Mike999

I'm always looking for 1/24 figures, so that's one of my frequent eBay searches. Recently came across 2 listings for the 2 different sets of Fujimi 1/24 Mechanics. Both sets were out of the box, with no instructions, and the sprues in one set had been crudely hacked apart. Price was $39.99 for the first set and a discount down to $39.98 for the hacked set. Whatta deal! $5.99 shipping on both, with no combined shipping. Yes, this is the infamous Parts Seller Who Shall Not Be Named - the guy who once threatened to sue this group for libel, slander, etc. A quick eBay search turned up a bunch of those Fujimi figures, in the box, often still shrink-wrapped, for prices ranging from $7.18 up. One seller offered the combined Fujimi Mechanics AND Drivers set for $14.95. Like that poor Mercury in the OP, the listings from ol' PSWSNBN are fun to laugh at , but I'd never buy any of them. His market must be brand-new model builders with no knowledge of kit prices who buy everything off eBay. I guess such people might exist.

Agree. Also some 1950s-60s vintage NASCAR and general racing sponsor decals that are hard to find, like "Grey Rock Brake Lining," etc. I'd love to see either R2 or Moebius do some full sheets of Carrera Panamericana decals. Hudsons ran in that race for 1952-53 with some gorgeous graphics and sponsor markings. I'm trying to make up my own for a '52 Hudson project, including some generic stuff like "California Hudson Dealers."

Another Depression List here. Younger folk should remember I bought/sold many of these long ago, when they were just used cars. And after the various gas crises, the rule was usually the bigger the engine, the smaller the price. 1964 Corvette coupe - the one I always wish I'd kept. Silver with matching interior, stored for over 10 years when I bought it in the 1970s. 327/4-speed. IIRC, the 327/300 hp. 1967 GTO convertible - white/red int/black top. Bought cheap for cash, from one of the ripoff "Buy Here-Pay Here" used-car lots catering to Marines in Orange County, CA. The same lot had a triple-black '65 GTO convertible with Tri-Power. Missed that one! 1968 GTO convertible - I like weirdly-optioned cars and this one fit the bill. Red with black interior, bench seat, automatic on the column, power everything and A/C. 1969 Charger R/T - metallic green w/black R/T stripe and green int. 440/automatic. 1972 GTO hardtop - another oddball. Yellow with a white vinyl roof/white interior, but it had a 4-speed. There couldn't have been many of those built. 1975 Trans Am - silver/black interior. A great driver.

That dealership diorama is great! Yesterday at the flea market, I scored another cheap HESS Training Van. Badly yellowed plastic (usually from storage in a hot place). Missing a few minor parts but the working side door is still there. Also got a big stack of old car magazines cheap, mostly from the 1960s. I really enjoy the "Road Tests of the 196x Cars" articles. Toronado! '61 Tempest! And speaking of the Pontiac Tempest - the stack included "Car and Driver" mag from July 1982, with a long article about John Z. DeLorean. His DeLorean car factory in Northern Ireland had just been shut down and his company was on the verge of total collapse. But John Z. was still looking for investors to save the company. Here's the last sentence of the article: ""If the DeLorean magic can be made to work just one more time, he may yet avoid the collision that threatens finally to smash his dream." Three months after that article appeared, on Oct. 19, 1982, DeLorean tried to work his magic in a $24 million cocaine deal with sellers who turned out to be Feds. And that was the collision that really did smash his dream.

Probably one of the stuffed animals AMT was putting in kits at the time. Couldn't magnify the pic large enough to see clearly. I think it looks like a possum.

