Which plastic ship kits are rare?

This is a big question, with no simple, quick answer.  There are people around who collect old kits as their primary hobby; they're better qualified to answer than I am, but I can offer a couple of sources.

Dr. Thomas Graham has published books about three of the most important American plastic kit manufacturers:  Aurora, Revell, and Monogram.  Each book has an appendix listing all the kits the company produced (up to a given date - 1970, in the case of the Revell book), with an estimated price range for each kit.  One must, of course, bear in mind various things that can suddenly influence the prices.  For instance, in the "Revised and expanded second edition" of his Revell book, Dr. Graham describes the Revell Kearsarge as "today's most sought-after Revell sailing ship," with a price range of $130-$150.  The Alabama, on the other hand, he lists as being worth $50-$70.  The book was published in 2004.  Since then both kits have been reissued by Revell Germany.  I'm not sure what impact that had on the prices of old, original issues on the collector's market, but my guess is that old Kearsarge and Alabama kits are worth somewhat less now.

I make a habit of taking a look at this site periodically:  http://www.oldmodelkits.com/ .  This guy's prices strike me as being a bit on the high side (certainly compared to those Dr. Graham lists), but somebody must be paying them.  (It's a fun site; the listings change almost daily.  I've never bought anything from him, but it sure is a fun exercise in nostalgia.)  There are other such sources on the Web; I imagine some other Forum members know more about them than I do.

E-bay, of course, is another popular source of old kits.  The prices there seem to be all over the map - depending, presumably, on whether the person selling the kit is familiar with the collector's market or not.

I was going to mention the Airfix France too.  I heard that the molds were sent to Japan, where some kits were produced, but then the molds disappeared.

I don't know if the Revell Brasil/Argentina molds still exist.  I sure wish those kits would be re-issued.

Fred

I believe Lindberg's USS Neches Fleet Oiler kit earns that description - I haven't seen it on the market since i was a young boy in the 1960's.

Rick

Felix,

Are you just interested in plastic kits? If you include wooden kits, I can give you info on some "rare" wood ones.

Yankee Clipper

Looking around the workshop,  I'd say "completed" is the rarest ship model!

Shell Welder? The coastal oil tanker? There is a photo etch set for that from Atlantic Models. Just FYI?

I was wondering if any kits were rare due to a very short production run. I mean the Aurora Atlantis never sells for less than $300. I suppose production was very short or surviving examples quite rare. Yet I do see it on Ebay perhaps 2x or 3x per year. 

More so lately as folks have cash issues and thin their collection.

It does get to the point of build or hold. I mean would you really want to put glue and paint to a kit which can be resold for hundreds?

Publius wrote:

Maybe IMAI kits are rarest because they are out of business now? I'm sure getting an education searching them on Ebay. Never knew there was a large scale galleon kit and now I see IMAI and Revell make one. IMAI must be rarer? I have a common Roman Galley kit and based on my searches, the same kit of an earlier somewhat cruder design is available but  much more rare. Only made in Russia or something? Another rare kit, Pyro Roman Merchant ship. Only seen it once on Ebay. Hmmm.

Actually, the Frog Shell Welder kit is not rare, as it was reissued by an Eastern European manufacturer fairly recently. British + European retailers certainly sell it, but it might be hard to find on the other side of the Atlantic. Same with the Frog "South Goodwin" lightship and RNLI lifeboat.

Most or all of Imai's range are also still in production by Aoshima. Unfortunately, their prices (especially outside Japan) are seriously high - in most cases, significantly more than you'd expect to pay for the original Imai issue on eBay. The only exception is the Roman Galley, which Academy have reissued (or copied?) at a much more reasonable price.

The galley kit made in Russia that you mention is probably the Zvezda Trireme, as far as I know this doesn't have any connection with the Imai kit, it's Zvezda's own tooling.

The Pyro Roman Merchant Ship is quite scarce, this is one kit I'd quite like to build myself, having already built a Roman warship (the aforementioned Imai/Academy one). It's actually one of the better kits in Pyro's range, it represents a typical Roman "corbita" merchant ship and (I think) was based on carvings found at the port of Ostia.

