Anyone else feel the same about second hand figures?

[Tomir]

Ive gotten an habit of checking the most common online marketplace sites anf apps for my location for secondhand figures. Anyone else do this?

i especially like oder models that are no longer available.

Sometimes i feel a little bad for not supporting my local GW shop. My country only have one and theyve beeen really helpfull helping me get started again.

Also do anyone else here feel lile buying second hand minatures to "rescue" them?

I cant buy mintures that are better painted then i can paint myself. Only buy unpainted/badly painted models.

[Nubgan]

Given  my monetary restraints I should probably buy 2nd hand more, but I love building, and I love the GW/Warhammer Shop experience,  the chat, the people and the musings. I pay the premium for that alone rather than save the 20% on the overall cost.

On the 'better' painted models, surely stripping them is a valid option too (over the bad painted) they tend to be better looked after, so its a moot point really.

[tom_gore]

I do buy second hand, but usually only metal/finecast. Plastic is ok if it's not painted. Stripping paint from plastic models is tedious and tends to lose some of the detail.

What irks me most is how few people selling used metal miniatures have actually cleaned the mouldlines/flash/vents from the models they have painted. I mean every hobby guide tells you to do this

 

[karch]

2 minutes ago, tom_gore said:

I do buy second hand, but usually only metal/finecast. Plastic is ok if it's not painted. Stripping paint from plastic models is tedious and tends to lose some of the detail.

What irks me most is how few people selling used metal miniatures have actually cleaned the mouldlines/flash/vents from the models they have painted. I mean every hobby guide tells you to do this

 

That's the "I want to play this model right now" syndrome.

Since a lot of tournaments require painting this meant cutting on prep time.

[Double Misfire]

No.

I have strong feelings about third hand figures though.

[chord]

2 hours ago, karch said:

That's the "I want to play this model right now" syndrome.

Since a lot of tournaments require painting this meant cutting on prep time.

I don't fix mold lines, etc.  Never played in a tournament, for me the hobby is less modeling more lore and gameplay.  To each their own.

[Kramer]

3 hours ago, Tomir said:

I cant buy mintures that are better painted then i can paint myself. Only buy unpainted/badly painted models.

Same here. I recently bought a very nicely painted set of ogors. For now I will use them as is. (the theme of the campaign matches the ogors perfectly) But in time I will strip them and paint them myself. But I have such a backlog that it might take awhile. Also for the backlog reason I stopped the notifications for my armies  Would only lead to more backlog.

[Galas]

I love Ebay. You can find all kind of jewels there. I'm very active in the second hand market, both buying and selling. Many times I buy figures to strip them and repaint them, normally, metal versions of figures that now are only in finecast (Like the 3 Emperor's Champion that I bought 2 months ago), other times are old figures that I like, or just second hand models in good condition and at a good price. (I bought 2 boxes of Deathwing Knights at 20€ each, from 45€ in GW store. They where both sealed, unopened, so New in box)

[Cerlin]

For out of print that is an easy question.

For new, I prefer my local store. I will break this rule for cheap chaff on ebay. Or if something is always out of stock, like dispossessed warriors or freeguild handgunners.

I try to buy what I can from GW because I want them to know what I like. Voting with my dollars.

They make choices about models based on sales and I want to add my opinion to that. 

[VBS]

All these buy&sell apps and websites are a blessing for the miniature market. Since I'm mostly interested in OOP minis, second hand is the only way to go. I actually enjoy the process of stripping paint and all that oldschool vibe, so the great prices for forgotten and horribly painted models is just too good.

 If GW made more active use of "made for order", maybe I'd consider buying from them. I'm sure they still have the moulds of all those old minis, bring them on!

On the exceedingly rare occasion I buy something new, supporting the local FLGS is the most desirable option (and they have discounts as a bonus!).

So no problem with not buying from the local GW, I see no advantage.

[Nevvermore]

Used to. Now I only buy metal used, never plastic or resin. The time and effort it takes to strip and clean them is worth every penny extra I pay to avoid it.

[DeadlySarcasm]

I love me some second hand models!

Gentlemen, get yourselves some BioStrip20, leave your plastic in there for an hour, scrub with a toothbrush and enjoy your nicely stripped, odour free (dettol...) miniatures!

When the IJ book dropped, I managed to get 30 Black Orcs stripped in 2 hours, it was glorious!

[Iain]

All the prices on Ebay end up almost exactly the same as Element Games so I can't be bothered with it anymore to save a small % on the cost. Plus you miss out on the building stage which for me is one of the most fun bits.

