Greetings everyone,

My father "Kaptian Kaos" Roy Hicks died from cancer in may of this year. I built countless planes with him and flew from the age of 7 till about 23 off and on. Unfortunatly in 07 he got bit by a prop and his thumb and index finger were never the same again. He didnt fly much after that. But he did amass a very large collection of unbuilt kits, full planes, engine, etc.

I have now been given all of it and while I am keeping a few special planes, the rest need to go. My family has bills to pay and the rc planes take up space.

My biggest problem is pricing. I have tons of unbuilt kits including 1 carl goldberg sukhoi su26mx and
2 carl goldberg ultimate 10-300 biplane kits. I have so much I really dont know how to price and sell it all. I want to price fairly and sell quickly, but I also do want to be taken advantage of. My father bought the best of the best and I know it has a value.

Anyone that can give me guidance would be greatly appreciated.

Sincerly,
Scott Hicks
Grants Pass, Oregon

This is a situation where it really comes down to how much are others going to be willing to spend on an "old" kit.
Some will look at it as something that will have to basically be recut since the kit's balsa is probably all dried out and unusable, lowering how much they will pay and regardless of what condition the wood is actually in.
Some will look at the kits as an investment, especially if the kits are no longer made or the manufacturer is no longer in business, meaning they will be willing to pay more.
My best advice would be to find kits for comparably sized similar aircraft and use what their being sold at as a starting point or, if you think it's feasible, maybe a bit higher. You can always "haggle" a bit and see how much you're able to get for them from there

Hi,

I feel your pain and I will share my experience with having a larger number of kits and radios to sell. First of all most people on these websites, no offence meant, are not willing to pay but a few pennies on the dollar for your kits no matter how good they are. Secondly if you do find a legit buyer shipping has become so prohibitively expensive that it puts most buyers out of the game, not to mention your time to correctly pack the items for shipping. Unless the radios are only a few months old they aren't worth much since something new and better is already on the market. I have decided not to bother with selling my huge collection and will donate all of it to a charity for a tax credit when the time comes.

I'm sure many people will disagree with my assessment and if they do tell them to buy your equipment for a fair market value and then see how may actually follow through and buy your equipment.

Good luck.

If you happen to have a giant midwest sweet-n-low I would be very interested.

I do agree with Cessna 421. Shipping and cheap people on this and the other sites are unbelievable. There are people that will buy a whole estate and then they will go to the trouble of piecing it out. That might be an idea. I disagree with Hydro Junkie about dried out balsa. (Don't get mad I'm allowed to. ) I have a concept fleet biplane that was made in the late 70's I am working on right now and the balsa is fine. Wood does not dry like that unless it was stored incorrectly and allowed to get moist then dry and over and over.

Thanks
Scott

I would suggest possibly typing the name of the kit in ebay, and there is a way to search finished sales to give you an idea. It really varies day to day kit to kit on values. Some things have held a lot of value others not.

With the low amount of builders left. I am surprised some kits are as high as they are. I am not sure if there are still a lot of people just collecting them, that don't plan on building..

Good luck though , sorry to hear you lost your Pop.....

You should be able to get an idea about what people are asking for kits by googling them. You're likely to find someone advertising most of them either here, or on other rc sites, or on ebay. That would give you an upper limit, if nothing else. I disagree with the dried up balsa point, too. I've bought kits that are 20 or more years old with better (and lighter, usually) balsa than you'll get in modern kits. And while it's true that demand for kits in general is down from what it used to be it's also the case that fewer kits are being manufactured these days, so those who like to build kits sometimes buy older ones. My two most-recent builds were kits I bought used.

I suppose you've thought of this, but if your dad belonged to a club, there would probably be members who could give you advice.

Not mad at all but you did misinterpret my comment about the wood. I was referring to what some people will claim to avoid paying a realistic price for something, hence my comment " Some will look at it as something that will have to basically be recut since the kit's balsa is probably all dried out and unusable, lowering how much they will pay and regardless of what condition the wood is actually in."

Hydro

got it and yes I missed that.

now back to helping. Local swap meet sponsored by local club.

Thanks
scott

Wouldn't even have to be sponsored by a club. We have a big R/C event every year at one of the local Puget Sound area fairgrounds where there's vendors, organizational booths and a HUGE SWAP MEET!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! I picked up a complete NIB Goldberg Electra motor-glider kit for $35 several years ago. Now I just need to get it built using some modern "appropriate" drive gear. The brushed "can" motor included in the kit must weigh half as much as everything else in the kit and, needless to say, probably gives the plane the glide ratio of the brick

First off, sorry to hear of your father's passing.

IMHO, selling them on sites like this or even in swap meets will probably not get you the best price (as others have already said, everyone is looking for a deal), but it will be the quickest and easiest way. If you want to get the best price, list them individually on eBay. This way, you don't need to try to determine a value, the market will set it for you. Yes, you might run the risk of something selling "on the cheap", but I have also seen bidding wars drive prices way above what would normally be sensible market values. In the end, you should net out with something very close to true market value. Of course, this is the most work too. Note: I know of at least one person who used to make make a bit of supplemental income by scouring classifieds, estate sales, and swap meets to find old kits on the cheap, then turning around and selling them on eBay for a profit.

In general, scale kits seem to command the highest values. I have seen Royal kits sell for incredibly high prices. Same with certain discontinued TF kits (like the Bonanza or the FW190). Do you have a list of kits?

You picked a bad time to be selling rc kits, the rc hobby right now is at a low time, and not much demand for kits. I have been in the hobby for 40 years and I have only sold things for what I had in them a couple of times. Most of what I sold I was fortunate to get 50% of their value. unless you have a highly collectible kit that will command a high price.

This is what I’ve found. Kits aren’t bringing much at all right now. Actually anything RC related is going for nothing.

If I had the cash, I would make an offer on the 10-300 since mine got smashed. I had to buy tires for my new truck already.

I am interested in the SU26 Goldberg. Already have an Ultimate. I am willing to pay a fair price for it like $200 maybe?
Also lookjng for a Telemastet Sr and interested in Goldberg Cub, Eagle and Eaglet 50 is you have those. chipmunk, Extra 300 also of high interest. Love building Goldberg kits.
Sig high on my list but just some planes from them.
Ace Extra 230 giant also.

Feel free To shoot me an email on the Sukio with what your thinking. I do believe in paying for their value.

My my email is [email protected] Phone is 205-281-1711

Bill.

On the low amount of builders left. I disagree. The largest hobby related group of builders I’ve seen and active is the Facebook group Balsa Model Aircraft Builders association with 30k + active members.

Scott,
The first thing you really need to do is create a inventory of the collection and do an assessment of the kit level of quality. Look at the listings here and on RC Groups or Ebay to get and idea of comparable values. You can post a list here and on RC Groups with prices and you will get interest. The work is keeping track of the offers and the time spent packing a kit up for shipping. It's time consuming so you have to consider what your time is worth. You can try the swap meet but most times, guys will keep their hands in their pockets and generally want something for next to nothing.

A second option is to contact a local professional auctioneer. There will be fees associated with the sale but the bottom line is the items are cleared out and gone. A sale like this is considered to be an absolute auction and you may not get what you think the value of a kit should be. You don't have to hassle with shipping and at the end of the sale, you walk away with a check.

+1, member myself. Lots of interesting builds going on, and a few that don't even use wood. Some great tips have been confiscated from there as well.