Re: Shell Welder. Yes, I knew there was a detailing kit available, just opted not to use it and do a relatively quick, simple build while I'm taking a break from working on Artesina's 1/48 scale Bounty. Also, I realize the kit has been reissued more than once. I was just saying the early Frog/Rovex/Tri-ang issue I'm building I haven't seen on eBay. I probably said it wrong. Thanks for the info though.

tankerbuilder wrote:

Hey Jtilley--Just thought I would give you a little food for thought. Which is the more accurate kit ? REVELLS ,KEARSARGE or MAMOLI,s? I recently recieved the both of them. The REVELL ship is all there and the box is fair. I don,t offhand remember the kit # or date but the plans and instructions are very yellow and the decals(what there were) are absolutely unusable!! The MAMOLI kit on the other hand looks new and the price tag on the box from an independent hobby shop in ALABAMA is$249.95!Which should I build ?? This is the first time I,ve ever asked someone other than the wife , which ship I should build next!    tankerbuilder

I'm afraid this is one I can't answer.  The Revell kit represented the state of the art when it was originally released, in 1961.  As has been established in several threads in this Forum, it has some significant problems regarding accuracy, and the recent re-release of it from Revell Europe apparently suffered from some significant quality control problems.  I've never seen the Mamoli kit; all I can say about it is that I've seen several other kits from that firm (it's one of the notorious HECEPOB breed), and I wouldn't allow any of them in my house.  As has often been pointed out to me, however, it's unfair to tar all products from one company with the same brush.  Maybe this kit is an exception.

Re: whether to build or not. I recently picked up pristine examples of Revell's Manned Space Ship and the Space Station from 1957 and '59 respectively. They will never be reissued, and my other, less perfect kits of both are currently on eBay for sale. I spent over $1200 total for the new ones, and they were a bargain at that price, one Space Station having sold for $2k last year.. I fully intend to build both. So you can probably see which side of the issue I'm on. Collect if you want, I'll build.

Two kits that are rare and expensive and why:

Legal Problems with royalties:

1. Revell Custeau Society MS Calypso. This is the ship from the TV series. Its a very good kit, but there are issues with royalties that have kept if from being reissued in the USA, not sure about Revell of Germany.

No intention to distribute:

2. Jim Shirley Productions USS Oriskany 1/700 in resin. For many years this was the only 1/700 Essex in SCB-27C fit (SCB-27C is with an angled deck and reenforced flight deck for jets.) Jim Shirley Productions has left production of ship models and isn't interested in reissuing the kit.

Maybe some more:

Canceled:

JAG collective: SS Pacific Princess "The Love Boat" its a nice 1/700 scale resin kit of the the Pacific Princess from the original Love Boat series. The producers of the TV series didn't really research what they were contracting with JAG, and while JAG did what they wanted they declined to issue the kit and a dicast innacurate model was sold in place. Never officially released they are rumored to be avalible occasionally on the secondary (private) market.

Very sought after:

The Revell Victory at Sea set that contained the USS Midway, USS Boston CG-1, PT-109, USS Missouri, and Polaris firing submarine. This kit was issued years ago but has stayed in demand long after it was no longer produced. There was a reissue a few years back by Revell but it to is now in very short supply as it was a limited reissue.

Certain Airfix 1/600 ship kits, The Heller-Airfix bankruptcy incident (google it, I won't even attempt to explain).

Great apprecation long after issue:

Matchbox issued some 1/700 and 1/720 kits in the late 1970s. One kit in particular grew in demand over time. The 1/720 USS Indianapolis has fairly dull detail and its demand fell. However over time the kits strengths became appreciated by scratch builder, kitbashers, and those with access to replacement parts: The Indianapolis kit has a correct shape for its hull, correct shapes for the turrets, and correct shapes for the superstructure. A little photoetch, strip styrene, and replacement parts you have an excelent finished model. The kit is also well engineered to the point you'll never need your putty.  In fact I think I am remembering this from an old Finescale article from around 2000-2001.

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Summary: Some kits accrue value over time for various reasons and reissue doesn't keep up with demand or just doesn't happen. This will cause its price on the secondary market (resale such as Ebay, or a few other sources) to be very high.   

It has been my experience that rarity itself can be difficult to define.  I have seen the values of a commonly available kit skyrocket simply because it's in a particular box, with the box art itself being the value factor. 

The Heller "Chebec" first produced in 1977 in 1/50th. scale is next to impossible to find, unless someone if cleaning out their stash.