Model-Junkie

I'm currently in Hong Kong for a month and co-incidentally, I'm staying at the Royal Plaza hotel in Mong Kok.  I found a couple of the model kit stores off Sai Yee Street and I'll have to check out the Sino Centre.  Prices on items are pretty good but I'm stuck with limited luggage space 😭  I haven't had luck finding the new Wave VF-171 kit yet but found plenty of rare Hasegawa kits.

Some one posted the instructions for a Bandai VF-1J in 2018, and then I found a scan of the VF-1S on Scalemates.  Hopefully either one of these work for your kit

W.O.W!  The grey brings out all of the details and it looks amazing!  Great work and it's even more impressive the short amount of time it took for you to create it.

Are you still providing canopies?  I have 2 of the Cats Eyes kits, I haven't started them yet but I'd like to pick up some spare canopies to be safe

Woah, I come back onto the forums after 2 years and I see this!  I'm down for one

Ooof, lots of details missing from that article but seeing as the report is in French and needs to be translated maybe they were trying to get by with the bare minimum, I read a more detailed article from The Aviationist

Apparently, the gentleman was indeed stressed/nervous but the main factor seems to be him not being properly strapped in and the pilot was not notified of the limitations from the doc.

I've lost count over the years but my model kit collection is near 1000, most of them are 1/72 scale.  I need to take some photos once I get my spaced cleared up, everything is packed into large boxes and stacked on wire shelving units - my office and garage looks like a warehouse! 

I was doing 1/24, 1/72, 1/100, 1/144, 1/200 & 1/2500 scale kits before deciding to cut back, having no kids & mortgage for a while allowed me to dump all my disposable income into grabbing every kit I wanted.  Then I realized how much space I needed to build and display everything so I have spent the last few years cutting down on my hoard :))  It was a lot easier to accumulate than get rid of and I have a lot of multiples.  For example I have 20 VF-1Ds (anime box art version, Max & Milia Virgin Road version and the common boxing with the model photo), I have plans to build them in different markings of real squadrons.

Shawn, I did not own any of the white box event versions from my understanding they were the same as the full box art versions but may not have included the Model Graphix decals.  I heard mixed comments on whether they included the special decals per this thread.  I regret selling the clear blue VF-1J but they're the same plastic as the clear canopies and I was afraid they'd end up being brittle or dulling over time.

On 4/8/2020 at 11:33 PM, Bolt said:

Stoked to finally get this one!

And these!

Evilbay can sometimes be your friend..

Doh, I need to be more active on here.  Nice score   I used to also have the clear blue and red kits but sold them when I was thinning down my model collection.  I'm still trying to cut down my 100+ Macross kit collection - I had almost every Hasegawa Macross kit at one point but I started getting more selective with the Macross Frontier and Delta releases.

I wish my first edition Mk 6 looked as good as the one in the photos! I may only pick up one or two of the Hall of Armors due to price. Are they and the new Mk 6 an exclusive or will they be available from places like HLJ too? Bandai only released the Mk 6, 42, 43, 45 and 46 I picked up a Figma Mk 7 as a stand in.

I haven't heard anything recently about a new Tamiya 1/72 F-14, one was announced in 2013 but it turned out to be a reissue of the Italeri kit. Their new 1/72 F-16 is definitely one of the best on the market next to the Revell kit.

Finemolds released the definitive 1/72 F-14D Tomcat last year but it was only available with the Model Graphix magazines. It will be hard to beat the Hasegawa, Fujimi and FM Tomcats, each one are good but do have their downsides.

OK, my ID is model Junkie because I had over 1000 model kits and I have been there and research new and old toolings when I bought my kits. I have bought my share of old toolings so be sure to ask away on questions, I can save you the trouble I've gone through.

The first link for the F-15C is the old tool. The F-15K was released within the last few years, one of the reasons why it is expensive plus it contains new parts that are for the F-15E variants. Previous Hasegawa 1/72 F-15E kits were just an F-15D with the prototype CFTs and weapon pylons, it did not represent a true F-15E. The F-15I, F-15SG, F-15K & 2012+ F-15E's all contain the appropriate F-15E CFTs & weapon pylons/racks.

These are the new F-15E's:

http://hlj.com/product/HSGSP323

http://hlj.com/product/HSGE39

http://hlj.com/product/HSG02119

The only kits you need to be wary of are F-15C's, F-15D's and F-15E's as these can be the old tools, and in the case of the F-15E, have engraved panel lines but incorrect parts for the E variant. F-15I, F-15SG, F-15K, F-15J MSIP II, F-15C MSIP II are all new releases and will represent the latest tooling. Any F-15J or F-15DJ with fancy decals should be the engraved kit boxing. Most of the new kits should also have photos of the actual aircraft rather than box art paintings, the only exceptions are the Ace Combat and Idolm@ster boxings.

