Small Scale Military Headquarters

I found a BBI super humvee at the local GW for $4!! and the thing is complete, the only thing wrong is the pin that mounts the .50 is broken. This is the second time i scored something cool, last time is was an ATAT for $2.

This is interesting , cause , believe it or not ,.. you can actually find a damn good deal there and not just clothing either , like a nice shirt or something.

Like for instance ,.. "kevrut" found a 1:18 diecast 1951 VW "beetle" made by Maisto for $2.00 or $3.00 bucks and just gave it to me.

* I'm going to transform ( customize ) this baby into a WWII Wehrmacht peoples car ! *

v MG

I never find anything good.

ONe of my militaria buddies scored a M1942 Paratrooper Jump smock--patched and named to a 101 D-day vet for 20 bones at the local GW.

And about the coolest thing I have ever found was nice curio shelf (now in use by my 1/72 and 1/144 stuff) for $5.

My brother found a fairly new Kirby vacuum cleaner with all accessories for $10. The only thing it needed was a new agitator belt (a $1 part). Not too shabby a deal...

Before I was into collecting 1/18 XD stuff, (was there a time before?? ) I was at a local GW store and found both the original P-51 and ME-109. They both looked like returns to TRU that were taken out of the box and not put back in too good. Stuff was rattling around. They wanted 10 or 20 each for them and I was none too rich at that particular moment, so I passed on it.

I eventually got both planes at a later date from other sources...

Typically not much in my AO. I did find an FOV 1/32 Tank. I believe it was the Patton. Sorry, not a tank expert.
Todd

Searched a few GW stores in the past years, but never ran across any 1:18 or decent diecast for that matter but did catch some original GI Joe pieces a few years back. My grandmother on the other hand, would check the GW and Salvation Army stores on a regular basis, and would often make decent finds (she was into antiques and such) and one time back in the late 80's, she found a Shirley Temple doll that dated way back for if memory serves me correct, $4.00-$5.00, took it home cleaned the clothes (which were original) and took it to a friend who owned an antique store who specialized in dolls, who appraised it for $600.00 at the time. She made several other finds of equal value over the years, as well as stumbling across similar finds when you could at antique stores back before the whole antiquing craze hit.

I used to hit the antique stores and GW, but found too often there was nothing there.

Friends have always had luck in GW, but not I. One pal dealt in vintage punk/new wave vinyl and would come out with armloads of stuff to put on ebay, but I've never found anything but Barbie junk for my daughter. Might be the area I'm in, though.

I found a 1:6 M8 Greyhound at GW last year for $4.95, mostly complete! Found a 1:32 Panzer III for $0.95 once at another thrift store and later found a 1:18 German Halftrack w/most body parts, no acessories for $1.50.
The best deal I ever found was at Target, when they had mis-marked the 1:6 SOW Jeeps for $7.00 each. We (buddy and me) bought all of them but two (no room left in cart)! We are still kicking ourselves for not going back and picking up the other two!

I found some 1/32 items at a GW store for a couple 3 dollars.
I turned around and sold it on Ebay (of course).
But GW stores are starting to get wise to this. In one by my house, they have a special section that is their "Collectable" area (with even a glass case) They have the "internet" cost on the item and want what they have found it to be worth. Not too sure how many people would pay Ebay prices at a GW store?

I hate when places try that garbage. I also collect vintage paperbacks and years ago I used to frequent a used bookshop that decided to start a collectible section (just happened to be the genre I was collecting -SF and Fantasy) where they would price stuff for its age without regards to condition - one aspect being that WRITING THE PRICE IN THE BOOK LOWERS ITS VALUE!!! When I would ask them about their methods they would claim they didn't cater to the collector market...yet they had a collectible section. Huh?