flieger

Hi Folks,

shortly before christmas I found this Aero Mini Zero. I guess, that most of you experts out there know this plane, even though it is rare, but it came with box! In spite of former information received, the plane is not scale 1/100, but 1/72! So that sums up all Aero Mini scales to total of four, 1/290, 1/239, 1/100 and 1/72.

Even though the box was present, the Zero was unfortunately not mint and not complete. The original canopy was missing and it had a canopy of a plastic kit added, such as the prop was missing one blade with a part from a plastic kit added as well. I re-configured the canopy for better fitting and repaired the prop.

Attached you can also find a picture of the box. It has the Masudaya TM as logo, so the manufacturer of the Aero Minis in Japan is finally evident now !
The included stand is interestingly made of plastic and not metal, such as the stands I know so far from the airliners.

That is really great stuff.

Greets and happy 2008!

Chris

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zubart

Nice!

I'm going to hang on to most of my Aeromini's.

crownvic

That is a rare find congratulations! and thanks for the pics.....I am toying with selling my AeroMini collection which includes every piece ever made except the JAL DC-8...

__________________
***SOON CELEBRATING 50 YEARS OF CONTINUOUS STUPIDITY AND STILL FOLLOWING NOT LEADING***
"Hey Andy, unless we get some Police Package Crown Victorias, I'm quitting, and you can have your bullet back!"
And yes, I did do Aunt Bea,,,she was great!

ANTHONY F DUVA JR

That is great stuff indeed! Thank You for posting it. It is said that the Zero was made only because the Japanese manufacturer Masudaya, that made the Aero Mini castings, demanded it.

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flieger

I do not believe, that this is a good idea, as the current market prices for Aero Minis are below the bottom... E.g. also this Zero was pretty inexpensive, what makes me happy as active collector. I would not want to be a seller at this time...

Just some additional remarks for the "Aero Mini hardcore maniacs" out there: The upper colour is light green metallic and not dark green metallic, as it is written from time to time. The order number on the box is #3994 and not #3006 as reported by Sue Richardson and Ron Smith in their books.

Don't know, if this plane is a third type or if the previous records are unprecise. Guess, second is more likely true.

flieger

Yes Sir, very understandable. I assume, the AM Zeros were mostly sold on the Japanese market, and that's, what made them that rare.

B-16707

so i want to be enlightened...what makes these AeroMinis so sought after?

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crownvic

Without going crazy here about the history of Aeromini, at one time very sought after models mostly in 1/250 scale or other odd ball scales close to 250, diecast metal airliners with retractable gears...Very accurate models for their time, inwhich production was the early 70's long before computers, and cad-cam..
Go onto ebay and see pics...Some of my rarest aerominis I have sold for close to $1000.00!!! (Spirit of 76 747 in Blister Box)
Ebay has diluted the market and lowered the value of most common produced aerominis, however the rare ones, about a dozen or so, still commadnd top dollar...

__________________
***SOON CELEBRATING 50 YEARS OF CONTINUOUS STUPIDITY AND STILL FOLLOWING NOT LEADING***
"Hey Andy, unless we get some Police Package Crown Victorias, I'm quitting, and you can have your bullet back!"
And yes, I did do Aunt Bea,,,she was great!

flieger

That should be true. I have about a dozen of Aero Minis and got them all from local German market, most are common types. I always paid between 10,- and 20,- Euro, even though any of them was at least mint, some even boxed. That is in some cases even below the original retail price more than 30 years ago. I have seen, that the prices in USA and UK for these common things went down drastically as well.
For me this is a good development, because the fascination is about the models/castings and not about the different and rare liveries/paint. I will leave it up to the pure Aero Mini collectors to hunt these things for hundreds of bucks.