hello forum,
i am looking for something i know is long gone, but hey i want to try. other than yard sales and swap meets can i find star trek models, that aren’t 20 dollars for something i use to get for 10 or 15 ( at the most, lol) i know the ertl models are hard to find, but i have been out of these models for a long time, i have just gotten back into building. any help will be useful.
You could post a request here: http://www.starshipmodeler.com/trade.cfm
Or post a thread in the forums there, In the “Marketplace”.
Good luck. If you find a cheap source let us know. I’m personally expecting the price of Trek kits to spike as Polar Lights tanked and most others are OOP.
Heck, if you can find those kits for anywhere NEAR 20 dollars, grab 'em! I’m afraid that the days of finding stacks of 5-dollar Defiances and Cutaway Enterprises at Kaybee Toys outlet shops are loooong gone…
well, i work for big lots( odd lots in some places), we get a few models at times. the last model i got from there ( sci fi wise) was ROBOT from the original lost in sapce. i keep hoping that we will get a few cases of polar lights models, lol i know hopefull dreaming. but it looks like no one in this town carries models any more except for cars,( which is fine, but i don’t build those, lol.)
If you have a Hobby Lobby near you they always run sales on models of every kind around 4 to 6 weeks apart. If you go online you can get them to send you a weekly e-mail telling you what that weeks sales are going to be
While it is true that Hobby Lobby runs the 40% off ( I have seen the odd 50% off coupon, but not since Katrina) our local HL’s have no sci fi kits, but thier 1/48 armor is growing. Each store is a bit different. Prices reflect full MSRP;; wait a bit and see if they go on the discontinue aisle/rack. I scooped up tons of kits DIRT cheap last winter for our spring contest this way. They will go on discount starting in November to clear the aisles as the store changes its inventory to the January catalog.
By far the best souce for cheap models that I have found are hobby specific swap meets. I live in the Denver area, and they have them generally once a month here. The one I go to is largely a Hot Wheels/diecast car themed show, with lots of model car vendors. The model cars are sold at steep collector prices, but the great thing about this is that the model vendors nearly always bring along an assortment of other kits that they bought as part of package deals they had to buy to get the car kits they wanted, garage sale finds, thrift stores, etc. Some of these vendors hunt for this stuff all day long every day-it’s pretty much their job, but they live and breathe car models and don’t much care about the other stuff. I have scored some truly amazing deals from time to time-I bought a stack (and I do mean stack-as in nearly as tall as I am) of AMT Trek kits, all mint sealed in the box, for $25.00. I found a fibre optic DS9 for $10.00, and the original issue Millenium Falcon with lights for $7.00. These guys don’t care about this stuff and are happy to get a few bucks for it. Lots of aircraft and military kits, too. Admission is free, and you meet a lot of nice people!
I have had very good luck buying from individuals at model contests. Either they have a table as an individual, and are selling thier stuff ( I got a bag of AMT X wings and TIEs for like ten bucks) or got something in a raffle they would rather trade for. I have also had good luck watching that Evil of all Bays for collections and builtups.
HTH
David
Hrm, the only sci-fi models I have seen at Hobby Lobby recently have been the new Star Wars Snap-Tite kits. I do find some pretty good deals on their discontinued aisle, but at my local Hobby Lobby they only every have aircraft and armor on those shelves. The Sci-fi collection at both the Hobby Town and my LHS is pretty light also. I have definitely seen some good deals at the couple of swap meets I have been at since I reentered the hobby, if you’re willing to hunt a little.
Really, the only place I have found cheap kits if when a friend gives me a stack of his old junk models or Evilbay. Aside from that, I fork out twenty-five bucks at Hobby Town to get AMT re-boxed MPC Star Wars Slave 1. There is one store in Illinois called Cut-Rate Toys that I found a scout trooper for like eight bucks but aside from that, I can’t offer any help.