Which is the best all purpose site to get models from?

Like for miniatures, tanks and everything else at an affordable price (anything under 80 dollars)

Sprue Brothers is a pretty good, well stocked site.

You can’t really rate them by lowest prices though. The price depends on what you are buying.

My go to sites are SprueBrothers and ScaleHobbyist. Both offer a wide variety of kits and accessories as well as paint and tools. SB also runs daily specials they call Lightning Deals. Shipping form both is reasonable.

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Thank you , both of you

Many people bash eBay, but that’s my go to site most of the time. You may have longer wait times, but if you plan ahead a lack of something to build won’t be an issue before long. Many of the eBay sellers I deal with give me smoking deals if I buy three kits at a time, so I usually do. Even paying for one kit you’re almost sure to get a way better deal than say … Sprue Brothers. That includes shipping and tax. And if ordering from Europe I’ve actually had very good luck with shipping times, often less than a week.

The other good option is model contests, swap meets (Colpar’s in Aurora, CO, has had several good ones this year already) and local club meetings. Often sellers aren’t looking to profit, they just want a little beer money for getting rid of something their wives have been nagging about for years. After all, who needs three of everything?

Edit: I was typing this as Sprue Brothers was being mentioned. Nothing against them, but they’re not the most inexpensive.

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I’ll second eBay. I buy most models there as well. You usually can’t beat the prices.

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can you suggest some sellers off there , please and thank you :slight_smile:

1/72 scale will keep costs down.

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Lately I’ve been using Kitlinx. Good selection. Good customer service.
It pays to shop around as most sites have sales etc.

Cheers,
C.

I also do ebay. The bulk of my armor did come from Dragon when they were having all those half-price sales before they scaled back their inventory, so I will put that out there.

Ebay however is the best for pricing although the mainstream dealers will run very good specials from time to time. As far as dealers on ebay I pick from those with TONS of good feedback, the lowest price with shipping, and then the shortest shipping time (if prices are similar).

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Mega Hobbies often beats out Sprue Brothers on prices and offers free shipping on order over $100 (which is a pretty low bar these days).

Sprue Brothers does offer up some really good sales, but it’s a false economy to spend a bunch on stuff you weren’t planning on buying anyways, so I always take a judicious view of what they have on sale.

Yes, when I tell my wife I just saved $300 on whatever (bike parts, strippers, liquor) she knows I’ve just spent money…

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LOL , I loved watching rocky and bullwinkle as a kid… such a good show…

Thank you

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Any good sellers you can suggest to me I can save to my list on ebay ??

I find that I really cant find a total one stop shopping place.I use Spruebrothers and Scalehobbyist mostly,their pretty good,but I usually just cant gather everything I need from one site.I like Spraygunner for paint,but no Tamiya!! I aldo make good use of ebay sellers like Omnimodels and Dragon- Hobby

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Yep, same here while I use those two shops they don’t carry every detail protect line. Sometimes you have to go direct.

I have used M&M Models and UMM USA for some of those. Super hobby, HLJ and other oversea stores.

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There are so many sellers out there (eBay and otherwise) that it’s really hard to come up with a solid answer. For the most part, ‘Scale Hobbyist’ has been my go-to for most items for several years now. However, with the economy and supply-chain issues, it seems that everyone has been reducing their warehouse inventory. Still… ‘Scale Hobbyist’ is really good at keeping you notified of what’s backordered and/or restocked. And you can’t beat the ‘Scale Hobbyist’ search engine/database.

Now with the popularity of modern armor these days, along with current events, try to find some relatively specific kits. I recently found exactly the kit I needed by venturing out onto eBay — at a decent price as well. … Gotta’ be a Tasmanian Search Devil!:tornado: HTH.

—mike

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It all depends on what you’re looking for.

If you want resin figures, often times buying direct from the sculptor/caster is the best bet, even overseas. USA sellers charge a shipping fee so honestly, it is sometimes cheaper to buy direct from Europe and Asia who make these resin figure kits.

There is Andy’s Hobby Shop USA online. I haven’t bought from them but I heard that they were pretty reputable and sell some of the rare Aftermarket items. You can see them on YouTube.

Always do a Google company review rating to see what buyers have to say if you’re in doubt and to avoid getting burned.

And most sales take place around American Thanksgiving and sometimes around Christmas (but most vendors are off and closed down for Christmas, thus no sales). There is probably one or two announced Spring and Summer sales, but for sure, Thanksgiving’s Black Friday weekend is the online sale to go to. Sales range from 10 to 50% off if you’re lucky to get 50%…usually it is 20-25% off for online sales. Some sellers have year-long discounts below MSRP and no sales at all.

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i agree with 18Bravo, ebay is my one stop shop as all the local hobby stores near me have closed down.

Chinese ebay vendors, such as Auroramodelshop, Sunlightmodelstore, Yanworld, and a few others have the best prices on Chinese manufacturers (and most of the best kits come from China!). They also have no, or minimal, shipping charges. Since shipping is the cheapest, delivery times could be up to 1 - 2 months.
:grinning: :canada:

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