Expensive kits

This was supposed to be in the paper panzer post but I goofed and posted it separately by error.

Wow!  Strombecker solid wood airplane kits are really old and rare!  I started building those in the late 40's, early 50's!  As I was only about 10 years old, they came out rather crude looking by my standards today.  Alas, they are long gone.  Hang onto those, you have a treasure there!

I am surprised, however, that in spite of the rarity of those Strombecker wood kits, one can pick them up at eBay and modeling flea markets for reasonable prices.  They don't seem  to hold their value as well as some of the rare plastic kits (which is great, as far as I am concerned).  Holding their price better are the old Monogram EZ built models which were balsa with some plastic parts- transitional models for Monogram as they shifted from balsa to plastic. I did manage to snare one at a reasonable price.

The flight ability of an EZ Built was transitional also.  While they looked cool with all the detail parts, the best that could be said for them is that the rubber power extended the glide- they never really climbed.  Too little power and a terribly inefficient (but scale looking) propeller.

Hi;

      Did you know? VICTORY at SEA kits by REVELL were issued in the one , two , three format ? I didn't either till I took mine to a show , just to display .It seems I have all three in sequence from that early time frame .I also have the REVELL kit with the S.S. UNITED STATES , a DC-7-C airliner (AMERICAN AIRLINES ) and the CADILLAC car , OH and the tug LONG BEACH !

       I believe that my grandchildren will enjoy them to build or look at . I have some double versions of these that will get DONATED to special venues when my time comes. This is ,along with you, another example of model history .

     Now , for the wood/plastic planes.One summer the family saved enough to send me to a camp in the ADIRONDAKS for three weeks.It rained the first week , so tabletop  crafts were the order of the day . Can you imaging putting plastic nacels on a wood wing with casein glue ? Well that's the way it was done back then .

    Somewhere in storage I still have two , one built and one still in the box . I will give those to my friend in DETROIT. He will appreciate those ,if I can find them .I do have the first run issues of the AURORA 1/25 car series as well as the 1/25 "JAMES BOND " ASTON MARTIN car .

I really liked some of that old stuff . LINDBERG , put out a large scale "FUTURISTIC " show car and I think I have at least two , one original and one the "modified " convertible. I believe that most folks would be surprised by the models from back then .

     Remember the multi-kit 1/25 cars from REVELL ? Opening doors , trunks and turning wheels .Oh boy if they were re-tooled and tightened up what would they sell for now ? Well , thank you for triggering many happy memories .    Tanker-builder

Expensive kits?  I see Tamiya has just released a 1/12 scale Ferrari car model with MSRP over $600!

Reminds me of the old Italian Pocher kits of the 60's and 70's.  They were true multimedia kits, lots of metal parts, and went together entirely with tiny screws, bolts, and nuts and were 1/8 scale models of Alfa Romeos, Rolls Royce, and Fiats.  They cost $300-400 in 1970 bucks!