Boxart - Good or Bad - Do you care?

[F1Boomer]

Not sure where this should go, but decided I'd stop in here first. I had been looking at Trumpeters Mig-3 for a few months. I knew a little about the aircraft, but I just didn't like the Boxart, made the whole aircraft look out of sorts to me. So I put it off and didn't buy it. Then a couple of months ago I saw the Trumpy MiG-3 built up on a website (may have been here, I don't recall). I loved the look and immediately bought the kit, built it, and really liked it. I had also seen pictures of the F-84G in real life, and was not sold, so again I didn't chase down a kit, even to look at kits available or reviews. Then last week I see the box for the 1/32 HOBBY BOSS F-84G THUNDERJET #83208. The aircraft is depicted in NMF and is presented on a mirrored surface. Stunning, to me any way, course I love NMF aircraft and blonde woman. If there'd been a blonde next to the aircraft in the Boxart, I'd have bought two. But I did stick with one, and it arrived today, Awesome, simply put. The reviews were good so I am anxious to build the kit. So here's my question, how many of you guys and gals are swayed by a models Boxart, to the good or the bad? When I went on a well known auction site, there was the F-84G and the F-84E. There's very little visual difference to the two aircraft, but I was disappointed when the F-84G was priced more and not as readily Available as the F-84E, so I paid 10 extra US dollars to get it. Yes, I know it's darn near the same kit, but I wanted the one in the picture on the box. So I was just curious, am I the only Boxart nut, or are there more of us out there. Also, what's your all time favorite box art, and would you pay extra money for the same aircraft if there's two different boxings and one has better Boxart?

[sroubos]

Never bought a kit just because I liked the boxart. If it did, I would have loads of Mistercraft kits in my stash... good thing I'm not susceptible to it...

I've definitely decided not to buy kits because I didn't like the art. Hobbycraft in particular comes to mind.

[cvrle]

When I was younger, boxart played a big role in deciding what is bought - Esci was cool, Airfix/Heller-Humbrol and Monogram with the photos, not so much. KP (the original) was great as well, NOVO, not at all.

Now it doesn't matter, although given a choice, I still always opt for the better boxart

[Nachtwulf]

I have certainly bought kits based on good box art and passed on kit with bad box art. I am very partial to Rikyu Watanabe's art as seen on many Hasegawa boxes. I like good box art! I have felt this way since I was a kid and loved the dynamic art work on the 1/32 Revell kits of the late 60's and 70's.

Oops! I meant to write Shigeo Koike not Rikyu Watanabe. Watanabe illustrated the Great Book of Aircraft or some such book hidden under my bed because it's too big for my bookshelf.

Edited April 10, 2016 by Nachtwulf

[Graham Boak]

I don't believe that I've ever had the box art influence me, certainly not consciously. I either want a kit or I don't. It's nice to have good art, but it baffles me that people let it rule their judgement over what's inside. That's what matters, after all.

I recall an Admiral's signal that some people would drink sulphuric acid if it came in a gin bottle.

[MilneBay]

Well I can thank Airfix for the period when they put photos on the box because it allowed me to see that some of the kits were pretty crappy. But apart from that box art has never really had much impact on me. In any case I always have opened the kit and looked in the box before I'll buy any that I am not familiar with.

[Admiral Puff]

I recall an Admiral's signal that some people would drink sulphuric acid if it came in a gin bottle.

Doesn't that apply to just about every Navy?

A very old saying I learned as a young'un - don't judge a book by its cover! What's on the box doesn't matter - it's what's inside that counts, and unless it's a subject that I really want (I have a Special Hobby Sunderland V on order, if and when it ever gets here, even though I've seen no more than a few CAD drawings) I'll generally make sure to open the box and fondle the plastic before committing coin of the realm to a purchase.

[F1Boomer]

The Boxart is only one thing in my buying decision process. First, I have to like the aircraft, 2nd is the scale and third is the manufacturer. Once the kit passes those tests, I then begin to research the aircraft and the kits. I visit forums, sites with inbox as well as construction reviews to check accuracy and buildability. Sometimes seeing a certain boxart will send me into those tests and research, other times I want the model and to heck with the boxart. However, I paint racing helmets, race karts and other items for customers, so I have a interest in art inbred in me. That's were the interest in boxart comes in. It can make me decide on a certain kit if it is a tossup between two types or manufacturers. But I cant say I've ever been swayed to knowingly build a piece of junk kit. Although it has occasionally turned me onto a kit that I hadn't considered before, like the F-84G.

[Kevin Callahan]

Nope, box art has never been a part of a buying decision for me. I mean, I always liked the Testors and Airfix boxes that featured actual built models on the front, and everyone HATES those! It's the plastic that counts, and there are enough sources (like BM) to find out what comes in the box. So I generally know what I'm getting in terms of the kit itself when I make the decision to buy.

[Learstang]

Not particularly, at least not consciously. I like good box art, because I happen to love art, but I wouldn't buy or not buy a kit because of it. The Italeri Stirling Mk.I kit has particularly lurid box art, more suited to the cover of some war comic, but that's not going to stop me from buying it.

