I was wondering what are your thoughts about your unfinished, half-built kits that you got from someone else.
I mean, I have the Tamiya Sdkfz 250/9 kit which was barely begun when I purchased it, but the guy already primed the interior and assembled the engine.
Also have an almost fully built Tamiya M2 Bradley (kit number 35132 from the 80s). The upper hull is assembled, the lower hull too with wheels (but no tracks yet), and the turret (except the gun barrel and a few accessories).
Do you continue them as is ? Do you use them for painting practice ? Do you use the parts for scratch-building ? Do you even consider to buy them (I got both of my kits for just a few dollars).
I have been given some kits that have been partially built, in every case, whoever started them didn’t know what they were doing. Sloppy bad assembly, sloppy bad paint and generally messed up badly beyond repair …Also parts missing. So I just trashed them.
No, I would never consider buying one unless I could completely inspect it in advance .
I have picked up a couple over the years. Usually from a modeler of around my own skill level, who for whatever reason decided to sell the kit rather than complete the build. The ones I have built so far were barely begun, and what was done, was done well enough for my tastes. If I can not inspect a started kit first to see if I can build it to my own satisfaction, I won’t buy it. Although reality dictates otherwise, I bought every kit in my stash with the intent of building it.
I have picked up some kits at the vendor’s tables at model shows that have been lightly started for peanuts like a 1/35 Dragon Panther A with the metal barrel and all parts including pe for $10. The previous owner only added the mantlet and barrel. That kit new is close to $50. I’ve picked up several 1/48 Hasegawa airplane kits with just a couple of parts assembled for $8 to $10 each, all being in the $30-$40 range new. One of the boxes had three complete Hasegawa planes and decals including one extra after market decal set all for $15. I just make certain all parts are present and only light assembling was done.
That wouldn’t interest me in the least. Unless the kit was from somebody like, a Master modeler, and was impeccable in its construction. Otherwise, it would feel like building a house on a bad foundation.
I’m glad many of you share the same opinion ! [:)]
For the Tamiya 250/9, there are some missing parts, like the inside conical tube holding the 20 mm autocannon (I realized that after buying the kit). Which is quite a pain since it’s one major part (unless I can find a spare EXACTLY like that). Maybe I’ll try to make a blown-up vehicle with it.
And the Bradley … the guy told me he was a professional and built dioramas as a side job for hobby shops. But just by looking at how he constructed the interior he made so many basic mistakes that even a beginner like myself would have avoid. Like putting seats facing the other way around or accessories randomly wherever he felt like it. Seeing how he assembled the driver’s position is laughable. Just like a Picasso or something. I guess I’ll use this Bradley to practice my weathering, as there is no point doing anything good with it.
Thing is this kit was part of a bundle, that’s the reason I got it. Otherwise I would have never bothered.
I got both kits for less than 5$ each btw, so there’s no big loss here.
So next time unless they are free, no more half-built models for me.
I acquired this wooden ship project from another forum and decided to use it as a tune upbuild. Here it is as it came in the mail, Here is the latest project update!
I did buy a part built kit once off Ebay. Its the old Airfix Hawk from Space 1999, the build was awful as he’d used CA glue. But I bought it as the box was pristine and I had a pristine kit with no box so for about $20 I have a kit which one day I’ll sell and as I managed to dissolve the CA I still ended up with the kit
When I was younger, my mom would often get someone’s kits from yard sales or given to her to give to me from one of her friends who had older kids no longer interested in modeling. We were not rich so I was glad to get the models.
Almost 20 years ago, when eBay first started, one of the first items I bought was an old Aurora MBT70 parts kit. I used it to refurbish my original MBT70 kit I built around 1970 something that had been damaged. The kit was $5 and another $3 shipping, but was invaluable to me.
Similarly, a friend gave me a parts kit of the old Renwal M50 Ontos that I used to refurbish the Revell repop I built in 1982 or 83. It had been glue bombed around the hull, but the parts of my Revell kit that were missing or broken were untouched from that model. I was also able to send off bits and pieces to other modelers who were missing a part or two. I used the outer road wheel halves from the parts kit to replace the solid inner road wheels.
A former pen pal I began writing to in 1987 sent me his whole 1/35 scale armor model collection of unbuilt and partially built kits around 10 years ago when he decided to get out of model building and into figure painting. I finished a couple of them, gave a couple of the unstarted ones to my sons and still have a couple kicking around that I may or may not ever bother to mess with.
I guess I am okay with buying or getting partially built kits, but it depends on what I want it for.
Tried it when I was feeling opptunistic, never worked out well. At the end of the day, that couple $ of difference doesn’t make the extra effort worthwhile - unless it is a truely out of production kit.
I picked up an Academy 1/32 F/A-18C that had been barely started off ebay. Only the cockpit and one of the pilot figures had been started and I planned to replace it with a resin AM one, so not a big deal. I generally stay away from pre-built ones mainly because I’ve had enough trouble on ebay making sure all the parts are present on opened boxes (some folks don’t know what I"m talking about, some folks are too lazy to check, and some get offended).
I must admit that I luve a bargain, including picking up a $30-$40 dollar kit for a few bucks. I am working my way through a few of them at the moment. The big challenge will be an old ESCI 1/9 German motorcycle, which needs a lot of work to correct mistakes/damage. It was from an old guy who’s Parkinsons/Alzheimers finally got so bad that he shook to much to continue, so I’d like to finish it off.
Just today I picked up an old Airfix 1:72 OV-10A “started” kit for $5. The only thing the previous owner did is tape the fuselage halves together. I’ll save a few bucks by removing some scotch tape any day.
