The Little World

What do you do with the valuable old kit?

If you have been stashing or buying for some time, you will eventually stumble across an unbuilt kit that is actually valuable in some respect:

a. It has climbed in resale value as it has aged and other similar kits fallen by the wayside. If you bought it cheap when new you might be delighted to see others playing silly money on-line for it.

b. It has climbed in status as the best – or dropped ditto as the worst – amongst the cogniscenti.

c. It has particular historical or sentimental value for you. Your uncle flew a Sherman tank at the Battle Of Waterloo and you always remembered it.

d. It is the only one of its kind and you need it to complete a particular set.

e. You have 2001 models and space to store 2000. Your wife has explained this to you in bed.

So do you sell, build, or donate?

Let the money part go for a moment. The last thing you want to start thinking about in your old age is how much you have spent on plastic kits – and you want no hint of this number to be suspected by the Missus. Never speak of numbers.

Consider whether the kit is vital to your collection. If it is, build it. If you are not only the first on the block but the last in the state, you need to do it.

It was made for two purposes; to garner money for the moulder and to be built by a customer. The first has occurred a long time ago – it just wants you to complete the life cycle.

You can be assured of a few things; it will not be made again until you have built it…and then it will be released in a totally new form that is far more accurate than the kit you have hoarded. That, and the fact that it will become the kit of the year that everyone builds. Your valiant attempt to resurrect the ancient kit will be laughed at.

You shouldn’t have joined if you can’t take a joke…

PS Worst Case Scenario. You have hoarded it for 50 years and just about got agreement from the desperate eBay buyer to fork out 100X what you paid for it new.

Then the maker re-issues it as a classic vintage kit at a bargain price.