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Have you ever bought a used model (of anything, 40k, warmachine, whatever. This one is 40k for me right now.) that DRIVES YOU UP THE FRAGGING WALL!? A while ago, I got in a group of other things, a Landraider. It was missing a whole bunch of parts and the doors didn't open. Fine, whatever. I'm going to loot it anyways and turn it into a battlewagon. That's what plasticard is for, fixing things that aren't there. But there was odd bit where if I would grab at opposite corners of the model and twist at the wrists slightly, the whole thing would wobble. Fine, okay. So there was something up or something and some of the glue broke, or got old or SOMETHING, I don't know. So I started pulling it apart.
DAMN NEAR EVERY SINGLE PIECE HAS BEEN LIKE THIS! Each of the long bottom treads was held on by a single DOT of super-glue. When you set the damn thing down, it sounds hollow as the plastic of the tread rushes, bending under the weight of the model, and then connects with the track guard giving off that very unpleasant (at least to me) plastic clapping sound. I'm writing this because I need to vent. I cannot understand why someone would undermine the structural integrity of one of their models, LET ALONE AN EMPEROR-BE-PRAISED LANDRAIDER! Has this happened to anyone else? Does anyone else have amusing stories about how some hilariously minor flaw of something you got drove you absolutely Chaos-Heretic mad!?

I got a 2nd-hand Trygon from ebay that was 'held' together by the worst poly cement ever invented. Everytime I picked up the model a piece would fall off because the glue was so brittle. And because the glue was so bad, the model was slathered with it in places as if that would help keep it together.

It was the main reason I ended up pulling it to pieces to convert it (and spawn a 4-page argument).

That conversion is really good. (And it takes a lot for me to say I like Nids...)

But, on topic, yes I have. I got a couple of Heavy destroyers of ebay once, beautifully painted, but as soon as I moved them, the guns came off...

It turned out, they had been assembled with rather small amounts of Green Stuff as glue, much like a permanent blutac

 IHateNids wrote:
I got a couple of Heavy destroyers of ebay once, beautifully painted, but as soon as I moved them, the guns came off...
It turned out, they had been assembled with rather small amounts of Green Stuff as glue, much like a permanent blutac

AHfpfudalj! !? WHA!? WHY WOUL..Th...WHAT!? I can think of only ONE possible reason why you would do ANYTHING like that... and it's just damned silly! Was the guy planning to re-make the model, to have flexibility in it's structure or something? And then why not use BLOODY MAGNETS?!
Good news: Got more track off the damnable landraider.

This is why the only things I buy used are OOP models that I can't get new. I just make things easy for myself and assume that every used model is garbage, and stay far away from it.

I got a predator that had it's turret held together with possibly the most miniscule amount of glue I've ever seen. But it was so beautifully painted, and costed twenty bucks, so I was okay with the one little tick

 ShadowMageAlpha wrote:

 IHateNids wrote:
I got a couple of Heavy destroyers of ebay once, beautifully painted, but as soon as I moved them, the guns came off...
It turned out, they had been assembled with rather small amounts of Green Stuff as glue, much like a permanent blutac

AHfpfudalj! !? WHA!? WHY WOUL..Th...WHAT!? I can think of only ONE possible reason why you would do ANYTHING like that... and it's just damned silly! Was the guy planning to re-make the model, to have flexibility in it's structure or something? And then why not use BLOODY MAGNETS?!
Good news: Got more track off the damnable landraider.

I have no idea behind his thoughts, all I know is, my models fell apart and needed to be rebuilt...

But at least you didn't pay GW's exorbitant prices!



When buying used models, caveat emptor...

 SoloFalcon1138 wrote:
But at least you didn't pay GW's exorbitant prices!
When buying used models, caveat emptor...

Zog that! That's the whole reason I WENT to the used market, and hilariously, have an account on DakkaDakka. GW prices are so bad, I was "forced" to join a community for the used market.

Yeah, the two of them cost £30 for them + a DLord (each of which was going for £15, so i was at least 33% better off.)

I was once offered a second hand drop pod, fully assembled and primed.

Having since built and painted 5 full ones (plus one that I left with no interior bits so it could act as a Dreadnought pod) I'm extremely glad I didn't buy it.

