What are your two bigest modelling purchase screw ups?

I really couldn't afford it at the time, (when they were released) but I passed up two Revell Mace/Teracruzers for about $35 each, roughly. DAMM! One to sell and one to build!

Worst Purchase: bought my father-in-law, who's also an avid modeler, an Airfix 1/32 Old Bill Bus at my favorite old/rare kit retailer. Spent a pretty penny on it. Of course, Airfix rereleased it within the year. Airfix has burned me this way a number of times since. I guess I never learn.

Worst Non Purchase: none. same father-in-law told me his secret: "if you see it, buy it, 'cause you may never see it again."

I bought a bunch of those Matchbox, Revell History Makers, Revell ex-Renwal armor and Robotech kits when Kay Bee Toys stopped selling models in the mid 80s. Most of them were built, badly, in my college days, but I enjoyed myself. That's what I bought them for.

Best buy was an old Aurora kit of an M109 howitzer stuffed in a white cardboard box from some mail order club. Jammed inside with the M109 was a complete Aurora MBT70 kit. The M109 was missing a wheel hub (very minor part) and I paid $5 for the lot (early 90s, pre-eBay)

Worse non-purchase #1: See first sentence. When I purchased the Revell ex-Renwal kits, I only grabbed one M50 Ontos and one Military Wrecker. Now those kits go for extreme bucks on eBay.

Worse non-purchase #2: When I was in college, the local Toys R Us had a bunch of the Dune models by Revell on clearance. I only purchased the Ornithopter (sp?). Should have bought the whole lot of them, but lack of funds drove that decision.

When did you make this purchase? Prior to the mid-80's....this was an outstanding way to get several sets of thin F-4 thin wings; to make your F-4B/N models. So, in the days of yore...this was a *good* purchase.

Both of mine occurred at modeling contests/shows. The first was nearing the end of the day, I happened across a vendor who was getting ready to shut down. I was hankering for a German fighter in 1/32nd scale and he had a Hasegawa (109 or 190, I don't recall) and a Revell FW

190. I went with the Revell... Between the two, I made an awful choice.

The other was at a Regional in Baltimore, IIRC. A vendor had the then-newer AMT Tigercat and I was champing at the bit to get one. In the box above it was a Hasegawa SH-3 in Japanese markings. I only had enough money for one and lamented my decision. The vendor seized on this and offered the SH-3 for $25 - the amount in my pocket. I persisted with the Tigercat. "Does the SH-3 come with US markings?" I asked... "I dunno." was the response. Down to $20 for the helo. The Tigercat was priced around $16. Off I went, only to return and wrestle with my decision again. The guy was getting flustered with my inability to choose. Down to $15 for the helo now! I chose the Tigercat...

I'm with Mark Levine - buy it today for tomorrow, you won't be able to find it...

Frank Kranick

The fourth 1:72 B-52. OK, so I didn't regret it, it was only a tenner, but I don't have room for one made up, let alone four. Same goes for the fourth

1:72 Bear, etc.

Two here:

1) Not buying the OK models B-52 conversion with the YB-52 option when I could have. Ten pounds each for that or a Mach 2 B-45 Tornado. Should have bought both.

2) Not using Hobbylink Japan earlier, and not pre-ordering when I did. The JASDF 50th anniversary limited edition kits seem to sell like the proverbial hot cakes, but although I've got most of the ones released so far, I missed out on the Hamamatsu T-4 kit, and I doubt it'll turn up in this part of the world.

Jon.

1. not buying kits for almost 30 years.
2. paying for a lindberg do335. yeah, i know i haven't made any REAL bonehead moves, but give me a chance.

Biggest regret - not buying one of the 1/12 scale Tamiya Lola T70 kits that Al's Hobby had...

Worst screw up - buying any Italleri kit.

After a 25+year absence, I returned to the hobby a year ago. I got a little hobby lobby half off fever and bought the Academy 1/32 Hornet at half price. I then purchased the photo etch stuff to go with it. Now it sits in the cornor, unopened. Between a full time job and the reality that my skills are still a little rusty not to mention I have never touched any photo etch parts, I am no where near being ready to attack this monster project.

