Look to computer recycle places for discarded UPS units.  The batteries are usually junk, but the magnetics in even the smaller units are quite hefty.  I've been using them for some time in projects and core calculations on some of the medium units are well over 1KVA and voltages are within reason for a lot of power supplies.  I use those 100 amp bridge rectifiers found on Ebay for the heavy duty loads and they can be found in single and three phase configurations and on the 3 phase units, just use part of the bridge. Cheap and easy to use.  Huge electrolytics are usually found in Swap Meet things or on the net.  On magneitics shipped. Insist seller box them up on USPS flat rate boxes and that will keep the cost down by a whole bunch.  You can ship a 1 KVA UPS transformer in a medium sized Flat Rate Usps box cross country for around 15 bux. Just tell sender to use lots of cardboard or chunks of 2X4 to ensure the unit does not tear itself out of the box.