# 1966 Eldon Moon Survey Kit Completed



## Hooty (Mar 4, 2000)

Greetings all! Well, after nearly two, maybe three, years, I have finally completed my 1966 Eldon 3-D Moon Survey diarama. For those that that don't know, I found it at a local flea market. It was unpainted and a complete glue bomb. The kid, who built this in 1966 must have just slopped it on and called it good. 

I cleaned it as best I could and got to work. I had to cut the arms off the astronauts and reglue them on to get a better look to them. Took the robot apart, also. The seam lines were terrible on all three figures and had to be filled with Aves Apoxy Putty. The helmets were cut off and the faces were painted. Then I made two new clear face shields from a piece of clear plastic that I had saved back. 

The vacuumed formed plastic base was too flimsy for the astronauts to stand on solidly. So, I used it as a mold to make another base. I used Cellu-clay to make the base and used apoxy putty to fill in any areas that needed it. I then painted the base to suit my idea of what I thought the moon surface should look like. I used some left over crumbs from some dried Durham's Wood Putty, and some small gravel from my drive-way, for the moon rocks. The whole base sits on two pieces of scrap plywood which are glued together. I cut it to fit just inside the back of the picture frame. The frame is attached to the wood by three screws.

The original background was pretty well worn and had several crease lines in it. I took it to a local business to have it scanned, as my scanner is too small to do the job, and had it placed on a cd. I then took it home to retouch it and improve it's looks. It, also, saved me a few dollars by doing it myself. I then took it back to have it printed to it's full size. 

Here's a few pictures of the finished kit. Enjoy!

Hooty


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## mcdougall (Oct 28, 2007)

Absolutely Awesome...........
.....Have you any before pictures?....This diorama is simply stunning :thumbsup:
Mcdee


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## falcon49xxxx (Aug 4, 2008)

I've never saw this kit before.Great work,a true diorama!alexander


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## Bruce Bishop (Jan 17, 1999)

That looks fantastic! Excellent work on a kit I had never before seen a picture of until a couple of months ago.


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## the Dabbler (Feb 17, 2005)

Nice going Hooty, you brought it back from destruction...so to speak. Nice job !


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## deadmanincfan (Mar 11, 2008)

Dang, Hooty, dat's some sweet modeling!


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## The-Nightsky (May 10, 2005)

Wow!!!! Thats the best I've seen of that kit!!! Looks like you have definitly turned a Turd into a masterpeice!!Great job!!!


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## Hooty (Mar 4, 2000)

Thanks, guys! Glad you like it. I did take before pics back when I first got bought it. But, somewhere along the line I've lost them. If I find them, I'll be sure to post them. 

Hooty


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## mcdougall (Oct 28, 2007)

Cool Hooty...from your description as to its' 'Found' condition...You've brought this dio back from the dead...and Man, it shows :thumbsup:
Excellent!
Mcdee


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## bigdaddydaveh (Jul 20, 2007)

That is way too cool! I've never seen this kit before. What a find and what a great build-up!


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## John P (Sep 1, 1999)

Wow!!


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## SteveR (Aug 7, 2005)

Great build. A trip back in time. <sigh>


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## StarshipClass (Aug 13, 2003)

I've never seen such a kit! It looks really great what you've done there, however! Fantastic work!

:thumbsup:


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## Rebel Rocker (Jan 26, 2000)

MAN!! That is SOOOO cool!!:woohoo: 
Excellent Job!!

Wayne


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## xsavoie (Jun 29, 1999)

What is the scale or height are these figures.Makes you wish either Moebius or Monarch would issue it,providing they could find the original kit unassembled for reverse engineering like Polar Lights did for some of it's kits of course.


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## mcdougall (Oct 28, 2007)

Check out this old ad I dug up : http://www.vintageadsandstuff.com/viewtoys14.jpeg

According to the ad there was a Prehistoric Scene as well as a Sea lab Scene with promises of more to come...Man where was I  I don't remember these at all  12 inches tall and 19 inches wide these would be so Cool...:thumbsup:
Mcdee


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## F91 (Mar 3, 2002)

That is an extremely cool kit. Thanks for sharing.


