Scalping

If you can't rework the old builds, then yah I would pirate the good parts such as the fruils and barrels. It's good money sitting there.

By all means!

As tigerman said, if you can't rework the models, why let perfectly good AM parts go to waste. Use them on a new build and you'll get twice the satisfaction.

Enjoy your modeling...

sweet, i'm a junior too, 'n I didn't think a that!! thx tankbuild!

Cannibalization is the root of all scratch building. By all means, dissect them up!

Thanks for the moral support guys.

A word of warning, keep it under control, lest you end up like I did, reworking everything I did til I had nothing! (Serious!)

Keep a few to remind you of how you learnt your skills.

You have no idea how many kits have given up their parts for a greater cause. We are supposed to get better each time we build a new kit, but don't just junk something because you think you can do better now. Broaden your horizon, build something different first. If you redo the old kit now, in a few more months you will think that you could do better yet again -it is a never ending circle. I have many old models that I look back on, not to admire, but to show me how I have progressed, and to remind me of how far I have yet to go.

While I advocate "scalping" I would suggest that if you had a favorite kit that you completed, that you leave it intact. It may have some sentimental value to you as you become a middle aged model builder.

Some of my most valued kits are ones that I built as a kid that remained on my dresser at my mom's house. She is moving and I recently retrieved them. They are OOB, many were brush painted, and they look like they were assembled by a young modeler (which they were).

Just a thought for you. Many of us here can think about a kit or two that we destroyed in the Great BB and Fire Cracker Wars that we wished we would have kept.

Yeah,

Sometimes you have to be willing to give up your right arm(or left arm)

While I do have ONE old kit that I keep around for sentamental purpose I have no reserve about junking a old kit if not only to make space it is that many less road wheels to sand.... A little Easy OFF and back in the parts bin they go... I have a Whirblewind that I am contemplating this treatment if it were not the first three color w/an airbrush I did.... It will probably still go under the knife for the sake of space...

Make up your own mind but thats my thoughts...

Yes go for it you only live once but kits can come back from the dead however like others I think you should hang on to some of your old builds I didnt and now I sometimes think I should have kept some of them instead of giving them to a young nephew who over time trashed them.

Go ahead and reuse the parts, if you have some moral problem with using them send them to my house.

It's always tough to cannibalize or destroy something you've worked on, at least for me. Every model is a unique piece and I can readily trace my progress on different techniques and experience with each one. I've contemplated going back and reworking some, but in the end would rather build the same type again and preserve the history.

Of course, space and economics play a role, especially for AM parts like barrels and Fiuls which aren't cheap. Sentiment alone faces a tough battle in that arena.

Hi Guys,

I have mixed emotions on this subject. As a longtime model builder I have a lot of subjects on the shelves. After spendiung time on something there I hate to redo my efforts (the same theory as renting verses buying, why pay for something over and over).

The other side of the coin is that as in most things in life, nothing is permanent and stuff happens. Case in point is my Revell P 51D Mustang of "Miss Marilyn". I had built up Big Beautiful Doll and liked the kit so I wanted to do the other subject included in the box, a second kit was done and built, I was happy with it.

Enter the Attack Beagle, "lil Bit". Normally well behaved and as good as a littlle hound can be, she took a disliking to "Miss Marilyn:" On the same shelf is about 15 others to chose from, it wasn't even on the edge or end of the shelf. The other 14 survivors of this terrorist attack were untouched, not even an antenna wire disturbed. Aftera somewhat lengthy walk/cooling off period, followed by the mandatory one week sentence to the chain gang line that is bolted to the gun cabinet (Outweighs determined Beagle by about 1000 lbs.) in my absence of the house, I got to looking at the wreckage.



I think there is a downed AC Diorama in there. After fiddling with the parts as I brooded over the mess I decided maybe the idea of a dog as a critic is a little fatfetched but she did do a pretty good job of damage.;-)

Jay modelnut4
AKA tradhead 1952
Las Vegas, NV

i would say that while heeding the previous advice, go for it.

joe

Save one or two.. Scrap the rest.. Imagine how much the spare parts bin will grow with the influx of recycled parts..

thanks everyone

About to ...uh... modify an old Italeri Hetzer into a Berge Hetzer. I built that model way back when I was eleven...eleven, dude, now that is some sentimental memories. It is sitting in front of me now as I'm writing this. First aid kit gauze dipped into undiluted white glue and thrown right on top for camo net, hah.. it's going to be a heart breaker cutting into this one. So anyways... before you do anything... take pictures, so you'll at least have documentation of your milestones.