Thread: I'm curious...
View Single Post
  #2  
Old 08-22-2007, 08:26 AM
chanstevens's Avatar
chanstevens chanstevens is offline
Rocket buildin' machine
 
Join Date: Jan 2007
Location: Cincinnati OH
Posts: 543
Default

Quote:
Originally Posted by Druid
Hey all,

Hope y'all are doing well. I'm curious about something, and I think this is the right area to post it in...

Do you build the vintage kits that you purchase? Or, do you simply collect them and hope they'll be worth more money in the future?

I'm curious, because as I peruse sites like eBay and see how much money some kits go for (like the Saturn and Jupiter kits), I can't imagine someone actually building it!


I might not be best source for responding, as I haven't been around enough to accumulate much vintage, but my general theory would be:

1) If you manage to pick up an "inexpensive" kit, you're better off building it than keeping it for investment purposes. In rare circumstances, you can still buy an "inexpensive" kit worthy of investment, in which case buy two--one to build, one to save. Examples of this might be something like numbered editions (Flis, Semroc, Rocketflite come to mind, or limited editions such as Estes Orbital Transport, Scissor Wing, Quest Nike-Smoke). Remember--the reason the "collectible" kits get so expensive is because everyone built them/no one kept them. Don't expect current Red Max/Interceptor re-issues to be worth anything, as so many people are buying/keeping multiples thinking they'll go up just like the originals did.

2) If you see an expensive collectible kit at a discounted price, buy it and keep it. Example--Original Interceptors go for $100-125, so if you see one for $50, grab it (must be original, not reissue). Find an Estes Saturn V in a local hobby shop for $75? Grab it. When you spend that much on a modroc, though, it's pretty hard to justify building/flying it given the huge variety of interesting and inexpensive models available today.

3) If you see a rare and expensive kit running for normal/expensive/collectible market price, don't even THINK it will be a decent investment. It might fill a warm/fuzzy need or aleve obsessive/compulsive collector disorder by filling a hole on the wall, but if you pay $100 for an Estes Titan III don't expect to be able to resell it for $200 to fund retirement. Don't even expect to be able to resell it for $100.

One other general note--I've built/flown quite a few that, in retrospect, would have been worth keeping instead. My only regret on those is not that I blew a potential investment, but that I built them too soon--before I'd acquired the craftsmanship skills and experience to do them justice. For example, I've got a Titan III that has hot-glued fins and wavy hand-painted detail lines. Compared to what I could do with that kit today, it makes me cringe...

--Chan Stevens
Reply With Quote