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## Steven Coffey (Jan 5, 2005)

Great build and a very cool kit!


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## Auroranut (Jan 12, 2008)

Excellent piece of restoration Hooty!! Very cool!! I like the way you've put Eldons name on the plate. A very rare kit done very well!!:thumbsup::thumbsup::thumbsup:

Chris.


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## darkwanderer (Mar 11, 2008)

Never heard of this one before. Your restoration looks absolutely great. 
Have you got any other info on the kit?


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## Cro-Magnon Man (Jun 11, 2001)

Very neat work, crisp colouring with good definition. I think the space suits look a bit like the ones worn in 2001 A Space Odyssey, with the same ribbed or fluted design, when the landing party leave the Moonbus to go and look at the monolith that has been dug up.


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## mcdougall (Oct 28, 2007)

darkwanderer said:


> Never heard of this one before. Your restoration looks absolutely great.
> Have you got any other info on the kit?


Hi darkwanderer hit the link in post 16 to see an old ad of this cool kit...it's all I could find when I Googled it...but its neat :thumbsup:
Mcdee


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## ChrisW (Jan 1, 1970)

Way to save a cool kit, not to mention a rarity from oblivion! You did a great job and the extra attention to details pushes it up another bunch of notches!
Thanks for posting these - not too long ago buzzconroy posted shots of a boxed version that he just got.


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## Tim Nolan (Jul 9, 2008)

Dude, that is just awesome! I love the space program almost as much as old kits! Just too kool! You did one hell of a nice resto-job on it too! :thumbsup:


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## Hooty (Mar 4, 2000)

Thanks all! Glad you liked it! 

Hooty


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## Auroranut (Jan 12, 2008)

Like it?? I think the general consensus is we love it!!

Chris.


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## Dr. Pretorius (Nov 17, 2000)

Man, that is awesome! All the work you put into it paid off well.

It's a great slice of "What-if" Americana.

Great job!


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## beck (Oct 22, 2003)

man Russ that is a great restoration job . looks like one of those Chesley Bonestell (sp?) paintings . fantastic !!
hb


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## Duck Fink (May 2, 2005)

WOW man.....very VERY COOL!!! I love the fact that you have nice pics to show off your work. Man, the astronauts face through the shield......nice stuff!


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## Dr. Brad (Oct 5, 1999)

Okay, just saw this right now, and it is great! I love it! Great job!


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## kit-junkie (Apr 8, 2005)

Wonderful work! What a neat kit.


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## djnick66 (May 2, 2008)

Thats way cool. The fact that it is a restored vintage build makes it even nicer. Excellent.


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## abu625 (Jul 4, 2002)

Excellent restoration job. This is definitely one of the rarer sci-fi kits ever.

I actually had a copy of this back in the 1960s, but it's long, long gone.

Fortunately, I was able to score another near-mint copy off Ebay about 10 years ago and it's been sitting in my stash for the past decade. I've never seen another copy since. And, believe me, I've looked.

You've got a real treasure there.


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## djnick66 (May 2, 2008)

Someone here got one of these recently, still MISB...

I only remember some small Eldon World War I airplane kits. I have one or two still left. They were called "Match book" kits and they came packaged in an oversized matchbook with the kit parts in a bag inside. Sort of like the Airfix bagged or header card kits of the 60s and 70s. They came in odd colors like pink...


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## darkwanderer (Mar 11, 2008)

mcdougall said:


> Hi darkwanderer hit the link in post 16 to see an old ad of this cool kit...it's all I could find when I Googled it...but its neat :thumbsup:
> Mcdee


Thanks McD. As they say... Been there, done that... LOL. I was just hoping that there might be some more info on this one somewhere. Thanks any way.:wave:

edit: Just tried to google it. No luck. Guess I'll keep looking.