I've got a second hand vindicator that seems to have been dunked in poly cement and half of it was badly glued down, so you'd have the back third of the hull with a 1-2 centimetre gap at the end. I've tried greenstuffing it, but it doesn't exactly look good. - My greenstuff skills are non existant.

I might take a picture of it once it's painted as an illustration....

I never buy the stuff other people has built with their own hands. I prefer my plastic crack to come nicely wrapped and fresh from the store thank you very much

 Trondheim wrote:
I never buy the stuff other people has built with their own hands. I prefer my plastic crack to come nicely wrapped and fresh from the store thank you very much

But just think of all the additional War-Crack you could buy if you bought only SLIGHTLY used. Stalin once said quantity is a quality all its own.

eh i'll buy preassembled armies if its wicked cheap otherwise forget it.
Like i got 400 dollars of orks for like 60 bucks. Yea, didnt get the bitz that werent used and the BW looked like hell....but i spent like nothing other than a little more time than usual.
Now they look fine, and im still glad i saved 340 bucks on that stuff lol.

I got like, 3 Chimera's for $20.

They were terribly painted, but pretty well assembled (and came with the hull weapon magnetized). Bit of work to paint up all nice again, and some reassembly on treads, but other than that I liked what I got. Better than I ever could have done, I suck at large multi-part vehicles (and that's why I run footguard and mostly play 15mm infantry)

An easy way to deal with large chunks of a multi-part vehicle is just base coat it in whatever color you want and smack it with a sponge using 50-50 scorched brown and undercoat black. Favor edges and hatches, put a little in the middle of nowhere, maybe take a finetip with bare metal paint here and there, looks awesome and wasnt that hard.

It'll look messy and battle-worn as hell, but its way easier than a "factory new" type look - which i disagree with since even Tau (the cleanest looking race to me) still should have SOME battleworn effect on their vehicles and armor...not be brand new.

 ShadowMageAlpha wrote:

 SoloFalcon1138 wrote:
But at least you didn't pay GW's exorbitant prices!
When buying used models, caveat emptor...

Zog that! That's the whole reason I WENT to the used market, and hilariously, have an account on DakkaDakka. GW prices are so bad, I was "forced" to join a community for the used market.

Correction, you weren't forced to do anything. You decided to roll the dice and purchase a used model. Much like buying a used car, you inherited someone else's issues. What you saved in cash, you will lose in time and effort.

Zero sum.

yes i bought some assault marines that were terrible. a couple went straight into the trash as they were basically fully covered in plastic glue from head to toe.

the rest were also badly destroyed but atleast i could salvage the jump packs and the legs. The jump packs and legs are by far the most expensive parts of the model but i was still pretty pissed off. everything needed alot of clean up and simple green too. the extra time/effort put into cleaning them up makes the lower cost totally not worth it which is now why i only by new kits.

One of the models looked to have devlan mud put over bare plastic. LOL, i guess little timmy thought it would magically make his model look awesome.

If they're crap, and the sender didn't say they were crap, leave them negative feedback.

Just because they're second hand that doesn't mean they're allowed to get away with selling you a good that they know is shoddy. If something is missing parts, it should say so - I recently bought a russ that stipulated exactly what parts were missing (a couple of hatches and the commander's head). If it turns up without a tread or something I will leave negative feedback.

Then people who commit these scams (protip - being sold a shoddy product is a scam) won't be able to do so.

tl;dr only buy from trusted sellers

 ShadowMageAlpha wrote:
Stalin once said quantity is a quality all its own.

I love this. I'd never heard that before. I'm definitely going to use that. (It sounds like something Stalin would say, too...)

That being said, I think that when it comes to used models, you know you aren't getting top quality (probably). Before you go rounding up torches and pitchforks, I'd ask yourself if it was still worth it. I got a used Land Raider for about twenty bucks. Total piece of crap. The front door was broken, the hurricane bolters were falling apart, and the paint was so thick I couldn't get it off no matter what I did. (A week in Simple Green did nothing. I even tried brake fluid, to no avail...) Still, at the end of the day, all the work I had to do with it (including getting new hatches for the top, a new side door, scratchbuilding half of a hurricane bolter, and regluing all the bits that had fallen off) wasn't worth forty bucks to me, so the way I see it, I still made a decent deal.

