Original Plastic Wrapping for Vintage Kit

that's a tough one. Very old kits were often sealed in cellophane that was very stiff and folded edges like it was gift wrapped. But I also remember a time when kits weren't sealed like this and only taped at each end with Scotch tape.

It's real easy to find a pristine box, get shrink wrap and heat gun and seal an opened kit. That's been done by many people. Some are honest and the kit is complete and vintage and they are just safeguarding the contents. Some are not and are putting a reissued newer kit into a vintage box. Some are even more dishonest and put empty sprues or incomplete kit parts or partially started kits inside the box.

I guess you could look for a vintage price tag from a long ago retail store, although a lot of stores used the printed price code on the side of the box.

Even if the guy you bought the kit from is on the up & up, that doesn't mean that the guy he bought it from was. He could have gotten tricked as well. And then if you open it up and find out it is not what it appears, he might accuse you of pulling a fast one. I've seen this exact argument on forums on occasion. Seller offers a kit. Buyer buys it. Buyer complains that the kit was not complete. Seller says it was when he sent it and that the buyer just took the parts out he wanted and is now trying to cheat him. Buyer says the kit wasn't complete when he received it. Was too, was not, was too. Best bet is to avoid doing business with either of them.

Bottom line buyer beware.

Yep that is what I was thinking. I even entertained video taping it as I opened it. I am just not sure if it will be more valuable as is, or out of the box. I will take a picture and post it on here.

When you have the opportunity to buy a kit like this, you must decide whether you are going to build it (even if that build may be years in the future), or if you are buying the kit as a collector, and you plan on leaving it in the box.

If you plan on building it, then the fact that it's a kit in its original wrapping already drops in importance as a criterion, especially if it's a common kit, that was turned out over many years.  For example, if I want to build Monogram's SBD, I know that it was issued in the thousands, over many years and many changes in packaging.  So, if I see a seller offering an original issue for a high price, I'll pass and look for one for sale for $5 in the white box from the Seventies.

If it was a rare kit, then the fact that it's in its original packaging, unopened, shrink-wrapped, might carry more weight, but I will still want to haggle the seller down from a collector's price to a builder's price.  Again, if I'm going to build it, I'm going to open it, so the packaging is not as valuable to me as knowing whether the kit is complete.  And as Rob pointed out, there are unscrupulous folks out there.

If I were buying the kit to collect it, then whether it's unopened is more important.  I would want to have educated myself before even entering the market, by picking up and reading everything I could get my hands on about kits, whether in hard copy (eg, Thomas Graham's books on Monogram, Revell and Aurora are excellent references) or online; and I would watch sales, such as on eBay, but also at shows, and at live auctions, and get an idea of values and asking prices.  I've done that for other things that I collect, such as toy soldiers and beer steins.  Also, bidding/buying and getting burned is also a lesson, and I don't think there's a collector out there who doesn't have at least one story about getting flim-flammed, or even just making a dumb purchase (I have a couple).

But in this case, it sounds like you might build it, so, open it, and if it's intact and you didn't pay that much, you made out pretty well.  And show us your build!

Hope that helps, best regards,

Brad

Yep I had been following them on Ebay for awhile. It is not an overly valuable kit. It is the Fonz and his bike. I ended up spending 50 dollars on it and the box is in good shape. Like I said, not sure if I really ever want to build it, but I may go ahead and open it. I will still add a picture for you folks to look at. It looks like the plastic I remember as a kid, but that was awhile ago. Thanks

Rob Gronovius

 

It's real easy to find a pristine box, get shrink wrap and heat gun and seal an opened kit. That's been done by many people. Some are honest and the kit is complete and vintage and they are just safeguarding the contents. Some are not and are putting a reissued newer kit into a vintage box. Some are even more dishonest and put empty sprues or incomplete kit parts or partially started kits inside the box.

Not to hijack the thread but it reminds me of the way baseball card dealers would do with wax packs. They would open the wax packs very carefully, pull out the superstars and valuable rookie card, and replace it with common player cards. Then they would seal the pack again carefully using a hot iron because wax melts.

"in original wrapping".  Right.

Rob called it when he described the shrink wrap and heat gun treatment.  If your kit is indeed "vintage" - from 1970's or earlier, then it didn't come out of the factory with shrink wrap.

Some of the real old ones were folded in cellophane like he says.  By the late 70's and 80's, distributors sometimes added shrinkwrap, but that is not out of the factory.

I think it is a very safe assumption that if you have a shrink-wrapped kit, it got that way at the distributor or a local hobby shop, and it should not add any value to the kit.

Rick

I can remember when kits were sold with just the box, no wrapping whatsoever, no tape.  They opened on the end, and the tabs on the end were a pretty tight fit so that the box would not open inadvertently.

beemer

Yep I had been following them on Ebay for awhile. It is not an overly valuable kit. It is the Fonz and his bike. I ended up spending 50 dollars on it and the box is in good shape.

That might not be a bad deal, because just off the top of my head, I expect that there aren't too many examples of that kit out there.  I'd still want to haggle a seller, if I could, but I'd understand if the asking price were high, and if he stuck to his guns.

Yeah, do show us, whether you build it or not.

I vaguely remember a Fonz kit.  Is it Revell?

I remember the Fonzie & motorcycle kit as being MPC. Box art had the Fonz in a yellow and red striped T-shirt if I recall. I remember seeing a big pile of them at a K-Mart in Rutland, Vermont when I was a teenager. They were being clearanced for $1.49.

That is exactly the kit I bought. Wow $1.49. Well they have been selling on Ebay for between  60 and 100 so I was happy at my purchase.

Here is a picture of the box.

beemer

Here is a picture of the box.

 

Oh my... I haven't seen that kit in years and years.

There is one particular kit I've been wanting to get and that's the Snoopy as "The World's Famous Flying Ace" atop his doghouse snap kit. I believe it included Woodstock as well. I'd kill to get my hands on that kit again. LOL!

I loved building the MPC Pirates of the Caribbean rubber band powered kits as a kid. I wish I still had those, even built they are worth a lot. I had 4 or 5 of them.

beemer

Here is a picture of the box.

 

BlackSheepTwoOneFour

There is one particular kit I've been wanting to get and that's the Snoopy as "The World's Famous Flying Ace" atop his doghouse snap kit. I believe it included Woodstock as well. I'd kill to get my hands on that kit again. LOL!

Yes!!!!!!   I think I remember a Sopwith Camel kit, and a corresponding Red Baron triplane kit.  I say I think I remember, because that was a lonnnnnngggggg time ago, and memories aren't always what they should be.

The Camel featured a bust of Snoopy in the cockpit, and the base was shaped like the front of his doghouse.  The Red Baron had a cartoony villainous figure in the cockpit, and the base was an Iron Cross, if I remember correctly.  Both kits included little flat cartoon balloons to stick in the pilot's mouths, and the stick-on decal sets included appropriate captions for the balloons.  I don't remember who produced those kits, but I also remember a kit of Snoopy driving a Bugatti, and I think there was also a motorcycle with a sidecar.  And yes, I think there were figures of Woodstock in all of those Snoopy kits.

I'm thinking now that those were put out by Mattel, and maybe then marketed by Revell?  I'll have to look it up in Graham's book.