Super kits: build 'em, copy 'em or collect 'em?

[Dave_Trible]

So you have one or more of the original "super kits",ie, green box Nobler, Skylark , Ares, Shark 45, etc.  It would be interesting to know what you would do with it.
A.  Build it if want a flying model of it.
B.  Copy it and keep the kit. (For who or what?)
C.   Just hang on to it until your relatives sell or trash it.

[proparc]

Exercise common sense. If the kit is valuable for whatever reason,copy it and keep the original.

I have a set of Smoothie plans that Bob Palmer personally signed for me. I of course, would not build on those plans, but make a copy at Kinko's and keep the original signed version.

[Joe Just]

Sell them, and buy more stuff that you will end up selling later.
Joe

[Jim Thomerson]

I got a kit off a forum for $35, copied it and flew the model.  Sold the kit on eBay for $52.  Buy low, copy, sell high!

[55chevr]

I can understand that some people would collect kits.  Same collecting stamps ... But they were made to fly.  I would build and fly them.  Let a museum save kits. 

[Gerald Arana]

I'm with Jim T.! Buy cheap, copy and sell high!

Jerry

[steve bittner]

Might as well build it, cost too much to copy. By the time you copy plans, buy balsa & plywood, then hardware, you will probably just break even or very little profit, plus a lot of extra time to cut out parts.
You will probably be dead before the value goes high enough, or your family would just dump it cheap. Just my thoughts. Just like others I have so many old kits I will never get around to build, but just cant part with. Its not costing me a cent to keep them.

[55chevr]

I believe the price on collector kits has peaked.    The old kits are going for what a new kit costs ... more or less. Remember stunt flyers are a very finite commodity and our numbers are declining.

[Dave_Trible]

Well I have a couple of these jewels and I'm going to build them.  I'm not thinking my grand kids would ever understand or appreciate the significance of the kits or would ever build them.  I too think these had a destiny to be built and flown- not buried in a landfill.  That's also why I've been trying to buy up trash bound estate engines.  I may soon offer some of these back into our community and give them another lease on life.  That's better than another basement for 40 years- or worse!

Dave

[John Park]

I think it's a disease, or something: but for the last thirty years or so, I've been completely unable to destroy a kit - any kit - by actually building it.  I've built from most of the kits I've bought, often more than once, but I like to select my own wood and also make little changes to suit my preferred building techniques.  All I can say is, thank goodness for photocopiers and repositionable glue sticks/pens/sprays to copy the printwood!

Regards
John

[john e. holliday]

I too have kits that I bought when new with intentions of building them.  Some did get built and some got sold.   I have even copied a kit or two to build and fly.   Would build more but I am running out of room,  need to get grand kids out and flying.  Same with engines, I have enough engines to last several life times.  Some have never been run by me.  Used to be I would do like David did last week,  mount an engine to a board and just run it.   I never worry about the neighbors, because the last time a police man showed up with a complaint, I asked him about the mower across the street with no muffler.  He laughed and said I will see you next time.  He only left because he got another call about a disturbance.

[Clint Ormosen]

Most if not all of the popular models have been kitted by the cottage industries. Build those. They make a better flying plane than the original kits anyway. I got rid of all my "collectible" kits long ago and bought some for building. However, if I don't get busy on those, they're going to become collectible too!

[James C. Johnson]

Joe is right .. the Antique and Collectible Market has peaked... and that was a couple of years ago.. let me say this as a guy who has written a book "Flying Model Collectibles"... the good stuff seems to be holding it's "value"... remember worth and value are two different things... I have personally sold a lot of stuff but still cling to some 1/2A engines and have a Sterling Skylark and Ambroid Stuka ...

I also see engines starting to take a back seat to electrics. I never copy a kit, I just get plans and build from there.. the last kit I built was a CG Buster and it still isn't covered...

I see some notable stuff on eBay once in awhile..

Sterling Skylark kit in real good shape went for $227.00
Goldberg Buster went for .. $159.00
Veco Redskin went for $230.00
Airtronics.. Saggitta 99 ... unbelievable .. $760.00
Sig Magnum ... $305.00
ROYAL MINI MESSERSCHMITT BF 109E... this is a 1/2 A RC .. 265.00
Jetco Shark 45... $259.00

All I see when I see silly prices for kits is what I could buy in balsa and scratch build...

Engines still are the king of model airplane collectibles..

Two Morton M-5s going for $2500
SUPER CYCLONE 60 TWIN HEAD... NIB ...$778.00
Shuriken .050  Gold Case... $605.00
OS Max 19 steel fin.. factory new.. $548.00
Cox Tee Dee .020 Model, later 1990s box, $478.00
1956 Fox .29R "Bathtub" NIB... $456.00
1964 McCoy .40... Bubble Pack... new... $282
Tom Lay 60 lightly used $330
Veco 35 stunt, no box near new.. $155..

So you see people are still out there collecting this stuff... I was talking with my publisher about the A&C Market as it related to Book sales... and I also attend 3 huge shows every yr.. some stuff that used to get silly money people aren't buying... the good stuff will always fine a new home no matter what.. take care of your kits, they are very vulnerable to moisture damage over time.. collecting is a pleasurable sickness...

Jim

[Andrew Hathaway]

Old kits aren't really worth building.  The last couple I built had to have so many pieces replaced, I could have built a better plane faster using the kit parts as patterns.  As a general rule I try to avoid buying vintage kits because they're a waste of money and they take up space on the shelf.  When I do build a plane based on a vintage kit, I copy as many parts as possible from the plans, and scan the parts sheet and print paper copies to make new parts.  My cloned parts usually fit together a lot better than the die cut kit parts wood, plus I have the luxury of picking the right grade wood for the part in question.  So I'd vote to clone the kit and put it back on the shelf or pass it on to someone else for future use.

[Dave_Trible]

I bought that Skylark....and it looks pretty good too. Not every part is 4-6 lb stock-nor should or meant to be.  A lot of very nice light airplanes were built 'in the day' from those same kits.  Can't remember very many then talking about replacing all the wood.  Not to say I haven't seen a few bad ones because I have but the high end kits got the best wood in those days.

[john e. holliday]

Well David, remember back then we were lucky if we had decent balsa to begin with.  Also we built the kits as they were because we didn't know better I guess.  Or at least I didn't.  Anyway we are going to have some planes for flying this summer and hopefully have a lot of fun.   

[Bill Little]

Several years ago I didn't have a "kit" in my shop.  I built everything from plans.  Now I have acquired more than I can build.  Original kits, "new" kits and laser cut short kits.  If I have the time left I will build them all!  But, I am sure I will leave this world with a few never built.  Maybe my oldest, Aaron, will make them available and it won't all be a loss.

BIG Bear
RNMM/AMM

[Bill Barber]

 I still have a "Ultra Shameless " kit to build , maybe next year when  I retire .
     Bill

[Dave_Trible]

I still have a "Ultra Shameless " kit to build , maybe next year when  I retire .
     Bill

How cool is that!!!  Hi Bill!  Send pictures please.

[Clint Ormosen]

I still have a "Ultra Shameless " kit to build , maybe next year when  I retire .
     Bill

Sweet! I always wanted a Music, but I was dead broke in those days.