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## phantom11 (Jul 12, 2007)

FANTASTIC!! Just a beautiful job on restoring this kit and bringing its inherent coolness to the fore! Excellent on all points; and what a terrific display piece it makes! Well done!


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## bert model maker (Feb 19, 2002)

Very nice, I have been wanting to do something like that with my Lem and rover. How large is your dioramas base ?
Bert


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## Hooty (Mar 4, 2000)

My base was done by making a mold of the original base. It's approx. 6 1/2 inches wide and 16 inches long. Someone had asked how tall the figures of the astronauts were. They're around 7 inches tall.

Darkwanderer-- what other info were you wanting on this particular model? I'm sure somebody knows something about this kit, and I'd be interested in hearing more about it, too.


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## bert model maker (Feb 19, 2002)

Thanks Hooty !


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## Zorro (Jun 22, 1999)

The book "Classic Plastic Model Kits" lists the scale of this kit as 1/10.5 (for whatever that's worth). The book doesn't give any other info that hasn't been discussed here.


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## buzzconroy (Jun 28, 2002)

Great restoration Hooty.

bUZZ


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## Joe Brown (Nov 16, 1999)

I pdf'd the instructions for this kit; I'll see if I can get that attached here.

---
edit: no joy, there's a 500kb upload limit. The smallest I could squeeze the file down to was 1677kb.

---
edit 2: Let's try this:

http://photos.hobbytalk.com/showphoto.php/photo/35212


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## MonsterModelMan (Dec 20, 2000)

Hooty,

Great job on this kit! Nice restoration!!!

MMM


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## Roy Kirchoff (Jan 1, 1970)

Another 'steller' kit build Hooty! :thumbsup: 
RK


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## gojira61 (May 21, 2008)

*Fantastic job* and a great kit! For as old as I am I can't remember ever seeing this kit before.

I just looked at the instructions and it shows a Sealab also.


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## Mark McGovern (Apr 25, 1999)

Golly wobbles, Hooty! I've never even heard of this one before (mighta been grappling with my first AMT starship _Enterprise_ back then). Great resto job!

Mark McG.


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## Dr. Brad (Oct 5, 1999)

gojira61 said:


> For as old as I am I can't remember ever seeing this kit before.


 Maybe that's why you can't remember it! (Just kidding with you - I ain't no spring chicken myself!)!


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## spawndude (Nov 28, 2007)

I remember a friend that had the Sealab (at the time I thought it was goofy) but I've not seen this Moon Survey Kit until it was posted here.


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## Hooty (Mar 4, 2000)

Man, I thought this thread had died a long time ago. Glad to see there's still some interest in it. I had almost forgotten that it's still sitting in the display case at the local hobby store. Its there because I have no room for it at my house. 

Speaking of Sealab, I saw my first one at WonderFest this year. Does anyone, who went to WF and saw it, know who it belong to? Lots of ideas for a diorama with that one.


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## Joe Brown (Nov 16, 1999)

If you saw a built-up SeaLab III in the Lizard Lounge Friday evening, that was mine:
(From the Godfather's Photobucket page):
http://s71.photobucket.com/albums/i137/azabache95/WF2009/?action=view&current=DSCN1560.jpg

I took over a side table with the box of Ye Olde Antique models. Tracy was hosting the party, and seemed pleased when he id'd an old model part from an XAB bomber!

--AMT's Ford Levacar
--Aurora's Impetus Nuclear-powered Airliner
--Aurora's Sealab kit
--Aurora's Moonbus kit
--Aurora's 1/48 X-15 kit
--Hawk's XAB-1 Nuclear-powered Strategic Bomber
--Hawk's Convair Atlas Space Station/MOL 
--Revell's XSL-01

It was a big hit with everyone who dropped by and wanted to see what these (often Grail) kits actually looked like in person. I personally blame Allen Ury for infecting me with this condition :thumbsup:


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## Jeanie114 (Jul 19, 2017)