I am working on smaller projects so that I can get the satisfaction of completing a decent project in a reasonable amount of time. That way, I won't get frustrated and quit the hobby again. ( I should sell that bugger.)

The best purchase...... Before I quit the hobby, I purchased and still have in the original shrink wrap 3 Pocher Auto Kits, a Westinghouse Atomic Power Plant, and a few rare assorted Mopar kits long since discontinued.

Worst screw-up in commission was to buy more Merlin kits after the first two I bought looked like moist lumps barely resembling the subject matter. I finally learned that there is a minimum acceptable quality below which I should not go, no matter the subject matter (and all but one of those subjects has since been done better by MPM, Huma, Aeroclub, etc.)

Worst screw-up in omission was to let all those cool Contrail subjects go by the board (although they're all tough builds, so maybe that's not that much of an omission, but I still hear whispers "Laté 631...Laté

631...")

Mark Schynert

Screw-ups:

Bought a 1/48 Heller F-84F thinking it was a new mold.

Bought several rare Revell 1/72 P1Y1 Gingas and Helens. Hasegawa released their kits shortly thereafter.

Regreted purchases:

At first model show I attended after starting back into the hobby I picked up a $30 Revell 1/32 George at a vendor table and asked the guy standing behind me what kind of kit it was. "Old kit, obsolete by modern standards." I put the kit down , but out of the corner of my eye I saw the same guy grab the kit and almost tear a hole in his pocket reaching for his wallet. I knew I'd made a big mistake.

At the same show, the first vendor table I came to had a stack of shrinkwrapped Trimaster kits - almost every kit they made - for $10 each. I thought they were nice but passed on them.

Art

Not sure if this qualifies, but I'm forever being suckered (or almost suckered), into buying kits with nice boxtop artwork.

Shigeo is the usual artist I get suckered by. Prime example: the Fujimi Fw 190 1:48, beautiful artwork, kit not so good (esp when compared to the existing (at the time) Dragon kits.

That would be my vice too.. and yes, I have that Fw 190 kit in my stash too.

WmB

Well, it wasn't strictly a purchase but my biggest screw-up was trading an original '64 Pontiac Bonneville kit for a Revell '62 Plymouth hardtop only to have JoHan bring out the USA Oldies series which included the Plymouth.

Regret? That I didn't snap up the Revell '56 Chrysler laying on the shelf at the local religious bookstore. I let the 1/32nd scale dissuade me.

Bill Banaszak, MFE

Hmm biggest screw up: buying an old Revell 1/32 F-4J( $25.00 on ebay!plus shipping!) thinking I could make it into a decent model. I did however graft the F-4J nose onto the newer Revell F-4E and it turned out nicely.

Regret:

Passing up a couple of Topping models ( Skyraider, F9F Cougar)in a garage sale. That one still stings.

Gene DiGennaro Baltimore, MD

Mine has got to be buying all kinds of multi-engined aircraft, knowing full well that I have no place to display them when (IF) they are completed. In fact, I had the B-52 and B-36 kits, sold them because I realized the display space issue, but then a few years later purchased new copies of the same kits (WHY???). The same goes for my B-47, KC-97 family, B-29 family, etc...I have all these kits, when in truth my space is so cramped that I will never be able to display them.

Last year I bought a USA L-19 Bird Dog on Ebay for $25...shortly before it was re-released for $15. I know it's not a lot of money, it's just the DOH! factor.

I regret not buying a pile more Accurate Miniatures planes when Model Expo (I think) was closing them out at 6 bucks apiece.

Doug Wagner

Ummm. Would you believe all of these kits have all been reissued and would you sell them to me for $30 plus shipping? :-)

If you do, please don't forget to send a new post to this thread. ;)

Kaliste Saloom (IPMS #30703) Lafayette, LA