online retailers

Tojo72

 

 

Fesan

 

 

Armor_Aficionado

Fesan, if you're U.S.-based, I can't recommend Scale Hobbyist highly enough! They are my go-to provider for almost everything, except that which can't be shipped overseas (spray paints, etc.). Hobby Linc is okay, but their prices aren't that great. Others swear by Sprue Brothers, I have yet to try them. I hesitate to say this, but as I'm sure many others will agree, Squadron.com - which USED to be great- is now pretty much worthless. Deceptive advertising for "sales," many prices are not really that low, and most of their stuff is more often than not Out Of Stock.

 

 

 

 

I live on the east coast in new jersey. I actually live little over a hour away from mega hobby actual store and plan to take a trip there on saturday.

 

 

 

 

 

I'm ex-NJ myself,where are you,Maplewood Hobbies is still good for paint and supplies,also there is a small shop in Fairview,and a big one in Redbank.

Also good shows in Wayne and Danbury Conn.

There are shops down south also,not sure,I used to be in Union.

 

Fesan

 

 

Armor_Aficionado

Fesan, if you're U.S.-based, I can't recommend Scale Hobbyist highly enough! They are my go-to provider for almost everything, except that which can't be shipped overseas (spray paints, etc.). Hobby Linc is okay, but their prices aren't that great. Others swear by Sprue Brothers, I have yet to try them. I hesitate to say this, but as I'm sure many others will agree, Squadron.com - which USED to be great- is now pretty much worthless. Deceptive advertising for "sales," many prices are not really that low, and most of their stuff is more often than not Out Of Stock.

 

 

 

 

I live on the east coast in new jersey. I actually live little over a hour away from mega hobby actual store and plan to take a trip there on saturday.

 

 

I'm ex-NJ myself,where are you,Maplewood Hobbies is still good for paint and supplies,also there is a small shop in Fairview,and a big one in Redbank.

Also good shows in Wayne and Danbury Conn.

There are shops down south also,not sure,I used to be in Union.

Hobbylink Japan, for all the weird stuff I buy:

https://hlj.com/

A lot of the niche stuff does not wash up on our shore with the US based online retailers.

They recently “updated” their web page, and now it runs molasses slow.  Their site upgrades are always annoying, but they are my go-to place for the stuff I like.

Also, Hobby Search is similar:

https://www.1999.co.jp/eng/plamo/

Their site is more user friendly, plus they often have photos of the kit contents, including the instructions.

Took a ride to the mega hobbies today. Turns out its the internet company to a lhs named AAA hobbies. Place was nice had a huge selection of kits and the wifey came for the ride and got me 4 new models for the stash also. Best part is they have model air. I was in my glory there well worth the hour ride. Officially more armor added to the stash.

Armor_Aficionado

BlackSheep, you may have gotten the English language page, but 1001ModelKits is based out of France. I've ordered from them before; okay prices, but their shipping is pretty slow. Also based in Europe, the best local site I use, is modellbau-koenig.de. Excellent prices, and if you're a frequent orderer you can eventually build up enough points that you get free shipping.

 

France, UK, Europe, wherever... I was close enough. LOL!

Armor_Aficionado

Fesan, if you're U.S.-based, I can't recommend Scale Hobbyist highly enough! They are my go-to provider for almost everything, except that which can't be shipped overseas (spray paints, etc.). Hobby Linc is okay, but their prices aren't that great. Others swear by Sprue Brothers, I have yet to try them. I hesitate to say this, but as I'm sure many others will agree, Squadron.com - which USED to be great- is now pretty much worthless. Deceptive advertising for "sales," many prices are not really that low, and most of their stuff is more often than not Out Of Stock.

 

Model shows as he mentioned is a great place to find kits and supplies!

Now eBay... I rarely get involved in a bidding war because of the technique GM mentioned - sniping. I prefer to go the “Buy Now“ option. Easy enough if you know what the kit goes for elsewhere. That’s why I always stick with a couple eBay stores I frequent with. Sometimes they will combine your purchases with a good price once they see you’re a regular customer.