[swarmofseals]

1 hour ago, DeadlySarcasm said:

I love me some second hand models!

Gentlemen, get yourselves some BioStrip20, leave your plastic in there for an hour, scrub with a toothbrush and enjoy your nicely stripped, odour free (dettol...) miniatures!

When the IJ book dropped, I managed to get 30 Black Orcs stripped in 2 hours, it was glorious!

I have heard such good stuff about BioStrip and am so sad that I can't get it in the US. I use Purple Power/Power Clean and it does the job on plastics in an ultrasonic cleaner but can take a long time. I dare not try using it on finecast/resin. 

[RoyalDachshund]

Cheap, unpainted miniatures <3

You can get some great (and I mean great) deals with second-hand models.

75 Moonclan Groots in grey plastic, with shields and bases non-attached for a price of... half a 20-man new box

[Soulsmith]

2 hours ago, Iain said:

All the prices on Ebay end up almost exactly the same as Element Games so I can't be bothered with it anymore to save a small % on the cost. Plus you miss out on the building stage which for me is one of the most fun bits.

Pretty much this. Unless I get a real winner, I can usually pick it up on darksphere. For smaller things and paint I buy in store as I am a regular member of the GW's community, but with percentile savings online I just can't afford not to.

[WeedAndWargames]

I love buying second hand figures, particularly old ones as they add a bit of variation to my army's. But I also do it so I can brag that I have models that not many other people have...

[BunkhouseBuster]

I used to only purchase NIB models, whether from my FLGS or local GW.  But as the years wore on, I have found myself looking to outsource my model acquisitions in other ways.  Unless it was a really good deal on a bunch of models or for an OOP model I was looking for, I tended to go for new, on-sprue only.

I have never been averse to getting models second hand, but I am tired of the hassle in stripping models clean and scrubbing paint off.  But nowadays, I'm much more open to second-hand models, especially since my FLGS has started stocking used models.  Plus with the limited budget I have these days, I'm lucky to even grab used models at this point.

[Kugane]

I generally only pick up used models that are unpainted if they are plastic or finecast. For metal minis I tend to make exceptions since they are a lot easier to strip then plastics. I got fed up of the scrubbing as well. I did manage to get a cheap electric toothbrush though, that'll make stuff a lot easier, so I might end up buying used models more frequently.

The issue I have however with painted plastics is that many times people use some kind of weird primer that just won't come off, and it leaves a weird gritty texture on miniatures that I have no idea how to fix.

[Kugane]

5 hours ago, DeadlySarcasm said:

I love me some second hand models!

Gentlemen, get yourselves some BioStrip20, leave your plastic in there for an hour, scrub with a toothbrush and enjoy your nicely stripped, odour free (dettol...) miniatures!

When the IJ book dropped, I managed to get 30 Black Orcs stripped in 2 hours, it was glorious!

Does it leave residue in edges by any chance? Or does it remove everything easily?  What about primers?

[MrCharisma]

eBay and Facebook Buy & Sell groups have been an amazing resource to buy out of print models to round out my collection. I've picked up a lot of old world terrain here too  

With new purchases I'll go to my local GW and FLAGS. I try to spread out the love because you should pay where you play. 

 

[Arkiham]

i typically support gw with purchases, yes its more expensive but im willing to pay to support the hobby i love, i dont unserstand those who are looking to try and get one over on games workshop.

 

but. saying that. if a bargain presents itself to me. i wont pass it up.

i just brought a great unclean one off ebay for £50. forge world sells them for £120+ p&p. so close to £130+ savings of nearly £100. which, allows me to buy more stuff. 

 

[someone2040]

I try to avoid buying painted second hand miniatures. Even for metal, it's a pain to strip them back when I want to paint them. The few plastic kits I have bought that have been painted, I have (perhaps shockingly) just touched them up or painted over the top. 

My Freeguild Archers for example were mostly base coated, and I just used mainly the same colours, changed one main colour on them and finished them off.

 

As for how much I buy 2nd vs new. I think mainly second hand, but it's also because the armies I've been interested in to date, have a lot of a second hand models available. I buy new when I need to, like I really want to get a project going or the models don't show up often on second hand sites. I'm not going to wait to get an army started, but I might start an army if a good deal shows up (And by start, I mean purchase and it likely stays in boxes for years!)

[Rhellion]

I almost never buy used minis.

 

I do sell a lot though.

[Redking]

Depends on the deal and what I'm looking for.  I do trade stuff and would generally prefer unpainted.  However, I don't mind stripping models if the deal is good.  I do wish some people would use less glue, though.