One of the three clubs that I belong to held their annual kit auction last night. There was some pretty good stuff on the tables. Most bidding started at $1 and went from there. A couple of items went below a dollar. The pile I took home is below. What you can't see in the pics are an Air Power Journal, a Squadron in action book on the HS-3 and an even dozen kits in bags. Mostly 1/72. I took all of this home for less than $75! A portion of the procedes went to the club, with the majority of the selling price going to the seller. Do any of you fellow Armorama-ers do something simular in your clubs? Just thought I would share. "Q"

I also scored at the same club meeting. I got a 1/600 Airfix HMS Hood, a 1/720 Revell USS Arizona, a 1/480 Revell USS Yorktown, and and a kit to upgrade the suspension and tracks on a Easy 8 Sherman. It came to $7.00 but I gave them $10 and had them keep the change since it was for the club.

It was a fun time.

Did You post this just to gloat, or was there a less selfish reason?

GOOD ON YA, MATES!

Our club (IPMS Stockholm) have regular monthly meetings, but the december meeting is always the highlight. Its the bring, buy, trade, swap, barter, etc. meeting. Loads of bargins to be had .. if your quick and early, and a chance to swap or trade the stuff you dont want.
If I came home with that many kits though my wife would probably have heart palpatations .. not because she would be angry ... because she is then, entitled to buy twice as much on clothes.

I've scored some wonderful bargains and even free-bies at model club meetings and swap meets.

Most recently, one of the members of our Kansas City AMPS chapter died and left all of his models and reference to the club. The reference became an instant reference library for any member of the club to "check out" and use.

The first urge for the kits was to divvy them up among the members, but the we talked it over and decided to have an auction. Our club is doing fine financially, so we didn't need to add it to the regular contest coffers.

Instead, we decided to use the money we raised to create a memorial trophy in Mike's name. Everyone who participated had to agree that they would not sell or trade away any of Mike's models -- Mike planned to build them all and we ought to honor him by doing what he intended, but didn't have enough time on this world to do.

Everyone in the club walked away with a load of goodies at bargain prices and we gathered a great stake to fund the memorial trophy for many years to come.

I personally scored a Tamiya T-55, an Italeri LVT-4 (both in shrinkwrap), a Tamiya M4 Sherman with Formations M4 update set, and a few Dragon figure sets -- all for $45. The few kits that no one bought went on eBay and were sold for a nifty profit -- also going into the fund.

If you ever go to a KC AMPS show and see the Mike Smalley Trophy, you'll know the story.

That is great Hollowpoint, about the memorial.

One thing I was really impressed with last night was after everybody had bid on all the items if the person who had brought the kit didn't want it any longer the auctioneer thought we should box em up and send them to Baghdad for the troops. The only kit left though was so bad, according to Red4 anyway, that they didn't want to insult anybody over there. It was the thought that counted though.

Oh, did I mention the guy, not me, who picked up a Trumpeter USS Nimitz for $60. That's an $80 kit if it's a $1.

That's a good point about sending the leftovers to the troops overseas, Rodger.

It was brought up (as was a donation to the tsunami victims), but we weren't sure the troops would have wanted the leftovers from our auction either. A massive rigged ship was one of the kits (it would take longer than a tour in Bahgdad to build and drew $80+ on eBay, IIRC) and the others were more "collectibles" or "parts boxes" than "builders" ...

Besides, we've made donations to the troops through other means. Half of us were once in the ranks ourselves, so we know the deal.

This auction was for Mike: He gave a lot to the club before his death and we wanted to honor his last wishes as best we could. It's only been a few months (Mike died in November, around Thanksgiving), but seems like all of us have already showed up at a club meeting prefacing our "Show and Tell" segment with "This was one of Mike's kits ..."

Nice! I gotta find out if there's a club local to me that's having a swap meet thing, wouldn't mind making out like that.

Just curious? what club in Colorado and where???

You might PM Red4 about them. He knows much more about them than me. The clubs are in Colorado Springs. One is called Legacy, the other Centennial. I think they are both IPMS clubs but I'm still learning.

That is not a bargain, that is just plain robbery! You thief!!! It looks like those guys didn't see what hit them! Anyway good job, now all you have to do is suspend your day job for about...10 years to get them all done! Way to score!

Jeff

Probuilder, the clubs are as Halfyank stated, Legacy and Centennial IPMS. The Legacy club is the newer of the two, and both clubs have members that are dual citizens as it were, one being me. We are in Colorado Springs. Meeting nights are for Legacy, 4th Weds of the month, and for Centennial, 3rd Weds of the month. IF you're close by, you ought to try and make a meeting or two. Would love to get some new blood into the clubs. Thanks for your interest. "Q"