Hasegawa Shuffle (parts replacement rant)

It has been true for many years that Hasegawa only services the Japanese home market for spares, and has left anything else to their local distributors. Who, as you have found, you are at the mercy of. And I've never heard anything good about Stevens International, especially the last few years. They're too busy pasting up another 'What's Gnu' newsletter to take care of any of their customers. 
Read this - https://www.tapatalk.com/groups/hyperscale/need-a-good-source-for-hasegawa-replacement-parts-t518744.html

Thanks, I saw that.

That's how I found the Steven's website.

Still nothing good about Stevens International here either.

Hello!

It is a Polish tradition to try to work around the impossible... Now I just checked that Eduard used Hasegawa's plastic in their 1/48 Typhoon kits - so maybe you could talk to Eduard or their distributor in the States (hopefully it's an other company than Stevens) - and get that canopy this way?

Or maybe get a vacuum canopy? Scalemates lists some of them, they used to be there.

Just my two ideas how you could finish your model without involving Hasegawa or Stevens.

Hope it helps - good luck with your modelling projects and have a nice day

Paweł

Hey Pawel!

 I just sent an email to eduard. Their kit has the same exact sprue as Hasegawa.

Scalemates has them and so does ebay but I'd rather stick with the kit parts.

I've been on the net since 11 am this morning trying to find a solution.

Now I'll sit back (again) and patiently see what goes.

I'll let you know what happens.

Either buy a replacement kit from Hasegawa, Eduard or source a vac form from Squadron. During covid especially, many companies are hard pressed to do business. They may not have a kit to send the sprue from. They arent going to make one for you. Revell has left all the US customers the same way after their bankruptcy. Revell Germany doesn't have the parts and there is no US source anymore. It is just a difficult fact for kit makers now. If it cant be resolved then throw away the kit and do another one.

Thanks for the input......

 Yeah that's a hard decision since this model is (after many, many hours) completely finished ... except for the canopy.
 I would never ever expect them to "stop the press" just to make me a canopy.
 
 It's looking like $30 - 40 dollars for a replacement canopy (another kit) and relegating the rest of the parts to obscurity.

 And as of now, right at this minute ~ this eternal infernal quest will continue...........
                                               
                                                          

disastermaster

Hey Pawel!

 I just sent an email to eduard. Their kit has the same exact sprue as Hasegawa.

Scalemates has them and so does ebay but I'd rather stick with the kit parts.

I've been on the net since 11 am this morning trying to find a solution.

Now I'll sit back (again) and patiently see what goes.

I'll let you know what happens.

                             

 

HELLO MISTER PAWEL!

 

 I hope this makes your day because it sure has made mine. After all my repeated efforts roaming the internet for the last several weeks, you have solved my problem. I want to seriously thank you for recommending that I get in touch with Eduard.

Such kindness.....

********************************************************************

Petra Šolcová (Eduard Support)

 

Oct 12, 2020, 7:27 GMT+2

 

Hello Steve, we are sorry for the trouble. We will ship the replacement for you free of charge this time. The shipment will leave to your address within 10 days. Enjoy your build. Have a nice day and take care

Petra Solcova
Eduard M.A.  customer support

********************************************************************

                                                    

 Yeah, I'm kinda happy. Ya' could'a knocked me over with a feather. You Da man! What a great way to start the day.

I won't forget this Pawel. It might take three weeks or so to get here but I'm totally fine with that.

 After all the time I put in to this I can now finish it up. This is the first aircraft I've done in 20 years (wow, how did that much time slip past me so fast? ) and I didn't want to screw it up.

Thank you, thank you, thank you......   oh, did I say thank you?

                                                         

Yes, Eduard is GREAT for customer support!  I contacted them a year or so ago, and I believe I was answered by Petra, the same rep you worked with.  Absolutely delightful response- prompt, friendly, no sweat, problem solved-  rates an A++ in my book!

Well, Steve - I'm very happy for you! I kinda hoped this would turn out this way, that's just how I know those Czech guys. Now I'm just looking forward to seeing the pictures of the completed model!

And I could bet you a sake there's a Japanese guy just as friendly, working for Hasegawa, who would love to send you a replacement part, but he doesn't speak (/read/write) English... That's from my experience with the Japanese...

Good luck with your modelling projects and have a nice day

Paweł

Just to chime in about great customer service, I was in a similar situation last year.  Lost a part of the car body and ICM sent me the entire sprue.  This was amazing, because it was the sprue that held the whole car body, and easily the most expensive in the kit.

They sent it at no charge to me, even after I admitted it was my fault and offered to pay up, and it arrived in about a week.  

I have bought several more of their kits since that experience, figured I must make it up to them somehow!

Well, I hate to play the Topper here - but once I was working on a model of a 1:72 Topol misille TEL (transporter-erector-launcher) from Zvezda. That model doesn't have an engine - just an empty space... But there is a family of MAZ vehicles made by Modelcollect that have a similar engine (that motor actually comes from a T-34 tank...). I tried to buy a sprue containing that engine from Modelcollect but I couldn't... Because they sent it to me for free... That's not even a customer service, because I wasn't a customer of Modelcollect at that time. Thats just help for a buddy modeller! I have bought some stuff from modelcollect since - I think such a company is worth staying in business!

Have a nice day

Paweł

With people like this, it kind'a seems like Czechoslovakia
might be a nice place to live.