Seen it on several Revell-Germany trucks and fire vehicles. Once found their Schlingmann Unimog at a swap meet, missing some parts so very cheap. I just wanted the chainsaw and rescue tools so that didn't matter. But the big tires had sort of melted/collapsed - that's the best way I can describe it. They were also leaching that weird fluid onto other parts, so I just threw them away. When buying any vintage kit from Heller, Revell-Germany, Protar and some Asian companies, first I always check where the tires are. In the Bad Old Days, they were often sealed into a plastic bag (good) along with the clear parts (VERY bad). That just happened with an old Protar Alfa Giulietta. Windshield was nicely bagged, with the tires sitting right on top of it. Luckily no tire burn had happened. Hobby Lobby/Michaels sells cheap Ziploc bags in various sizes. I always keep some of those around. When I open a vintage kit like the Alfa, I immediately bag the tires to keep them separated, and the clear parts to keep them from getting scratched or damaged.

Hard to tell, from a totally unscientific survey of 2 local Hobby Lobby stores. The 1/32 Falcon Ranchero is still on the shelves at full retail so must be selling fairly well. But the 1/32 Avanti went to the Clearance aisle shortly after its release. Some Avantis are still hanging around there.

Thanks for all the info, copied it for future reference. I have the JF sedan delivery version of that '53 body. This thread may reduce my aggravation when/if I get around to using it. I've sometimes got resin bodies in shape just using hot water. That worked with an ancient '40 Ford 4-dr. sedan resin body. The 4-dr. body was badly bowed inward on both sides - the bottom of the body sides were almost touching. I stretched it out to fit on the AMT '40 fenders, then ducked both in very hot water. The resin body un-bowed and has stayed that way ever since.

Not today, but got a lot of stuff yesterday at the South Carolina Modelers Association (SCMA) show/contest in Spartanburg, SC. Kudos to SCMA for a great job of organizing and running the show. Found a couple of "Grail" kits - a resin 58 Ford hardtop with chrome parts from R&R. And an AURORA 1/84 scale USS Tucumcari Hydrofoil. Had the Tucumcari years ago, sold it, not doing that again! Other stuff I picked up: AMT 81 Ford Bronco x2 AMT & REVELL 63 Chevy Impalas. (Incredibly, I didn't have any 63 Chevies at all in my stash.) AMT "Prestige" 63 Corvette convertible GLENCOE McDonnell XV-1 Convertiplane 1/32 scale (Another kit I had once and sold on eBay, to my regret) JO-HAN 59 Rambler Station Wagon, the Okey Spaulding re-issue MONOGRAM 55 Chevy convertible "Indy Pace Car." With 2 stock bodies, 2 chassis, and a resin hardtop body all in the box. MONOGRAM Lil Coffin, open but complete PROTAR Alfa-Romeo Giulietta 1300cc roadster And a few other parts kits, tools and odds & ends. Again, great show and I hope to visit it again next year.

When I went to Korea back in the 1990s, I found the Academy Outlet Store in Seoul. It was near the Olympic Stadium, in the same general area as Seoul's giant pet/animal outdoor market. The Academy Outlet Store had few, if any, car kits. But it was loaded with Academy aircraft kits at very low prices, like the B-17/B-29/B-50/PBY Catalina series. Also some armor kits. Seoul also had many toy stores that also sold model kits. A couple of those toy stores and a big hobby shop were within walking distance of my hotel - that was the Hyatt up on the hill, which according to the local joke is already zeroed in as an aiming point for North Korean artillery. I bought so many kits on one Korean trip, I had to buy another big suitcase just for models.

I really like people who win multiple items. Fewer boxes to ship! As mentioned by some others, I do "pre-shipping" where every kit is weighed, measured and put into a shipping box before I even list the items on eBay. I want to make sure I'm not running around at the last minute trying to find a box. I don't seal the boxes. So when somebody wins multiple items, I just move all the kits into a bigger box. I think my record so far is 1 bidder winning 8 auctions. And some of those 8 auctions were for multiple-kit lots. That took a really big box!

