Kits you have, that you will never build

[Jantrix]

Nope. None. If I'm not going to build a kit, it's sold or traded away to someone who will appreciate it. I don't have the space to keep stuff like that.

[Modelmartin]

I bought a Jo-Han Sox & Martin Cuda back in '71 when it came out with the intent of saving it. I was 14 at the time. I still have it and it is still sealed all these years later. I have built a few of them over the years but this one won't be just for the heck of it.

[Daddyfink]

After helping liquidate my late friends collection, you realize how much stuff you really have and what becomes of it after you are gone. It becomes someone else's problem.

I got rid of many a "rare" and "Valuable" kit that was not built and it really makes you think, Why not build them? Really, why not enjoy them instead of saving them for somoeone else, because that is where they are going to end up unless your family or friends throw them in the trash.

And if you are doing it for an investment, then you better get to moving them out as the market, i.e. buyers, are rapidly shrinking.

So, enjoy your rare kit by building them or at least think you are going to someday.

[John Goschke]

AMT's horrible '58 Plymouth, and somewhere between 200 or 300 airplane kits.

[cobraman]

As far as ones I have no plans on building that would be my Cobra kits collection. I have 50 to 55 of them and just have them because I collect AC Cobra as well as Daytona Cobra stuff.

[Hondo]

Two come to mind that seem like they won't ever get built.

One is the JoHan 1969 Plymouth Road Runner. I had one new in high school (that was cool).

Two is a Viet Nam era Huey. Not much for building military stuff (I love aviation though)

Seems I never get around to these.

I'm like others, I buy more in a year than I get finished. About 100 waiting to be built now......

[Mark]

After noticing that I already had most of them in mint unbuilt condition, I decided to track down the AMT Ford Falcon (including Ranchero) and Fairlane kits that I didn't have. The Falcon annual kits run from 1960-69, the Fairlanes 1962-71 ('68-'71 are Torinos, but still Fairlanes as far as I'm concerned). There are a few variations like the funny cars and Modified Stocker versions that were converted from obsolete annuals. I've now got every issue of them, at least from the original (Troy, MI) AMT company. I had some of the later Ertl and RC2 issues but decided to cut it off at a point, and have done that. I think I do have every version of the '65 Falcon funny car that Model King issued, though. I liked the fact that Dave worked to get that kit back out when the people who ran AMT at that time didn't know or care.

The last Fairlane kit I found (original issue Modified Stocker Torino) came off of eBay, the one before that ('68 Torino annual) was found at the AACA meet at Hershey a few years ago. Both of those were/are sealed-box kits (though most of the other ones I have aren't sealed). In the mid-Eighties I bought five '62 annual kits because I owned (and still own) a 1:1 '62, the same body style as the kit. Those weren't terribly popular back then so they were cheap compared to some other annual kits. The last Falcon (1/32 scale Ranchero) came from a local seller of collector kits. The second last Falcon was (as I remember) the '63 convertible snapper, another eBay find. Those are tough to find in the box because some promo model sellers were sticking them together and trying to pass them off as promotional models.

I'll probably keep all of those as-is because I've got rebuilder versions of all the annuals, and any of the other variations I'm interested in. For a while I was trying to round up every Indy 500 pace car available in 1/25 scale, both builders and mint unbuilt. I have since thinned out the unbuilt ones...can't keep everything. I'm trying to make it look like a "manageable sickness".

Sometimes someone will ask if I "need that many model car kits"...my answer is "I only need a few of them, but I don't know which ones...and sometimes I change my mind as to which ones I need...it's better to have it and not need it, than to decide I need it and then go out looking for it". They don't eat, and I don't rent space to store them. I've started thinning out some stuff, but on my own terms.

[Superpeterbilt]

Me personally, I have a ton of truck models still in the box. At any given point, I can be working on ten of them at a time. There are some however, that were vintage still sealed when I bought them. These are just for display. I couldnt bring myself to open them. I have duplicates of most of them anyway. To name a few of them;

Mack DM800 with gravel trailer - still sealed

Autocar dump truck 1st edition - still sealed

Coors Freightliner Big Rig set - still sealed

Peterbilt wrecker 2nd edition - still sealed

Now, I cant promise that after the next millenium when I run out of stuff to build, that these wont get opened. I would like to see them in a modeling museum one day( someone needs to build one).

[Mark72JPS]

I have two that more than likely will never be built. An original issue 1/8 scale Monogram Big Drag and the Monogram Tom Daniel Mean Maverick.

[ToyLvr]

If I live to be 170 or so, I'll build every single one...except one original AMT Ala Kart / '29 Ford double kit. I just like to take all the parts out and look at them sometimes. And the smell really takes me back. Cheap and easy time travel, you know?

Ditto here, only a couple of exceptions: an original-issue JoHan Chrysler Turbine Car, and a Pocher 1/8 scale Alfa Romeo (because both still exceed my skill level).

[BrianC]

Well, when I bought each of the kits in my stash, I intended to build it - I even had an idea in mind at the time of exactly how I wanted to build it.

I also build other subjects - aircraft, real space and even have a couple of sci-fi kits.

My problem is my enthusiasm for each tends to vary a lot - and the pile of 'things I will build' tends to vary too. I also have a pile of 'why the hell did I buy that' which also has kits that come and go - all depends on the mood of the day!

Its still fun after all these years - and that is the most important factor.

