sealed airfix etc model kits on e bay

[brewerjerry]

Hi All,

It might just be me getting sceptical, but .......

I have recently noticed old model kits for sale on e bay as sealed,

and I don't remember from my younger modelling days these kits having been sealed,( I just seem to remember some sellotape.)

and instantly wondered if it is a way of selling a model with no liability for missing parts, ( i.e. seller would say 'it was sealed so i didn't know')

Just wondered what the feeling was of other board members, and wether if it is just me getting old & suspicious !!!

It's annoying as it is putting me off buying some models I would like.....

Cheers

Jerry

[keefr22]

It's not just you Jerry, I've often thought something smelled a bit fishy with these too! Like you, all I remember are a couple of bits of sellotape holding the lids on. And these should be nicely yellowed by now if they are genuine!

Keef

[roys]

Recently purchased 3 kits off ebay and only 1 was an absolute peach. If its not available in the shops and its only a few quid its worth the risk. Postage charges tend to put me off the most.

[Gary C]

Resealing kits and selling them as new is definately on the rise especially as collecting seems to be on the up and sealed kits fetch more. I bought a Monogram F-102 a couple of weeks back, advertised as still factory sealed. Now if you've ever bought a Monogram kit that is actually fresh out of the factory with it's original shrink wrap you'll know it's got a very soft, easy to tear, feel about it. The shrink on this was quite thick and rather crunchy, not original I thought...open the box and lo and behold the parts are all out of the bag and the bag is laid on top of the instructions and decals which are laid on top of the loose parts...I'm pretty sure it didn't leave the factory that way. At Telford last year there were several 1/48 Hasegawa Phantoms in the Kit Swap wearing shrink wrap, kind of odd given that Hasegawa don't shrink wrap their kits I know some shops in the US have been known to shrink wrap Hasegawa stuff but the likelihood of all of these having come from there...? More often than not I think if you buy an old kit on Ebay advertised as factory sealed it only means that the seller has access to a shrink wrap machine.

[Mark M]

ive stopped buying off ebay, ill stick to the chaps and chapesses on here!

[brewerjerry]

Hi All,

thanks for the replies, old age might be approaching me, but at least the memory is still there.( at the moment......)

Cheers

Jerry

[woody37]

I have bought several kits off Ebay and never had any problems. As long as they have all the parts, I'm not bothered whether their sealed or not.

The kits I tend to buy are old airfix airliner kits which are relativley cheap, many are bagged.

I certainly have no intentions of stopping as it is a great place to pick up the rarer models.

Regards

Neil

[AWFK10]

Hi All,

It might just be me getting sceptical, but .......

I have recently noticed old model kits for sale on e bay as sealed,

and I don't remember from my younger modelling days these kits having been sealed,( I just seem to remember some sellotape.)

and instantly wondered if it is a way of selling a model with no liability for missing parts, ( i.e. seller would say 'it was sealed so i didn't know')

Just wondered what the feeling was of other board members, and wether if it is just me getting old & suspicious !!!

It's annoying as it is putting me off buying some models I would like.....

Cheers

Jerry

I've never had an issue with a kit bought from e-bay but I think you're right to be suspicious of sealed boxes. I was had that way at Telford one year, when I bought from a secondhand kit dealer (not one of the big names) one of the large size boxes of Airfix Multipose figures, supposed to contain 2 sets of sprues giving enough parts to build 12 figures. When I removed the shrink wrap at home, there was only one set of sprues inside. It could have come out of the factory that way, of course, but I've got a feeling it had been sealed by the dealer.

[marty_hopkirk]

Whist undoubtedly there is resealing going on - its not an easy call. As exported kits from as far back as the late 1960s where routinely sealed. For example its not unusual to see Kimaster kits shrink wrapped and they date from the early '60s.

The older shrink wrap tends to be of a more brittle type and gets more brittle as it ages. Newer shrink tends to be more plyable and softer. Not a 'golden rule' by any means, but rather a useful indication.

Marty...

Edited January 10, 2010 by marty_hopkirk