I usally build 1/48 WWII aircraft but I do build some WWII armor in 1/35 scale usally so forgive me if I missed the boat on this one but is this kit that rare that it went for this amount on eBay or was this just a bidding war?
Soulcrusher
http://cgi.ebay.com/ws/eBayISAPI.dll?ViewItem&rd=1&item=150145608067&ssPageName=STRK:MEWA:IT&ih=005
I don’t get it either, maybe a collector kit given that release? When I was in Okinawa (several years back) I picked up a few of these Bandai 1/48 armor kits at one of the hobby shops (majority of my builds are aircraft too). There were shelves of them at that time, and a good chance there still is.
Sold them all off on ebay too, got more than I paid (about $10 a piece at the time of purchase) for them, but not $99!
Up until a couple a years back, Bandai was about the only game in town if you wanted to build 1:48 scale armour. The alternative were scarce resin kits.
I paid close to $60 AU for a Bandai 1:48 Willis jeep in 2002 as it was the only kit of the jeep available in 1:48.
Now a days collector prices only especially with the release of new 1:48 Tamiya armour kits and accessories. I doubt it would be long before Tamiya or for that matter Hobby Boss release a 1:48 JagdTiger.
cheers
Mike
Holy &%*%! I’ve got that kit in my stash! It’s got both a crew of five, and an interior…
It appears that an ebay newbie purchased it. That might be why the price went so high.
Man I just sold an 1/48 Tamiya Su 85 motorized kit on eBay and it only feched 5 bills. It was still sealed in the bag never open and a near perfect box. If I remember the Bandai kit is pretty crappy on detail on top of it. Where are these crazy bidders when I am selling of some of my stash? God knows I could use the money.
Soulcrusher
That seems to happen to me. I’ll start my bids rather low and either they don’t get bid on or languish. I usually sell popular stuff too. Then I turn around and some yahoo has the same item for a much larger starting price and low-and-behold, he has multiple bids. Yes, I understand that there are many things to consider such as sealed kit and so on.
I guess it is a matter of timing too. Here’s the same thing for half the price (depending on US/AU exchange rates in any case)
http://www.oldmodelkits.com/index.php?detail=8175&manu=Bandai&scale=1/48
On the other hand, if it’s the kit you want and you can afford it or at least justify it, the price is not that big a deal.
Andy
Absolutely. The exchange rate AUD to USD was about 42c in early 2002.
cheers
Mike
I’ve noticed past couple of years Bandai kits stateside hae been ungodly expensive. I had heard good things about a few of the kits, and was going to pick some up. Until I saw the pricetag, I VERY carefully set it back on the shelf and shuffled a few feet back to the right, for those of us who don’t make 150 grand a year.
Michael
Definitely a collector. I recently (Feb-Mar) sold some collectable kits on eBay. Many were bought by Japanese bidders who paid extraordinary amounts of money. One went for around $310. I made about $1k selling a half dozen kits to buyers in Japan.
As far as that particular Bandai kit, it may be worth more because of the box art (still has the Nazi symbol on it), but I don’t know for sure.
I know this is thread necromancy, but it is likely the person who paid so much for the kit was a Star Wars fan. The spaceships in the movies were kitbashed from a bunch of different models, including the Bandai 1/48 Jagdpanther. The turret body, for example is used as details on the Millennium Falcon, as is the rear deck.
It’s pretty likely someone was trying to build an exact replica of the model used for filming.