That recently happened to me. Wanted to do a "Buy It Now" on a built 1/25 kit. Shipping showed up as $24.95. Contacted the seller, he said it was wrong and he didn't know where that price came from. He suspected an eBay glitch, since that was his only listing showing up with outrageous shipping charges. Told me to check back in a few minutes. When I did, shipping was $4.95. I'd usually suspect the seller just goofed, like I have done several times when selling. But so many people are complaining about this kind of weirdness, I tend to think there really is a glitch and eBay just sometimes goes haywire and enters a random shipping price.

Crept? No, that annoying Bait-and-Switch trend stomped right into the scale model section a long time ago and is just getting worse. Simply by going to the USPS website, we can get a pretty good idea of what the shipping cost should be in the USA. So if the seller is one state away from me and trying to charge $19.95 for shipping on a single car kit, I can see exactly what he's doing. And I'm not buying from him.On eBay-US, that's also a trend for all kits in general from Asian vendors. That really baffles me. The kit has a very low come-on price, then shipping/handling jacks up the total price to way over retail. I don't know why I would pay that, when I can get the same kit cheaper from an online vendor in the US, sometimes even with free shipping thrown in. Or if the kit is not available in the U.S., I'll order from an Asian dealer that doesn't play games with shipping. On eBay I've had good luck with Tokyo-Hobby, off eBay with Lucky-Model and several others.

Thanks! Couldn't find that one but will keep looking. With just a general search, I found 2 guys who make the doors. Here's the info, for anyone else who may need a door. CAUTION: I know nothing about these vendors, other than their Web addresses, and have not contacted or done any business with them. For all I know, they could be out of business: Don Loomis makes a resin door for the Training Van: https://www.flickr.com/photos/escort500xl/590882171 John E. Holt makes a door from brass strip with printed paper overlay, to match the graphics on the van: http://cryptoman.com/78hessrd.htm

The fe-mail carrier just brought this pair of Hess Training Vans (a/k/a '78 GMC Motorhome, 1/24 scale-ish). Found them on eBay, sold as a lot for a reasonable price. One is complete, one only missing a roof light and driver's mirror. I already have one I bought very cheap at a flea market that's missing the side door, so I have a parts source. (This is the eBay vendor's photo):

Sounds like that seller didn't make their policy clear. Right in the eBay listing, I always warn bidders about this: "IMPORTANT! If you win multiple items, please DO NOT PAY INSTANTLY. Wait for my invoice after the auction ends. If you instant-pay for multiple items, you WILL be charged for shipping ON EACH ITEM. If that happens, I will refund your excess shipping thru PayPal." I hate high shipping prices as a buyer and try to keep those costs as low as possible when selling. I also refuse to buy from those people who obviously pad their shipping charges with outrageous "handling fees" etc. Unfortunately, some bidders just will not RTFI (Read The Flipping Instructions). They go ahead and pay for each item separately, and EBay charges them shipping for each item. Then they complain to me: "Your listing said you combine shipping!!!" Yes I do, but it would help if you read the whole listing...including that stuff in ALL CAPS, telling you exactly how to avoid this problem. Due to a cross-country move and other drama, I haven't sold on eBay since 2014. I am trying to gear up for a big sale right now, but it interferes with my model building...

"Use the parts for another build" is exactly why I have a few NASCAR kits in the parts bin. The roll cages provide plenty of round tubing (I'm using some right now on a 1/35 scale military build.) Some kits had in-car cameras and other neat, hard-to-scratchbuild items. The instrument panels can be used in street rods and other builds. If they're cheap enough, I usually pick up the MONOGRAM "Stock Car Plus" series from around 1990 - they included a tool box, fuel can, fire extinguisher, driver figure and other useful accessories. As for the market collapse in NASCAR die-casts and "collectibles," I think the big 2008 economic crash also had something to do with that. I saw it happen to another segment of our hobby, the 1/6 scale Dragon "Battle Barbie" figures. For years I went to The Black Watch hobby shop in Reseda, CA, every week. It was just a couple of miles from my house. Joe Janssen had owned that shop since the 1970s, selling mostly military kits and figures in every scale. Some of you may remember his ads in old copies of "Scale Modeling" and "Military Modeling" magazines. In the early 2000s, people would be in The Black Watch every week clamoring for the latest 1/6 figures. And often spending lots of money on different uniforms and accessories. (One friend turned that into a profitable sideline. He was retired from the US Navy and took up sewing as a hobby on long sea deployments. He made incredibly detailed custom uniforms for those figures.) Customers often bought several figures at once and they weren't cheap. They were also willing to pay a premium for hard-to-find and limited-edition 1/6 scale figures.I spent most of 2005-09 working in Egypt. When I relocated back to Los Angeles in 2009, The Black Watch was nearly deserted on Fridays. Nobody was buying 1/6 scale figures or much of anything else. By 2012 Joe was barely making enough money to keep the lights on. When a new landlord raised his store rent, he couldn't afford it and went out of business. A sad end, but one that happened to many small businesses around that same time.

