Warbird Information Exchange

Hi All,

I was just looking through some of my stash (some inherited from my Dad) and I noticed one kit, a ME-109 Messerschmitt blue box kit (Mattel version) had a price tag of $0.75! Is that true...were those kits back in the early 70's only $.075? Somehow I thought they were more like a buck or two, so maybe this one is secondhand. Anyway, can any of you remember actual kit costs for those great Monogram and Revell models in the late '60's and early '70's? And am I really that old?!!

I just LOVE those old Monograms and Revells!

--Tom

Never knew MONOGRAM issued kits under MATTEL logo. Old Plastic Modelkits site lists MONOGRAM # PA74-98 & blue ended PA-74-100 @ $45.00 and one copy of PA-74-100 @ $85 !!?!!

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Don't make me go get my flying monkeys-

Hi Inspector,

Yes, for a short time in the early '70s the Mattel logo was printed alongside the Monogram logo to show their ownership. The oldmodelkit site says they did that for only a short time.

http://www.oldmodelkits.com/blog/plasti ... odel-kits/

And reading the same site, I see that on four-star and blue box kits, Monogram's kit number had an "extension number", which was (what today we call) the MSRP...which on the kits I have is usually a "-100"....meaning (I guess) one dollar. So that sorta answers my question. The price tag on the -109 kit is from a department store, so the marked-down price could indeed have been $0.75...pretty amazing considering how much a model costs today.

I think the oldmodelkits site has some really jacked up prices!

--Tom

Perhaps, but you also can't go down to the local FORD store and buy a brand new 1964 1/2 MUSTANG for $2400.00 either. I've got a still viable small square (glass no less) bottle of PACTRA 'subframe white IV2' with a .33 cent label from J.C. PENNY. Got $175.00? I might sell you my still sealed, never opened LIMITED EDITION 1/72nd XB-70 kit.

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Don't make me go get my flying monkeys-

YIKES!...I can't afford a warbird and now I can't afford a warbird model!

Glad I have a stash of old kits myself. Now I'm looking forward to having the time to build them all. C'mon retirement!

--Tom

That's what I thought too! I've been picking away at a half assembled B-36 I closed the box lid on 11 years ago when I got emancipated from the second former. I've got a closet about 3+ feet deep in unbuilts (aircraft and NASCAR stuff) and have 4 going on the desk right now- B-36, 1/8th Big Deuce, REVELL 1/25th '57 RANCHERO hot rod, and an AMT A-20G that also went to bed 11 years ago half assembled, I'm almost too busy now that I've retired to have kit time-

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Don't make me go get my flying monkeys-

Sounds like a lot of fun, Inspector. And I hear that a lot from my other retired friends about being very busy, etc. all the time. Good dilemma to have going ha ha ha. At least (hopefully) it's all stuff you like doing. For me--for now at least--I just love going up in my "happy room" and looking at my model kits and boxes of slides waiting to be sorted, cataloged, scanned and shown around, etc., and it renews my hope that there IS indeed light at the end of that long career tunnel!

Been seeing the ME-262 and Sentimental Journey flying out of Paine Field the last few days, so had to go look at my visible B-17 and ME-262 kits last night to ehance the drool factor ha ha ha!

--Tom

I wouldn't touch that visible B-17, just put the lid back on and build any of the other solid colored kits of the model, the clear one is worth some sreious bucks! Sealed and unopened brings the most, opened drops the value, started drops it even more. If you're in the South Seattle/Renton area drop by SKYWAY HOBBIES in. of all places, Skyway and chat with Emil about kit values.

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Don't make me go get my flying monkeys-

I imagine the collector value of the original release of the Visible B-17 has dropped drastically since it was re-released a couple years ago. If it's already opened, I'd go ahead and build it.

SN

Skyway Hobby is nirvanna, and Emil is a great guy...I've picked up a few old Monograms from him over the years; stuff that I built as a kid and now brings smiles to my face anytime I open the box to look the parts over again. Early Monograms were great for their play value, with all those moving parts.

Regarding the visible B-17...very true about the original. However, mine is the recent re-release so as Steve suggests, I plan on building that one. I'm thinking of doing a modern warbird version ratther than a WWII original. I've taken the tours through any number of B-17s that have visited Seattle and Everett over the years, so I just have to figure out which one I want to represent and see if the decals are available. Things to daydream about today at lunch maybe.

--Tom

A fairly big part of the value of older kits to serious collectors is, is it unopened/ Is it in it's original box? reissues are great but somewhere on the box the manufacturer notes this is a re release, REVELL does it by putting SSP somewhere in the kit I.D. number, and when the collector sees that you are on the other side of the counter from Rick on PAWN STARS. Also the manufacturer will add the reissue year to the engraved logo info on a kit part like inside the horizontal stab half.
It's like buying a classic car v. a repop or 'tribute', provenance is everything and a really knowlegable collector can spot 'issues' coming in the room.

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Don't make me go get my flying monkeys-

Yep, pristine "collector" kits will retain much of thier value, but a "gently used" original issue will drop considerably if the kit is re-popped. Until a couple of years ago, you could easily get three figures for an Aurora "2001" Moon Bus, even if it had been started. Of course now the kit has been reissued by Mobeus (or more accurately "reconstituted," as they cut new molds) so the original Auroras are only of value to collectors..meaning if they're beat up or started they're pretty much worthless (from a financial perspective.)

I notice that this year Revell is planning re-pops of some old Renwal kits, including the Atomic Cannon, long a "Holy Grail" among collectors. Also, last year some of AMT's old 1970s semi tractor and trailer kits were re-popped. I've been thinking about snagging the White Freightliner for my brother..he had all those kits when we were kids, and then drove one through his 20s.

Now if I could just get someone to re-pop the Aurora Convair 990, I could finally build a diorama of this eatery where I workd in the mid 80s...

SN

Didn't REVELL do a 990 in their oddball 'box sized scale'?
I've got an old GLENCOE 880 reissue that will eventually become ALASKAS N 8477H 'Old Smokey' '4 jets a day to Anchorage' (all on the same airplane)

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Don't make me go get my flying monkeys-

Hey Steve, where was that beanery located? Looks like the "upstairs" was actually in the plane...is that so?

Very cool any way you look at it!

--Tom

Erie, Colorado..about 15 miles west of Boulder at (then) Tri-County airport. The kitchen, bar, and lounge were in the building, and the dining room was in the plane. It was pulled from a scrapyard and had been thoroughly stripped..the inside was all wood paneling, and the cockpit fitted out as a wraparound booth seating six. The place went under in the late 80s, and sat abandoned until 1996, when the plane was scrapped and the building remodeled as office space.

SN