Does anyone here keep the box art from finished models? When I was a kid I would cut the front off of some of the boxes that had cool artwork on them and hang em up around my room. I also kept all of my instruction booklets and cut out the little write ups on the aircraft and save them too.
Now that I’m back in the hobby I may start keeping those box fronts again. Just not sure where I’ll hang them.
No,it all goes in the recycling
Only ones I’ve kept are the '60s masterworks by Revell illustrator Jack Leynwood, those incredible action paintings of Gentile’s P-51B, the ‘Snake’ Stuka, etc. They’re literally the thing that moved 12-year-old me from merely slapping together the 80-cent dimestore models, to wanting to build real replicas.
Yes, I’ll cut out the box art and keep them in a file folder. The box art is generallly 50% of my inspiration for purchase so I tend to hold onto them.
No, though I do admire the box art
If I like the box art I’ll cut it out and hang it in the garage. The garage is where I paint. The instructions get tossed in the recycle bin.
I keep all the box art and all the instructions from those kits that I build in folders in a file cabinet. I thought it was just a quirk of mine. I have found that it is a good thing to do as it sometimes comes in handy.
When I started cleaning and repairing models for the museum, there were lots of planes built by this one gentleman that were broken with parts missing, decals coming off and paint jobs that kept me from figuring out just what plane it was as I can almost guarantee that those paint jobs never existed anywhere during WWI or WWII. After working on a few and having to do lots and lots of research on each one, one of the members remembered that the man gave them 2 large binders of instructions and box art of every plane that he ever built. It took them a few weeks to find them down in the dusty basement but they finally did and gave them into my keeping while I work on his models. It has been a lot easier to work on them now even though some of the instructions only have the first page. He had some “what ifs” mixed in there and I was asked to return them to true life, if possible. At least I can tell what kind of plane he started with and if it can be returned.
Jim [cptn]
Stay Safe.
I keep all my instruction booklets and some of the boxart. Handy to be able to look back sometimes.
Hi;
I have a couple of three ring Notebooks( The Kind they usd in offices) and have all the Steele and other great Maritime box art atists works in them. No instructions except the later years when I was teaching the hobby, Those are full of notes in color to be used as teaching aids.
Thanks for the replies. I’m probably going to start a binder or a file box for mine.
When I was a kid (b 1964), I used to cut the box lids apart with an idea of hanging them up. Those were the days of the classic Revell boxes, and Aurora, and other companies. And I thought I could collect the side panels like baseball cards (collected those, too). But with a pair of old-school scissors, it wasn’t quite like I pictured it. Rough, ragged edges.
Fast-forward to today. I recycle some, save others. I read a tip about displaying the box art by tacking the box bottom to the wall, and then fitting the lid over it, and I might try that. Especially with my Maschinen Krieger kits. The boxes often include a printed card with info about the subject’s color scheme, the “history” of the subject (in the SF3D/Maschinen Krieger 'verse). Some boxes have binder holes pre-punched, so you can collect the cards into a binder. I save those that way.
I do save the box art from many of the figures I have, especially if it’s a small card with a photo attached. Some figure makers included text on the back of the card, painting tips, and so for. I have that info now in other forms, but most of those cards fit in a 3-ring binder, so I save them as additional references.
Recycle kit boxes. An idea what you can do with instruction guides… upload them and post it on scalemates if the particular kit doesn’t have a link for the public to review it at the site.
No but I wish I had. 1/350 box tops are a little big for a file folder though.