I’m asking you all out there that have an infinite amount of wisdom about this stuff. The shipping portion is a little awkward of course. After crunching some numbers, it seems that hobbylink japan is a few dollars more than you could buy in a hobby store?
From my understanding, there are generally 4 different prices.
Hobby Store which is full retail, Michaels and Hobby Lobby included
eBay, which can be crazy cheap, but sometimes built, partially built, sometimes things missing
hobbylink japan or other ship from overseas online ordering
online stores, squadron, greatmodelsetc.
Since getting back into it, I shop at #4s and have bought several kits from eBay and 1 kit from #1. I am very tempted to buy some things from HLJapan because they are the only ones that have some hasegawa tools that I want. I might pick up a kit as well, But are they really cheaper than buying at squadron?
Can someone give me some concrete examples of items being cheaper than over here? Give me some number comparisons or something? Thanks in advance!
When the 1/72 scale Fine Molds X-Wing fighters were first released, US sellers listed them at $40. I ordered straight from HLJ and received two of them within 30 days delivered to my door for $34 total including shipping. I’ve done the same thing with other Fine Molds Star Wars space fighters (Jedi fighter, TIE, TIE Interceptor). Fine Molds kits are Hasegawa quality models.
Another kit I got for a resaonable price was the 1/35 scale Batman Begins Batmobile. Here in the states it goes for around $50 if you can find it, but I got it for about $25 from HLJ.
HLJ is great for stuff that will be rare or hard to find in the US, but for stuff you can easily find at the local shop or online (eBay, Squadron, etc.), it’s not always the best deal as you have found out.
I normally shop at www.hobbylinc.com Its sometimes cheaper to buy from them, usually on kits that are quite expensive, like the Tamiya F-14 in 1/32. They sold it for $120, so after shipping it was just a bit over $130. Squadron wanted $158 for it, which is just about what retail is I think. On smaller stuff, its usually about the same as going to the LHS and buying it after you pay shipping. Try to factor that in and see if your saving any money, cause most of the time, unless your saving a good bit, you will pay about the same price. I found HLJ was more just because shipping prices… but I only ordered from them once, had good luck, but I haven’t found anything there I can’t order here lately?
Hobby Lobby selection varies. My local one carries a full line of car models, but just some of the more recent Tamiya armor and some good Dragon kits. Their prices are normally MSRP, but with their frequent sales and %-off coupons, it is easy to stock up on discounted kits. Too easy sometimes [;)]
I guess it varies from store to store. I agree with what Rob said but our store, here in Fort Smith, also carries a very good selection of aircraft kits. Hasegawa, Tamiya, Revellogram, Accurate Miniatures, Academy, MRC and others that I can’t think of at the present time. I haven’t had my second cup of coffee yet!! [|)] [|(]
I’ve never bought from Hobbylinc, but have bought from Lucky Model on several occasions. Their prices, including airmail shipping, is ALWAYS less than anyplace I can find it in the states. Now I don’t have a Hobby Lobby near me and if I did that might make a difference. But comparing their prices to my LHS (and I have only one) and the stateside internet shops, Lucky Model wins out every time.
for what I need, WAVE option parts and such and the Hase Tritools that you mention, HLJ is about my only outlet,so I have to make a big purchase just to justify the insane shipping and wait times to get my stuff.
Otherwise I get kits and stuff either local (about all we have is a lameass LHS and Hobby Lobby with a limited stock) or through Squadron Mail Order or other online/catalog shops.
Rainbow10 has stock and they sell and ship paint unlike HLJ which does not ship paint the the US as far as I can tell.
Just Plane Hobbies is a favorite as is Squadron. My LHS is a good place, too. He gets a discount when he orders from MMD (Squadron). Some times I drive the 45 miles to Venture Hobbies to use my 20% card.
Why? You can find deals that can’t be beat at eBay. You can also over pay for an item too. Just like shopping at other online sites, you must comparative shop.
If you order foreign or domestic online, the long run results are about the same. What you save on kit cost at HLJ or Luckymodel gets taken away by shipping. Kitlink used to be my favorite, but they can’t seem to keep their website running consistently. Another issue with the far east interweb shops is shipping time. I’ve ordered standard shipping from HLJ, which it turns out to fequently be over a months time. Domestic interweb shops usually take 3-7 days. The prices at my LHSs always works out to cost more than kit and shipping online.