Small Scale Military Headquarters

only for $4000 ea (not mine)

http://www.ebay.com/itm/JSI-1-18-F-14-T ... rk:32:pf:0

http://www.ebay.com/itm/JSI-1-18-F-14-T ... rk:33:pf:0

I understand custom made and painted would increase the value some, but $4,000.00? This is just not fir me. I believe these to be way over priced. At least for my tastes. Don't get me wrong, they are very nice looking Tomcats.

Both are ID'd as Skyworks Toys. Have they returned?

Edit:
Never mind, read the description. These were done years ago when the Tomcat was first released. Whew, crisis averted.

They were done years ago and of a kind I guess that's why they are asking for big money which will never sell IMO...

There have been quite a few tomcats selling in the 2500-3000 range lately on ebay. Even the horrid spotcat but mostly the led special version. These will sell !!!

gliderdwm wrote:There have been quite a few tomcats selling in the 2500-3000 range lately on ebay. Even the horrid spotcat but mostly the led special version. These will sell !!!

I highly doubt they'll sell but, time will tell. There are no shortage of idiots in the world. I don't even think the seams got filled on the jets and, after going thru all that work I don't understand why. Plus, the markings look like paper glued to the jet, not decals. For that amount of money they would have to be done correctly and to me, they don't seem to be.

Steve

I remember Military Toy Shop was an exclusive dealer of Skyworks (aka Jack Plonka’s) products. MTS and their staff are good people, just the Skyworks stuff was a bit overrated and certainly overpriced. It is almost certain there are gaffes in the quality of the custom jobs (not to mention anything resulting from JSI’s own actions). The one Skyworks kit I ever owned (which I actually bought from MTS) had paper-like decals which I couldn’t tell if they were actually decals or not. I’ve also heard from other members that saw Skyworks finished customs that they had a lot of paint and decal-peeling issues - certainly too many issues for the price point of his custom stuff. $3000-$4000 seems too much to me for a Skyworks item.

I notice in the seller's history that he has accepted quite a few best offers...
If I didn't have things like mortgage and utility payments I might cast a line...

Very Nice indeed. To put things into perspective, I'm having a new double door garage door systems installed today with all new hardware, rails, springs, openers two steel insulated doors, controllers all the old equipment hauled away and installer labor for considerably less than the price of one of those Tomcats. I had my sights set on a nice M1 Garand I had looked at and then I found a huge 1/6 scale figure and vehicle collection for sale at pennies on the dollar. Temptation and impulse were taking over. I finally came to my senses to get much needed garage doors since my old wooden ones were beginning to rot and my garage was freezing in the winter and baked in the summer. It took a spring breaking--again-- and finding the rails were pulling away from the ceiling when I was replacing it to get me my reality check. As much as I hate spending good money on stupid stuff like food, gas, insurance and health, every so often I smack myself up side of the head and get my priorities lined up right.

Time to start the saving up process again!

Axis, as the owner of a nice M1 Garand myself, you need to get one

It’s a fun rifle to shoot and while loading takes a little practice (watch out for that bolt closing on your thumb!) as well as good quality surplus M2 Ball 30.06 ammo getting harder to find, the M1 is a classic piece of Americana and will always draw compliments at your local range

tmanthegreat wrote:Axis, as the owner of a nice M1 Garand myself, you need to get one

It’s a fun rifle to shoot and while loading takes a little practice (watch out for that bolt closing on your thumb!) as well as good quality surplus M2 Ball 30.06 ammo getting harder to find, the M1 is a classic piece of Americana and will always draw compliments at your local range

It's still on the bucket list as is a Jeep like Britt's. I'm not an avid shooter but just the history of holding one and thinking of how many young men took those into combat with good old American ingenuity of fielding a semi-automatic against the German bolt action K98 and Japanese bolt action Type 99's. What an advantage. Used all through Korea and up to the early Vietnam era. And yes, they are expensive, especially if it's a WWII serial number, but depending on maker and condition, you still might get two for the price of one of those Tomcats. Value is up to the individual. Consider what some rare paper-cardboard baseball cards go for. I'd much rather have the Tomcat than a baseball card supposedly of equal value. Real heroes used the Garands and flew Tomcats!