Bill- "Stash-for-Life", I like that! Got one of those too.

Dragonusa often has some really good sales, you just have to watch for them. That said, do your research on the kit before buying. Dragon tends to price their kits rather high, so the huge markdown may not be the best deal. I also recommend looking at the reviews before buying, their kits run from really nice to complete dogs. I picked up a Sea Venom during their Black Friday sale, horrible kit. But I also got a really sweet Hellcat for a great price.

But I think the best deals I've found are at model shows. I go to two shows a year and between the raffles and vendors....who needs the internet?!

In short, do your homework and be patient, the good kits for great prices are out there. And before you know it you'll have your Stash for Life too! 

Tojo72

sincere hobby-China-slow shipping but good prices and reliable

Hello!

I have to inform all of you that I have run into issues with that reliability last year. I have pre-ordered AFV Club M54 at sincerehobby, previously I've had very good experiences with them. While I was waiting for my M54 (took a long time - preorder) I wanted to buy another kit from them (modelcollect Patriot launcher). They said OK, we'll send them together, that will save you some shipping charges. So then I waited, finally they notified me about the parcel being sent. From that point in time it took the parcel over a month to reach me. Up to that point sincerehobby were still helpful, with good contact. Then I got message from the Polish customs (I live in Poland) to declare the worth of the package. I have told them I expect two model kits. They charged me the customs fee and then I went to pick my package up from the post - finally! Now I wasn't too happy when it turned out the package is heavily battered, because of insufficient packaging, what's worse - it only contained the AFV Club M54. I have written an e-mail to sincerehobby with request for assistance - and that's when the communication stopped. So there I was - after months of waiting I had a M54 in a battered box (luckily the plastic was OK) and paid customs for a missing Patriot. As I have paid via PayPal I was able to take my issue to them and after a few weeks PayPal refunded my Patriot - still not a word from sincerehobby. In fact I haven't heard from them ever since. I thought they went out of business, but their website seems to have some new entries from the beginning of this year.

Anyhow - I would advise against buying from them, especially more expensive kits. Remember that PayPal only refunds you up to a certain amount - it was barely enough for my Patriot launcher, anything more expensive would mean a financial loss for me, so why risk?

Hope it helps, good luck with your internet buys and have a nice day

Paweł

Fesan

Wifes going to kill me once she realizes the stash is growing as we speak. (Just added a revell corsair to the stash) 

Can't help you there but I can give you advice. Learn how to be sneaky as you quietly build your stash. Just don't see and buy something everyday or every week. Hold off and control your buying impulses. Shop around, ask yourself:

A - "Can I afford to buy this now?" or even "Do I really need this kit right now?"

B - "Should I wait until it goes on sale?"

C - "I should ask my wife (or other family members/friends) to get this for me for Father's Day or my birthday, or even Christmas - ESPECIALLY Christmas!!!"

The last one will be a huge a win-win for the both of you when you think about it. (It always worked for me) That's where the advantage of scalehobbyist comes into play. Read on...

One huge benefit why I love shopping at scalehobbyist is you can create your watch list. For example, say you found a particular aircraft kit you like. Instead of putting it your cart and buy it right away, put it on your watch list. The Watch List is kinda like a wish list. This way it controls your spending habits yet it's there to buy later. Just sign up and create an account with scalehobbyist. You'll be glad you did.

Tojo72

This has been mentioned many times,I will get it started 

spruebrothers

scalehobbyist

dragonusaonline

redfroghobbies

freetimehobbie

sincere hobby-China-slow shipping but good prices and reliable

search Ebay for good deals,don’t overbid,watch shipping costs,but still many great Ebay stores without bidding.

 

What Tojo mentioned. Scalehobbyist has the best lowest prices hands down. 

I've ordered from a wide number of online hobby retailers too numerous to mention. A few other samplings:

LuckyModels

Plaza Japan - great site but slow delivery times - especially with paints. They do not ship paints via air but by slow boat.

