Just a question for all of you. I caught myself leaned back looking at my shelf of completed models and thinking to myself that I should maybe rebuild all the kits that I did in the past due to the fact that I “think” I have gotten better and have learned more skills. Now this seems like a counterproductive to my end goal and it’s not going to get any of the other unbuilt kits completed. So, my question has anybody else delt with this and if so, where did you end up in the decision?
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This discussion may interest you: When do you decide to refurbish an old built model?.
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I have sometimes looked at some of my earliest “masterpieces” 
and briefly thought about building them again and then promply decided not to.
An old Tamiya Pz IV (1970 engraved on the molds) built and painted
with the limited skills I had 30 years ago …
There are better Pz IV kits so why waste time on that old kit
AND
that build is part of my history as a model builder showing that I have learned something
since then so why should I “falsify” history.
When I build a modern Pz IV kit with all the improvements of that kit and my current skills
I can place them beside each other for comparison and show the improvements.
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I have built a new TPZ FUCHS because the previous one was full of building and color mistakes. With update sets for more interest.
I plan to build a new Tamiya Challenger 2 because the previous one is broken. With a conversion to avoid a boring copy of my previous build.
Except those 2 models, I am not interested at all to rebuild my old collection.
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If your goal is to have fun as you build each kit, don’t do that.
If your goal is to have the best possible representation of each subject that you’ve built, then it’s unavoidable.
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I agree with what you have said, and this is also one of the things that slows down my build pace. I am an Army Mechanic, and my genre of building choices is modern us armor, so I know what these things look like and it’s hard to move past some of it to complete a kit.
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See my comment about Tamiya Pz IV from the 70’ies
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A not so easy question.
As a matter of fact, I really like the building process of my models, but after finishing it, it is not longer soooo interesting.
I used the wrong colors on some tracks and they just desintegrated. But I did not rebuild it as a whole. I changed the tracks, repaired all damags and give it a new, state of my Skills weathering, mostley. So fixing things to look better, as I advance, but not destroying all my previous hard work.
Thats just my way. And the Resultat looks good for my, but it is not like out of one piece overall and as such not a jury Model… But who really wants trophies for his models
For this year I am planing to rebuild my very first 1:35 scale Model, just to show both side by side. And to repair the old one as good as posible
My 3 thoughts
Rabbits
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I leave things as they are, if for no other reason than to document the progression of my “skills” and the evolution of kits. My '67 Centurion was the first to get all of the details right, and won Best Armor of Show in Houston in '96. Complete with two handled Tamiya fuel can. I’m not fixing it. It’s part of its charm.
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I don’t build new copies for the sake of replacing older builds, but there are some kits I’ve built many times. These include Tamiya and Italeri CCKWs where I’ve built at least half a dozen each so I can build different variants using the same cab/frame, or the Tamiya M48 hull that has different turrets added.
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Do you mean re-doing old kits,or purchasing the same kit and trying again?
I have not deconstructed any kits and refinished them,but i have definitely re purchased kits and have tried again,currently i have Dragon Jagdpanzer IV in tbe stash that I try again
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both options are on the table
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I mostly agree with leaving projects as they were completed. New projects are more worthy of bench time than recycled 
ones normally.
The exception, a sentimental old model that would be a serious challenge and very interesting. These two from ~45+ years ago will eventually get rebuilds…
Would leave this one alone but…
…it’s now falling a part and so will get a rebuild…
Otherwise, maybe two ships out of a ~90 to 100 models on the display shelves.
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I bought the 1/32 funny car, RRIP OFF redone by Atlantis because that was my first plastic model build. I still had that original model in the original box through my 20’s until it got lost somewhere between roommates, exgirlfriends, and bongwater.
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I don’t rebuild old kits. They are part of my modeling history, to be looked back on. There are too many new and exciting kits to build now to waste time rebuilding old kits.
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I’m with Rob (@18bravo) on this one. I keep those old builds as a reminder of how much (or little! LOL!) my skills have progressed. It’s both humbling and motivational for me. It’s also nice to be able to show a new modeler that, yea, we all started someplace.
Having said this, I have “re-built” a couple of really old dioramas by removing the scale models and “refreshing” the vegetation and stuff on the base, washing the models in soapy water, and then reassembling to the original composition. Those dioramas had suffered from gathering decades of dust (and a couple had been infested with insects that literally ate some of the ground terrain material). Even on those, I still didn’t change the models or figures, just renewed the groundwork.
I do occasionally revisit the same scale model subject and build a newer kit of it, but the older builds remain in the collection, too.
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That counts as “maintenance”
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I’ve never done it and have no plans to do it either. I believe that therein lies madness! The number of models I have precludes it as by the time I was part way through, presumably my skills would hopefully have improved further, so would I then have to go back and start over again? Aghhh! No, I did repaint an old Panzer IV once where the camo had turned out utterly gruesome and it sat laughing at me for years before I weakened and sorted it out. But generally I’m looking forward, not back. If I really hated a rendition I would get another one and do it again. To me this counts as “new work”, I have several “doubles” I’ve done over and over, sometimes simply because I just liked the kit. I’m sure we’ve all got old stuff we don’t display, early attempts with dodgy camo, missing bits etc. Most of us will have gone through a “Verlinden phase” with dark washes and heavy dry brushing over. I still keep those. They also don’t have any Zimmerit on as kit manufacturers never moulded it on then and my researches were at an early stage where I’d never heard of it (we are talking 50+ years ago).My personal “bete noire” is a scratch build attempt on a Panzer IV done way back before Tamiya released their first one. I made it from card, scaled up from drawings in von Senger’s “German Tanks of WW2”. There is only the hull and turret, they do have Zimmerit, but the running gear defeated me and then the Tamiya kit came…
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Looking back, I’ve trashed my old models or given them to kids as toys.
Going forward, I hope to protect them better from dust and have a proper collection. But there’s nothing all that great about my previous stuff.
But I’m also someone who enjoys building more than having it completed. Which is why I only still have three of all the models I’ve ever built.
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