Regards,

Jason

[Brad]

Not often, but I have done so. Kits I can remember doing it for are the Tamiya 1/48 USAF Skyraider and Hasegawa 1/72 Iranian AF F-4 Phantom. What's interesting is that from them I developed an interest in Vietnam War aircraft and the IRIAF.

[Giorgio N]

I've never cared much for how good a box art is, I'm only interested in the content. I'm happy with a white cardboard box with a code printed on if the kit inside is good!

At the same time I've had the same experience of MilneBay, some boxarts showing the completed model prevented me from buying bad kits..

[Wez]

When I was younger but getting serious about modelling I did let boxart sway me early on - this inevitably led to some disappointments, since then I have become more discerning.

Those boxarts which purported to show the contents inevitably put people off, whether they showed the actual contents or a poorly made model from the contents. So boxart does count for something.

For me these days, it's about the content. Subject and quality.

I don't go solely by manufacturer, all manufacturers at some point produce a dog of a kit (wrong shape, wrong details, poor surface detailing, poor fit, the list goes on), most manufacturers produce good kits, few consistently produce dogs, even fewer consistently produce best of class. Fortunately, I've been around the block long enough to know a pig with lipstick - an awful old kit in new boxart.

[MilneBay]

Updated box art also was a means by which manufacturers foisted on the unsuspecting buyer old well past their prime mouldings and inaccurate or just kits that had long been superseded by better kits from other manufacturers. Hasegawa's relentless re releases of ancient 60s and 70s kits is but one example. Airfix was and still is sometimes is another. Mutton dressed up as lamb.

[ancient mariner]

Always been a lover of box art and still collect it.Most of my early (birthday and Christmas) builds were Revell and Monogram kits with quite startling box art. I still tend to think that if the manufacturer cant be bothered with the box art/presentation then the kit may not be up to much.

[PhantomBigStu]

a good boxart certainly has helped me into the odd impluse purchase, or sowing the seeds for a future purchase, generally rather not have good boxart, makes throwing the box away harder

[TheBaron]

As a teenager definitely. Hours spent eyeing the evocative/nostalgic Matchbox artwork in model shop windows of the less frequently encountered and unusual kits like the Stranraer and Wellesley. Airfix had the dramatic/dynamic touch but Matchbox box art had a genuine aviation art feel to them. Roden kits have the same feel today in many respects. I also really like the artwork for the 1/72 Hasegawa A7a II Corsair, that combination of white airframe and moon rising behind it in the daytime sky gave a real sense of that combination of the aeronautical and inspirational in the 1960s. I'm bloomin' annoyed as I missed a bargain version of it on EBay yesterday....

[brewerjerry]

Hi

Boxart catches my eye, on subjects i am not usually interested in, i then research the contents on the net or here on BM

cheers

jerry

[John Laidlaw]

It used to when I was young, and particularly when it was painted by Roy Cross - I blame him for my obsession with natural metal finishes . Also, Matchbox boxart, but only when seen in the village shop when spending summer holidays with my grandma in Cockburnspath.

These days, no. The subject's the thing now, even though I thoroughly appreciate Adam Tooby's work.

[Alan P]

Never been swayed one way or another by box art. But the original Airfix B-17G was the only box I kept hold of, it was that good.

[theplasticsurgeon]

Updated box art also was a means by which manufacturers foisted on the unsuspecting buyer old well past their prime mouldings and inaccurate or just kits that had long been superseded by better kits from other manufacturers. Hasegawa's relentless re releases of ancient 60s and 70s kits is but one example. Airfix was and still is sometimes is another. Mutton dressed up as lamb.

Couldn't agree more, and I fell for this Airfix Corsair solely 'cos of the boxart.

Went to Model Shop for the then new Airfix SpitfireIX Desert (another great boxart), and came out with both.

Corsair was built and completed within 4 days.

[Mitch K]

Essentially, no.

I want to know what marking options are in the kit, beyond that it can be a plain brown box for all I care.

[hacker]

Sometimes the box art for some reason puts me off too but l over come it as l know what the kit is like. These days l find l am attracted to the new Airfix boxes like a moth to a flame.

Speaking of model boxes l was contemplating about decorating the workshop and was thinking using specific old models boxes. I gotten myself a Monogram Tigercat in the blue box from the early 60s and was thinking hey keep the box intact frame it somehow and use that. Might hunt up a Bearcat box plus 1/72 Revell B-71E and a B-24D boxes as well . Should look nice. I actually want the two Revell kits to build just waiting for a decent priced old ones to show up

Edited April 3, 2016 by hacker

[ancient mariner]

Speaking of model boxes l was contemplating about decorating the workshop and was thinking using specific old models boxes.

I do similar and as well as more recent Hasegawa box art I have quite a few framed classics from the 50s and early 60s.

[occa]

Never really influenced me, not then and not now.

I always bought and collected over interest into the types even if I enjoy a good box art.

Edit:

Yeah I too cut the box tops out on to put them onto wall above my bed when I was young, nice memories ...