I'm back in model railroading after a 20+ year pause. When I was checking my cupboards for existing material I found several Fine Scale Minitures kits (unbuilt) of the early 70's - George Sellios' first impacts on the market. (There is e.g. a Water tank & Tool Shed, a two stall engine house (John Allen style), a car reapair shop or a set of coaling platform/sand drying house and open repair shed. My question: Are these kits collector's items? If yes, then obviously I would be an idiot to start constructing the kits. I did this once in my other hobby, building racing cars: I opened a BBurago kit (about $ 15) of a Ferrari 250 GTO - the so-called blue 'Nuerburgring-Version' - stripped the body of its hideous blue paint and began superdetailing the model to represent a very special car... Two weeks later I stumbled over an article in the model press, where it said, that the 'Nuerburgring-GTO' (unopened of course!) was an absolute rarity and had a collector's value of about $1200!!! Needless to say that I wasn't very happy that evening! Now I won't blunder again! Is somebody out there who has an idea about the value of these kits? These kits are still fantastic with a wealth of detail castings - but before I start building one I'd like to know the value of my future buildings on the Trim Creek & Western! Ron
Ron, try: antiquecast.com They apraise older RR stuff for auctions I understand. ------------------ Watash
Yes they are collectable. I have about 5 of the kits myself. Box condition and complete contents affect price as with most collectables. There are several adverts every month in MRR from people wanting to buy and sell the kits. Check out: http://hometown.aol.com/craftsmankits/FSM_KITS.htm I found this site on Railserve.com. They advertise to buy/sell/trade FSM kits.