I go to a local "general" flea market almost every week and see the same thing. Any table with scale models almost always has NASCAR kits (and/or die-casts), going for very low prices. One vendor told me he bought 1,000 kits and die-casts from a recent widow, all NASCAR. Said he bought them for $1.00 each and was having trouble selling them for even a small profit. Different day, and another vendor had also just bought a roomful of model kits. He also had scads of NASCAR kits, some old and still shrink-wrapped. Everything was priced at $5.00. I bought several kits, and another buyer came up while I was there and bought some more (including some AMT '95 Ford F-150 promos I didn't see. Drat!) When I came back by the table hours later, those NASCAR kits were still there but all the other kits were gone.

This may help for the future. Doing it off the top of my head so may need some correction. Motorcycle Kit Scales & Makers, from largest to smallest: 1/6 scale - Tamiya, huge and expensive. Made a whole range of Harley-Davidson types, including a Police version and a sidecar rig. 1/8 scale - Revell & MPC did many motorcycle kits in this scale. Revell's Triumph series started in the early 60s with the Triumph Tiger 100, Drag Bike and many others, including choppers. Revell also did a 1/8 Harley Police Bike and many Harley choppers. MPC did a Honda 750-4, some mini-bikes and others. Probably the rarest MPC 1/8 kit is the "Then Came Bronson" Harley Sportster, licensed for a short-lived TV series. 1/9 scale - a favorite of Italian companies, for some reason, like Protar and ESCI. Back in the 1970s-80s Protar did many 1/9 scale kits of Italian bikes, including a Vespa motor scooter. ESCI is most famous for its 1/9 scale military cycles - BMW with sidecar, Zundapp, Kettenkrad tracked motorcycle, Triumph and Harley-Davidson WLA. The Triumph and Harley were also released as civilian versions many years ago. Italeri has re-issued some ESCI 1/9 kits, including the Vespa and military versions of the Harley and Triumph. 1/12 scale - the large and excellent IMAI/IMEX series of Harley-Davidsons, also released by Revell. If you don't like to strip chrome plating, look for the IMAI "US Army Harley-Davidson FLH 1980." It has no chrome at all, and includes a couple of (poor) resin saddlebags. As already mentioned in here, Tamiya has a giant range of 1/12 scale bikes. 1/16 - Pyro did quite a few motorcycle kits in this scale, including BMW and Triumph racing versions with rider figures. They also did a 1/16 Harley Police Trike with figure. Many of these kits were also issued as chopper/custom versions. Way back in the 1970s, ENTEX released 4 1/16 scale kits of antique motorcycles - 1912 Henderson, 1914 Militaire, 1918 Harley and 1924 Ace. These have been re-issued at least twice by Aoshima in a "Vintage Bike" series (though not recently). 1/24 and 1/25 - not surprisingly, AMT, MPC and Revell have all done motorcycles in this scale matching their car kits. Probably the most famous are the Revell "Parts Pack" Harley and Triumph. They were re-issued together in the 1980's as a "Grease" movie tie-in. 1/35 - for years the only bikes available in "Military Scale" were the BMWs and Zundapps from Tamiya and Italeri. Though Italeri did a pair of Harley WLAs that were very nice for their time (the mid-1970s). In recent years Mini-Art has released a range of Harley WLA kits with amazing detail. Other companies have issued new kits of WWII-vintage BMWs and Zundapps, both civilian and military.

