Construction Kits

Inspired by the 'Corgi Stirling' thread, I admitted to having twenty unbuilt construction kits on the shelf waiting for my attention. So, can anyone boast / admit to more than that - ? !

I have about 30, but then I never intend to build some of them as they date back to the 1950s!

In my loft reside many boxes of 1.72 models dating from the 1980's. I have no idea how many but it has to be around 100 !!!!!

I still remember my first - a Halifax which I got in the late 60's - showing my age now !

I have a fair few not sure how many including some original airfix steam loco kits.

i mite be able to beat u there got a mate who`s house and shed is full of them. has last count and seen with my eyes was over 2000. do think he a member on here tho

And of course, this begs the question of how long do you keep an unmade kit before it's worth much more than you paid for it - ? And was that your intention in the first place 'just in case' - ? I'd much rather make it as that's why I bought it in the first place, even though it may be quite some time between purchase and construction - ! Space is always at a premium, which is why I've stuck mostly to 1/35 scale AFVs; they take up much less room that a 'plane.

Some kits are worth more than you paid for them. The example was the Shackleton from Frog, I beleive they were the only mainstream kit manufacturer to make a Shackleton kit.

SimonGee;92278 wrote:

And of course, this begs the question of how long do you keep an unmade kit before it's worth much more than you paid for it - ? And was that your intention in the first place 'just in case' - ? I'd much rather make it as that's why I bought it in the first place, even though it may be quite some time between purchase and construction - ! Space is always at a premium, which is why I've stuck mostly to 1/35 scale AFVs; they take up much less room that a 'plane.

It's a relatively straight forward question, either a very long time. The 1/72 lancaster from the 50's that I have is worth about £100, but the real key is to get the unpopular models, specialist interest or be lucky enough to have one of the first models made by a later to become really successful company.

On the unpopular front, Airfix made a model Boy Scout first issued in 1965, which for some reason didn't really fly off the shelves and consequently is now incredibly sought after and probably worth a couple of hundred pounds! To put that in the modern context I suspect that the Wallace and Gromit or Doctor Who models will probably be worth a fair bit in future. Another way for a model to increase in rarity is for the tool to no longer exist. The HS P1127 is a prime example. It's not massively rare at the moment, but Airfix no longer have the tool therefore it will never appear again hence its rarity will only increase.

On a final point of rarity, if anyone has a copy of the 1981 Airfix Catalogue I would be very interested to know. It's the only one missing from my collection and is from the time that models took a dip in popularity and Airfix went bust for the first time. I have a couple of Hens Teeth that I would be happy to trade for one!

I've got boxes full of unmade 1:72 Frog Hotspur Gliders and MkIII Miles Masters for some reason.