HELP: Sources for Kit Bashing / Spare Model Parts ?

Pcoz

Pcoz

Well-Known Member
So, I'd love to get my hands on any incomplete model kits for spare model parts. Obliviously, I'd like them to be industrial / mechanical. Tanks, planes, helicopters, etc.


I'm sure someone here might know know of a good sources !


Thanks in advance !
 
Garage sales, flea markets and thrifts stores perhaps.
I usually just went out and bought kits for donor pieces- Big Lots has some good deals at times.

Make friends with your local hobby shop- sometimes they get in damaged shipments and depending on the vender just send the box end in as proof and discard the broken model pieces.

Just a couple of ideas
 
Thanks Richard

Unfortunately, no local hobby stores aside from Michael's nearby. I guess I could try yard sales but that seems like a lot of work ! I did look on ebay and saw a few.
 
Well, in that case, you wait for a local organization (church, neighborhood assoc, etc) to have a big yard sale / group / neighborhood event.

Or you hit a local model show, that has vendors: they may have a box of spares & whatnot you can root through.

Also: extremely cheap toys may have interesting parts. Dollar store, thrift store, etc.

Also: cheap electronics, appliances, and parts like copier toner cartridges, old printers, etc, may have some interesting parts in them. Check out Luka's thread in this forum about his Blade Runner fan-film "Slice of Life" and the models he's scratch-built for it: http://www.therpf.com/showthread.php?t=206196

Where are you located?


-MJ
 
Thanks Mike ! I'm in Southern Maryland....

I definitely use toys and parts of ANYTHING I can find. I built a Mech Warrior out of scraps and foam board. I just look at the fantastic builds here on the forum and I want to build some of my own. I never really did any modeling before so I don't have a bunch of kits sitting around.
 
Consider how much you're willing to spend. Depending on that figure, you may want to keep an eye on model retailers online who might have irregular sales. I used to cruise HobbyLinkJapan for items on sale and just load up on a bunch of cheap junk. Odds are, it's going to be the older models, with simpler tooling and fewer parts, but ILM did quite well with 'older' military kits :)
 
You may want to try Craigslist or any other local buy and sell website. In my area I have scored a lot of tank kits from people that aren't interested in them anymore.

TazMan2000
 
I know some people may not agree with this, but eBay often have lists for parts boxes and "junkyard" models. Granted, some of them may not be cheap (with shipping and handling), but there's those who are selling parts boxes (mainly for cars and trucks, but there's often some that are for different types of kits). The best keywords to use to find such parts boxes are "model junkyard parts." It pulls up parts boxes, models that were built but were destroyed over the years (often listed for parts or restoration) and parts that were built, but not completed for the model's build. You can also use "model parts box" and "(insert scale here) model parts box" to get various different results.
 
tgreco said:
check your local craigslist ads. You'll find people selling stashes, and listings for garage sales etc...
Click to expand...


I did this recently. Got about 60 sprues of tank parts in a canvas grocery bag for 10 bucks. Probably half the parts were already removed, but still, that's a lot of greeblies.

One thing to think about when buying second hand parts this way: consider washing them. The guy I went to to get these things seemed like a weirdo shut-in, and the parts smelled really weird when I got them in my car. Like cats and tobacco. So I ran the canvas bag through the laundry and carefully lined up all the sprues in my dish washer and ran it with a little detergent and no heat cycle. That made it all better.

--Alex
 
CB2001 said:
I know some people may not agree with this, but eBay often have lists for parts boxes and "junkyard" models. Granted, some of them may not be cheap (with shipping and handling), but there's those who are selling parts boxes (mainly for cars and trucks, but there's often some that are for different types of kits). The best keywords to use to find such parts boxes are "model junkyard parts." It pulls up parts boxes, models that were built but were destroyed over the years (often listed for parts or restoration) and parts that were built, but not completed for the model's build. You can also use "model parts box" and "(insert scale here) model parts box" to get various different results.
Click to expand...

I've gotten a couple lots of parts that way. One probably had 30 years of dust caked onto it. I still have to clean them up.
 
Or you can buy one of the donor kit part resin replica runs made here for the studio scale guys: Y-Wing Parts, X-Wing Parts, etc.
 
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