Finding rare Airfix treasures and other old toys on ebay
As can be seen by previous posts about toy soldiers and other toy vehicles, both plastic and metal, I have become a bit of a collector of old army toys. Not crazed such that I have glass cases of my prized collection. All of them easily fit into a copier paper box. But I have developed a couple interests. I live near the Marine Barracks in DC, so I've accumulated some two inch toy soldiers of Marine and Army Bands in DC, below. I've also started collecting Airfix HO scale toy soldiers.
I played with Airfix HO soldiers when I was a kid. They came in sets of about 3 to 4 dozen one-inch figures. A few years ago I was cleaning out my parents' closets when I found some boxes of these old soldiers. I started to sell some on ebay, but then realized I wanted to keep them, and replace those that had disappeared over the years. I gradually started to buy some that I didn't have as a kid.
When I was a kid, Airfix was it for plastic soldiers other than green army men. Only a few subjects were manufactured: major armies of WWI and WWII, cowboys and indians, American Civil War, Battle of Waterloo, and a few sets for pre-nineteenth century wars. Now there are an assortment of manufacturers creating sets of figures from many periods.
Ok, so I've bought a few sets of soldiers. They don't take up much room, each box being smaller than a paperback book. Then I saw some of the buildings for sale, little forts from different periods. As they are several decades old, the building kits that went for 5 or 6 bucks forty years ago now go for 30, 40, 50 bucks. That's the price when advertised as what they are.
As an admitted toy soldier day trader, I sometimes look for the unsuspecting seller, not realizing what they are selling is worth several times what they're asking. I found a Robin Hood Sherwood Castle and some of the Sheriff of Nottingham's men and Robin Hood's men for about 17 dollars from a guy in Greece. This is what the castle looks like, sorta cool, complete with a little drawbridge in front (closed here).
I tried searching on ebay for "HO fort" to see what other things I could find. I found a guy selling a batch of HO scale buildings and a "fort." The "fort" was an Airfix Foreign Legion fort. Usually they go for 30-40 dollars as they were quite rare. His opening price was 15 dollars. I bid. I hoped nobody would notice it.
I nearly peed in my pants when I saw nobody else bid. When I got the huge box of stuff, I fished out the fort and built it. It fit together pretty well (see above). I looked through the other stuff. It looked like a lot of broken toy train scenery buildings. I started to try to put together pieces that looked similar. I pieced together a Plasticville movie theater. It goes for 20 bucks on ebay, but frankly, it's sorta goofy, so I'm keeping it.
One item was a little toy gas station, complete with pumps and a BP sign. I searched for it on ebay to find out what it was. It was a Matchbox toy Gas Station from the 60s. With a box (the toy geeks love to have the packaging) it goes for 50 or 60 bucks. I still have some of my old Matchbox cars from when I was a kid, but I wasn't interested in keeping this. I put it up for sale for 20 dollars. It sold for 33 bucks. So thus far I'm doing well, considering I'm keeping about 40 bucks worth of buildings and netted about 25 bucks of sales so far on a 17 dollar purchase. Not bad.
Still trying to find a couple Airfix toys for a reasonable price. They had a gun emplacement that I was very fond of as a kid, and I also had a pontoon bridge set from which I found the roadways and one pontoon boat. Perhaps I'll find them, used, for a bargain price. Also trying to find the old Airfix Arabs that fought with the Foreign Legion for Fort Sahara, as well as a complete set of Robin Hood and Wagon Train figures, but they are really rare. A couple years ago, I actually got some in a big assortment I bought, but I sold them off (Stupid Ass Steve). Sometime I'll put up a list and pictures of the guys I have.
There were a bunch of parts to HO scale buildings, incomplete, that I tried selling on ebay to no avail, as shipping would be almost more than they're worth. So I'm gonna trade them along with a HO engine I accidentally bought on ebay (the seller had an N scale engine that I thought I was bidding on but got confused. Again, Stupid Ass Steve) at used train store for N scale engine and cars. I don't HAVE an N scale train setup or anything, just some old track and cars I had as a kid, but I'm planning to set up a small one in a few years, in the basement, after I clear out all my folks stuff that I still have after they passed on. As I'm collecting the little soldier guys, I figure I need only one dorky habit at a time.