Price is coming down https://www.ebay.com/itm/113559052402?ul_noapp=true

Still way too high for what you get IMO.

Steve

Still considerably higher than my all new double garage door system. But hey, if you've got the money and don't need garage doors and that's what you want more than anything else in your hobby goals, go for it. The latest Cowans firearms and edged weapons auction here locally had several 1700's and 1800's naval officer swords that went for well over $100,000. A single firearm in another of their auctions sold for $192,000 after the buyer's premium. The buyer's premium was more than I paid for my car.

https://www.cowanauctions.com/lot/3881107

I now have 9 1/2 full sized mannequins fully outfitted with uniforms, accessories and most have weapons as well as 2 dozen WWII uniform shirts, Ike Jackets and tunics and may have just barely spent that new price for all of it combined. That was spread over the past two years so it's less painful. I wrote a check for the garage doors. Ouch!

These custom F14s are so nice but pricey...
I am happy with my Tom cats and I'm glad I got them at retail price

cnq wrote:These custom F14s are so nice but pricey...
I am happy with my Tom cats and I'm glad I got them at retail price

Several years ago I passed on a Tomcat in its original box locally on Craigslist for $200. Just wasn't into modern jets enough to lay down $200 on one. Did get an F-18 real cheap locally a long time ago. Still can't get over how much larger the Tomcat is than the F-18.

Gentlemen...
For the type of money they are asking for these tomcats they should be of museum quality and nothing less. I have downloaded the posted pics with this listing and closely enlarged them and I have concluded the following..

Both have poorly reproduced decaling.
The colors on the decals are almost translucent if they even are decals. They almost look like paper cutouts.
Some if not all on both planes the decaling is silvered and not seated down which means no setting or wetting solutions were used.
Most likely an Ink Jet printer was used for enlargements and decal bonder was over sprayed before the inks were completely dry. This causes dilution of the inks and distortion.
The decaling was not sealed or over sprayed with clear flat to seal and keep the decals as crappy as they are from peeling off.
The over all paint work and weathering is fair at best. In some places you can see finger prints in the paint.
And lastly.., Jack had the balls to put his own name as "Captain Jack Plonka" on the F-14 VF-31 Tomcatters as the RIO officer assigned to the USS Abraham Lincoln.

Conclusion....,

This is a typical "bend over and assume the position" Jack Plonka "Shake and Bake" quickie that I can only imagine what he raped the seller for.., ergo the ridiculous price they are asking. At the absolute best both of these F-14's should be no more in my opinion then 8-to-9 hundred dollars each because of the substandard work that jack considers a "Professional Custom" which he convinced the seller. An un-molested original with that abomination of a paint and weathering job or an illuminated limited run F-14 would fetch more. If the seller paid more than that when our charming friend Jack Plonka first made these two horror shows then well PT Barmun said it best. Lets all remember what these retailed for when they made their debut. True.., they have turned into collectible models but lets face it.., who ever has the mindlessness to even consider buying these completely outrageously priced planes.., then a free jar of Vaseline should be included in the sale.
JG..

Well said !!

Steve

f56tbird wrote: True.., they have turned into collectible models but lets face it.., who ever has the mindlessness to even consider buying these completely outrageously priced planes.., then a free jar of Vaseline should be included in the sale.
JG..

Come on, quit mincing words and say what you really think!

Sometimes what we know can be both a gift and a curse. Someone with a 1/18 Avenger can be in total bliss that they have an exacting replica where I can stand next to ours at the Museum and see how far off and toy like the gear and wing folding really is and how wrong the bomb bay doors are. I could never have one displayed with the wings folded, bomb bays doors down or the gear down because of that.

Think of some of the so-called priceless works of art that look like a 5 year old did with finger paints someone would pay a million dollars for and I wouldn't hang on my wall if you gave it to me. Maybe it's the "one of a kind" angle he's going for. To each his own...

Agreed....
JG.