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i'll keep that in mind sabot! thanks for the heads up.. by the way, how do you guys know if one kit is a reboxed version of another? where do you get the info?
Well, sometimes we learn the hard way by buying a "new" kit that turns out to be identical to one that's been sitting in the closet for ten years. If we are lucky enough to get an online review first, we will usually get a fair warning there (there are still a few online reviewers out there who gush over everything they build, but not on this site, at least).
And of course, the fans who waited fervently for a fresh take on a beloved subject always scream bloody murder on the message boards when they find out that it's just a recycled mold. Sometimes a simple archive search will give you all the information you need on a suspect kit.
Strangely, many mass market magazines are often silent on the provenance of a newly released kit--either their staff haven't been around long enough to know the products, or they are afraid of alienating their advertisers.
After a while, you start to learn which companies swap molds around regularly--Zvezda, Revell/Germany and Italeri all share molds, for instance. You also pick up industry news. For instance, Alanger acquired ICM's older molds during a bankruptcy, and Italeri bought Esci's molds after it folded. More recently, AFV Club bought Skybow's 1/35th scale molds after they decided to concentrate on smaller scales.