You always take a risk when buying used, and you should expect a modicum of quality deficit. That being said, you should have a definite limit, too.

 IHateNids wrote:
That conversion is really good. (And it takes a lot for me to say I like Nids...)

But, on topic, yes I have. I got a couple of Heavy destroyers of ebay once, beautifully painted, but as soon as I moved them, the guns came off...

It turned out, they had been assembled with rather small amounts of Green Stuff as glue, much like a permanent blutac

Yeah, I got some metal SM scouts like that

I bought plenty of used models that are properly built and painted. A beautiful plastic SM Predator for less than 20$ equivalent for example, many metal models that were cleaned, pinned and primed. Buying damaged or badly painted models I ussualy paid good prices, you just have to avoid blurry pictures and ask questions before you buy. Sure I got a bad model here or there for too much but those are a minority, on the other hand I can't imagine paying for example 50$ equivalent for new Tyranid Warriors box, that's insane price for 3 small plastic guys.

Not so far - I have buy carefully from ebay but have been very satisfied with the products I have bought - almost without exception well made, extremely well painted and substantially cheaper than as new - all good

 SoloFalcon1138 wrote:

 ShadowMageAlpha wrote:
Correction, you weren't forced to do anything. You decided to roll the dice and purchase a used model. Much like buying a used car, you inherited someone else's issues. What you saved in cash, you will lose in time and effort.
Zero sum.

Except I somewhat enjoy taking old models that aren't going to see the light of day and turning them into something usable. I actually net more because I pay less, enjoy the "assembly" more, and occasionally I'm forced to think creatively, which is a blast. In fact, I usually act for junk models, having even turned down models I thought were too good. (Why ruin a perfectly good Land Raider when some poor space marine player will need it.)
The issue I had with this Land Raider I've been working on is I simply cannot understand why the assembler would use so little super-glue. I've used more superglue to put together one of my bikers than what was used on this thing. (Quite literally I believe.)

I'd be quite happy getting a used model held together with too little glue. It is a simple thing to take it apart and rebuild it. Too much glue on the other hand is a nightmare...

 ShadowMageAlpha wrote:

 Trondheim wrote:
I never buy the stuff other people has built with their own hands. I prefer my plastic crack to come nicely wrapped and fresh from the store thank you very much

But just think of all the additional War-Crack you could buy if you bought only SLIGHTLY used. Stalin once said quantity is a quality all its own.

True but I want my crack unused so I may savor its delightful feel and taste as I sit and drool over it in the fumes of the glue & paint

I bought an OOP Leman Russ last year. I wasn't necessarily going to use it for gameplay (LRBT with glued on lascannon/heavy bolters) I just wanted to have one in my collection. I may try and see if I can get an exterminator turret or something for it, idk. Anyway, get it and my first impression is "WOW! This thing is awesome". It looked really smooth and clean compared to the newer russes. It had the track guards and all the bits you needed to complete the tank. I carefully assembled it, lining up everything as straight as I could, and left the top hatch unglued. I was really happy with the tank. I was going to give it the nicest paint job a newbie could muster as to not ruin a classic. Heck, I didn't even deface the aquila as I do with all my guard models since I play a rebel guard army. Then... I noticed something was amiss after looking it over for the 5th time. At the bottom, near the rear or the tank, there was a gap between two treads. It wasn't huge but it wasn't something a little green stuff could cover up either. I mean... it's on the bottom so I can just keep the tank upright all the time and I now know what a pain it was to assemble those treads but... it was still a let down for what seemed like an awesome purchase.

TL;DR: Bought a Russ and the treads had a gap in them. Sigh.

I just spent my morning stripping the paint off some Lychguard I got for $10 on ebay. They should turn out okay once I get some primer on them, but damn dude, some people really don't give a gak how they paint their minis. In the future, I probably won't buy anything already painted. Even if it's virtually free, it's a ton of work.

I buy them all the time.
Sure, painting and assembly might not be perfect.
But that is okay if I can get something at 25% of its value.

My last purchases were:
3.3k of Necrons: 150 instead of 500.
Land Raider: 30 instead of 60
10 ASM: 15 instead of 52

I saved myself around 420 euro, so I can live with little imperfections.