Looking for a good online hobby shop

While this is not an official endorsement of any online shop, I've had really good luck with SprueBrothers, Squadron (when they have what I need), Trident Hobbies, Pacific Front Hobbies (ships), White Ensign Models (ships) and Backyard Armor (1/16 armor).

Jeff

I too concur with what has been said about Great Models. The first time I ordered from them, I only ordered two kits, and it still took a while for the Heller Komet to come in stock, even though it says "in stock" on the item's profile page. However, this time around, I only ordered paints, and I received them within a week. I'll contine to shop at Great Models, mostly because of their large selection of items. I don't mind waiting a few extra weeks to get a kit that I can't find anywhere else.

I agree with what's been said about Great Models. They're slow to ship even if they have the product in stock. And if they don't have it, well it could take months to get it. They've been holding an order of mine for about a month now while they look for Styrene channel. I've since gotten it elsewhere but I can't cancel the order or I'll lose my place in the pre-order for the DML M1A1 Aim that's also on the order. That being said, I've never had any really bad issues with them so I continue to order from them.

As for Squadron, most of the stuff I get is from them. I've found that when using their search program, the less specific you are in your request, the better the chance of you finding it. True you might have to search through a few pages, but chances are you'll find what you want.

A couple other places that I've had good experiences with are Hometown Hobbies and Lucky Model. Lucky Model is a Hong Kong site. Their prices are incredible and shipping is great. I recently purchased an Academy M113A2 from them. I paid $8.00 for the kit and $8.00 for airmail shipping. The cheapest I could find it in the states was about $30.00, not including shipping.

eizzle wrote:

I assume you are talking about www.hobbylinc.com and not www.hlj.com right? I have had nothing but good luck with them. I guess it happens though? Try going to the order status page and putting in your order number. If you returned there and put in the date you got the order, it has a link where you can get a voucher to return the merchandise. Did you return and put in the date when you got it? If not that might be a possible reason why your having trouble? Just a thought, Good luck!

Correct, it was HobbyLinc.com and not the one in Japan... sorry about that.

I did all the above, returned and punched in the date I received my order. I also went to the page to submit for the return voucher twice, though nothing happened, maybe my browser. I also emailed them a few times.

Update:
I called their 800# and explained what happened. The gentleman said the next time I order something from them, order the correct pin vise and call him back. He will remove the charge for the pin vise from my order since sending back the incorrect pin vise would cost more than it's worth.

I really don't have plans on ordering anything retail anymore, I know it's only a couple of bucks, but it's the principal of the thing. I think I'll call again and ask for a manager this time. I think they owe me the correct pin vise whether I order something else or not. I know if I was running the business and my customer support team gave bad information, then I would eat the few dollars to make a customer happy. If customer service didn't know the answer to my question, they should have been honest and said - "Sir, that information is not included in our product discription". Then they could have opened one and checked or I could have ordered one that had the info listed and served my needs.

One upset customer, word gets around and you can lose possible business.

Yup thats it exactly.  The items I ordered we all listed as "In Stock" and then I found out later that they weren't.  Also if you order 10 items but 6 items aren't in stock they will hold your entire order until every last item is in and ready to ship.  At least thats how they used to do it.  Maybe they've changed there policy.  They were nice enough to send what items they did have once I started getting upset.  I mean I can't blame them for not wanting to save some money on shipping charges.  It just because a bit of a mess is all.  I did receive my stuff eventually.

I just remembered that I ordered some Verlinden 1/35 Tiger stuff from Militaryhobbies.com as well.  Between that and the Aber stuff it came to well over $300 I believe.  So I'd order from them again for whats its worth. 

My problem with GreatModels is what you said above, but anytime you get one in stock, and you are waiting for another item, they pull the one in stock off of yours, so then it turns into a vicious cycle of in stock/ out of stock. My opinion is if it says its in stock, it should be there, not at a warehouse in who knows where!

Good luck ordering with Great Models.  They have never ripped me off and I've never had to dispute anything with them.  However they have taken ages to fill an order.  They don't stock everything but rather once I placed my order they then started searching for the item thru other distributors.  There site is huge so I guess its a matter of just not being able to stock every single item.  All I know is when I placed orders with them its taken as much as 8 weeks to fill and when I've inquired about the status of my shipments all I got was vague answers about how they had to order certain items and that they were waiting on delivery.

I had good luck ordering a 1/16 Aber PE set for Tamiya's RC Tiger I thru Militaryhobbies.com.  I think I ordered a couple other small items from them as well.  You might give them a look and ask around some more.  You can also try Hobbytown.com   They have a local store near me.  There prices might be a bit higher but I think it should be safe ordering thru them.

No Bilbirk don't hold back tell us how you really feel.  What ever you do don't sugar coat it!

(I don't know why I am in this mood today.)

Grizz

I would not wish Great models on anyone! They have terrible service and are worthless

Thanks for all of your help, friends! Fortunately, I used a different browser, and was then able to place an order with Greatmodels.com. However, I will take into account your recommendations on other stores if Greatmodels.com doesn't have a particular kit/item that I want. Thanks again!

jhande wrote:

I had one experience with HobbyLink and it was BAD. I wanted to get my son his own swivel head pin vise. They had a few, one was shorter than the rest but it didn't give much info like what size bits it would hold. I figured the short one would be good for my sons small hands (10 years old). So I emailed them, they said it would hold sizes #61 - #80, so I ordered it along with the bit set and a few things. I got my order pretty quick, actually a day early too. I tried different bits in the pin vise AHHH, only sizes #75 - #80 fit. I emailed them 3 times, requested their return order from their website... that's been a week now. I even explained that they gave me the wrong info. Guess it's time for the phone call.

I assume you are talking about www.hobbylinc.com and not www.hlj.com right? I have had nothing but good luck with them. I guess it happens though? Try going to the order status page and putting in your order number. If you returned there and put in the date you got the order, it has a link where you can get a voucher to return the merchandise. Did you return and put in the date when you got it? If not that might be a possible reason why your having trouble? Just a thought, Good luck!

A couple that I use here in England are VERY good, I dunno about the postage cost though.

www.sbxmodelshop.co.uk (free post in the UK)

www.netmerchants.co.uk

Scott.

I had one experience with HobbyLink and it was BAD.

I wanted to get my son his own swivel head pin vise. They had a few, one was shorter than the rest but it didn't give much info like what size bits it would hold. I figured the short one would be good for my sons small hands (10 years old). So I emailed them, they said it would hold sizes #61 - #80, so I ordered it along with the bit set and a few things. I got my order pretty quick, actually a day early too. I tried different bits in the pin vise AHHH, only sizes #75 - #80 fit. I emailed them 3 times, requested their return order from their website... that's been a week now. I even explained that they gave me the wrong info. Guess it's time for the phone call.

I would caution about using Roll Models if you want anything in a reasonable abount of time, say, under a month. It took almost that long for me to get my Waldron punch set. They don't tell you that they may not even fill the order for 2-3 weeks until after you have hit the Submit button, and there is no e-mail address to contact them with questions about orders, etc.

Sprue Brothers

www.spruebros.com

I've had A+ dealings with them everytime I've ordered from them. Excellent customer service, only what is in-stock is listed, and fast shipping.

have you tried rolle models the are ok