malletman
Alcohaulic
For those out there that say brass is still to expensive, I call BS and you are not looking hard enough at shows. Case in point, at yesterdays show at the Lincoln Square Mall in Urbana, IL, it was a gold mine of very affordable brass. Lets start with the big 6 axle diesel I got for $200! Factory painted, lighted, never has touched the rails till this morning, Overland IC SD70. Was buried under a pile of Athearn Genesis diesels, but I seen that green box and I never assume its priced like we see them at dealers or ebay. Price on the box was $200. I texted my wife as all high doller purchases have to go thru her or my trustee(I am autistic). Once I had approval, I gave him a deposit and make a quick trip across the street to the bank machine for a bit more cash. Our live steam G scale group was there running trains on our portable layout so I was at the show all day. I got busy for awhile, but then made another trip around the tables around lunch time(show was very busy all day). I found a PFM brass DRGW caboose in its box for $18 and an old brass(probably IMP models) bulkhead flat for $5. I bought both and my friend got a Hallmark SP long drovers caboose for $10 in its original box. These were just mixed in among all the other plastic freight cars in thier boxes on this older gentleman's table. He was selling some of his mostly DRGW collection. All the lids were flipped open so one could see the models. I totally missed these on my first couple rounds of the tables that morning. At the end of the show, the friend of the gentleman that I got the SD70 from showed me this book covering the first 10 years of Overland Models, which I bought from him for $40. SO....... the good deals are out there, usually not on ebay when it comes to stuff like Overland diesels and such. And the gentleman with the SD70 was not from the older/less computer friendly generation. His prices were really good on most everything and his table was very empty by the end of the first day. While I spent way more than my wife and I budgeted for the show, we both were pleased at the items I bought for really super good prices. So, watch those tables closely, ask if the box isn't marked with a price, and I encourage others to offer a bit more than asking price if its a widow, alone, trying to sell her late husbands stuff. I like to think we as a group are a bit more honest and better than some folk and will take care of the late modelers widow and not take to much advantage of the situation. Anyhow, here are some pics. Mike the Aspie.