ranma Posted January 21, 2017 Share Posted January 21, 2017 A verity shop called Bob's Bargin barn (second hand furniture and such Found and bought a Brooklyn collectors guild 1996 Oldsmobile Aurora. Still in its box (the box had seen better days) Bought it for $6.00, and added it to my model collection! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Ben Posted January 22, 2017 Share Posted January 22, 2017 I've bought them at a large plumbing supply place we have here in San Antonio, I got about five, MPC Force 440 police car kits and then I was renting a dozer in Boerne Texas about 40 miles from my home and they had two, original issue John Deere 410 backhoe kits, bought both of those. Back around 1980, I went in our local International dealership and saw that they had the, brand new at the time, 1/32 IH 9670 cabover snap kit. Snatched that up and the guy said he had more kits in the back. He took me back with him to a tall, two door cabinet, like a double locker. Inside it was filled with pretty much every ERTL truck kit that had been produced. Being young, I didn't have a lot of money so I could only afford the snap kit. I never forgot about those kits though! Years later about 1987, I had a job and more money. Just for fun, I went back to the dealership and asked the parts guy, what ever happened to all those kits you had in the back? He said, we still have em! Been trying to get rid of them for years!!! I bought every kit they had for a steal!!!! They were just glad to get rid of them! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
vintagedragcrazy Posted January 22, 2017 Share Posted January 22, 2017 I was telling my brother about this thread and he reminded me we used to get them at the hospital snack bar close to where we lived. Vince Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
James2 Posted January 22, 2017 Share Posted January 22, 2017 Years ago. I bought a couple of models at "The Potery" in Williamsburg Va. We were in town visiting family for Thanksgiving and that was one of the random stops. Just a cool old fleamarket kinda place with lots of everything. I believe it is no longer there... Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
vintagedragcrazy Posted January 22, 2017 Share Posted January 22, 2017 Hey james I've been there before too and your right that place has tons of stuff I didn't find modes but my wife sure liked that place! Was good seeing you and dave yesterday at the swap meet. Also nice to see carl bates yesterday was a great day for a swap meet we sure couldn't complain about weather!vince Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
James2 Posted January 22, 2017 Share Posted January 22, 2017 You to Vince! It was a good day for it.I still want one of those Chassis, do you do paypal?Or I'll get one in September... Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
vintagedragcrazy Posted January 22, 2017 Share Posted January 22, 2017 Yea buddy I can do PayPal. They sure are nice with all the exhaust taken away I know they are for a 55' but im pretty sure that they would work under a 56' or 57' if you want one just let me know or just pm me.vince Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
D. Battista Posted January 22, 2017 Share Posted January 22, 2017 Hey james I've been there before too and your right that place has tons of stuff I didn't find modes but my wife sure liked that place! Was good seeing you and dave yesterday at the swap meet. Also nice to see carl bates yesterday was a great day for a swap meet we sure couldn't complain about weather!vinceGood seing you too vince ...A great day..!Not so offbeat... but a little different ... I have bought a model kit at Summit Racing Equipment in Tallmadge, Oh Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
mikemodeler Posted January 22, 2017 Share Posted January 22, 2017 I've bought them at a large plumbing supply place we have here in San Antonio, I got about five, MPC Force 440 police car kits and then I was renting a dozer in Boerne Texas about 40 miles from my home and they had two, original issue John Deere 410 backhoe kits, bought both of those. Back around 1980, I went in our local International dealership and saw that they had the, brand new at the time, 1/32 IH 9670 cabover snap kit. Snatched that up and the guy said he had more kits in the back. He took me back with him to a tall, two door cabinet, like a double locker. Inside it was filled with pretty much every ERTL truck kit that had been produced. Being young, I didn't have a lot of money so I could only afford the snap kit. I never forgot about those kits though! Years later about 1987, I had a job and more money. Just for fun, I went back to the dealership and asked the parts guy, what ever happened to all those kits you had in the back? He said, we still have em! Been trying to get rid of them for years!!! I bought every kit they had for a steal!!!! They were just glad to get rid of them!That is a great story about how the IH dealer still had those models 7 years later and you were able to buy them! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Tom Geiger Posted January 22, 2017 Share Posted January 22, 2017 Not a kit, but related...When we were in Aruba, maybe 20 years ago, we were in the small town of San Nicolas and in a small drug store / souvenir shop, they had a magazine rack. I found the latest issue of Scale Auto Magazine. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
TarheelRick Posted January 22, 2017 Share Posted January 22, 2017 Cracker Barrel ! Wife and I went out to et there, browsing through the gift shop I found the Lindberg '61 Chevy Impala, both hdtp and conv...That was several years ago, never found another model kit there...........'Z'I picked up two of the Lindberg '54 Ford Hardtops in my local Cracker Barrel many years ago. Back in the late 90's when I got back into the hobby I found an opened JOHAN Boss Hoss F/C at a pet store. When I was a kid and first got into kits I used to buy from Griffith's Stationary Store, Roses, Ben Franklin's, Western Auto, and Kennedy's Auto and Hardware Store, all in the small town close to where I lived; unfortunately they are all gone now, as is most of the town. Most recently I picked up two Academy Hyundai Grandeur/Azeras at a Korean style big-box store in Pusan, Republic of Korea. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
SSNJim Posted January 22, 2017 Share Posted January 22, 2017 Up until probably the mid-90's, I used to be able to find them just about everywhere I went. I've found them at Williamsburg Pottery, Radio Shack, convenience stores, dollar stores, auto part stores, gas stations, gift shops, toy stores, drug stores, and on and on. I don't remember ever being in a hobby shop from when I was a teen in the 70's to the late 80's. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Mike999 Posted January 22, 2017 Share Posted January 22, 2017 Most recently I picked up two Academy Hyundai Grandeur/Azeras at a Korean style big-box store in Pusan, Republic of Korea.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. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
