!

[FujimiLover]

I think one particular reason for their price is their rarity. Some of these models are only limited to less than 1,000 peices. I've seen some listed on ebay that claim to be 1 of 300 peices or something very, very limited.

I remember visiting a model shop in Switzerland durring a high-school spring break trip. It was my favorite model/hobby shop of all time called Model Auto. Half way burried under the streets, you'd almost missed it if your eyes didnt' catch a glance at the cars in the window. It was a small shop, but stacked from floor to ceiling with every scale every car you could imagine. This was back in mid 90's. They had a few of these K-S models for sale at much lower prices, like 50-60 dollars I think. A bit much at that time too for a kid in high-school! LOL!

I just wish I had the available funds to buy whatever, whenever.

Always seems I find the coolest stuff when I'm flat broke. And when I do have money, I can't find anything I'm looking for.

[Fernando Roman]

Fujimi Lover: Are you looking models of these cars or for the 1/43 BBR version? If you are looking for models, Fujimi makes two version in 1/24. Check them out @ Hobby Search. Hope this helps.

http://www.1999.co.jp/eng/10041050

http://www.1999.co.jp/eng/10040858

Edited March 18, 2009 by Fernando Roman

[LDO]

Hey there. When is it worth paying around 200 dollars or more for a 1/43 scale model car?...

It's worth 200 dollars or more when you want it bad enough to pay 200 dollars or more. No joke. That's the only way to determine if something is "worth" the price. Does it have to be 1/43? Fujimi made Koenig TRs in 1/24 and 1/16. I'm sure you could get several for less than 200 bucks.

I wanted a Tamiya 1/12 Lola T-70 for years and years. I had bid on several glue bombs on ebay, always getting outbid. I finally bit the bullet and paid $130 for one...plus shipping from Australia. Same deal with a 1/24 resin model of a 1926 Miller Indy car by Etzel's Speed Classics. I wanted it bad enough to pay $178.00, therefore it was worth $178.00.

[FujimiLover]

I am well aware of the 1/24 kit's by Fujimi and have built several in the past, in fact those are my "unicorns" as something always goes wrong with theme. My last one was nearly perfect as I can possibly build it till it decided to fall off the shelfe one day and got broken, lost a couple of parts and was deemed un-fixable.

As a collector of 1/43 scale, and as someone who loves these cars in general, I would LOOOOOOOOOOVE to have these 1/43's. Still unsure of the price tag though, and not sure if it's worth the difference in getting one pre-made where the quality is bar-none, or getting a kit and risking poor quality results. Building one myselfe and getting poor quality results would be a heart brake for me and would make me mad at spending that much on something that turned to poop. So again I ask, is it worth spending the EXTRA for a professionally built one, versus a kit?

[Modelmartin]

I was involved in 1/43rd kits for many years beginning in about 1979 when Record and Starter kits ran about $20-25!!! Aside from the usual "what's it worth to you" - I would add that some 1/43rd models ,especially factory built by quality outfits, are good investments. They rarely lose value so if ever necessary you can usually get your investment back. I bought a Fadini Speed record car for $45.00 and sold it for over $400. Of course here and there I took a bath on something common or underwhelming. If you can afford the factory built BBR I would say get it. If you need to practice building 1/43rds try some Heller or old AMT plastic kits - they are cheap! Anther interesting quirk about 1/43rds is that they gain value when they are built well. They are worth more than the unbuilt kit which is opposite plastic kits in 99% of the cases.

[FujimiLover]

Thank you for your input. I would have to say, if/when I have 300 available to blow, and if/when I find a professionally built Koenig Speicals Ferrari Competition, you know, the Testarossa that resembles an F-40, god what an awesome car, I'd buy it.

Sadly, back in high-school day's, mid 90's, as I mentioned that store I visited in Switserland, I actually purchased one of those BBR professionally built 1/43 models of Koenig-Specials Ferrari 355, I think back then it was around 60-70 dollars, another awesome car. I say sadley cause back in high-school day's, I didn't care that much about my cars, "toys", as I do now. Shoot, I've collected thousands of toy cars over the past 35 years but as a kid who cares, right? You saw something, you wanted it, you got it, you admired it or played with it, and after a month it's broken and gone.

Now as an adult, and a true-collector, we care more about these thing's.

I dream of having my own house with wall's covered with shelves from floor to ceiling covering every scale from big 1/18 down to 1/43 of every make or model known to man kind. Each make would have it's own section in it's own scale. 1/18 Ferrari's, 1/43 Lamborghini's, et'c, et'c.

As part of that collection, I would also love to have professional display cases like what you may have seen at say Sharper Image back when they were displaying/selling 1/18 scale die-cast model cars. I'd love to have display systems like that at every corner of the living room! Yea, I know I dream big. If your not going to dream big, why dream at all right?

The Ferrari 355 I bought back then was a beautiful red one, well here on ebay, is a black one, at three times the price!

http://cgi.ebay.com/1-43-BBR-Ferrari-KOENI...1QQcmdZViewItem

If link does not work, just go to ebay and check out item number 360138742958.

Edited March 19, 2009 by FujimiLover

[Harry P.]

So again I ask, is it worth spending the EXTRA for a professionally built one, versus a kit?

The only person who can answer that question is YOU!

What does it matter what someone else's opinion may be? Someone else might have no interest in that particular car and wouldn't pay $5 for it, while another person might have been wanting one for years and would gladly pay whatever the asking price was. Both opinions are equally valid, and both are totally irrelevant to you. They're not going to pay for the model, YOU are! So only you can decide whether or not it's worth it to spend your money for the kit... or for anything else, for that matter.

[FujimiLover]

..................................well,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,okay then..............................................thank's.

I guess bigest question shouldn't be regarding the make/model of the car itselfe. Cause obviously that is personal choice. My real question SHOULD have been, are BBR resin kit's worth that much money? Is their quality that good? Are there any issues I should know about before dumping greenbacks on a 1/43 resin kit or model?