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dazaa

What Is The Best Thing You Have Found Throw Out Or Got For Free

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Must have missed this first time round!

My cousin's housemate gave me a box of old junk when I was in my mid-teens. I had a Mud Blaster which I'd bashed into the ground, and he turned up one day and off-loaded some parts. There was a HotShot with a custom-made fibreglass box chassis, a Grasshopper with a 540 motor, various wheels & tyres (mostly bald beyond recognition) and some beaten radio sets. The deal was that I could keep the 'hopper, if I got the HotShot working again.

I got the Hopper working quickly, but the HotShot was bent beyond repair. This was mid-90s, so no ebay to source replacement shocks or drive hubs. It remained in the box for a few years, until he came over one day to take it back. He'd just bought a Tamiya Hummer and decided that the HotShot would be useful for spares :S

Then a while later I had a call from my aunt. She'd had a lodger staying at her house, who had disappeared owing lots of rent. He left loads of stuff behind which she kept for herself, but among the junk were two RC cars. One was a Mini, which I later discovered to be a Mardave Ministox. I got this running and used it a little, although some of the parts were damaged and it wasn't a good runner. I sold it last year to another TCer about 10 years after acquiring it.

The other - shock of shocks - was a Toyota Hilux 3-speed. Of course back then I had no idea what it was, and I couldn't get a 4ch handset, but I locked it into high gear and used a 2ch controller to run it around on a 7.2v stick pack. Unfortunately a stuck speed controller caused it to clip a fencepost, which broke one hub. With no ebay and no manuals, I resigned it to the shelf and kept it for years (despite my mother's best efforts to throw it in the bin). I'm glad I managed to keep hold of it, because when I joined here in 2006 I realised what a special model it was, and sold it off to a good home.

I keep hoping that when I mention RC to mates, they'll say "Oh yeah, I used to have one of those, a Tamiya it was, the volkwagen beetle buggy thing. It's in my loft, you can have it if you like." It hasn't happened yet tho :(

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I was once given an old typewriter whilst helping someone to clear out their loft. Turned out to be an Underwood' and worth quite a bit of money!!!

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Hey Tupers,

Do you still have either of these? I might be interested in buying one or both or ......

I've sent you a PM

Pete. :(

Unfortunately Im restoring the clodbuster myself and the opel has gone to a mate of Opel.

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So far I've been given a JrX-T chassis with 3 bodies (1 uncut & unpainted), and a Hotshot with complete radio gear.

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I keep hoping that when I mention RC to mates, they'll say "Oh yeah, I used to have one of those, a Tamiya it was, the volkwagen beetle buggy thing. It's in my loft, you can have it if you like." It hasn't happened yet tho :(

Yup - same here - I was flying my indoor Medevac helicopter and got talking to a guy here - turned out he has an Astute and a Frog in his loft - told him I was well into my Tamiyas but he didnt offer anything ;)

A mate has a used but rough condition Pumpkin but wont part with it for less than 100 - I told him he is dreaming!

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I must be the only idiot to have thrown out something? :D

I threw out my original Manta Ray after the LHS wanted the same amount of money to order the parts for the chasis as it would have cost to buy the whole kit, (small country town, old grumpy hobby shop owner ripped everyone off) I was broke at the time, so it sat in my junk box for ages and slowly got raided for bits and pieces, when I got married I threw out all the remaining parts, mind you I still have a container that has some of the screws and pinion gear......stupid, stupid

I dumped my old 1964 Honda CB450 Twin, I bought it for $160 bucks to restore but when I got married and the wife wanted a house ............ I know, I kick myself for that every day.

However, I was given a 1988 Toyota Celica ST (real) by my mother in law, she was getting too old to get in and out of it and after her knee injury she just gave me the keys and said it's yours .... sweet

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I picked up an NIB 959 a few years back for AU$100, only the lid of the box was missing. From the local hobby shop owner, who thought he would never find the time to build it! It is new built sitting on the cabinet above the tele. I love that car!

