- Joined
- May 23, 2013
- Messages
- 159
- Points
- 38
I just finished building a kit that I haven't talked about much. It was a relatively quick build that I started back in November and finished by the end of March – about four months, but closer to three months, given time out for other projects.
This has been a fun and challenging build that I will be writing about shortly. The kit is largely laser cut pieces with very few things that the builder is expected to make. It's almost a complete opposite from the old American kits, which just give you sticks, blocks and pictures and say little more than, "now make a skylight".
Instructions are extremely well illustrated, which is a really good thing, because the text is all in Japanese. That might not be so bad except there are a few explicit instructions to NOT glue certain pieces into place until a later step. In this sense, it's more of a procedural kit, very much like a plastic model.
Anyway, for those interested in attempting the kit (who read some Japanese or have Japanese friends or relatives), I recommend buying from a Japanese seller called Zootoyz The owner, Kazunori Morikawa, is a very nice guy and has been very helpful. His prices are good, his shipping prices are fair (pretty much doesn't tack on extra handling fees as far as I can tell), and he was recommended to me by Woody Joe, which does not market in the US. Also, because the prices are listed in Japanese yen (the website will calculate the exchange rate), with a really good exchange rate right now, the actual purchase costs have come down a lot in the past year or so. Plus, he takes Paypal.
There are kits listed on Amazon, but these are also from Japanese sellers, so there is no advantage to them and they charge more for the kit and for shipping.
Clare
This has been a fun and challenging build that I will be writing about shortly. The kit is largely laser cut pieces with very few things that the builder is expected to make. It's almost a complete opposite from the old American kits, which just give you sticks, blocks and pictures and say little more than, "now make a skylight".
Instructions are extremely well illustrated, which is a really good thing, because the text is all in Japanese. That might not be so bad except there are a few explicit instructions to NOT glue certain pieces into place until a later step. In this sense, it's more of a procedural kit, very much like a plastic model.
Anyway, for those interested in attempting the kit (who read some Japanese or have Japanese friends or relatives), I recommend buying from a Japanese seller called Zootoyz The owner, Kazunori Morikawa, is a very nice guy and has been very helpful. His prices are good, his shipping prices are fair (pretty much doesn't tack on extra handling fees as far as I can tell), and he was recommended to me by Woody Joe, which does not market in the US. Also, because the prices are listed in Japanese yen (the website will calculate the exchange rate), with a really good exchange rate right now, the actual purchase costs have come down a lot in the past year or so. Plus, he takes Paypal.
There are kits listed on Amazon, but these are also from Japanese sellers, so there is no advantage to them and they charge more for the kit and for shipping.
Clare