Brookhursthobbies

HobbyModels

Hobbylinc

Hobbyworld-usa.com

MegaHobby

1001modelkits - based out of the UK

I also order from ebay but to one seller who has a wide range of unusual kits, decals, figures, and more.

I'm sure there are others on my favorites tab. Like I said, too much to list.

Squadron is good BUT... there is one glaring downside... they always have stock on backorder. I stopped shoping there because of that reason. They never seem to have anything I want in stock.

I pays to shop around and compare prices. Do a simple search of different online hobby shops.

Upscale hobbies for auto and bike stuff and fantastic service. 

Here's my take on eBay. 

It is about the best place to find kits that are OOP, i.e. out of production. 

The price works in a couple of ways. If you find something that's already been sold, you can usually find out what it sold for, minus shipping cost.

If it's an active auction, there's really no way to know what it will sell for. And always add the shipping. It's not so common any more, but there used to be a scam to rob (if that's even possible) eBay of their commision by selling a kit worth $ 50 dollars for $ 10 plus $ 40 shipping. Can't brook any whining about shipping costs; it's all one and the same. eBay changed their policies, but the scam can still happen in order to bait you with what seems to be a good price, plus a lot of shipping cost. Again, can't hear no whining.

I think "buy it now" is usually pretty good. If I see a kit listed, that's available elsewhere, I'm not eager to "buy it now" until I exhaust other sources.

But if it's an OOP kit and the BIN seems reasonable, including shipping, then I pounce.

Last thing because I am taking up too much space here. When I was a more active bidder on eBay, i.e. before I acquired the stash-for-life; I used a "snipe" service. You pre-load your maximum bid, and walk away. They (electronically) wait until the last second and bid to win if it's below/ at your limit. Charge you a $ or so.

Multiple advantages- you don't have to be there and you don't get sucked into a bidding war.

I hope this is helpful.

Bill

Rambo

I found a great company through Amazon as well

https://lots-of-models.com/

They always have a 10% off coupon that the code is on the home page you enter at checkout and free standared shipping that usally arives at my house in two to three days

 

Fesan

For ebay you guys use those sites as price range? I am never sure of prices so tend to avoid ebay usually

 

Yes,you generally come up with price a kit could be had for and balance it with your budget.99% of the time i'm not bidding,its usually ebay shops.

For ebay you guys use those sites as price range? I am never sure of prices so tend to avoid ebay usually

I found a great company through Amazon as well

https://lots-of-models.com/

They always have a 10% off coupon that the code is on the home page you enter at checkout and free standared shipping that usally arives at my house in two to three days

Tojo72

This has been mentioned many times,I will get it started 

spruebrothers

scalehobbyist

dragonusaonline

redfroghobbies

freetimehobbie

sincere hobby-China-slow shipping but good prices and reliable

search Ebay for good deals,don’t overbid,watch shipping costs,but still many great Ebay stores without bidding.

 

For resin ships, Freetime Hobbies (Brandon) has excellent Customer Service.

For aircraft decals, Vintage Flyer; Mike is the same.

I used to shop a lot at Tower Hobbies (Karen), but they are mostly RC.

And ole' Jeff Bezos. I'm a Prime member, so I can often get stuff practically overnight for free. I'll check most things with them; if the price is ok I'll go there. That's how I found scalehobbyist (great paint selections).

I order most often from Scalehobbyist and Sprue Brothers, both are excellent USA companies. I was recently very pleased with an order from Lucky Model, the only offshore firm I've tried; their prices can be excellent but I'm advised to only order in stock status items.

As Tojo said, eBay can be a good source, if one is Very Patient. There are lots of sellers with vastly differant ideas about what a kit is worth, and shipping can often make or break a bargain.  

This has been mentioned many times,I will get it started 

spruebrothers

scalehobbyist

dragonusaonline

redfroghobbies

freetimehobbie

sincere hobby-China-slow shipping but good prices and reliable

search Ebay for good deals,don’t overbid,watch shipping costs,but still many great Ebay stores without bidding.