Tell us about your great model finds!

aww, what?  no Boxing Day Sale stories?

Anyways, my somewhat-local hobby store (Imperial Hobbies) was having their boxing-week sale, so while everything's 25% off they also have a small room full of clearance items.  So being tight on cash I went straight into that room and managed to nab a Tamiya/Finemolds 1/35 Type 3 Chi-Nu tank, which retailed for $81.95, and payed only $17 (+tax) for it.

Got the shelves yesterday.  Will have to trim about 10 inches off each. Have plumbing drain pipe in the way. 8 shelves and mounting hardware $50.  Also picked up a small piece is slat wall with 8 10" x 2' pieces of glass and mounting pegs for $20

Went to get the shelves today.  The store has not even plowed out from the snowstorm last night. Hopefully later

Blaine

That must have been a lot of fun. I have never been in a fighter. If I pulled those kind of Gs in a patrol aircraft it would be the last time, the wings would most likely be gone. The only excitement I ever got was night carrier landings with the S2, and flying fifty feet off the water on MAD runs but that really isn't nothing other than I did that with my wife sitting in the nose of the P2, she didn't appreciate it.

Now that sounds like a blast!  Night carrier landings!  Oh yeah!

I remember during Desert Storm, I was a classified courier and did the runs on 130's from Dharhan to Kuwait City and Riyadh.  They would drop down to 200-300 ft and have fun.  Sometimes they'd drop the door!  That was cool.

Eagle90

That must have been a lot of fun. I have never been in a fighter. If I pulled those kind of Gs in a patrol aircraft it would be the last time, the wings would most likely be gone. The only excitement I ever got was night carrier landings with the S2, and flying fifty feet off the water on MAD runs but that really isn't nothing other than I did that with my wife sitting in the nose of the P2, she didn't appreciate it.

Blaine

No, not a driver....was a maintainer!  Back shop Avionics ("89-'10).  She will always be my first love!

You guys are so critically important, without the skills of the maintenance people there would be no flying.

Thanks Blaine.  We did love our jobs!  I did get a couple of incentive flights in the Eagle!  First one, the pilot did everything he could to make me sick....I was laughing the whole time.  I think I mad him mad because he never let me fly her.  The second flight, the pilot was the coolest dude ever!  He taught me all the tricks and then LET ME DO THEM!  I actually made myself get tunnel vision doing a high G turn! It was awesome!  He flew a 1V1 against another pilot (he did all the flying on that one) that was a real eye opener.  Really showed me what those guys go through and have to do in order to come home.  Or as we used to say about our job...we do what we do so our pilots can be the first to see, first to fire, firsdt to kill, and first to RTB! 

Eagle90

tempestjohnny

Eagle will take pic.  Picking it up this weekend.  Not a case though.  Just glass shelving but for $50 I'll figure something out.  My display area is long and narrow.  Only 40" wide but 9' long.  So  glass will keep the area brighter for display

Can't wait to see it!  I'm doing a whole wall display of shelves and was going to use glass shelves (and probably will at some point), but the deal for the glass fell through, so it will be wood shelves for now.  I was going to put LED light stripes at top to shine down.  In due time!

Eagle90

No, not a driver....was a maintainer!  Back shop Avionics ("89-'10).  She will always be my first love!

You guys are so critically important, without the skills of the maintenance people there would be no flying.

Eagle will take pic.  Picking it up this weekend.  Not a case though.  Just glass shelving but for $50 I'll figure something out.  My display area is long and narrow.  Only 40" wide but 9' long.  So  glass will keep the area brighter for display

Great kit.  Mine is still in a state of disarray after so many moves. 

No, not a driver....was a maintainer!  Back shop Avionics ("89-'10).  She will always be my first love!   

Eagle90

Yes it is the Hasegawa kit, I don't know of any other kits. The one thing that did happen to the kit was moisture must have gotten to the kit and the decals were history. I scanned them and touched up the scan in photo shop and need to print them out on a decal sheet. Need to find out if the inkjet ink is compatible.

Question, Eagle90 are you a Eagle driver, if so I'm Jealous.

Hey Blaine, is that the Hasegawa one?  It was blue, white, yellow?  I had (still have it somewhere) that one.  Man, that is cool!  And a ride to boot!  Great find ($5!!!) and story!  Thanks for sharing!  Hey, be sure to post pics, I'd love to see the build of that Neptune!

Eagle90

The plane I wanted I could never find, it wasn’t a popular old bird but it was my first. I wanted the P2V Neptune. Well wife likes going to garage sales, I do not. She came home several years ago and said didn’t you say you wanted a model of the P2. In her hand was a 1/72 P2 in a box that had never been opened. I asked what she paid for it, five bucks was the answer. It is still in the box, and will be built this year and then go on my desk.

