Best Hobby Related Garage Sale Find

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

QUOTE: Originally posted by dales_model_art 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

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 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

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!!!

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.

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!

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

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

The model that got me back into the hobby was found at a garage sale! It was a radio-controlled fishing boat kit that I originally bought for a friend in Hawaii for ten dollars. Then I thought, this would be a nice "something-to-do" when I got rained out from work. I bought the boat and originally, it was just a "rainy day project." But the modeling bug bit me and since rainy days are rare in southern California, it gradually became a full-time hobby. A few years later, I bought a 1970's edition of Revell's USS Constitution which still sits waiting to be built (this was before I decided upon a modeling specialty). The 1932 Chrysler Imperial was built from the old MPC kit which I found at an insulator and bottle show, of all places!

My best garage sale find was four kits for $1.50. They were the Monogram Hi-Tech F-14A, without instructions, An AMT MiG-27, with no decals, Testors RF-4, complete, and the one I wanted, the AMT KC-135A, without instruction. All I really wanted was the 135 but of course I didn't argue with the lady when she told to me I had to take all four!

Every Saturday I tell myself I should go check out some yard sales but something always seems to come up and keep me from going. After reading through this topic I think I need to forget about thoses "other things" and just go. Some really great finds there.

My best find was a FO Enterprise D and a Tamiya M1A1 for $2 each. Wish I could yardsale more.

I got a hobby knife set for $0.50 and a whole box of reference books for a $1.00

I've never found anything at a garage sale, but I had a bit of luck at a Trek convention a few years ago. One of the dealers had a couple of Enterprise As for $20 a piece. I immediately got those and continued to wander around the tables.

One of the dealers I had passed by earlier suddenly said, "Why didn't you tell me you were into model kits? I have a few I've been trying to get rid of ofr a year!" He then brought out a fiber-optic Enterprise-D and a Klingon cruiser from Star Trek:TMP and asked for $20 for both.

I left that convention laughing. For $60, I walked away with what would have cost me about $300 from online shops! Finally, I didn't feel quite so bad about the 2 or 3 occasions where I'd paid too much for a discontiued kit elsewhere.

My best find? Well, it's pretty dry here in Central Florida when it comes to models, but I did one time find a complete box of 1/72 scale Confederate Infantry for a dollar. Why anyone would sell Confederate Infantry but keep the yankees, I'll never know, but hey! At least these Johnny Rebs found a good home!

My best acquisition from a garage sale was a Monogram B-36 still sealed in the box and 9 other old Monogram kits for a total of $60.00. That averages out to $6.00 per kit. I was a happy gargage sale customer.

Out here in a small town in the middle of Kansas you don't find many models in yard/garage sales - I did once pick up an unopened Airfix 1/72 E-boat for a buck - but I do have a lot of tools that I use (compressor, needle files, Dremel tools, Exacto knives, small vises, paint brushes, etc)

a 1/16 Radio control Sherman Tank (in Progress) Does anyone realize you have to build the tracks yourself bit by bit b bit. Oh yea price nevermind

The best deal I ever got was a Revell 1/72 scale USS Saucy/HMCS Snowberry untouched for a dollar. The box was mildewy but the kit was pristine The guy then threw in a pair of Revell 1/32 kits: a DeHavilland Mosquito and Bristol Beaufighter because HE felt guilty. I offered more but he wouldn't hear of it

I probably should have gone to confession.

Paul

you know what they say, one mans trash is another mans treasure. i just wish i had all my old models my parents put out in there garage sells, i guess thats the price you pay for being a kid?

I noticed a garage sale just down the street from me as I was off to run errands. I didn't have time to stop then, but I did make it back as the people were packing it in for the day. In the back, laying on the driveway was an original box for Monograms Big Rod. I opened it and discovered the kit had been built but was falling apart. I asked the guy how much he wanted for it and he said "Take it." Got it home and found a complete kit with some parts still on the sprues, two of the optional accessory packs (the blower and drag interior), instructions for everything and two uncut decal sheets!
I'd put it on the mantle, but the wife won't let me ...

i went to one and there was a medium sized compressor with an airtank, i asked how much, after looking at it and he said "don't even know if it works so lets try it and then work out a price" he plugged it in and switched it on and nothing. then he says "if its any good to you you can have it for nothing". lucky for me that he didn't check that there was a fuse in the plug!!!! (Hope he isn't reading this) Greg

This was from a second hand store, I got AMT's Star Trek- the ebterprise incident kit, which is $50 in the stores if you can find it, complete except for the fiber optics for $2.
Lee

I picked up an airbrush compressor, new, for 35 bucks.

Have to credit my wife for it. She brought home a 1/48 Revell B-17, a Skytrain and a USS Missouri -still in film. All for 3 bucks. The sick part is their garage was full of old kits and those were the newest! He was getting out of the hobby and selling his stash. She estimated that there were nearly one hundred kits there, stacked to the ceiling! -the one day I didn't go with her...

fish

Although it's not technicly a garage, I picked up Monograms B-26 1/48, AMT's Starwars E1 Podracer and 1/72 Hobby craft CF100, all in their boxes and complet for $1.50 Canadian each from Sally Ann.

Lucky, lucky! I am truly envious.

Best buy I ever found was a small tool box to keep my paints in for a quarter. I haven't been very lucky at all.

demono69