Where do you get your junk minis from?

[MintFish]

So I'm currently trying to get in some practice using some different varnishing techniques to get a feel for them and gauge the quality of finish. However, since I'm still fairly new to the hobby, I haven't accumulated any junk minis to test them on! I tried buying some dollar store army men to test on, but I think the quality of plastic was so poor that my primer (Vallejo surface primer; applied with an airbrush) kept peeling off as I was painting them...

Given the failure of this experiment I need to obtain some cheap, garbage minis purely for experimental purposes (testing new colors, varnishes, etc.). I've tried ebay but the sheer quantity of results I got was pretty daunting and did not yield what I was looking for.

So I figured I'd throw this out and ask where do you all find junk or garbage minis to test new things out on? Is there a specific search term I should be using on ebay? Would it be better to just, say, buy a pack of space marines and go to town on them instead?

 

[ten ball]

I still think ebay is your best bet, just narrow the search down by searching for a certain type of mini.

 

[Bailey03]

Ebay is probably a good place to look, but finding the right search term is tough. Try just looking in the category Toys & Hobbies -> Models & Kits -> Character Figures. You could also try Toys & Hobbies -> Games -> Miniatures, War Games. Don't enter a search term, just look at the entire category and then choose the sort option 'Price + Shipping: lowest first.'

If you just want to buy some regular minis I'd stay away from anything GW. They are almost always on the expensive side. Take a look at Reaper and check out their bones line. Lots of figures and relatively cheap. I'm not sure where you're located, but they ship for free to the US and Canada on orders over $25.

 

[Demihuman]

Where do you live? I have a few old crappy mini's you could have if you are in the SF bay area. Also, if you are near a hobby store they usually have some pretty cheap options.

Finally, if you wash those green army men with hot water and dish soap and then let them get good and dry they might take primer better. That Vallejo primer is very delicate though. you might want to get a can of the sandable auto primer form a car parts store. It's like $8 sprays really nicely and will stick to anything.

 

[Zab]

ebay, bargain bins at local hobby stores and some of the better on line shops *cough*C'MON* cough* have closeout sections with cheap minis for sale.

 

[Chrispy]

When I was starting out, I used the plastic minis from Heroquest to paint. I don't think there's an analogue out there now, unfortunately... But then again, it's been a while since I was in the board game section. Also, it seems companies like GW aren't offering the cheap starter sets of pretty much one figure done 4-5 times. You may be able to do the plastic army men if you wash them before the primer- mold release can make it hard for anything to stick.

 

[MintFish]

Great suggestions from everyone; refining my ebay searches definitely yielded some great results so I'll definitely keep that in mind as my go to source for loose minis. However, I may not need it as a friend of mine has offered to give me some of his old, unpainted Tomb Kings models. Either way, everything has turned out fine in the end.

When I was starting out, I used the plastic minis from Heroquest to paint. I don't think there's an analogue out there now, unfortunately... But then again, it's been a while since I was in the board game section.

Ah, Heroquest; I miss that old game. If I still had my old copy I might have done just that!

You may be able to do the plastic army men if you wash them before the primer- mold release can make it hard for anything to stick.

Regarding the army men I did wash them pretty thoroughly with dish soap and hot water before priming them; even with 3-4 layers and no green showing, they still didn't take to it. I'll just have to call that mission a complete loss and disavow any further knowledge of their actions. Let their service be a warning to future generations of hobbyists.