Why Did They Do THIS??!! (Rare Centuri Kit)
 

I hope this is not a member here, but I just about choked when I read the following eBay listing:

http://cgi.ebay.com/Centuri-ARCON-S...=item4153ad21e3


This WOULD have been a very nice collectable for someone (and still would be an interesting item, as is). BUT.... if you read their item description, apparently this VERY early Centuri Arcon (early to mid-1960s) was STILL SEALED before they "opened only to take pics" !!!!!!! Ughhh!!!!

Well, quick lesson in how to slice about 50% of the value off what would have been a fairly rare collector's kit.

Jimi D. if you are reading this, care to speculate about how much money this Ebayer just tossed out the window?

Earl

Don't ever believe them whenever you see that or "opened to check/verify contents".
- No one is that stupid.

The truth is these kits have always been open but many people shy away from opened items because original parts may have been replaced.

By stating "opened to check contents" or "opened to take pictures" people will think "oh, they just opened it so all parts are original and complete" and then bid high for an "original".

Don't ever trust anyone that tries to sell you that line
- they are lying for a reason.

By the way, this kit is not all that uncommon on ebay.
I've seen quite a few of them (and all but this one SEALED) come on go over the years there.


Oh and to prove my earlier point, just check the other items she's selling - she's hasn't opened anything else including sealed model kits.
Why would you open a clear plastic bag and not a box.
The answer is you wouldn't! - It was always open!

Oh, there have been quite a number of Arcons for sure. But....VERY FEW in that early packaging style, though (and THAT is what caught my eye). No, a 'standard', more recent Arcon (early 70s onward) I would not have been too saddened to see 'opened only to make photos'. But a kit (any kit) in the earlier Centuri packaging like this one are much rarer and come up much less often; MUCH, MUCH less.

But yeah, their 'line' is probably just that (as you suggest): a line. And that actually makes me feel a bit better to think that they DIDN'T open it 'just to take pics'; that it (probably) in fact, was already opened when they found it.

Then again, people do some pretty surprising (and studip) things sometimes....

Earl

WoW misguided souls
 

Ok I finaly get to get blasted for stating a point of view I hold .

Why would anyone buy a rocket kit , and not open it?

People who scour the planet loking for things ( not just rockets) for the sole sake of possessing them , with no intent of utilizing them for there intended purpose , in most cases doing so to simply feed some desire to "Have" things need there nose cones examined.

Even worse are those who do so to later re sell them fr a profit are down right deploreable.

If some onecan get some satisfaction sitting in a circle of not opened hang bags , afraid to handel them s othey will suffer no damage i think are wierd to say he least.

Pursiing a kit , because yu want to build it , fly it and enjoy it is what should be done. I was apprached by someone looking at a kkit Ihad , and there cmment was "Yur notgonna build that are you?"
Im like No **** , what elsewould you do with it . I was told it was to valuable to be built . Hw can a rocket have anyvalue unbuilt?


Oh well

WoW - Be sure and read the post before trying to start a fight
 

What are you talking about?
No one said anything about opening up a kit after you bought it.
This is about opening up a sealed kit just before you sell it.

No one's going to blast you for stating you point of view but we will for not knowing what this thread is all about.:chuckle:

It's a moot point anyway, since it's been determined that she didn't open the kit as it was opened prior to her receiving it.

My point was ( sort of)
 

That some how it is more valuable un opened than opened , provided all he parts were there , as a kit it has no more value un opened as opend . If your intent was to build it . So she did a builder a favor by opening it and that way you can see the cndition f all the parts

I write stuff like this when I have to wake up at 3am for a flight and im bored in a hotel

Fair enough.

Hi Earl, I would say a good 60 to 70% off the value of this very early packaging Centuri Kit.
You do not see many of these in this early style packaging.

You Take Care, Jimi D

For the bagged kits there's no reason to open to inventory before selling, so if someone is saying that they did that they are probably just covering for the fact that the kit was already open when they got it, or they opened it and decided to sell instead of keep/build.

For boxed kits I think it's a good idea to buy the opened box since you can see what's really in it. I read on one of the forums sometime back that some guy bought either an Estes Sat V or an Estes Mercury Atlas sealed in shrink wrap and after more than a year had passed he opened it and found that it was missing a number of important components.