*Is this thread still active??*

My husband and I have two set of these Eldon 3D model kits. They are not in fancy boxes though. They are in cardboard boxes that say 'Wards Sea Lab' and 'Wards Moon Survey Scenic'. The Sea Lab box has been opened but everything appears to be there including two yellow rubber diver fins. The set is intact with the model pieces still sealed in their baggies and still attached to the plastic mold pieces that you break them off of to use it (does that make any sense?!). It still has all the paints in the box and have not been removed at all as the box only has one side opened and you have to break the tape seal and open both sides of the box to get the paints out. It also has an instruction booklet that looks just like the other ones that come in the fancy boxes and it says Eldon 3-D Scenic Kit Sea Lab #2936. The other Moon Survey Scenic box is still sealed and the label has been bunched up on the outside of the box but is still readily legible and otherwise intact. Our intention is to sell these kits on ebay, but we really don't know much about them other than what is on this thread which leads me to a really important question...... Should I open the other box to make sure that what the label says is actually what is in the factory sealed Montgomery Wards box, or sell it as is? Thank you in advance for your help and advice!


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## mcdougall (Oct 28, 2007)

If it's not an original box you could open it to check if it's all there....are you selling on ebay?...If so could you provide a link?
Denis


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## Frankie Boy (Feb 28, 2002)

Am I understanding this right? Photobucket is no longer free, so in order to see your pics, we have to pay to get into photobucket to see the pics of your model?


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## TAY666 (Jan 8, 2000)

Frankie Boy said:


> Am I understanding this right? Photobucket is no longer free, so in order to see your pics, we have to pay to get into photobucket to see the pics of your model?


Not quite.
The person with the pictures has to pay $400 a year to be able to share those pictures with other people.


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## Frankie Boy (Feb 28, 2002)

Okay. So how do I get to see Hooty's pictures? All I see on his original post is "PLEASE UPDATE YOUR ACCOUNT TO ENABLE 3RD PARTY HOSTING".


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## Zombie_61 (Apr 21, 2004)

Frankie Boy said:


> Okay. So how do I get to see Hooty's pictures? All I see on his original post is "PLEASE UPDATE YOUR ACCOUNT TO ENABLE 3RD PARTY HOSTING".


If this works, you can see them here: Eldon Moon Survey by Russell Hooten | Photobucket


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## Frankie Boy (Feb 28, 2002)

Nope. :-(


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## Jeanie114 (Jul 19, 2017)

So, it won't let me submit a link on here unless I have posted at least 5 times. This is post #2.


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## Jeanie114 (Jul 19, 2017)

and here is post #3


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## Jeanie114 (Jul 19, 2017)

and post #4


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## Zombie_61 (Apr 21, 2004)

Frankie Boy said:


> Nope. :-(


Sorry, my mistake. When the thumbnails in that album loaded I didn't think to check the files individually.


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## Jeanie114 (Jul 19, 2017)

and finally post #5. I will post the link in my next post!


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## Jeanie114 (Jul 19, 2017)

Dennis, as requested here is the ebay link to the Eldon Sea Lab kit that we just listed.

RARE 1966 ELDON 3-D SCENIC SEA LAB KIT COMPLETE, UNUSED MONTGOMERY WARDS EDITION | eBay

Thank you again for your help and suggestions!

Jeanie


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## Milton Fox Racing (May 27, 2014)

Frankie Boy said:


> Am I understanding this right? Photobucket is no longer free, so in order to see your pics, we have to pay to get into photobucket to see the pics of your model?


I dont know if that is how it is going to work in the end, but yes it seems that is the direction they are heading. You will have to be a member (I think you can still get a free account) but access is trending to be where it is a private web site.

Even some PB registered users are reporting they are unable to access their own albums and photos. (I think it is just glitches and they are given back access if they report or ask about it, still a really sad state that is verging on pathetic.)

:angelsad2:


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## Milton Fox Racing (May 27, 2014)

Jeanie114 said:


> and finally post #5. I will post the link in my next post!


