i went to hobby town usa saturday i bought 3 garage series hotwheels 2 model kits (58,60 impala from revell) and a bunch of evergreen plastic (scratch builder) i spent 153.00 the 2 car kits were 22.99 each i usually only buy models at hobby lobby when they run thier 30% off sales which used to be 50% off sales kids today dont want things that challenge them or dont kill things (viturally) i dont see how model companys are staying in business i have a whole stock pile of older kits so i really dont have to buy them but sometimes you just get a itch to build a certain car ya know
LOL! I remember using that "glue". I kinda liked it in a way because 6 months later, you could literally pop the parts apart again and rebuild the car in another style. Kinda like building a car today, when you get tired of the way it looks you change the wheels and tires or modify it some way.
Yes, I was one of those kids, and I "Kit Bashed" a lot of them. Now those "Junk Box" parts I sell on eBay help pay for real car parts.
I have several Nascar unbuilt kits from the early seventies. Are these kits desirable to modelers? I can't believe I gave away a Bobby Allison kit and also a Donnie Allison kit a few years back.
true I got some Zinger kits for my son - @ $18 - it was high - then we opened it - it was a little bigger than a Hot Wheels car - yikes - what a dissappointment - I imagined it more of a "Wierd-oh's" size (which he also got - got them on ebay for a few bucks per kit) Zingers look cool - just need to be bigger
in a word YES especailly the big names richard petty, bobby allison, k and k etc most pre 1980 kits hold some value
so true, but damn. my salary sure hasn't increased on the same scale as "inflation"........ remember heading straight to the model aisle at walmart. mom had to damn near drag me out slinging snot the whole way. 4.99 then. oh well, as stu said, times change.
I put together the Ala Kart in what?1964? I still have it too. In 2004, I found the same kit at Hobby Lobby on the clearance table. I think it was about $10 I'm not going to open the box
About 3 months ago, I posted an ad on C/L to sell 49 model kits that I had sitting around for years. These were all complete unopened kits. I wanted to sell them as a "lot" . Asking price was $135... less than 3 bucks apiece. I had offers between 25 and 80 dollars.. I ended up giving them to a boys home. In the long run.. I think that was better than the cash.. But damn.. I would have thought someone would have jumped on them at that price..
depends on what you had. Nascar stuff, not the older kits but the 90's and up stuff you can't give away. no idea what you had but it does have alot to do with how appealing it is to people looking to buy.
I lmao when I read the title of this thread! I did the same thing one day last week when my girlfriend wanted to go shopping. (AAARRRGGGHHH!) "Michaels, cool they have model cars - I'll see you in a couple of minutes.... 25.00 WTF!!!" Guess I won't be doing that for another ten years or so!
Yea--I know the feeling--I always keep my eyes open for deals,but not too much around anymore.I seem to fine them at garage sales or even place like Salvation Army,mostly incomplete kits,but for .50-$1.00,not to bad for kit-bashing.I'm lucky---I've been collecting for about 10 years,got back into it after many years gone. I don't think I've got the time to built what I already have,but still can't turn down a deal!
My kid can't buy the glue or spray paint himself here, because stores won't sell it to minors... afraid they'll huff the stuff. I was at one store, I don't remember which one, but it was a national chain, and they sold the model kits, but not the glue, because it's bad for kids. I hate modern society. -Brad
and after you drink it you have nothing to show for it but some empty cans and a beer belly. you basically pissed your 24 bucks away.
"I was at one store, I don't remember which one, but it was a national chain, and they sold the model kits, but not the glue, because it's bad for kids." Isn't that amazing? It's like going to the lumber yard and,"yeah,we'll sell you the lumber,but not a hammer. You might hurt yourself" I know what you guys mean. I don't buy too many models anymore either. I have a 100 or so anyway. I look on Ebay a lot,sometimes you can get a good deal. Look for people selling 3 or 4 kits at a time.I've sold some like that,too. I had some I couldn't give away,so I put them with some that I figured would sell. Try Big Lots. A lot of times,when a kit gets discontinued, stores dumped loads of them. Just a few years ago I got them for $5! Probably $10 now. I remember when kits were $1.50 to $2.00. But that was several weeks allowance. A new car was $2,000 then,too. Like you said,it's all relative.
Funny this thread should pop up I to was at hobby lobby over summer looking at kits and was shocked. I'm 42 and would build 2 to 3 a week back in the 80's, I used to have about 300 kits unbuilt and sold all of it on ebay and still kicking myself. I did keep a few of them.
I remember when they were $1.78 er $1.87 a piece at S.S. Kresge's or was that at Federal's five n' dime??? The first one I bought was this one in '71.....
The summer of 1973 was great - Grant's Dept Store bought up scads of the annual MPC kits from previous years and were selling them for 69 cents up to $1.29. My son's now 11, and I want to get him a model to get him started but the prices now are nuts. Had all of my old ones, built, half built, half destroyed, you name it, in my parents' basement until a flood destroyed everything in 2006. Lost a TON of model parts as well as interior parts off of my 1968 Fairlane.
My brother and I built a lot of military kits in the early '60s. I always liked the smell of the Testors glue and would innocently huff from the top of the bottle. They should of added something to sour the smell, as it was a little addicting. We played with the models hard in the dirt, mock battles and such. When they broke they were fixed and when you couldn't fix them anymore they went in the sacrifice box. When it was time, we would ride our bikes the two miles to the store, park our new Schwinns (which we still have to this very day) outside and buy a can of lighter fluid and white tipped stick matches. Back home we would stage a battle scene, spray on the lighter fluid and then used a spring fire cannon to shoot the stick matches at the battlefield. By loading the matches white tips to the spring, when they flew out of the barrel they were just lighting and left a trail of smoke and flame. Landing and setting every broken model into a little bubbling blob of black plastic. We got a lot fun for the dollar we would pay for the kits What memories, I had a great childhood!!!
I guess that vintage model for $20 bucks at the swap meets dosen`t sound to bad after all. Funny thing-Wednesday I was at Michaels for the first time in 2 years.
Some parents would have a cow if they saw their kids doing that now. Kids probably can't buy lighter fluid either.
There is a pretty good reason model kits have gone up, and someone mentioning WalMart not carrying them anymore is a good clue as to why. The more model kits you can sell, the cheaper you can make them. (Spreading the cost) Back when I was a kid, you could buy model kits at any drug store, department store, even grocery stores had them sometimes. Now they are almost all hobby shop only. When a kit is produced, they have to design it, cut a tool (mold) at 250,000 dollars plus, create instructions and box art, and run them. Then on top of that, nearly every component is petroleum based. Costs have gone up, but the market has shrunk. So, without the large customer base (WalMart, et al) the prices go up, or it doesn't pay to produce them. It's all economics.
25.00 model kits is the reason i've been customizing hot wheels for the last 5 years. although it is a little harder on my old ass eyes
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