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Back in Wisconsin, where I grew up. In 1993, My beloved Trackside Hobbies (I bought many Tamiya kits from) was clearing out all old Tamiya and Aftermarket parts for off-road buggies, King Cabs, Frog chassis's trucks, and bodies (He needed room!). I was the only guy who ran/raced Tamiyas at the track so the owner told me to grab what I need before he told others.. I grabbed a few things :lol: . Before I left Milwaukee for Vegas he had another Tamiya parts only give away but not like the first..

BTW-all parts were NEW!!!

First, I went in to buy his last NIB King Cab for parts, which I did costing $89.99-sold a few years ago on the bay.

Parts

-all parts for King Cabs, he told me TOO!! Still have some:) Sold most Hop ups on ebay

-most parts for BF/MB. Still have some :)

-some Avante/Egress/Avante 2001 sorted parts (hi-caps etc) gone to ebay years ago :mellow: ..

-ST and BTL Blitzer parts, ebay

-Clod parts

-And more, I forget

bodies

-2 NIB King Cab, 1 in my showroom :) other body long gone/ebay

-NIB HI-LUX Monster Racer, sold on ebay years ago :lol:

-NIB Astute, sold ebay :D

-NIB Egress, sold ebay :(

Wheels

-some old wheels/tires I got can be seen on my HI-LUX MR and Monster Beetle in Showroom...

Yes, I was smiling behind the counter plucking all this stuff off the wall/shelves.. I had my Camaro stuffed, I am glad the police did not pull me over on the way home, It look like a bunch of stolen stuff...

Scotty Ernst (owner and IIC owner) and I still talk about that day!!

Unfortunately I sold most parts in 2000 due to the discovery of ebay...

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Didnt know this post was still going. Well since my last post I have found or been given the following, nokia 6280,mercedes hub cap, Aprillia sr125 ( my dad gave it to me as a birthday pressie brand new in the racing colours last one from his bike shop) celica grb shell and i think that is it, i am in a rush at the moment but i will post everything later.

regards

dazaa

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forgot to add the following vintage woodplane,pavaroti record, hpi sprint mercedes shell now fitted to my monster beetle, vivitar digital camera and a hp printer. Also thanks to whsmiths clearance I got 250 of books for under 20.

dazaa

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Gosh, where do I start. As a courier when I began playing on this website, I routinely would pick the trash on trash day. I of course was doing my job at the time with a panel van, so it was very easy to load and unload large items. Most things came home before I went back to the central station, but some were given to the station. Here is what I can remember from my trash picking days.

LARGE warehouse fan...WORKING, slightly bent.

Ammo boxes/crates that are working as planter boxes. Plastic foldable picnic table for $20. About 200 square foot of plywood decking was salvaged from the curb after hurricane Rita came by and did no damage. It was cut in odd pieces, but I made a puzzle upstairs in my attic for flooring with it. A WORKING Lawnmower, push behind type with a small spot of rust on the cutting deck. A 17 inch SUV wheel complete with tire and drive axle attached, I think a towtruck dropped it. I took it to the recycling plant and collected some cash for it. There was a time when I found a vacuum cleaner a week and sold it off to a repair shop for average of $5, so free lunch when I found one. I can't think of anything else, except that Super Champ swap in my showroom, don't know how to make a link here.

Cheers, and I still look on the side of the road, but I am not out there everyday like I used to be.

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well i almost got an unknown r/c, in the caravan site we used to go to, i was driving my mantaray and bloke came up saying he had an old r/c he bought his daughter ages ago but she never used it, and it cost a few hundred, so there was me thinking of what it could be B) but unfortunatly i never saw him again :) , a while ago i bought a selection of shells from a charity shop for 50p and 2 of them are worth up to 50 :P so that kind of made up for my dissapointment lol

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well i almost got an unknown r/c, in the caravan site we used to go to, i was driving my mantaray and bloke came up saying he had an old r/c he bought his daughter ages ago but she never used it, and it cost a few hundred, so there was me thinking of what it could be :) but unfortunatly i never saw him again :( , a while ago i bought a selection of shells from a charity shop for 50p and 2 of them are worth up to 50 :( so that kind of made up for my dissapointment lol

