Advertisement: yowza! Huge MPC sale on eBay

[jflis]

Check this out!

Huge MPC Rocket Inventory, over 2200 Vintage 60's kits!

 

[AKPilot]

According to his website, some of these are still available as individual retail purchases.

 

[Rocketmaniac]

If you look at the price per kit, it's a pretty fair deal. Right now about $6.36 per kit before shipping. But I personally don't have an extra $14,000 sitting around.

I think the only people who might bid would be a vendor. You going to bid Jim?

 

[jflis]

i've seriously considered it, but that would throw me so far behind in bringing out new kits that I really can't justify it...

 

[Stizzealth]

Yeah, sure, I'll buy them, build them all, and have the ultimate drag race of the millenium.


Maybe if I had an extra 14,000 buckers sitting around.

 

[TeenRocketNerd]

hmmm, wonder just how low the "low monthly payments" are....

 

[Stuck Fingers]

How much would those "vintage" kits retail for in today's marketplace?

I mean how much of a return could you realize if you dropped 14 k on the lot?

 

[Initiator001]

Originally posted by Stuck Fingers
How much would those "vintage" kits retail for in today's marketplace?

I mean how much of a return could you realize if you dropped 14 k on the lot?

To paraphrase Doug Pratt: "To make a small fortune in the hobby business, you need to start out with a large fortune!"

In the late 1980s-early 1990s, 'someone' found a stash of MPC kits and motors. I bought a bunch of them for $4.00 each at a hobby shop outside of Las Vegas. Other kits showed up at a hobby shop in Southern California.

I wouldn't mind picking up a few of these kits. I think not having the storage space for all of them would be as big a problem as coming up with the $$$$$ to buy all of them!

 

[AKPilot]

Rocketmaniac figured out that it roughly comes to $6.36, provided that you divide it equally and that everything is worth the same.

I think the difficulty is that with many of them being OOP, you'd have a hard time convincing the "masses" to pay the extra money for such a kit. I, personally, think the average person would look at those and them compare them to the $8.88 kits at Wal-mart and go for the cheaper of the two.

I think the big sell would come from us rocketeers. Having said that though, I notice that on his store's web site that these are already available for retail sale - so they must not be moving

 

[CTimm]

Originally posted by jflis
i've seriously considered it,

For $2K, it deserves serious consideration.
For $14K, it gets a glance and nothing more.
No Nike-Smoke's in there either.

The Rogue inventory was more marketable.

 

[Rocketmaniac]

Originally posted by akpilot
the average person would look at those and them compare them to the $8.88 kits at Wal-mart and go for the cheaper of the two.

If a person could get an average of $8.88 for each kit, it might be worth it.

$8.88-$6.36 = $2.52 (profit per kit)

$2.52 * 2200 = $5,544

But could you average $8.88 per kit?

What would be the "other" costs of buying and selling 2200 kits?

Now, if a few rocketeers went in together, it would make it easier.

 

[paulk]

Sky high hobbies was selling the minirocs last year for $8 on ebay. The packages were a bit warped (as advertised), but contents intact and buildable, including the decals. Nice to have a little piece of history, but this is too big a piece for me. Nice fellow to deal with, sorry to see he is getting out of the business. He still has onesies for sale at www.skyhighhobbies.com for the time being.

-Paul

 

[shreadvector]

30+ year old MPC kits.

Not as good as the improved Quest kits.

I think they are worth about $1 each.

I bought and built over a thousand MPC kits in the 1970's and early 1980's (MPC/AVI). After 10 years, the balsa cones were swollen and did not fit the tubes on the Minirocs. I imagine after 30+ years, the elastic cords are deteriorated.

$14,000 is WAYYYYYY too much.

 

[SwingWing]

Originally posted by Rocketmaniac
If a person could get an average of $8.88 for each kit, it might be worth it.