Your best bet is to search eBay often, I bought a couple of F-15K kits from there for around $25

Most of the Hasegawa 1/72 F-14 kits will be of the new tooling. Again the give away would be the kits having photos of actual aircraft on the box top rather than box art but some releases had artwork such as the VF-1 Wolfpack, F-14A Aggressors and VX-4 Vandy boxings. An alternative to Hasegawa for the F-14 is Fujimi, at least their kits have movable wings whereas Hasegawa limits you to have the wings retracted or extended.

Here is the Hasegawa 1/72 F-15 kit history from Scalemates. Scroll halfway down the page to see the product timeline, it covers all of the F-15 variants released by Hasegawa.

When I was buying a few F-15 kits last year I noticed it was really the new F-15E, F-15SG, F-15I, F-15K and a few 'rare' F-15J kits (for the decals) that were commanding more money.

Are there any particular F-15 boxings you are looking for? I find that Amazon can be hit or miss with model kits. Usually, eBay or online retailers can offer better prices.

Going with the F-15 example, you have the very first release from the 70's with raised panel lines. Then came the engraved panel lined versions in 1988. From 2011 Hasegawa released new variants such as F-15I & F-15SG. Within the last few years they released a true F-15E and F-15C MSIP II variants. Most of the their F-15 releases are just new decals, especially the F-15J's.

Scalemates usually has a good timeline of a particular model kit and covers most/all of their re-releases and sometimes show when they are reboxed by other companies. They even have the VF-1 kit history listed on their website but it is not comprehensive.

eBay did not send me an e-mail regarding the coupon but I saw it on their home page and I was able to use the code on a purchase with a couple of hours to spare!

All 3 kits have the same bonus decal sheet

NZEOD, yes the ones that you posted WILL come with the Model Graphix decals. If the kits are pre-owned you may want to check with the seller to make sure they are included.

The other thread is incorrect, they are actual water-slide decals. Hasegawa does not issue stickers or dry rub transfers with their kits.

There are 2 boxings of the clear kits. One boxing has the same box art as the standard kit with the addition of a gold foil sticker on the box top - these ALL include the bonus Model Graphix decals. The second boxing is in a plain white box with a colored sticker (matching the kit color) that does not include the bonus decals. Info is per this thread

Had to update the list again to reflect a few more sales.

NZEOD, I currently only have the VF-1S clear green kit remaining and yes it does have the special optional decal sheet. USPS has changed their shipping prices so that international packages weighing between 13oz to 2lb costs $22.25. It would be worth while for you if you could pick up two, possibly 3, kits at the same time.

Valk009's (Andy) kit was, according to him, "based on the rare Musasiya kit with modifications and updates." I cannot remember if he acquired the original molds / master but his released was not a straight recast or knockoff. Almost everyone commented the quality of Andy's kit and the improvements done. His first batch of kits also came with white metals parts but later switched to all resin for simplicity and ease in building.

Only just saw your post here after I responded to your PM. I bought the kit new from Valk009 in 2012 and it sat in my stash for 3 years. I never did an inventory of the parts as I did not expect anything to be missing, no parts are at my end as I never took them out of the box, only opened the box to ogle at the parts and clean castings and then placed away. I did offer options for a refund and am still willing to work with you.

Anyone out there with one of these kits in their stash have an issue with missing parts?? Apparently, a few parts are missing from my kit Just trying to see if I am unfortunate or if this happened to others.

Keiichi is very lucky that others were able to step in and put pressure on EnderWiggen, otherwise there was very little chance of him getting his money back.

If you want to use Paypal's services to receive money quick, pay the fee or accept cashier checks / money orders only.

It really is simple for a seller, just incorporate the fees into the sale rather than trying to cheat Paypal. Heck, don't even promote the fact that you have done so.

It is a seller's obligation to ensure the buyer receives what they paid for. The seller may not be responsible for the shipping time but they still have to ship the item in a proper manner. I say this as a buyer AND seller. I recently bought a set of brake pads online. The seller just shipped them in the original packaging held together with magic tape. The package arrived with just one brake pad with the others having fallen out. I held the seller accountable, and rightly so.

Regardless, if EnderWiggen was a decent person and seller Keiichi would not have experienced the trouble he did. I am glad he got it resolved.

The Cat's Eye does have landing gear & I believe there is a catapult attachment point, instructions can be found here

Regular payment via paypal, no gift payment or add 3% baloney, you pay the price you see and you're protected. I am flexible on my prices, send me a private message and we can negotiate

Bump - updated list & photos