CabDriver Posted February 16, 2020 Share Posted February 16, 2020 Went in one of the Chinese dollar stores near me this morning looking for anything useful for model stuff (craft supplies, pins, glues, whatever) and spotted a whole bunch of Tamiya rattlecans in amongst the $2 tools that break right away and off-brand cosmetics! I didn’t pick any up, I wanted to see if $6 was a good price for these...seems like it’s a little under normal retail though so I’m going to head back and pick some up in the week probably. Amazing what you can find where you didn’t expect to find it! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Chitown Posted February 18, 2020 Share Posted February 18, 2020 I've gotten kits from all kinds of unexpected places in the Chicago area back in the '70s. The Revell '70 Mustang Grande from Radio Shack for .99 cents with a coupon. An original AMT '29 Ford/Ala Kart kit from a mom & pop convenience store. An original AMT '69 Corvair from another m&p c-store. Used to get various tiny military kits from Walgreens that were packaged in a plastic bag stapled inside what was essentially a large (4-5") matchbook cover with a photo of the finished model on the front. Can't remember who made them. Wasn't particularly into military stuff, but it was all they kept and hey, they were models! Got a few Pyro motorcycle kits from White Hen Pantry convenience stores. Once entered a contest held by a 7-11. Would get car kits regularly from the Osco drug stores that were connected to Jewel grocery stores. They usually were good for surprising me with new releases. Kinda miss that excitement building as I walked down the aisle towards the models.. The interwebs more or less put an end to that. The Plaid Stamps gift books would have a couple of models in them. I remember larger scale sailing ships for the most part. Anyone remember Paid Stamps or S&H Green Stamps? And the one that started it all for me, the original issue Revell '51 Henry J, purchased from a Rexall drugstore about 1970-'71. That box art with the red and white J coming off the line in a giant wheelstand ignited something in my 10 year old gray matter that caught fire. It also taught me early on to look around in any store I was in, which was exciting in itself. Kinda' like a scavenger hunt. Gave me something fun to do while mom was shopping for whatever boring things like food, clothes etc. we needed. I'm sure there's others i can't recall at the moment. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Daddyfink Posted February 18, 2020 Share Posted February 18, 2020 7-Eleven was a cool place to find kits, as was Ace Hardware, Thrifty Drug, Longs Drug, Salvation Army Thrift Shop, A Mom and Pop Grocery in the San Diego County Back Country. You just never knew where they would pop up! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
cobraman Posted February 18, 2020 Share Posted February 18, 2020 Ah, the good old days. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Roadrunner Posted February 18, 2020 Share Posted February 18, 2020 There's a military surplus store near here that has models from time to time. Usually junk kits though (that he buys for five cents on the dollar). Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
CabDriver Posted February 18, 2020 Share Posted February 18, 2020 1 hour ago, Daddyfink said: 7-Eleven was a cool place to find kits, as was Ace Hardware, Thrifty Drug, Longs Drug, Salvation Army Thrift Shop, A Mom and Pop Grocery in the San Diego County Back Country. You just never knew where they would pop up! 7-Eleven sold kits?!? Wish they still did - wonder if there’s some in the dusty old corners of some 7-Eleven stockrooms somewhere ? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
cobraman Posted February 19, 2020 Share Posted February 19, 2020 Long ago there was a place in Chicago called " Starks Warehouse". It was sort of like a railroad salvage. You never knew what they would have so it was fun to go and hope to see some kits. They almost always had some and my dad would always buy me one or two. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ChrisBcritter Posted February 19, 2020 Share Posted February 19, 2020 The other thread about San Francisco reminded me of my first visit there in the summer of '73. We went into a little discount store in Chinatown where I picked up an Aurora '60 T-bird and a Pyro '48 Continental. Little did I know... I remember seeing a couple of the AMT Double Dragster kits as well. 12 hours ago, Chitown said: Would get car kits regularly from the Osco drug stores that were connected to Jewel grocery stores. They usually were good for surprising me with new releases. Kinda miss that excitement building as I walked down the aisle towards the models. I remember those quite well - just couldn't bring myself to pay full retail ($2.25) for kits there. Only exception was when I just had to have the molded-in-red AMT '32 Ford Vicky fire chief's car. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Rob Hall Posted February 19, 2020 Share Posted February 19, 2020 I've seen models in gift shops. The gift shop on the Queen Mary in Long Beach had Revell ship models.. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Daddyfink Posted February 19, 2020 Share Posted February 19, 2020 15 hours ago, CabDriver said: 7-Eleven sold kits?!? Wish they still did - wonder if there’s some in the dusty old corners of some 7-Eleven stockrooms somewhere ? Oh yeah! And some cool stuff as well. A friends older brother told me that most of them, in our neighborhood, even held model contest at one point! Our local grocery stores also carried models Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Rob Hall Posted February 19, 2020 Share Posted February 19, 2020 4 minutes ago, Daddyfink said: Our local grocery stores also carried models I got several models as a teenager from our local Winn-Dixie grocery in Marathon, Florida. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Oldcarfan27 Posted February 19, 2020 Share Posted February 19, 2020 Ross used to have discounted kits, got some great deals there. I remember JC Penney outlet store in the Ontario Mills outlet mall many years ago had Vanagon Westfalia vans for $3.99. I bought three! The SavOn store 30 years ago had a large supply of forgotten kits from the 70s, I bought what I could afford. Eventually they all disappeared, probably somebody cleaned them out. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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