Comes with 5 different ice bergs and a fret of seals. Impressive looking kit. May not have to paint anything.
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I open it and inspect it thoroughly, been bit on the arse one too many times with missing parts/sprues or deformed bits. With the cost of kits I want to make sure it’s all there in correct form especially with most kits coming from overseas.
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The SH-2G looks pretty nice.
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Call me Jack because, as soon as I can get the shrink wrap off a new kit, I’m a ripper!. The only plastic smell I enjoyed on opening new kits was that from Aurora Plastics Corp. models. Years ago I learned that the distinctive “Auroma” came from the mold release agent they used. Once you smelled that, you could never forget it!
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I typically leave them wrapped until I am ready to start working on them. That seems to be a bit unusual from what I just read. I very occasionally will open the shrink wrap to look at something, but never the sealed bags until I am ready to start on it.
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I’m clearly in the minority as most of my stash is still shrink wrapped. My stash is relatively small. 23 kits. Only a few (maybe three?) are open.
One because, like @dadoffour , I bought an aftermarket PE kit for it, so taped it to the underside of the lid.
Another, because I thought I was ready to start it, but then I wasn’t.
And finally, an old kit that was gifted to me from a friend. It came that way.
Cheers,
Mark
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I hear you on this. Even with my small 23 kit stash, I wonder about this, mainly because my current 1/200 Trumpeter Titanic build is turning out to be a much bigger project than I anticipated. I expect that will take another 3 years to complete.
I had grand ambitions of learning all kinds of new techniques with other projects such as weathering, bare metal foil, yada yada yada, but alas, the Titanic is slowing my other ambitions down to a crawl.
Cheers,
Mark
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Ive never had a new kit come up short on parts, decals, etc. But many say they have…
I think Im missing an important, model building experience. Ill have to start buying more
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I mostly open mine, and mostly because I love that sweet, sweet smell of fresh plastic. Also, because I’m usually giddy with a new find and want to look at the injection mold details, panel lines, etc. to keep the inspiration and excitement fresh. About 1/3 of the time, I’m putting aftermarket stuff with the kit, although I don’t tape anything to the lid like @MisterMeester, I just chuck it all in there and unceremoniously stuff the box back in the stash, where I can see it from my office desk! (I’m WFH.)
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I just chuck things in the box, too. I should write the date, cost and other details in the lid, but I never thought of that before now.
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Same here, if I never buy another kit (unlikely), at my current pace, I have a 5-7 year supply.
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I don’t “ stash”, I’m not a collector, I keep roughly 5-10 model kits under my work area. unwrap when I build, make sure I have the supplies I want and build it.
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The second I sit in my car after purchasing the kit at my local hobby store, I open it and take a look in the front seat 
If thats not insane enough, I keep like 2 or 3 kits under my coffee table on my couch so I can look at them when I’m bored watching TV. Then of course I have my stash under my work space and I’ll rotate those out with whatever is under my coffee table. I feel like it helps me get amped about the kits and then I’m more likely to build a stash kit instead of go buy a brand new kit to build
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Here’s one for everyone…
I remember when we had local hobby shops, they would always open a kit that I was seriously interested in so I can inspect it before I buy. This was not for general peeking, but for a final step in the purchase process. One of the store (local chains) I worked with to build kits for them to display would always allow me to look into a kit before buying or building them. This was especially true if they carried 5 of one kit and they were curious as well. The owner was a modeler / builder as well, so the temptation was easy.
With most local shops closing and purchasing being done on-line, this is not normally an option. However, in the past 10-15 years it is very normal for preview a kit virtually (on-line). Many will have a review and some even a build review, and most manufacturers offer replacement parts on current inventory items.
Now if I purchase a kit at a model show, I will 100% of the time open and inspect it as part of the purchase. Most sellers at those shows understand this and have no problem.
The only time I’ve been disappointed is when I purchase from Ebay or individual online modelers. It is rare, but believe it or not, not everyone is honest; hard to believe isn’t it? In those cases, I try to purchase the item through PayPal or ensure there is a way to get a refund or reconcile with the seller.
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Yep, with a good Visa or Mastercard, you get purchase protection from the credit company on top of Paypal…
Paypal is now larger than Evilbay… (and independent from them as well) A notification to Paypal usually settles the issue cause of the proof that Paypal requires the seller to provide in a dispute… Mandatory to use a Paypal sellers account… And Paypals decision is final, if the seller cannot provide proof you get your money back… And Paypal will take it out of the sellers account, the seller agrees to that when they get the sellers account with them…
There is no better online purchase protection than Paypal’s… Double it up with Visa’s protections, and you will never lose money on an Evilbay transaction…
I’m at the point if the seller doesn’t accept Paypal for online purchasing, I go elsewhere to a seller that does…
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Of course it doesnt mean it can’t happen,but I’ve been on ebay and paypal since 2002 without any incidents
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