Model Forum / General / Rockets / March 2006

I disagree ... there are kits that I would pay over $1000.00 if I could
find them in the RIGHT condition.  The 1/45th scale, isn't an EASY kit
to clone ... for that matter, neither is the 1/70th scale kit.  Both
have an intricate escape tower, body corrugations, fairings, scale
decals, metallic bodies ... not like cloning an Alpha or Astro 1.

Semroc will be re-releasing the 1/70th "K" kit Estes's version.  Its
body detailing is simpler, but still requires scale decals, and an
elaborate escape tower.  I would agree that this can EASILY be cloned
with respect to the materials needed, e.g. it's all paper and balsa,
with no large blow molded fairings, CM, or escape tower.  It is STILL a
challenging kit to build.

Well packaging matters, but then so does the subject within.  Also the
history of the kit and its impact on the model rocket industry as a
whole.  The quality of the kit.

Here is a thought ... why spend $1500.00 on a computer that within 5
years will be obsolete?  So you want to play Halo 2 or the latest WWII
first person shooter ... so you spend $400 for the best video card to
make your action game as near reality as possible ... in 5 years it
will be junk compared to other video cards ... so why invest the money?
Why throw it away?  Same can be said with a car.  In 10 years, most
cars will be obsolete.  Why spend $12,000.00 for something that only
depreciates over time?  Money is a tool to get what you want and need.
$600.00 today will be worth $300.00 or less in 20 years.  If you can
afford a $500.00+ Little Joe II, then good for you.  Some people buy
$30,000.00 golf club sets ... good for them.  Some people buy
$750,000.00 houses ... good for them.  It's all about what you want
out of life and what you can afford.

Randy,

I am NOT trying to beat up on you.  Just raising some points about
collecting ... yes there are dumb people in rocket collecting.  An
example would be a couple of auctions that closed on ebay by Great
Lakes Hobbies (GLH).  Now they had two kits that are desired by
collectors:  The Interceptor and the Disney Black Hole probe.  The
interceptor went for its TRADITIONAL high price ... around $160, and
the Black Hole probe went for 40 some dollars ... I was shocked and
laughed.

The Interceptor was produced for many years and 10's of thousands of
them were made over the production run.  The BH probe was only made for
less than one year and is a Disney licensed collectible only produced
in the few thousands.  The BH probe also covers two collecting camps,
model rockets and Disneyana.  Same thing with the Strombecker Disney
spaceships of the 50s.

The BH probe is a far rarer harder to find kit, and has a HISTORY in
Disney Sci-Fi film lore, yet people decided that the Interceptor was
worth 4 times more ... despite the Interceptor being 10 times more
common ... go figure :)

That is the thing about collecting ... there are no guarantees to logic

I just want to pull out my last strands of hair when I attend club flea
markets, and someone tells me that they payed X dollars 10 years ago,
and won't let something go for anything short of n*x + y ! (n being a
whole number, greater than 1), haven't seem any x*x yet, but there is
still time ... its free market :)

As a side note, the quality of some of the clones is unbelievable.  I
just got my Semroc Mars Lander the other day -- to say I was blown away
is an understatement:

http://www.semroc.com/Store/scripts/RocketKits.asp?SKU=KV-54

And QModeling has some great 'upscales' of some of the old favorites, and their engine mounts are an engineering marvel...

Not to mention FlisKits, Sunward, et al -- I'm actually happier with the selection we have now than when I was a kid (mainly because now I can afford them -- but don't have as much time to 'play' with them -- I guess it's a wash <G>).

Once the legal problems are behind us, I'd really like to see some concentrated efforts made to 'grow' the hobby.  If we could have taken (better) advantage of the rocket episodes on TV over the past couple of years, I think we'd start to see a resurgence -- but we just don't have the infrastructure in place to take advantage of these opportunities as quickly as they appear.

David Erbas-White

The LJII was never a $5 rocket. $12.95 IIRC, in 1970 dollars. That a 38.5x
increase, and much of that is due to inflation.

In 1970 a new car cost about $2000. By that same increase, it would be
$77000 today. What's the price you've seen lately on a MINT, NEVER BEEN
DRIVEN 1970 Camaro or Mustang?

BTW, I've got TWO of the big LJIIs in the basement :-)