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A model returns to me after 20 years


LRandel

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There are always stories out there of dogs who find their way home after being lost for years. Here is one of a model finding its way home.

 

This past weekend I picked up a vintage 1/32 Hasegawa A-4E/F Skyhawk for half of the marked price of $15 for $8 at the annual Spring IPMS Seattle Show. It seemed like a good enough deal (I know repops of the same molds go for $60 new and let's not even talk about the Trumpeter prices). When I got it home, I looked closer at the price tag and noticed it looked like it was in my handwriting. Also on the box was a old yellow sticky note not in my writing saying it was purchased from a swap meet on 10/16/93.

 

With that info, I looked through my Excel model records and found I had sold an 1/32 Hasegawa A-4 on October 16, 1993 at a swap meet in Portland for $15. The dealer selling the model was from a suburb of Portland so finding at a show in Seattle was not too big of a surprise. I still need to find out from him if he was the original purchaser or if he had acquired the model from another person (he is a dealer that buys models from estate sales and from people liquidating their collections).

 

Going back further into the history of the model, I had purchased it in June 1986 for $12 in Phoenix, Arizona at Michael's near Metrocenter Mall. I had carted the kit around in my stash all through my time in the Air Force to Florida and then to Oklahoma until I found myself in Portland in 1993. Now after 20 years of lurking unbuilt in someone else's collection, it has found its way back home to my stash. Without adjusting for inflation, the net cost of the model to me is only $5 at this point.

 

And now you know "the rest of the story".

 

Anyone else out there have any stories of sold models returning to your collection?

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The decals are in the box but I really did not give them a complete check yet. What is provided is very basic and I expect they may have turned brittle. I will probably be in the market looking for replacements just to get more complete markings or Top Gun markings.

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That's an interesting story Larry. I guess the modeling world is, indeed, a circle. What goes around might very well just come back around.

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Nice, nostalgic story. I've often bought, sold and then repurchased the same kit years later, but never had the exact same kit come back to me!

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