JJ Skippy
Well-known member
A couple months ago, I uploaded Herman’s Odyssey, my quest to collect every single North Central Airlines model in 1:400 scale. I successfully completed the project when I bought the Aeroclassics North Central Convair 340 in February of this year. There’s still more planes to be had, but I have posted them on wishlists already so I’ll spare you those details.
In that video however, I expressed interest in collecting the two 1:200 releases Gemini Jets made many years ago. They prove difficult to find, with each listing I’ve seen hovering between $250 to $500, sometimes higher. So I kept that idea on the shelf. But as this hobby as done for us, miracles happen. And that’s what happened at Airliners International 2025 in Atlanta.
For the past couple years, one gentleman has always brought a massive collection of airline memorabilia to sell. This big collection has been called “Slimmerville” in reference to Chris Slimmer, the man who brings this stuff out to the shows every year and has also been the host of Airliners International.
A small sampling of what’s on offer at Slimmerville. His memorabilia collection primarily consists of safety cards, but he also has timetables, posters, and other oddities.
Now Chris doesn’t typically collect model airplanes, but I observed a vast collection of Schabak models on one of the tables. During the last few moments of the second day, I found an Ozark DC-9, also in 1:200 scale, but had no cash left, so I asked them to hold it for me. I returned the next day with more cash and bought the Ozark, and in the process I was told of another Gemini200 model they had in the same area, which I didn’t see. I returned over there and found this.
Even better yet? The price on both the Ozark and North Central was $50, so in total I spent $100 for these two beautiful birds, which are some of the hardest-to-find Gemini200 models I’ve seen. The condition on this model is immaculate with no defects that I can tell.
It’s not every day you get to find a model as rare as this at all, let alone for such a price point. Now time to find the DC-9-30!
In that video however, I expressed interest in collecting the two 1:200 releases Gemini Jets made many years ago. They prove difficult to find, with each listing I’ve seen hovering between $250 to $500, sometimes higher. So I kept that idea on the shelf. But as this hobby as done for us, miracles happen. And that’s what happened at Airliners International 2025 in Atlanta.
For the past couple years, one gentleman has always brought a massive collection of airline memorabilia to sell. This big collection has been called “Slimmerville” in reference to Chris Slimmer, the man who brings this stuff out to the shows every year and has also been the host of Airliners International.
A small sampling of what’s on offer at Slimmerville. His memorabilia collection primarily consists of safety cards, but he also has timetables, posters, and other oddities.
Now Chris doesn’t typically collect model airplanes, but I observed a vast collection of Schabak models on one of the tables. During the last few moments of the second day, I found an Ozark DC-9, also in 1:200 scale, but had no cash left, so I asked them to hold it for me. I returned the next day with more cash and bought the Ozark, and in the process I was told of another Gemini200 model they had in the same area, which I didn’t see. I returned over there and found this.
Even better yet? The price on both the Ozark and North Central was $50, so in total I spent $100 for these two beautiful birds, which are some of the hardest-to-find Gemini200 models I’ve seen. The condition on this model is immaculate with no defects that I can tell.
It’s not every day you get to find a model as rare as this at all, let alone for such a price point. Now time to find the DC-9-30!