Some years ago I bought a really fun book, "The Big Toy Box At Sears (1951-1969)." It's a repro of the Sears catalog toy section for those 18 years. The book is at my Mom's right now so I don't have it handy. But I remember catalogs from the 1950s selling the Gowland & Gowland "Old Timers" 1/32 cars (later Revell). Also some Lindberg aircraft kits. And in the Sixties, the Monogram 1/8 scale kits. I well remember Sears selling models around Christmastime. They had one of the biggest selections here in the rural South and I spent many hours in that aisle.

This old ESCI kit of the 1979 Bandama Rally Mercedes 450 SLC contains 2 really subtle errors: 1. The text on the front of the roof should read "SUEDE," not "SWEDE." ("Suede" is the French spelling of "Swede.") 2. The co-driver's name was Hans ThorSzelius, not Thorzelius.

Fort Dodge, Iowa, 1994 - on a business trip, found a one-chair barber shop. But half of the place also functioned as sort of a hobby shop. Kits, many of them old, were stacked all over the place. I remember buying several old AMT kits that were OOP at the time, like the 32 Ford roadster. Also remember picking up an ESCI 1/48 S3 Viking - the "COD" version that dated to the early 80's and was very hard to find. I boxed up my haul and shipped it back to myself in Los Angeles. I spent a lot of time working and traveling overseas, so I've found stuff in some truly weird places. Jeddah, Saudi Arabia had one pretty well-stocked hobby shop with lots of old kits gathering dust. I remember buying 2 ERTL Mack Cement Mixers there. Also 2 of the REVELL 1/12 Ferrari 275 kits, the infamous ex-ITC dog with the real car on the box that looked nothing like the actual kit. Also found many old ESCI 1/24 Range Rovers, Land Rovers, Mercedes G-Wagens, and even a couple of the ESCI 1/9 Kettenkrad half-track motorcycle. I sold a lot of those on eBay thru the years, but still have some of them.

Upstate SC got a rare snowstorm Friday night. I was looking outside around 9 PM and saw it change from rain, to sleet, finally to big puffy snowflakes. A lot of that snow is still on the ground, here on Tuesday morning. I thought the local rug-rats had built a weird snowman in front of my house. But looking closer, they built a snow-dinosaur. Which looks pretty neat. For the basement modeling room, I recently bought this Acu-Rite combo thermometer/hygrometer at Wal-Mart. Price was $8.49. When planning to paint, it's good seeing the humidity in the room at a glance. The basement is mostly unheated, but the temp stays pretty stable at around 60 degrees even on cold days. And I use a small heater if it's really chilly:

I found one of these in weird condition, cheap at a flea market. The truck and motorcycle are both complete. But the kit is missing the whole upper part (bed) of the trailer. The trailer fenders, wheels, tires and everything else is still in the box. Oh, and 1 decal for the trailer is missing. I guess the original owner wanted that part of the trailer for another project. Even missing the main part of the trailer, I was still very happy to find it.

Anderson, SC store today (1/4/17): same, except not even any SSRs. Or any AMT kits or even cars, except the GA/NC/TN Crown Vics. Still quite a few of the Weird-Oh and "Rube Goldberg" kits. Same town, Hobby Lobby had nothing new and only a couple of ancient LINDBERG Japanese battleships on Clearance. The Hobby Lobby in Easley, SC had a couple of Piranhas on the Clearance aisle for $10.79, IIRC. Even the Flea Market was a bust today. Only thing I found there was a stack of old Hemmings Muscle Machine magazines from 2004-05. I was working overseas for much of that time and missed quite a few issues. They were cheap (10 mags for $8).