Later this year I am going over to Europe (Specifically Dresden, Vienna, and Prague.) and will have the chance to go to a couple of hobby shops along the way. Does anyone know of kits avalible soley in those countries or in Europe I could bring back? I specifically would like to bring back aircraft ( including helicopters.) but if you know of other kits of other types please tell me of them.
Thanks in advance,
Zeke
Thanks to the Internet, there are relatively few kit brands available solely in Europe, and not in North America. However, there are many brands available more cheaply. Revell Germany and, especially, Italeri and Dragon due to the US importer’s pricing policies, would be prime examples. Also relatively obscure brands like Heller (though you really need to go to France for that) and Faller in Germany if you’re into good-quality HO-scale railroad scenery and lineside stuff.
There are a couple of good model shops in Prague, but their prices are now pretty much the same as in the rest of Europe, if not slightly higher for you, thanks to the realtive weakness of the $US. Long gone are the days when you could get off a train in some small town in Czechsolvakia, walk up Main Street, and find a random LHS stuffed to the rafters with limited-run, resin and etch at bargain prices, as I did in Poprad, now in Slovakia, some 15 years ago.
More interesting, perhaps, is the emphasis and range of subjects for sale. Much less cars, more military and ships, I think you’ll find. Also paint ranges which are difficult to find on your side of the pond (though if you want to make friends with modellers, and LHS owners in Europe, bring a goodly selection of Testors Metalizers to give as gifts, since we can’t get them over here.
Finally, bear in mind that though light, kits are bulky and fragile, and thus not the easiset or most practical things to transport as airplane hold luggage.
Cheers,
Chris.
Do not forget that most of the time prices do not include VAT, what is sometimes 22% of the selling price [:(], on the other hand you pay shipping (not VAT) while ordering online (from Europe).
The Doog did some model shopping while in Europe this summer. Maybe he has some advice?
The retail prices quoted in shops in the EU include VAT. European law requires this. However, many on-line stores will deduct VAT from sales to customers living outside the EU. This goes some of the way to meet the extra cost of shipping. In theory, customers living outside the EU can reclaim the VAT on purchases when they leave the EU, but in practice, the scheme is too much hassle for pretty much all LHSs to want to participate. Here’s how the system works in the UK:
http://www.hmrc.gov.uk/vat/consumers-visitors.htm#1
and similar systems apply in all other EU countries. Bear in mind, hwever, that documentation tends to be available in local languags only. How’s your Czech?
Cheers,
Chris.
Prague has several models shops, you can find there adresses online. I have been to the MPM shop in Prague two years ago. Langauge wasn’t a problem, they speak some english over there. The MPM store has loads of kits of the mpm and affiliated brands but also eduard kits, PE and masks. (and loads of other stuff). At the time I visited there the Eduard products where relatively cheap.
Here’s a short review I did:
/forums/655206/ShowPost.aspx
I’ve not gone model shopping in Prague, but in Brno we have two hobby shops (one an MPM outlet) and really I don’t see that there is any real exclusivity of product lines here. As Chris pointed out, the internet has pretty much negated such a thing.
The MPM shop here has a good selection of Planet Models resin kits, but they are really no more affordable for me here on the Czech Koruny then they ever were back in Canada on the dollar.
If the MPM shop here in Brno is anything to go by, you might find that the MPM shop in Prague will have a second hand kit section with some interesting rarities. I often find the second hand kit section of my local MPM outlet to be a great deal more interesting than their current stock.