How to Smartly Aquire Vintage Kits?

[Brudda]

My friend Bob taught me how to buy the old kits that you want. If you go to IPMS shows and look in the vendors area you might find a good deal. Some guys think their stuff is gold but i bought some really old models for cheap. And another thing is come late to the vendors area for your best deals. Some guys do not want to take them back to their car. I wanted a monogram Buick and it was cheap, $15. At the end of the show he asked me if I wanted to buy the Buick. I hesitated and he said I can have the whole box of models for $15. So I took the box. I found a Jo-Han 1963 cad and sent it to Ray(Slusher) for free. So you can find deals if your patient. Also we have a few antique stores here. I go in there sometimes. Found a few old models for reasonable prices. Some were crazy high but a few were low. You have to know prices. Bought a ford mk4 mpc kit for $10 there. A mpc Toyota 2000 GT convertible for the same price. So you might find a kit at an antique stores. Just a few ideas that worked for me. 

[Spooker]

1. Buy all the kits you might ever want as soon as they come out, multiples if you can.

2. Keep them forever.

3. Get old and have more kits than 10 people could build in several lifetimes each.

 

These are the simple rules I have followed since about 1965.

(Treat this as an early April Fool's post, even if it's mostly true!)

[Falcon Ranchero]

2 hours ago, Brudda said:

My friend Bob taught me how to buy the old kits that you want. If you go to IPMS shows and look in the vendors area you might find a good deal. Some guys think their stuff is gold but i bought some really old models for cheap. And another thing is come late to the vendors area for your best deals. Some guys do not want to take them back to their car. I wanted a monogram Buick and it was cheap, $15. At the end of the show he asked me if I wanted to buy the Buick. I hesitated and he said I can have the whole box of models for $15. So I took the box. I found a Jo-Han 1963 cad and sent it to Ray(Slusher) for free. So you can find deals if your patient. Also we have a few antique stores here. I go in there sometimes. Found a few old models for reasonable prices. Some were crazy high but a few were low. You have to know prices. Bought a ford mk4 mpc kit for $10 there. A mpc Toyota 2000 GT convertible for the same price. So you might find a kit at an antique stores. Just a few ideas that worked for me. 

Around here, the local antique stuff and games store is really the only place to find models. About 2 or so years ago that store had nothing in terms of model kits. Then, March last year, the far back corner of the store had become absolutley filled with vintage kits. Johans, AMT's Monogram, Revell, there were tons of vintage kits. I guess someone brought in their whole collection to sell. And I got two then. All the really super cool ones had prices jacked up so high it would be unrealistic to buy the kit to build. The ones I got were priced at $50, about the norm for new kits in stores today. This year most of those outrageously priced kits are gone, and there's not too much. That being said this past January I got the '59 Lincoln AMT from '65 for $20, which was great, considering it was all complete. Went to the store again just this past Saturday, and all that's left from that original wave of stock are these really old-timey car model kits. Model kits of '20s-early '50s cars (mostly '20s-'30s) that I typically don't build so I didn't pick anything up this past Saturday. They're pretty cheap too, but I usually build anything '57 and up. 

However, I do have relatives down southern Ontario, which is where more stuff like that is typically found, so if I see anything listed somewhere down south I can just ask them to pick it up and then i'd pay them back next time they come up and bring the model kit (or vintage radio as i'm on the hunt for one of those too)

[johnyrotten]

15 minutes ago, Falcon Ranchero said:

Model kits of '20s-early '50s cars (mostly '20s-'30s) that I typically don't build so I didn't pick anything up this past Saturday. They're pretty cheap too, but I usually build anything '57 and up. 

You should consider picking one or two up, case being the trade section here on the forum. Might be worth a shot of you trading for something your interested in. Just a thought 

[Brudda]

4

[Brudda]

Just now, Brudda said:

4

Sorry old man mess up. It is Carl not Ray. Sorry Carl

[randx0]

This can help find what you're looking for . 

 

https://fatfingers.com/NoAffiliate.aspx

 

After that it's really about being patient and persistent.  Sometimes I'll discover a kit and look for it and then just wait for one to fall into my price range and or minimum condition requirement . 

Antique stores and estate sales are good and there are people out there that buy collections if you can find some of those people  local to you more times than not you can get stuff cheaper than online auctions . 

 

 

 

 

[stavanzer]

4 hours ago, Falcon Ranchero said:

Model kits of '20s-early '50s cars (mostly '20s-'30s) that I typically don't build so I didn't pick anything up this past Saturday. They're pretty cheap too, but I usually build anything '57 and up. 

Since my interest is in that era of cars, (I build 1908-1965) those kits are indeed trade fodder for modelers like me.

NIce to be able to offer up a kit like that when somebody posts a kit you want.

I've even paid shipping from Canada to California for a couple of trades years ago.

[Bill Anderson]

Hi,

I've been active on Ebay since 2000, both as a buyer and seller.  I was a huge model train nut and bought hundreds of out of production car and structure kits.  I soon realized that whatever I wanted would - sooner or later - be offered for sale.  Yes, I waited literally a couple of years for some items, but they eventually showed up.  

In the last ten years or so I am back in the model car hobby, and found the same thing. - that sooner or later what I wanted would show up.  So far I haven't paid more than $50 for a "new old stock" kit, although there were a few I would have liked to have but they were $100 or so.  

My point is, if it was made, sooner or later it will appear on Ebay.