Aircraft kit values

[feoffee2]

Hi

Not sure this is the right forum 

I have a large amount of ww2 aircraft plastic kits from various manufacturers and was wondering if there is a book or price guide available to help determine there value. I have one similar for model railways but am struggling with a plastic kits one. 

Thanks 

[bentwaters81tfw]

I'm not aware of one, but that doesn't mean there isn't one.

I suppose  for a top price guide, you could use Hannants website, as they carry most items.

Bear in mind Hannants sell at top dollar. You can usually get the same items cheaper, as they are the UK's biggest wholesaler, and the mark up varies.

Realistically, once sold, the item is only worth what someone is willing to pay. The second hand market does not always reflect a true value. You could look at the sold items listing on ebay for an item, and take an average, but even that is hit and miss.

[Mike]

4 minutes ago, feoffee2 said:

Not sure this is the right forum

If not, it might be a good idea to ask, as WWII Aircraft Modelling certainly isn’t the correct place to ask for a Glass’s Guide for aircraft kit values. Moving it to chat now. Please try harder in future. If anyone is ever tempted to put those words in front of a post, it’s a 99.9% certainty that you shouldn’t post it there.

[Corsairfoxfouruncle]

I use a combination of Online hobby shops and ebay to determine the value of a kit. 

[RobL]

I wouldn't use ebay as a yardstick, not unless you're comparing prices of brand new kits sold by reputable sellers, Jadlam, ModelHobbies etc.  A lot of ebayers (read most) seem to have an over inflated opinion of what the kits they sell are worth, I get the feeling they feel their "investment" owes them a house or two...

 

Of course if you're selling I guess that's not really a problem, because as they say, there's one born every minute...

Edited July 17, 2021 by RobL

[Six97s]

4 hours ago, RobL said:

I wouldn't use ebay as a yardstick, not unless you're comparing prices of brand new kits sold by reputable sellers, Jadlam, ModelHobbies etc.  A lot of ebayers (read most) seem to have an over inflated opinion of what the kits they sell are worth, I get the feeling they feel their "investment" owes them a house or two...

 

Of course if you're selling I guess that's not really a problem, because as they say, there's one born every minute...

 

Agree on inflated and optimistic pricing of OOP kits, but by filtering to show only 'sold' items, one can get a reasonable idea of the going rate.

[Giorgio N]

There's no such thing as a printed price guide so if you want to sell your kits your best bet is to look at what others ask for the same.

With kits that are currently in production it's easy, look at the current price and take something off this.

With OOP kits things are a bit more difficult, you can check Ebay and shops like Kingkit, that specialise in pre-owned kits, to get an idea and then decide for a price depending on box and parts conditions etc.

Keep in mind that value of an OOP kit may change over time, if the kit has not been reissued in some time then price may increase. If the kit represents the only way to build a certain subject its price may skyrocket, but if a new modern kit of the same appears the price will drop immediately.

There are also "regional" factors, the same kit that in Britain is worth little may be worth a lot in a different country because represents a subject of some particular interest.

The exception may be old Airfix kits, for which I seem to remember having seen a website with some price guides depending on year of issue, style of box etc. These "classic" kits suffer less from the price variations I mentioned above as generally they are spighe after by collectors more than modellers 

[Eric Mc]

I tend to look at those online retailers who sell secondhand kits for a rough guide. King Kits is a good example in the UK. There is an American seller called Classic Kits which is also useful.

 

Bear in mind that they will have a mark up and profit margin built in to their pricing so I tend to look at their prices and then take 50% of those values as my starting point.

 

I don't think that eBay in general is a useful tool for ascertaining realistic prices.

[Francis Macnaughton]

3 hours ago, Giorgio N said:

 

The exception may be old Airfix kits, for which I seem to remember having seen a website with some price guides depending on year of issue, style of box etc. These "classic" kits suffer less from the price variations I mentioned above as generally they are spighe after by collectors more than modellers 

In some cases the type/issue of box and the condition it is in are a major factor on whether a collector is interested in the model at all.