$8.88-$6.36 = $2.52 (profit per kit)

$2.52 * 2200 = $5,544

But could you average $8.88 per kit?

What would be the "other" costs of buying and selling 2200 kits?

Now, if a few rocketeers went in together, it would make it easier.

Don't go into the retail business very soon if you think you can make out on these lousy gross margins!!!! After considering other costs involved, you would be loosing money.

 

[Rocketmaniac]

Originally posted by SwingWing
Don't go into the retail business very soon if you think you can make out on these lousy gross margins!!!! After considering other costs involved, you would be loosing money.

Yep, that is why I wrote "What would be the "other" costs of buying and selling 2200 kits?"

 

[shreadvector]

And it's not just the normal costs of storing them and paying rent on storage. There is the cost of printing special instructions on how to make these 30+ year old kits safe to launch.

How to sand swollen balsa cones so they fit tubes and do not get jammed.

How to make an adapter for the 2.25 inch Minijet motor length to the 1.75 inch Estes mini motor length.

How to test and replace 30+ year old shock cords as required for safe flights.

How to deal with customers who refuse to read the safety info and build the 30+ year old models without safety inspections/upgrades.

If sold as "collectors items only - not for flight", then it's just a matter of finding 4000 or so collectors who want to pay for a set of MPC models.

So, to answer some of these questions, has anyone bought and built and flown anything from this cache? If so, what was the condition of the balsa cones and shock cord?

Originally posted by Rocketmaniac
Yep, that is why I wrote "What would be the "other" costs of buying and selling 2200 kits?"

 

[rokitflite]

Oh heck... I'll make an offer. There are still several square feet in my house that do not have model rockets in them! Oh Jeeze... I wonder what the freight charges will be

 

[Ltvscout]

Originally posted by CTimm
The Rogue inventory was more marketable.

I'd like to know when whoever the buyer was is going to do something with all that stuff!

 

[paulk]

Originally posted by shreadvector
So, to answer some of these questions, has anyone bought and built and flown anything from this cache? If so, what was the condition of the balsa cones and shock cord?

I built a miniroc ASP-1 this winter from sky high hobbies. Though the package was a bit warped (as advertised), all parts were in fine shape, decals worked fine, adapting for mini motors is easy, just don't push the engine block in so far. The shock cord in these minirocs is just a string. Launched a few weeks ago, parachute deployed great.


-Paul

 

[Fishhead]

He should try thinning the collection out by selling some "one of each" lots. I'd build one of each, but I'm guessing that the price I'd pay and the price they'd want wouldn't quite meet.
Maybe if he put a "L@@k" in the auction header. (Or was it "LQQK"?)

 

[Hospital_Rocket]

Originally posted by Ltvscout
I'd like to know when whoever the buyer was is going to do something with all that stuff!

Gosh it is killing me not to say who it is. I do know he is getting close, and the biggest challenge is providing good documentation.

I will tell you one thing, when you buy a mass like this, there are things this guy learned:

1. It cost a fair amount to move them
2. You need a house on the lake that you can fill to the rafters with the inventory
3. It will take you months to count it all and see what you actually got.
4. "30,000 nosecones, what the heck am I going to do with 30,000 nosecones?"

I am working on convincing him that TRF is a ready made market for some of these. Some of the old kits will be out as original, some will be new designs from old parts, and in some cases, just parts will be available.

Take heart compadres - the folks who have the inventory are sport rocketry fans and you will be pleased with the results. Just remember, like most of us these guys have day jobs and the ressurection of this takes second seat to making sure they can eat and live indoors.

 

[Ltvscout]

Originally posted by Hospital_Rocket
Take heart compadres - the folks who have the inventory are sport rocketry fans and you will be pleased with the results. Just remember, like most of us these guys have day jobs and the ressurection of this takes second seat to making sure they can eat and live indoors.

Thanks for the update, Al. I just want to buy some of the MRC plastic parts, unless he's kitting some of the kits I want to clone.