UPDATE: I couldn't trade the stuff, too crappy, so I sold them on ebay for $10, which basically covers shipping.
UPDATE 2: I eventually found a gun emplacement on ebay at a reasonable price (maybe 20 bucks, they went for 50 until Airfix started making them again in 2014).
I played with Airfix HO soldiers when I was a kid. They came in sets of about 3 to 4 dozen one-inch figures. A few years ago I was cleaning out my parents' closets when I found some boxes of these old soldiers. I started to sell some on ebay, but then realized I wanted to keep them, and replace those that had disappeared over the years. I gradually started to buy some that I didn't have as a kid.
When I was a kid, Airfix was it for plastic soldiers other than green army men. Only a few subjects were manufactured: major armies of WWI and WWII, cowboys and indians, American Civil War, Battle of Waterloo, and a few sets for pre-nineteenth century wars. Now there are an assortment of manufacturers creating sets of figures from many periods.
Ok, so I've bought a few sets of soldiers. They don't take up much room, each box being smaller than a paperback book. Then I saw some of the buildings for sale, little forts from different periods. As they are several decades old, the building kits that went for 5 or 6 bucks forty years ago now go for 30, 40, 50 bucks. That's the price when advertised as what they are.
As an admitted toy soldier day trader, I sometimes look for the unsuspecting seller, not realizing what they are selling is worth several times what they're asking. I found a Robin Hood Sherwood Castle and some of the Sheriff of Nottingham's men and Robin Hood's men for about 17 dollars from a guy in Greece. This is what the castle looks like, sorta cool, complete with a little drawbridge in front (closed here).
I tried searching on ebay for "HO fort" to see what other things I could find. I found a guy selling a batch of HO scale buildings and a "fort." The "fort" was an Airfix Foreign Legion fort. Usually they go for 30-40 dollars as they were quite rare. His opening price was 15 dollars. I bid. I hoped nobody would notice it.
I nearly peed in my pants when I saw nobody else bid. When I got the huge box of stuff, I fished out the fort and built it. It fit together pretty well (see above). I looked through the other stuff. It looked like a lot of broken toy train scenery buildings. I started to try to put together pieces that looked similar. I pieced together a Plasticville movie theater. It goes for 20 bucks on ebay, but frankly, it's sorta goofy, so I'm keeping it.
One item was a little toy gas station, complete with pumps and a BP sign. I searched for it on ebay to find out what it was. It was a Matchbox toy Gas Station from the 60s. With a box (the toy geeks love to have the packaging) it goes for 50 or 60 bucks. I still have some of my old Matchbox cars from when I was a kid, but I wasn't interested in keeping this. I put it up for sale for 20 dollars. It sold for 33 bucks. So thus far I'm doing well, considering I'm keeping about 40 bucks worth of buildings and netted about 25 bucks of sales so far on a 17 dollar purchase. Not bad.
Still trying to find a couple Airfix toys for a reasonable price. They had a gun emplacement that I was very fond of as a kid, and I also had a pontoon bridge set from which I found the roadways and one pontoon boat. Perhaps I'll find them, used, for a bargain price. Also trying to find the old Airfix Arabs that fought with the Foreign Legion for Fort Sahara, as well as a complete set of Robin Hood and Wagon Train figures, but they are really rare. A couple years ago, I actually got some in a big assortment I bought, but I sold them off (Stupid Ass Steve). Sometime I'll put up a list and pictures of the guys I have.
There were a bunch of parts to HO scale buildings, incomplete, that I tried selling on ebay to no avail, as shipping would be almost more than they're worth. So I'm gonna trade them along with a HO engine I accidentally bought on ebay (the seller had an N scale engine that I thought I was bidding on but got confused. Again, Stupid Ass Steve) at used train store for N scale engine and cars. I don't HAVE an N scale train setup or anything, just some old track and cars I had as a kid, but I'm planning to set up a small one in a few years, in the basement, after I clear out all my folks stuff that I still have after they passed on. As I'm collecting the little soldier guys, I figure I need only one dorky habit at a time.
UPDATE: I couldn't trade the stuff, too crappy, so I sold them on ebay for $10, which basically covers shipping.
UPDATE 2: I eventually found a gun emplacement on ebay at a reasonable price (maybe 20 bucks, they went for 50 until Airfix started making them again in 2014).
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