Like several others who replied, I've always broken up my old builds for parts.

However I have often repurchased an old kit from my youth -- even pretty crappy ones -- just to take a 'second swing' with (hopefully) much-improved skills acquired over the years. Still satisfying, as it's pretty easy to remember what a mess I made of some of those kits in my 'formative years' in the hobby!

Pawel & Panzerjager: Those look great guys!!!

Rob: Wish I had some of my old kits. I do have them, as I said I broke them down for parts- and that's all I have left of them. I guess I could try to piece a few together.

PANZERJAGER

Here's an F-8 Crusader I saved from a garage sale glue bomb.

Re-kitted it and was even able to use the original decals.

 

My wife is a big thrift shop/goodwill shopper. She can no longer drive and I have to take her (or one of our adult kids). So I've seen some partially built kits that have caught me eye. Nothing that inspired me to grab, although I have gotten a few unbuilt kits in those places at a great bargain.

Here's an F-8 Crusader I saved from a garage sale glue bomb.

Re-kitted it and was even able to use the original decals.

I used to build and redo models back when I was a beginner back in then realy 1960's. I have not really redone a model since then.  I still have a ton of models that I have built in the mid-sevnties and nineties in storage.  But I have not looked at them in decades.  Wow, that takes me back in time.  I Don't throw them away, I guess I can be bit of a pack rat.  I don't have a "glue-bomb".

Gamera;

      Read ya loud and clear! I have six desktop storage cabinets full of parts from doing that. Just haven't figured out what I did with the Wings and Hulls and Car Bodies!

ROB;

    The sheer beauty of re-doing a glue Bomb from your early days is surely a trip in time. You can't help but think of what it was like while you were building it and what was going on around you. When I built that weird REVELL spaceship, the one that opened,showed the crew inside, Broke into sections and all opened to show the interior . As well as all the arms and wheels working on the gantry. I haven't found another but I would definitely pull the trigger on one if the price was fair.

 Then the memories would flood in.It took me six weeks to build that thing!-No I didn't paint anything! But I did use the decals. That's why I like Glue Bomb, Revell and Life Like Ships and Boats ,Monogram and Aurora too if they are salvageabls!.Glue Bombs or no,t I will buy them!

Two of my very old models that survived the Great BB Gun Wars are the old Aurora MBT70 and Revell (Renwal) M50 Ontos.

Both kits suffered from some damage due to mom's vacuum and age. The Ontos was rather well built from 1982/83 and the MBT70 was a bonefide glue bomb from the 70s.

In the early days of eBay, I found a started glue bomb MBT70 for $5, $8 with shipping (remember the slogan, if it fits it ships?). I used that kit to rebuild my broken kit and replace missing pieces. It came out quite well. My original kit was unpainted plastic with decals that had flaked off over the years.

In 2001, a friend gave me a partially built glue bomb of an original Renwal M50 Ontos and I used that kit to make my old kit better and also replace missing parts. Some of the original parts had bad sink holes, so I was able to pick and choose the better pieces parts.

Both of these kits have fond memories attached and I'm glad they have a second life.

Yes Rob;

       I find that doing so actually seems to calm me down and Challenge me at the same time. The Challenge.To get all the parts to separate in just the right Way. I usually succeed! Not always but most times. Makes me laugh when I take one apart.

      I can't help but wonder why so much glue. Less is better here. Of course I always thought you HAD to cover the whole mating surface. Till I ate a PB and J one day and the J squeezed out and it dawned on me that's exactly my models did. OOPS!! to much glue!

      The old saying comese to mind sometimes when I am doing that."Oh, if we only knew then, What we know now".

No. 

Once it's built; good, bad, or ugly, it's done.

Only exception is if a part falls off for some reason; that I'll glue it back on and give it a stern warning to stay put this time. 

Gamera

Interesting topic. 

When I was younger, I'd get hand-me-down started kits from other neighborhood boys that didn't like model building. Sometimes I'd see a started kit in a yard sale for a quarter. I built what I could get my hands on.

When I was older, many completed kits were left on my dresser at home when I left for college, the Army, married life. My mom dusted and vacuumed the kits and did some damage to them.

Before she moved to Florida, I got a chance to recover these old kits, now missing parts and some of them were poorly built.

Most of them went into large moving boxes and got damaged even more.

Every once in a while I see an old kit built up online and I think, "Hey, I still have that old kit somewhere." So I dig it out, assess the damage and either put it back or look at what I need to fix it up.

Fairly recently, I found an old Millenium Falcon kit I built in 1984 or 85. Someone sent me pieces parts to repair and replace missing landing gear. I'm contemplating whether or not to disassemble the entire kit and build it better or if I should just fix the gear and leave it be.

It is a great snapshot of my building skills at the age of 20-21 when college, girls and video games started to compete for my attention.

Interesting topic. 

I used to rebuild kits back when I was a kid. I had a lot more time back then and a lot less money. Now that I'm the opposite I tend to just break stuff down as spare parts. Of course back then my skill was growing fast enough that I could look at a kit I'd built six months earlier and see where I could improve it. 

And I don't build rare enough kits that I can't just buy a new one instead of breaking down an older kit. 

Don Stauffer

Any way to soften tube glue joints?

I've found that about 8 hours in the freezer will usually make those old glue joints nice and brittle -- parts will often shear off quite cleanly with fairly little force applied.

Don Stauffer

Any way to soften tube glue joints?  I assume I will have tu use saw and knife if they are solvent glue, but does anyone have any mafic ideas

I have had some success with using Tamiya Extra Thin a little bit at a time, gradually pulling things apart.  Had to do that on the center divider in the main gear well on my F-16 build due to putting things together in the wrong sequence.  I was able to separate the cemented pieces and start over again.

What a timely thread!  I was going to start a thread on the subject myself.

I went to NNL North yesterday and brought home three old kits  One was abought 20% done, and one almost done.  I personally use CA, and arm competent in use of CA debonder.  But these kits look like thethe builders used either tube cement or possibly sovent.  Any way to soften tube glue joints?  I assume I will have tu use saw and knife if they are solvent glue, but does anyone have any mafic ideas

The first kit was not painted at all, any parts, so I will have to completely disassemble.  The second has a lousy paint job, so I am unsure how much I will have to disasmble.

I have disassembled and rebuilt a few old glue bombs of mine. They were done to give me a diversion from then current builds. Still have a couple that may or may not be rebuilt at some future date.

Those builds led me to accept the job of cleaning and restoring models from the local WWII museum. A couple of them were "glue bombs" that were just dropped off because the owner wanted to get rid of them. Think I did a decent job and the museum was happy, sooooooooo I'm happy too.

Jim 

Stay Safe.

Nice work Pawel! A few years ago I was given a large number of built kits from a deceased estate and there were some old and reasonably rare kits amongst them. I didn't want to throw them out, but they still reside in boxes with various wildlife under the house. I really want to get around to re-building some of them, but there's the stash and besides, I have enough trouble finishing what I've started as it is.

Hello!

I used to do that with the glue bombs of my own making. Never had a heart to throw out a kit I spent a lot of time on... Then years later I thought if I already kept that baby for so long, let's make sense out of it... It also helps me to reflect on how bad I was back then and how much better I can do things now. Here are some of my glue bombs AFTER I was done with them...

Thanks for looking and have a nice day

Paweł

I've rebuilt a few of my older builds. But most of my glue bombs are long gone now.