Collectors tins and things.

[HotRodaSaurus]

I I spotted a Rommel's Rod in our local hobby shop at a bargain price(for the UK) so had to have it. Non are advertised on the 'Bay' here in the UK so this was a pleasant surprise.

A little lower on the shelf was the much awaited 60s TV Batmobile kit by Polar Lights in a tinmarked up at £50!!! (about US $80?)

I pulled this out to find tucked behind it, boxed versions for £24.99. Then I realised it was not the 1/25 scale kit but the 1/32. Now I don't know what was in the tin but was it worth double the price? Not to me, even the boxed version was way too much.

This got me thinking though, so how much would the 1/25 scale Batmobile cost boxed or tinned? about $100!!! And what about all those other collectable kits, the Munsters double kit tinned, I saw the Red Baron in a tin some years back for £12, that was the same as the boxed version would have cost, now they sell for well over that. Would a collector really buy anything if it was released in some fancy packaging, the Rommel's Rod in say a plain sand coloured box with text and no pictures like the old Blueprinter AMT kits because only 5000 were produced. Judging by a few magazine articles I have read over the years and some TV progs, Yes they would buy the kits for that reason.

The Polar Lights 1/32Batmobile to me is definitely poor value for money tinned or boxed.

So is the initial cost of the produced kit high for these or is the mark up put on by the distributor of the store aiming at collectors. As a comparison a tin of biscuits I received last Christmas had an embossed design of a 1930s ocean liner on it, the tin of a similar size to the Polar Batmobile cost no more than £15(I hinted I wanted it). So my guess is there must be something special in these boxes.....or is it just a ploy to spend your £££ or $$$

Ok, bit of a rant but I wanted that kit,the 1/25th not the 1/32, nearly spent my cash but common sense made me walk out with just a Rommel's Rod.

John

Edited July 27, 2011 by HotRodaSaurus

[Junkman]

I think that's quite easy. If you like the tinned kits, you buy them, if not, you leave them. It is my understanding though, that in some of the tinned kits, they include bonus stuff, which they omit from the cartonned counterparts.

As always, all you have to do is stay patient until they have clearance sales.

Edited July 27, 2011 by Junkman

[Harry P.]

Generally models released in "collector tins" are priced higher from the manufacturer than the same kit in a standard cardboard box (and of course that higher price is passed along by the retailer).

Is the extra cost worth it?

Maybe... if you buy the kit with no intent of building it, but just as an "investment." Somewhere down the line, depending on the size of the initial release and collector demand, you could conceivably make a profit by selling it on ebay a few years down the road.

If you really just want to build the kit, it makes no sense at all to pay a bunch more for the kit and a fancy tin box. The empty tin box alone will probably never have much collector value.

So bottom line... buy the model in the "collector box" if your intent is to try and resell it in the future.

Buy the kit in the regular old cardboard box if you intend to actually build the kit.

[HotRodaSaurus]

I didn't realise there were extras in the box. just read that the Munsters duo has a booklet with it.

Hmmmm, yes Harry I guess if you plan on re selling at a later date you could hope to make something though I dread to think how much stuff I would have stored up if I hoped it would make me a fortune on all those limited edition things out there.

John

[Chuck Most]

I know the Double Dragster tin has tinted glass and printed whitewalls and new tool, pad-printed slicks, but the standard, cardboard-box version does not. Personally, paying extra just for a collectible tin box isn't worth it, but if it includes a few extra bells and whistles, I'll be more inclined to pick a couple up, like I did with the tin Double Dragster release!

[Chuck Most]

I know a couple of Coca-Cola fanatics who have all of the old AMT Coke kits, as well as the new Lindberg releases. Are they ever going to build them? Nope. But there's a huge market for Coke collectibles, and these kits fall into that realm.

[Draggon]

I wasnt a fan of the tins, thinking who cares, it just added to the cost. When I got my double dragster in the tin I saw how nice it was, not to mention the extra parts. Now I like them. I am looking forward to the 57 Chevy tin release.

