What's the most collectible old kit you have built?

The only “collectable” kits I have built are Arii’s 1/160 Destroid Monster from the TV show Macross, and Atellier Noix’s 1/48 Piaggio Pegna PC.7 Italian Schneider Trophy contender.

But both were bought and built when they were new.  The Destroid Monster was $15 - a quick check on FleaBay shows pre-owned kits going for $200 to $300.  Yikes.

The PC.7 was pretty expensive to start with (around $80), and being that it was from a small mfr, and a plastic kit recently came out, no FleaBay hits.

I built the Aurora Gotha Bomber. I did the whole series of 1/48th Aurora WWI  back when these kits sold for $0.79 to $0.99. I received as a gift a Revell gift set with their F-89, F-9-F 8 Cougar  and an F-7 Cutlass that were "box scale". My all time favorite old collectable kit was the Revell 1/48th F-102 Delta Dagger with landing gear that retracted when you pushed the canopy down. I still have a very old original Monogram B-24 that is part balsa and part plastic. I have a lot of old Lindberg and Comet kits as well as old Hawk kits. I NEVER bought a kit to "collect". Every kit I ever bought was bought to build. Now if only I can live long enough to build them all.  

My only "old" kits are a couple of Williams Brothers, the Boeing 247 and the Gee Bee "Z" Racer.  The other oldie is the F3F with retractable gear by turning the prop.

All will be built and find a spot in the case.

In 1983 my mother bought me a set of Dark Crystal metal figures from Pinnacle.  I painted them, played with them, and eventually threw them away.  They now sell for $500-$600. 

Mopar Madness

In 1983 my mother bought me a set of Dark Crystal metal figures from Pinnacle.  I painted them, played with them, and eventually threw them away.  They now sell for $500-$600. 

 

I made a Garthim from a styrofoam ball and spackling paste back in the mid 1980s!  They didn’t have Apoxie-Sculpt back then.  I only have a few fuzzy film photos to show for it.

But back to the OT, I feel model kits should be built.  It’s okay to stash some to build later, but no model should never feel the pinch of a sprue cutter or splash of glue.

I have two of the Aurora X-13's.  I plan to build one of them.  I have an IL-38 that a friend built and gave to me.  I built the F-102 when it was new in 1957, with all the ground equipment, and a complete pristine kit in a nice box which is how I like to display it.  I started to build another example but age has done it no favors and the fit is very much worse than I remember.  Better to display the ground equipment with the Monogram kits.

I haven't built it, it is still in my stash. It invokes such memories that I hasten to build it, because then I will no longer have the kit :-(

It is the Corsair from the old Monogram Speedi-bild kit line.  These were transition kits between the older balsa kits and plastic kits.  Fuselage, wing and tail were balsa and tissue, but compound curve detail was plastic.  Cowls, props, canopies and such were plastic.

You have to be a really old guy like me to remember those old kits.

In plastic, not much "collectible". I find that online, it's not too hard to find just about anything now.

Ah, the old Speedee Bilt kits. I built all of the single engine ones as a youngin, but while there were always rumors of the multi engine kits in Denver, I never actually saw one. I was an Airfix junkie plus built all the Revell 1/72 WWI and WWII planes. I have all of the Revells in the stash now, mostly in the triple boxed sets, plus a couple of the two-kit Airfix one's.  They will all get built over time. 

I actually won an award a number of years ago for the oldest kits at a show, an Airfix O-1 Birddog, and Auster AOP.

I have an Aurora USS Constitution unbuilt in the box, a C-119 Flying Boxcar also Aurora and still with the cellophane mostly intact, and a Sterling American Scout cargo ship with a Britannia metal set.

I forgot about the Aurora X-13. That was a nice kit for its time. There were a couple of other VTOLs. I think Aurora did (Pogo?) one and Lindberg did the other. As for the C119 it holds a special place for me because I did my first parachute jumps out C-119s. Look at the old Aurora Hiller kit of the experimental tilt wing aircraft and look at the Osprey. I wish someone would do a modern version of the Bell X-5. The old Revell kit is nice but not by todays standards. I have a storage box with a bunch of these old kits that I have not looked at for many years. Maybe this weekend! I also have a box full of Hubley old car kits that are part metal and part plastic. Lastly , I have a box full of Ambroid O scale rail road car kits that are part wood, part metal, and part plastic.  Now if only I can live long enough to build them all. Build something from the 1950s or 60s and you will have a deeper appreciation for todays kit.

the Aurora 1:108 C-141A which was introduced in 1969.  First built it back in 1971 as a kid, got another kit off ebay in 2006 and built it, also have a second kit I got for a good price I am sandbagging for whatever.

In addition to the Speedee-Bilt single engine kits, Monogram did have both a B-17 and a B-24. I'm not sure if they were part of the Speedee-Bilt series, but they were a combination of balsa and plastic. The B-17 was $5.00 in 1955 dollars, so it was a really nice birthday present.

Tom

In 1954 I built the old Revell B-36 kit. I have a drawing from that year of me at school, with the school on fire and me taking the class teddy bear and my model of that B-36 out of the burning building!

We have our priorities!!

Andy