What were the shells? I havnt got anything new since the tt01 4 days ago :( apart from a brand new pair of ltd edition nike tn airs my mate bought the wrong size had them lying under his bed for about 3 years and since they fit me he gave them to me ;)

dazaa

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wow i really cant belive what people consider rubbish, afew days ago my dad spotted afew old hifi speakers by the side of the road were there is a massile pile of fly tipped rubbish, so i got out and checked out the speakers they were just battered old sony ones but lying on the floor in front of it was a HKS super dragger tuned car exhaust pipe, they retail at about700 so the person who threw it must have been mental, such a shame it was just the back box but it is still worth at least 100, and it was in good condition only had one small patch welded on that could easily be cleaned up. didnt even pick the speakers up in the end, there was also 1 awai speaker and hifi probably didnt work, also saw a massive subwoofer but the wooden box was smashed up still may have been worth somthing.

Anyone found anything good recently?

dazaa

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My original Hornet was 50p at a jumble sale.

I've got some great stuff off Freecycle - a really good Technics record deck, a Lay-z-boy chair and a Honda Civic, to name a few...

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I got given a new built Stadium Raider, BMW Mini, Mad Bull and Porsche VIP TL01 with a pile of radio gear from my brother in law!

Also a New Built Blackfoot that was found in his shed after 15 years!

Now restored and in my showroom....

Regards

KingPin

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Well even more stuff to add to my list of free stuff, my dads motorbike shop is closing down :D so he is clearing out all of his stuff from the celler ect. So I should soon be the owner of a working clarke compressor(perfect for spraying shells) A machine for making bike number plates, possibly a lovely little kids italjet moped belongs to a guy who works there so i have to ask him if he wants to sell it, and a mint set of kawasaki z900 forks (my dad might keep them or sell them unless i can get my hands on them first. Among all the junk lying in the celler there are about 4 old mopeds, one of these is an old ariel 3 wheeler at first it looks like an ugly worthless piece of rubbish, after a quick look on ebay it seems asif its worth about 700-800 so its still ugly but not worthless.

dazaa

PS: i cant belive im the only person to find so much stuff thrown out, if i picked up half the bikes i have seen i would have enough to fill my bedroom, infact just today i saw a perfectly good suspension mountain bike in a skip, the stuff people throw away.

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There are hardly any skips allowed on the road around here as we are in a designated national park and the council are very strict on things like this - so normally they are on peoples drives and things, still not found anything that exciting tho!

did get a full linn seperates hifi with pioneer amps and rogers speakers off freecylcle though!

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A friend gave me a new Tamiya boomerang he built it wrong he thought there was something missing in the kit he missed a bearing in the rear gear box.

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Well even more stuff I have got free, With the closure of my dads motorbike shop (stratford motorcycles) I have now got a clarke compressor and a number plate roller(going on ebay soon lmk if your interested). And yesterday I found a brand new rc car shell, probably not tamiya and has been painted but still has protective film on it, found under a pile of motorbike pannels outside bike shop, think it was the guy who worked there as he has a petrol car but like i say I dont let anything rc related go to waste. Anything else found recently???

dazaa

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Ive blagged a Motorola V3, a Pile of Alien and predetor VHS tapes, spare parts, Car workshop manuals (Im training as a Mechanic), ZX spectrum +2 and some related stuff, Commadore 64 and related stuff, couple of games, a blast Charger that I was going to pay for and I think my Dad may have acctualy given me back the 20 I paid for my Falcon a few years ago when it was a Mint shelf queen.

Things Im peeved with throwing away or selling on:

Nikko Mad cougar- yes it was a childs toy but I perfected the art of it carring a drink

Sonic Jam for the Sega Saturn - Sold it for a fiver and to my horror when to find it again it usually goes for more than 20

My first Dreamcast collection

The Falcons box - This wasnt really my Fault, my dad use it for rubbish

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