[Terry Sumner]

How about those Revell kits a few years ago that had the cardboard diorama scenes in them? I picked up the Deuce roadster one with the McDonalds scene in it mainly because I had read somewhere that they had been recalled because of some licensing problem? Was that true?

[Chuck Most]

Not sure if the licencencing thing was true, but I had one of those McDonald's kits (ex-Monogram Deuce Roadster), and I think the diorama pieces ended up getting crushed.

[randx0]

I still can't figure out what round 2 added to the dukes of hazard kit .the tin isn't great we all know the kit isn't great and the poster could never be worth the extra dough. as far as collectables in tins these days I don't think they will ever acheive the value of kits that cannot be made available ever again.

[ra7c7er]

If you like the tin for yourself then it might be worth it but as has been said it's never going to be worth anything collector market wise.

[Guest Markus355]

the dbl dragster tin also had an expanded decal sheet the cardboard vers didnt have either.

[Harry P.]

From a purely marketing standpoint these "collector tin" kits are pure genius!

Take a tired old model kit whose tooling was paid for eons ago, add a few cheap to produce "new" pieces like posters, decals, maybe a handful of odds and ends parts... put it all in a "collectible" tin box that probably costs pennies a piece to manufacture, crank up the MSRP by 50% or more... and the people will line up to buy them.

Genius! And it seems to be working. I have to hand it to the manufacturers who are offering these... uh... "collectible" kits. It's probably the single smartest business move they've made in years.

P.T. Barnum is smiling...

[ra7c7er]

From a purely marketing standpoint these "collector tin" kits are pure genius!

Take a tired old model kit whose tooling was paid for eons ago, add a few cheap to produce "new" pieces like posters, decals, maybe a handful of odds and ends parts... put it all in a "collectible" tin box that probably costs pennies a piece to manufacture, crank up the MSRP by 50% or more... and the people will line up to buy them.

Genius! And it seems to be working. I have to hand it to the manufacturers who are offering these... uh... "collectible" kits. It's probably the single smartest business move they've made in years.

P.T. Barnum is smiling...

I agree with what you are saying and I do think they are a smart idea but I don't really see the people lining up to by them. Every hobby shop I go to has them on the shelf and usually you can find them 25% off or more. The only reason I bought the two collectors tins I have is because the collector tins on clearance were cheaper than the regular box kit.

The only people buying the movie kit tins are movie collectors who "need" the tins for their collections. I don't really see any modelers lining up to buy them.

[Harry P.]

I don't really see any modelers lining up to buy them.

Maybe "lining up" was a bit of an exaggeration. But they are selling, so somebody is buying the "collector" angle.

[Harry P.]

Every hobby shop I go to has them on the shelf and usually you can find them 25% off or more.

The hobby shop can give them away if they want... the manufacturers don't care.

What counts is the cost the manufacturer charges the distributor.

Just like real cars. The manufacturer sells to the dealer for the price the manufacturer decides. What the dealer then charges to the car buyer is the dealer's business. The manufacturer doesn't sell to people, it sells to dealerships.

[Bernard Kron]

I think Mark Taylor sums up the Collectors Edition side of things very well. Collectors Versions, commercial failures, and outdated (now nostalgic) kits, all share a rarity that broadens the market for them far beyond the world of model builders. The model companies realize this and builders benefit from the availability of these kits on the open market.

I'll throw in my two bits from the point of view of a non-collector buyer. I bought the AMT Double Dragster Collectors Edition tin box because it contained quite a few significant extra parts and, very importantly, those extra parts changed the character of the kit enough to justify not waiting for the later release of the cheaper, simplified cardboard box version. Besides the tires, decals and tinted glass already mentioned, this version contains a duplicate dragster chrome tree which I viewed as a great spare parts source for future builds. As it turned out once I got the kit in my hands I was inspired to try and extract as many separate builds out of the Tin Box as I could. I'm out to 4 and I've really enjoyed the stimulation this "extended version" has provided me.