Boy you guys are sooooooooo lucky!
I would be in heaven if , I could find one vintage Aurora model at any kind of yard sale. O yes! a MIB MUMMY, for a buck, sure lady I’ll take it !!!
Well thats all for that dream guys. Good luck when you are out and about, and Im in my house on ebay looking for my models.
Dales Model Art
http://community.webshots.com/user/dales_model_art
About 15 years ago when I was into collecting 1/25th scale car kits. Was actually looking at a roll top desk that was advertised at a moving/yard sale. There in a box was some cars in a box, a quick glance I thought may be toys, but right there was a yellow 69 Vette Dealer Promo. So ask the lady how much? She replied a buck, well a buck can mean a “C” note or a 100.00 bill. I’m thinking quietly oh she knows what it is, but still well below value. So I reach for one of the 100 dollar bills I brought along, (I intended to buy the desk), she looks at me really sir you expect me to break $100.00 for a $1.00 dollar toy? Talking about being smooth and realizing that she can just as quickly figure out that car can be worth a “buck” looked for a dollar to give and asked her if she had some more of these cars.
I still have that Vette!
Chuck
Fly Navy
Before I came back into the service I was living in a small Iowa town & I found a Battlestar Galactica for $5( The ship itself!) About a week later I went back and there was a Cylon base star sitting there! Still in wrap! That second-hand shop sure got a lot of business from me!
I picked up 2 tamiya F4Fs at a garage sale still shrink wrapped for 2 bucks. Not my favorite A/C but it was a deal I couldn’t pass up.
I never struck gold at a garage sale, but near my university in Osaka I ran across a strange tea shop that also appeared to have quite a few model kits stacked on shelves.
I went in to see what the deal was, and was confronted by hundreds of very collectible kits. After I regained my senses, I asked if it was OK to take some pix, so I snapped away. I just went and dug up those pix… the memories! let’s see:
MPC Black Hole Maximillian, MPC Alien, MPC Superman (I thought that was Aurora!), 2 ancient AMT Enterprises, that funky Revell Goodyear Blimp, several Monogram Battlestar Galacticas, a ton of Monogram Buck Rogers Starfighters and Marauders, big Otaki Super Guppy, almost the entire selection of Monogram 1/32 armor, Airfix Starcruiser 1, Airfix Space Warriors figures, Airfix Ankylosaurus (they made dinos??), MPC Raiders of the Lost Ark “Desert Chase Action Scene,” plus tons of old Italeri, Monogram, Revell, and other kits, of all genres.
Also, they had no less than 8 Monogram Godzilla reissues, selling for 2,000 yen each ($18 US), so I got three of them! Built one for myself, gave one to a friend as a gift, and sold the last for $80 back in the States!
The little old lady who was running the tea shop said her husband had ran a hobby shop specializing in imported kits (non-Japanese), but had since passed away, so she turned the hobby shop into a tea shop, but still kept the kits on sale.
I haven’t been back to that shop since 1994…I wonder if it’s still there?
Might have to take the hour and a half train ride over there and check it out!!!
My best purchase was at a model auction actually
, as iam Deaf my mate was telling me the prices and when an Italeri 1/35 scale Hummer MM99 8came up for $12 but listening to my mate i put my hand up but they said now sold to me for $8 instead, when auction had finished we went over to where a collector was packing up and chose some more kits in 1/35 a sherman and a 1/72 deck crew for a carrier aircraft and a patch badge of one of the carriers he served on, i asked the man how much for this lot his reply $21 for the lot.
now thats not bad when you consider some collectors never give the away at that price, but the best is to come when we got home he checked out his kit found it was not the deck fire crew but aircraft moving crew was he surprised later we asked the collector about it hes response i never opened the box the cello was intact on it!!! my own best buy 1/24 hurricane with a 1/72 hurricane and 6 humbrol paint tins in the box all for $10 brand new!!
Sean Sewell
Here’s what I would like to find at a yard sale: An old scale model kit of an atomic power plant from the 50’s or 60’s. (I think Revell made it if I’m not mistaken.) And have it priced at a dollar or two or even twenty! I once saw this kit at a model kit convention and briefly decided to buy it. They wanted 500 dollars for the danged thing![:(] (I didn’t buy it.)
My wife and I on average go garage saling every or everyother saturday…we look for a wide Variety of things…I havent been to heavily into buying…I once picked up a Serpent Impact 235mm W/Mugen MT12(N)head for $30…its like a $400 RC car…what was wrong? Nothing they just didnt break in the motor properly so I replaced the Piston/Sleeve and whala! Good as new. I found a 1/72nd AMT/ERTL Battle scene dio w a WW2 German tank and an american tank(Im not much of an armor person so I dont know the types)complete with plastic scenic base w molded in terrain and all the lil german/american soldiers you could ever want box wasnt sealed but all the parts bags were even had decals and directions…price $3.00 Its still sitting on the shelf collecting dust…Ive picked up a few other minor things but nothing special.
Chris