Have any kits gone extinct?

[strobez]

Y'know, I was poking around on eBay a couple of days ago and was looking at some older kits and started thinking about this.  Every time I build an older kit I think about how there's one less in the world for someone else to enjoy.

In my other collecting/hobbies... comic books is a good example, I know that even if I buy an old issue (assuming I keep it in good condition) it will most likely outlive me and be passed on to some future generation.  I can love and own it for now, but my ownership does not consume it.  But with model kits, it's a bit different.  Every time I build, say, a Monogram F7F Tiger Cat from the 1960s (probably the oldest kit I've ever built), it pains me somewhat that I am "taking it out of circulation".

Now I know, Revell has the molds and has produced new versions of the kit... but THAT kit no longer exists.  On the other hand, as a collector, I've always been a little dismissive of people who collect for value - comics, records, toys, whatever, that never come out of the packaging seem like such a waste to me.  I get that once the seal is broken, they are no longer "mint"... but it feels like we've robbed them of their intended use (or destiny).  So I also kinda hated to see the old bagged Airfix Supermarine S.6 that the shopkeeper in Singapore was so proud to show me.  He didn't look pleased when I told him if I bought it, I'd build it (and probably paint it WHIF yellow...)

Anyway, I was just curious if "regularly available commercial" kits (not some obscure resin/vacuuform) kit has gone extinct before.  Moulds lost, never to be seen again... and did anyone shed a tear?

Also, am I getting overly sentimental about the destiny of a piece of plastic? 

[NARSES2]

Also, am I getting overly sentimental about the destiny of a piece of plastic? 

Quite possibly  But I do know what you mean.

[dwomby]

I have read over the years that the following moulds have disappeared - Frog 1/96 Vulcan, Valiant and Victor, Airfix Stingray (from the Gerry Anderson TV show).   There must be more

David

[TheChronicOne]

I keep hearing about a certain L-1011 set of moulds being missing or something but it sure doesn't seem to translate into a lack of kits on eBay. 

It's an interesting question, though. It's possible that a kit that was produced at one time no longer has a single viable example on the entire planet but who knows!

[loupgarou]

Also the Frog 1/96 DC-7, and a lot of ancient Aurora moulds, allegedly in a train disaster, just to name the most famous. But hundreds of ancient moulds must have disappeared, together with small forgotten brands.
Where are the Merit 1/24 racing car kits, apart from the 2 in SMER's hands?
And any old modeller remembers the Vulcan/Eaglewall aircraft?
Gowland & Gowland/Revell highway pioneers, and the Revell horse-drawn fire vehicles (last seen in Brazil)?
Adams/SNAP/UPC line of 1/40 guns, missiles etc? Many of the old Revell missiles, and the Monogram Snark?
Oops: just remembered: most of the Airfix 1/32 cars, both modern and vintage have disappeared, some fetch ridiculous prices on evilbay.

[Steel Penguin]

from the wargames world, games workshops original Land Raider ( the trapezoid one)  if I remember correctly  the tale was the moulds got dropped and cracked / smashed
don't know regarding the rest of the early plastics they did ( psychostyrene dwarf / orc, RTB01 space marines, imperial guard and squats )
but they ran them for a wile then they vanished.

[zenrat]

The moulds for the Jo-Han 1/25 car kits have supposedly been "lost" or scrapped which has pushed the kits value up to silly prices.

I doubt many kits have actually gone extinct though because there are enough collectors who will never build their example because that is not what they are about.
What is a shame is the moulds for car kits that were lost when the manufacturers updated from one year to the next.  The only one that survives (if any) tends to be the last one of that body shape as they would cut a completely new mould when the auto manufacturer introduced a new look.  AMTs 68 & 69 Impalas for example.  The 68 mould was updated to 69 and then 70 with the result that they can now never repop the older kits.

[kitnut617]

A few years after I had been in Canada (back in the 80's), my Gran had called me to ask what I had done with my first stash I had started in the UK. I asked why and she said that she had just watched a TV program on BBC about how the value of plastic kits had risen from the time they were originally purchased.  Now I wonder what the score would be, if I had brought the stash with me back then.

[Dizzyfugu]

The HUMA molds are gone, too. This little German company went bankrupt some years ago, and esp. the later models are/were excellent, e. g. the Dornier Wal or the Focke-Achilles Drache helicopter. But AFAIK, the rest of the production stock was sold by the company owner's wife, and he destroyed - in a wake of rage and under the influence of rumored legal issues, too - the molds. Very sad,and it certainly pushes prices skywards, esp. for the exotic kits like the Fw Treibflügel or the aforementioned two kits.

[scooter]

Haven't the Nitto molds gone missing as well?

[Mossie]

Heh, I've got a partially chopped up Treibflügel  next to me right now.  I did the chopping before Huma went bust, although I don't think that'd stop me. 

At a recent show, I saw several of the Frog 1/16 car kits made up.  If anyone still has the moulds, they're unlikely to be churning out kits again.  Some kits go for reasonable prices, but I believe people go ga-ga over the Dennis ambulance.

One of the Vauxhall Victors was built up as a battered stock car, the friend I was with is a car kit buff and was horrified!  I thought nothing of it, but it turns out it was a glue-bomb that the modeller recovered as best he could.

[TheChronicOne]

The moulds for the Jo-Han 1/25 car kits have supposedly been "lost" or scrapped which has pushed the kits value up to silly prices.

I doubt many kits have actually gone extinct though because there are enough collectors who will never build their example because that is not what they are about.
What is a shame is the moulds for car kits that were lost when the manufacturers updated from one year to the next.  The only one that survives (if any) tends to be the last one of that body shape as they would cut a completely new mould when the auto manufacturer introduced a new look.  AMTs 68 & 69 Impalas for example.  The 68 mould was updated to 69 and then 70 with the result that they can now never repop the older kits.

I has a sad.        I've been trying to snag a Jo Han Cadillac coupe but they all go for more than $30 and now I know why!!

[JayBee]

And any old modeller remembers the Vulcan/Eaglewall aircraft?

Ah! Fond memories of Eaglewall kits both ships and aircraft. I particularly remember their Ju-87 Stuka.

[jcf]

Some of the supposedly lost or destroyed moulds have turned up,
evidently they were just in storage, however a number are so rusted/damaged
that they're not usable for moulding without expensive work that would most
likely never be recouped.

[loupgarou]

Does anybody knows what happened to the Delta/Delta2 moulds? Tne Savoia S-55X, Fiat CR-32, Campini Caproni etc?