A long time ago I put her in the MAD seat of the P2 and took her for a ride she will never forget. (The MAD operator seat is in the nose of the P2)  

tempestjohnny

Well I just bought a glass display shelf.  It is a wall mount (standards and brackets).   7 shelves 8 feet long 16 inches wide.  Going out of business. $50

Hey Tempest, would love to see some pics of the display case!  Can't go wrong with a glass display case!

Eagle90

Jibber....nice catch there!  Gotta love coupons!

Eagle90

Well I just bought a glass display shelf.  It is a wall mount (standards and brackets).   7 shelves 8 feet long 16 inches wide.  Going out of business. $50

Hobby Lobby, 25% off plastic models then I used a 40% coupon just yesterday. Academy Abrahms $18.00. Not a bad find.

september. my forester was full including to bins on the roof rack. AND i can still get both cars in the garage

Hey Wayne, now that is cool....$200 for 105 models!  Oh yeah!  Hey is this a recent find?  Congrats!

Eagle90

got a :"grenada 3 pack" at club gift exchange; gamma goat, M151A2, and light infantry motorcycle plus a tamiya spaa 20mm(4) on 8T halftrack.

bought a stash for $200 with 105 kits including 1/35 CVN-65, MIKASA, CV-8 and MISSOURI '44, some planes including a bunch of revell 1/48, 1/35 BLACKHAWK, and a mess of 1/700 WW2 and modern.

Hey Plastick,

There are some good sellers out there.  Glad you ran into one.  Now you just need a figure and a basket!

Eagle90

Not a huge deal but a happy ending. I've been wanting to get the old Aurora/Polar Lights Guillotine kit and spotted one in Ebay for $5. I shot an email to the seller asking if the kit was damaged or if it had any missing parts. He replied that it was all there and complete. I was the winning bidder at $10.54 + $6 shipping.

Two days later the kit arrived and upon inspecting the contents, discovered the entire figure and the basket (where the head falls after...you know what ) were both missing. I shot another email at the seller regarding the misrepresentation of his description. Within 5 minutes, the seller refunded the purchase and shipping amounts to my PayPal account and apologized for the error. He also stated for me to please keep the model free of charge. I was lucky that I dealt with an honest seller.    

GMorrison

Big Jake sold me the Heller Victory in a Katrina damaged box for $ 70.00.

Hey G, that's that big ole sailing ship right?  I saw one in a box at the model show I went to.  That thing is HUGE!  You have to post pics of that when you do it!  The box art alone is awesome!

Eagle90

FocusOne

I've been hitting the local Value Village a lot lately, especially since this find:

I saw this beat-up (but sealed) old MPC truck kit at the store.  It was an ugly stepside pickup, probably some 80's chevy, or so I thought (box art showed the back side).  Although I wasn't at all interested in an 80's chevy truck, at $3 I decided to get one just to practice on.  I've never been a fan of pre-2000 american trucks, especially stepsides.  For pickups I've always preferred the 80's Japanese trucks

Got home and opened it and to my pleasant surprise this was actually a rare model of the Datsun 620 pickup.  I absolutely loved the look of the truck, and while i preferred the stock bed I eventually came to love the stepside look of it.  The MPC kits with the stock beds tend to go for ~80 on eBay, and someone has been listing the one I have (called the "California Stepside") for $170 (prices include shipping).

I've also been really interested in models of old Hondas, and I've had my eyes on a 1/16 Honda Civic by Nitto, but it would cost me $200 total to buy and get it shipped here.  So luckily I met someone who had one.  He'll sell it to me for $75.  Nowhere NEAR the steal for the Datsun pickup, but still good!

$3!!!!!  I love hearing stories like this!  Great find!

Eagle90

Big Jake sold me the Heller Victory in a Katrina damaged box for $ 70.00.

I've been hitting the local Value Village a lot lately, especially since this find:

I saw this beat-up (but sealed) old MPC truck kit at the store.  It was an ugly stepside pickup, probably some 80's chevy, or so I thought (box art showed the back side).  Although I wasn't at all interested in an 80's chevy truck, at $3 I decided to get one just to practice on.  I've never been a fan of pre-2000 american trucks, especially stepsides.  For pickups I've always preferred the 80's Japanese trucks

Got home and opened it and to my pleasant surprise this was actually a rare model of the Datsun 620 pickup.  I absolutely loved the look of the truck, and while i preferred the stock bed I eventually came to love the stepside look of it.  The MPC kits with the stock beds tend to go for ~80 on eBay, and someone has been listing the one I have (called the "California Stepside") for $170 (prices include shipping).

I've also been really interested in models of old Hondas, and I've had my eyes on a 1/16 Honda Civic by Nitto, but it would cost me $200 total to buy and get it shipped here.  So luckily I met someone who had one.  He'll sell it to me for $75.  Nowhere NEAR the steal for the Datsun pickup, but still good!

Yeah, as you can see, my stash was not hurting anyway, this pushed me past 320!

Gotta get to building!

Eagle90

Instant Stash !

Modern internet technology is amazing !