I will bring this up with VS_Adm again, but it is in place to protect against spammers and malcontents. :cheers2:


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## mcdougall (Oct 28, 2007)

Jeanie114 said:


> Dennis, as requested here is the ebay link to the Eldon Sea Lab kit that we just listed.
> 
> RARE 1966 ELDON 3-D SCENIC SEA LAB KIT COMPLETE, UNUSED MONTGOMERY WARDS EDITION | eBay
> 
> ...


Thanks I went to throw a bid on it but wasn't allowed because I live in Canada.
Denis


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## robn1 (Nov 17, 2012)

Zombie_61 said:


> Sorry, my mistake. When the thumbnails in that album loaded I didn't think to check the files individually.


I was able to see the pics by reloading the page after opening each one. Tedious but it works.


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## krlee (Oct 23, 2016)

Jeanie114 said:


> Dennis, as requested here is the ebay link to the Eldon Sea Lab kit that we just listed.
> 
> RARE 1966 ELDON 3-D SCENIC SEA LAB KIT COMPLETE, UNUSED MONTGOMERY WARDS EDITION | eBay
> 
> ...


Nearly $54.00 for shipping?


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## scooke123 (Apr 11, 2008)

eBay's shipping calculator gives super high shipping estimates sometimes. If you aren't careful when you fill that part out it will give wrong fees. Probably be more in the $10 - $15 range.


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## mcdougall (Oct 28, 2007)

Jeanie114 said:


> Dennis, as requested here is the ebay link to the Eldon Sea Lab kit that we just listed.
> 
> RARE 1966 ELDON 3-D SCENIC SEA LAB KIT COMPLETE, UNUSED MONTGOMERY WARDS EDITION | eBay
> 
> ...


Are you going to change the listing to allow international bidding ?
Denis


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## Xenodyssey (Aug 27, 2008)

I can see the photos via the link.


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## Jeanie114 (Jul 19, 2017)

Denis,

Do you think it would get that much more attention internationally? I really don't want to include international shipping. That would cost a lot more and filling out customs forms is not sounding fun either! A five pound package would cost at least $50 (average $10 per pound from previous experience!). Thoughts??  Also, we still have another one - the Moon Scenic Survey kit that is still sealed in it's plain Montgomery Ward's box. Is it the general consensus that we should open it halfway, like this Sea Lab box, before we sell it so we can take pics of it?? I think we are going to wait until November to sell that one, just a little before Christmas. Do you think that is a good strategy? We have been ebaying for a long time on and off but these two model sets have us stumped!

Jeanie


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## Jeanie114 (Jul 19, 2017)

Denis,

I just now read your post about your location in Canada. I will try to change it for you, but I am not sure that I can send it economy shipping. I will look into it!


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## mcdougall (Oct 28, 2007)

Thanks !  I'm interested in both, and would like to acquire them both !
I just tried to bid but it still wouldn't allow me to place a bid, yet. 
It's kind of funny because your other auction will allow me to bid...
http://www.ebay.ca/itm/1988-89-FLEE...767025?hash=item361d6ab771:g:554AAOSwG0BZdSih
I'd say between October and Christmas would be a good time of year to sell it. 
Denis


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## Jeanie114 (Jul 19, 2017)

Denis,

I tried to update the listing but it wouldn't let me edit it because it already has bids on it. I called ebay customer service and they told me that even though I could not change the listing, I could put an update in the description that we are accepting Canadian bids but at the close of bidding, if you win, I would need to take an extra step and manually calculate a new buyer total on an invoice before we finalize. I hope this helps and I hope it works! You might want to call customer service if you are not able to place a bid. The gal I talked to who told me this way around it didn't say anything about people not being able to place an international bid. Let me know if this works!

Thanks.

Jeanie


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## mcdougall (Oct 28, 2007)

Still not letting me bid, I'll check back after work today. My personal email is : [email protected].com if you would like to contact me off this forum  
Cheers 
Denis


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