Have you EVER bought a kit just because the BOXART *DAZZLED* your eyes???

Boba Fett wrote:

Not really, but I DID buy a Revell Ferrari because of how sleek it looked... (May I also say I can't paint a gloss finish to save my life... I'm mainly a treadhead...)

Just remember to go light on the zimm.

Not really, but I DID buy a Revell Ferrari because of how sleek it looked...

(May I also say I can't paint a gloss finish to save my life... I'm mainly a treadhead...)

I don't think I've ever bought a kit just for the box art. I have however used it to break ties betwen two kits I want to buy at the LHS. You guys know the situation. You have your heart set on two kits but you just can't justify buying both. So how do you decide? I use the box art. If it looks cooler that will proably be the kit that comes home with me.

Erik

The Revell and "Blue Box" Monogram box art of the 60s and early 70s (before they went "white-box and photos") was top-notch in my book... Always some action going on...  I cut the box art out and taped it to my bedroom walls back then, lol... Good times, they were...

This sounds so much like my childhood.  Those blue boxes and the Revell box tops were indeed top notch.  I still find myself scrolling through eBay and sorely tempted to bid on a particular kit of that era because of the box art alone.  I used to cut the box art out and my dad mounted all of it on huge poster boards that he took to his lab at Shell Chemical in Houston and displayed for all those scientific types he worked with.

For my all-time favorite box art, I pick the Revell 1/32 P-40E that featured a Flying Tiger as it had just engaged some kind of Jap bomber, I think a Betty.  I don't know who the artist was but I do know that I built that kit several times as a kid and bought it all the time because of that box art.

Batosi420 wrote:

A better question for Me is... Have you ever NOT bought a model because of eye-catching boxart?? Shinny things and bright colors are my weakness.  Everyday is a challenge, just remember...  baby steps.

Actuially, I wont buy a kit if the box is entireley art, I reguse to buy a kit that doesnt have pictures of what it looks like finished somewhere on the box.

smeagol the vile wrote:

If I had the moiney, I would so get this kit just for the boxart

Now that is some beautiful box-art, I love the fact their's so much happening in the pic. Their's a fire burning in a house, some war-weary German soliders walking down a muddy street, a Russian orthdox church all the way in the background, and in the side-car a pig that the Germans are taking for food. It tells a story, and inspires the modeller to build the motorcycle the best he/she can.

I think Dragon/Cyber-Hobby can learn a thing or two from Zvezda's stunningly detailed box-art.

A better question for Me is...

Have you ever NOT bought a model because of eye-catching boxart??

Shinny things and bright colors are my weakness.  Everyday is a challenge, just remember...  baby steps.

If I had the moiney, I would so get this kit just for the boxart

I havent but I'd like to thank all who have and then sold them later on Ebay, you have all saved me a fortune.

My personal best is a Dragon SD.Kfz 250 the Stukka version for £12.00 and the resin engine for the same which has only just come out for £5 - that retails at £15 or so

Again thanks and keep up the good work

I did as a kid. Loved the 1/700 Japanese ships. I will say that I still love the Tamiya box-art the best and used to keep the tops. I do have a couple that I really like and intend to frame. Thanks wing_nut for the Pz IV! Also like the Volstad Dragon box-art.

Actually Hans, it was Shep's Monogram armor box-tops that excited me as a kid to build them. I had pretty much all of the Monogram German armor, and most of the American. God, I got so sick and tired of the PZ IV wheels though! I arguably had more fun building them as opposed to today's more detailed kits, because accuracy wasn't an issue. It goes both ways sometimes on detail I guess.

Absolutely!  When Revellogram was doing the SSP's, I would load up right at the time that Hobby Lobby was having their 1/3 off sale.  Also bought some Aurora WWI fighters in an antique store - just for the boxart.  It's funny how an action scene with a Pfalz flying overhead breaks down all resistance and your hand and arm start working in conjunction and tell your brain, "Resistance is futile!" 

 max

That one and the Revell box featuring Ira Kepford's Corsair are the two that I liked the most...

I STILL have the box art from my first Revell 1/32nd P-51B (Gentile's "Shangri-La"). Maybe the best boxart ever, IMHO.

Greg

I did when I was a kid, thats for sure. I think Revell had some of the greatest box art back then, especially their 1/32 aircraft series. Ones that were bought would have to be the F4F (Coral Sea box art) UH-1D Slick ("Headhunters" landing in a rice paddy) and Gunship (two rolling in hot on a downed river bridge), AH-1G Cobra , JU-87 (Desert Snake), P-40E Flying Tiger, P-47D bubbletop (candy striped tail strafing a rail yard), and Ki-61 Tony.  I had the Ki-61 Tony up on my bedroom wall (along with a movie poster for "Midway"- great one there) until I left for the Army. I still have the poster but the Tony is long gone....

I dont think I will buy anymore based on box art alone.... But I still do appreciate it. Roden has a great print that came with their OV-1A

Let's see . . . you betcha!  Growing up, box art was the main influence in grabbing a Revell, Airfix or Frog kit at the local drug or toy store (we were not blessed with a LHS in Mount Prospect, other than the Squadron shop in Des Plaines).  And of course any kit that was blessed by Shep Paine for Monogram.

Even today most of the Dragon box art is an inticement.  If the cover protrait does not get me, the side and bottom "kit features" panels are usually enough to seal the deal (when I have money for the purchase, that is).

Don't get anything stuck where it does not belong!

I'm guilty as well.

The last run Airfix C-130 Boxart was so nice, I bought 4.

The AMT C-135 Series (NKC, EC, KC-A and R and RC) Great art work.

The large scale Trumpeter 109s and 190 are very good as well.

Cheers

All the time! The last kit I bought JUST for the box art was the new Dragon 1/32 scale Messerschmitt Me110 C-7.  Hasegawa has great box art, and it has sold them many a kit to yours truly.  I loved the old Aurora box art as a kid, and the Monogram blue bordered box art.  Airfiz had some good art as well.

John Steel did some fantastic work for Revell back in the sixties. The box art was meant to be cut out and framed. Here is a sample:

Sure did as a kid when the box art was all I knew about the subject. Steeles work for Revell was great stuff.  Always liked Revells art over Monogram.  Although Monogram did have some neat art.  Tamiya has always been way cool!  Now the question is have I bought a kit with crappy box art?  Yes I have, Dragon has had a couple of armor kits, but I think Trumpeter has some of the wierdest art.  Their big T-34s remind me of Stalinist propaganda posters.  Some of the ship art is really mediocre.  The 1/350 San Francisco and North Carolina are not attractive at all.  A brown sky on the N.C. kit does nothing for it.  Bought them both just because I like the subjects.  Ron Volstads work has alwas attracted me.  I think I buy the Dragon figure sets just because of the box.