[cartpix]

I have over 300 kits, I build an average of 3 a year, I'm 57 years old, you do the math. I intend to build, more, when I retire, so if I crank out 1 a week, I might be able to pull it off. I need to start building more out of the box and less of outside the box.

Edited April 25, 2014 by cartpix

[Deathgoblin]

Actually not many. Definitely the Lindberg '72 Dodge Challenger. Probably the MPC '67 GTO, but that might get modded instead. There might be one or two more.

[High octane]

The solution to having a lot of kits is to buy a bigger house? I think not, it's just a "BAND AID," and no more.

[ZTony8]

I've got an unstarted MPC '71 Charger kit with the fogged paint job on it(the butterscotch colored body with black fogging-and an orange interior!).I've been trying to peddle this thing for over two years at our toy shows without any luck.I'm at the point of just building the thing but if I do build it I HAVE to paint the thing.It's just too ugly to leave as molded.But if I do that then no one will ever know it was this "uniquely" painted model.What to do?

[johnbuzzed]

Tony, I would do the interior black with some "butterscotch" touches.

I don't think I have any kits that I will intentionally never build. I bought each kit will all intentions of building the kit and I do have ideas/thoughts/plans for each (but they can be subject to change). Of course, I might never build some if time goes too quickly and I build too slowly...

[Guest]

I only have one kit that I won't build and it really isn't all that rare or so I've been told. It's an AMT '57 Chevy "Pepper Shaker". The reason I can't bring myself to build it is that it has so many cool parts and extras that you just don't see very often or I don't. It was still sealed when I got it with a small tear. But, I had to open it to see what was inside. It has a really cool old brochure from Chevrolet titled "Youth In Action". It has stuff about soap box derby racing, the "Junior Miss Pageant" and driver's education in it . It also has some cool photos of a '67 RS Camaro convertible and a new '68 Impala four door. It has a ton of old cool custom parts along with a tube of AMT plastic putty and a small piece of sandpaper. To me, there's no reason to build it and ruin the package when there are literally tons of AMT '57 Chevies floating around that have almost all of the same parts. It's like a small box of modeling history and I'll never violate it.

[ZTony8]

A while back I had an MPC Manta Ray Corvette custom kit bought as part of a collection(the one based off of a mid 60s Vette).It was still factory sealed.I was half tempted to open it and see what it looked like and maybe build it.But I realized that if I did that a good portion of the value as an unbuilt kit would go away.So I sold it.Later on a fellow modeler found one opened and I finally got to see the contents.It wasn't all THAT fantastic so I'm glad I sold it.

A friend of mine has one of those "Mean Maverick' funny cars unbuilt.That's one he'll never build.

[Ron Hamilton]

You're kidding me, Right? I intend to build all of the kits I have, but that will never happen.

[sjordan2]

I build larger scale kits, which is a pretty dicey endeavor. I have 4 1/8 Jag XK-E kits that I will never build, plus a few kits I bought as reference for discussions on this forum (such as the 1962 Corvette), and I was so stoked to build the 1/12 Ferrari 275 GTB by Revell that I didn't stop to check out the kit before I bought 3 of them (expensively). Then I checked them out and found that they were some of the worst, most inaccurate kits ever made. Similar experience with buying 4 Revell/Monogram Mercedes 300 Gullwings, which can be saved with some extra work.

[Mark72JPS]

Tony, I told you that if you had charged a dollar to everyone who looked at that Charger you would have made what you wanted for it by now.

[Luc Janssens]

AMT's horrible '58 Plymouth

sold mine...

[lordairgtar]

I've got an unstarted MPC '71 Charger kit with the fogged paint job on it(the butterscotch colored body with black fogging-and an orange interior!).I've been trying to peddle this thing for over two years at our toy shows without any luck.I'm at the point of just building the thing but if I do build it I HAVE to paint the thing.It's just too ugly to leave as molded.But if I do that then no one will ever know it was this "uniquely" painted model.What to do?

I would give that kit a good home. I had one back when it was a new kit.

[Tom Geiger]

The solution to having a lot of kits is to buy a bigger house? I think not, it's just a "BAND AID," and no more.

Band Aid for what?

If you perceive that having a model collection and having fun with it is a problem, then sell all your stuff and become part of the boring majority. People who go through life as TV watchers without any interests besides eating and sleeping. My wife has a friend that lives in a model home where there are no possessions and nothing ever out of place. She and her husband live in a large house. She doesn't work but she's made a full time job out of keeping that house spotless. She literally tears down and cleans every unused room weekly. Shampoos carpets once a month. Her husband came into a box of 1950s car magazines when his father died. He proudly showed them to me. Next time he went looking for them, he found out the wife had thrown the box out because she couldn't bear having that 'clutter'. You tell me who has a problem?

[Mark]

The solution to having a lot of kits is to buy a bigger house? I think not, it's just a "BAND AID," and no more.

Beats paying for rental space, which is something that is done by more than one person I have talked to. I'll never do that. As far as I'm concerned, my home is paid for, both vehicles are paid for, bills get paid on time, I'm setting funds aside for both savings and retirement, and there's enough left to cover other expenses, charity, and anything else that comes up. I'll do as I please as long as the basics are covered, and as far as I'm concerned anyone else who wants to can do the same. If someone has a big collection, or half a dozen collector cars, season tickets for some sports team, or a new set of golf clubs every other year, but "can't afford" the necessities, that's where other people could (should) have issues...