I know, it doesn’t apply that kinda stuff… I meant 1933-45 German military items that have the Hakenkruez on them, like insignia, medals, badges, etc…
I agree that started kits are often quite a steal, yet it is always “buyer beware”. I’ve scored great deals on “started” kits that weren’t started on all per se. They just had several main parts removed from sprues for dry fitting. Technically, someone started, but never put glue to plastic.
Other times I’ve gotten massively constructed projects that got away from the original builder. Only one time did I think I overpaid, on a Tamiya T-72, but since I had scored the Verlinden hull and turret for a song, the started kit contained virtually everything I needed that was untouched.
Oh, absolutley it’s “Buyer Beware”. I always contact the seller and ask what’s actually been “started” and how far they went, is there paint on anything, if they inventoried the kit with the instruction sheet, etc… Sometimes those kits are put out there by folks who haven’t a clue about models… So ya gotta “help” them out…
I too learned the hard way on a “Started” kit… It was an M109A2 (Testor’s/Italeri) and the turret was built, poorly, and I had a tough time un-effing it… The seller failed to mention that the kit had been built that far, only that it had been “opened”…
I almost never get pre-started kits, and when I have it’s either been part of a lot with other stuff I wanted or had pictures of the sprues I could check to see if everything’s there on a very rare kit.
My luckiest buy was a lot of FineMolds Star Wars kits that included a pre-started 1:72 X-Wing. I figured the rest of the set would be worth it ( won the auction for less than half the best retail prices I could find for the unstarted kits) and in my usual “hope for the best, plan for the worst” thinking expected the started one to be useful for parts at best. It turned out that whoever had started the kit had actually done a great job on it, no mixed-up parts or anything else that would need to be fixed. I honestly couldn’t see any reason why someone would have sold something that they did so well on starting off, but I’m not going to complain about a nicely pre-started spare.
Forgot to mention that I bought “started” kit (Italeri GMC Duece & a Half) and was quite surpised at it when I opened it…
First, It wasn’t in the box, rather the kit-box was in another box, which was in turn in the shipping box… Some parts were glued together, some others had paint on them, and there were loose parts all over the place… However, by the time I got the sprues sorted out, separated, and inventoried, I discovered that I had not one, not two, but three complete (almost, anyway) kits of the truck in that box… Some easily replaced parts were missing, like a gear shift and a steering colum, and I had to resin-cast two front tires and their wheels)
11.00 bucks, shipped…
Another time, I found two complete Sherman ARV kits in one box of a “Started” kit… One was started, the other hadn’t been touched, still bagged…
That one was around 16.00 IIRC…
'Course, there WAS that Monogram Corsair too… I actually missed the words “Started” in my zeal to have found one with the original 1960s box-art… And for a 1.50 bid, won it… Shipping was four or five bucks…
Opened it, and it was a mess… Silver paint all over it, wing mid-sections were glued together with tube glue, intakes on wrong wings, canopy with glue smears, couple broken parts… You get the idea…
The only thing that was salvagable was the prop… Which turned out to be a good thing, since I ended up using it to replace a P-47D prop since my cat decided that Hamilton-Standard prop blades were fun to chew on, and left my Jug’s prop with two blades a full scale-foot shorter than the other two…
Then there was the “Baa-Baa Black Sheep” F4U-1 that I got as a “started kit”… I took a hit on that one… 25.00 and it was so effed-up with a rattle-can gloss blue that I DX’d it right after I opened it up, 'cept for the engine and prop…
I know Amazon isnt ebay but many here shop both.
I’ve noticed some sellers on Amazon list a really insane price on a book like $999 when most others sellers of that same book are below $100. Why do they do this?
PT Barnum knew why…[;)]
Yep, think of all the work it would save if one person fell for it…
Amazon is a bit of a pill sometimes. I’ve seen the same item 's price go up and down % 500 in a month. I mean the SAME item, from the same seller. These guys set web bots that report back when there’s “chatter”, like on this forum, and the price goes right up. Report that you just got a box of them at a fire sale, price goes down…
Over in Shipmodelforum we were having fun with the “definitive” Arizona book by Stillwell. Price went from $ 100 to about $ 350-$700 depending. Finally I got tired of it and called Honolulu, talked to a sweet lady at the Memorial gift shop and got one new in shrink wrap (long OOP) for $ 60.00 list plus shipping. Reported back to the other mates that they had two more. Amazon next day- $ 65.00.
Yeah I know, shudda bought all three and kept my trap shut, but I’m not like that…[6]