What will Hasegawa do next?

[Urashiman]

8 hours ago, Raikkonen said:

With all my orders from Japan generally, and HLJ too, the initial shipping costs are likely an estimate. 

This is likely due to exchange rates. 

Also had this with my recent HLJ order and I'm in Europe. Shipping was 32 Euro, then ended up being 26 Euro. 

Yeah - same here. I am from Germany and exchange rates go around often. Business as usual, except for the generally known orange shenanigans.

[Bolt]

I got the email too. I feel like i'm in a pickle here. Should i pull the trigger bow for $200 + EMS or wait it out? I'm probably just gonna wait ( 3 more years! Lol) it out as i'm not in a super hurry and i have several boxes i already need to unpack and sort through..

[VF-1A Grunt]

10 hours ago, Raikkonen said:

With all my orders from Japan generally, and HLJ too, the initial shipping costs are likely an estimate. 

This is likely due to exchange rates. 

Also had this with my recent HLJ order and I'm in Europe. Shipping was 32 Euro, then ended up being 26 Euro. 

I think it's something more than that, possibly an issue with their website's calculations. For the ¥3,230 price of the 1/48 VF-1J/A to equal $26.10 USD, the exchange rate would have to be about ¥124 to the dollar. The yen hasn't been that strong in over three years. Not a big deal, regardless. I'm just happy that the prices ended up being lower than I expected.

One of my cousins is visiting Japan at the moment, but I doubt I can talk her into squeezing a few kits into her bags for me!

[Raikkonen]

12 hours ago, VF-1A Grunt said:

I think it's something more than that, possibly an issue with their website's calculations. For the ¥3,230 price of the 1/48 VF-1J/A to equal $26.10 USD, the exchange rate would have to be about ¥124 to the dollar. The yen hasn't been that strong in over three years. Not a big deal, regardless. I'm just happy that the prices ended up being lower than I expected.

One of my cousins is visiting Japan at the moment, but I doubt I can talk her into squeezing a few kits into her bags for me!

Maybe.

But I've expereinced the same with all my Amazon Japan orders of the last couple of years, sometimes even an increase to what it showed me initially. 

[VF-1A Grunt]

On 8/7/2025 at 3:29 PM, KOG Water Dragon said:

As for Black Aces... I dunno.

I'm sitting on 3 of the 1/72s and 2 of the 1/48s right now. I THINK the 1/72 technically has 4 build options in the box, and the 1/48 has 5.

Part of me wants to go crazy and buy 1 more 1/72 and 3 more 1/48. My more rational side says no way in hell, you'd never build all of them. Having 5 of the 1/48 sitting around would be kind of insane.

If it "helps" at all, HLJ has the 1/72 Black Aces discounted 50% to $12.87 USD for their summer sale. That's a crazy good price. 

1/72 VF-1J Super/Strike Valkyrie "SVF-41 Black Aces"

The regular 1/72 Super/Strike Valkyrie is $11.26 USD. I really don't need any more of either model...

[VF-1A Grunt]

I’m glad I decided to have HLJ ship my models a few weeks ago, since they sent out a notice yesterday that they are halting shipments to the U.S. while they figure out how the new tariff process will work.

I requested the shipment via EMS on August 8, they shipped it on August 16 (it was actually accepted on August 18), and it arrived on August 25.

Of course, a number of other items have arrived since I requested the shipment, but HLJ says they will hold things indefinitely in the Private Warehouse until the tariff process is resolved.

Edited Wednesday at 04:05 PM by VF-1A Grunt

[Papa Rat]

11 minutes ago, VF-1A Grunt said:

I’m glad I decided to have HLJ ship my models a few weeks ago, since they sent out a notice yesterday that they are halting shipments to the U.S. while they figure out how the new tariff process will work.

I requested the shipment via EMS on August 8, they shipped it on August 16 (it was actually accepted on August 18), and it arrived on August 25.

Of course, a number of other items have arrived since I requested the shipment, but HLJ says they will hold things indefinitely in the Private Warehouse until the tariff process is resolved.

I wish they had reached out to customers about the freeze happening before it was enacted so folks in the USA could clean out their private warehouse, but it is what it is. Shrug emoji. Lol

[Bolt]

I put a shipping order together at least a few weeks ago. Just got the shipping notice the day before yesterday. So at least I'm getting a few things . But I've got a lot more stuff now languishing in limbo at hlj..

[KOG Water Dragon]

2 hours ago, Bolt said:

I put a shipping order together at least a few weeks ago. Just got the shipping notice the day before yesterday. So at least I'm getting a few things . But I've got a lot more stuff now languishing in limbo at hlj..

I have so much stuck there. I'm glad they are suspending the 6th month storage limit, but still... who knows when I'll be able to get my stuff.

[Bolt]

13 minutes ago, KOG Water Dragon said:

I have so much stuck there. I'm glad they are suspending the 6th month storage limit, but still... who knows when I'll be able to get my stuff.

Same boat here. 

[Papa Rat]

Told my wife I was going to make a yard sign saying “keep your teriffs off my plastic models” lol. 

[Big s]

4 hours ago, Papa Rat said:

I wish they had reached out to customers about the freeze happening before it was enacted so folks in the USA could clean out their private warehouse, but it is what it is. Shrug emoji. Lol

I don’t know if they really had time. They did give warnings the other week that things would be iffy and it was pretty much the other day when a few countries in the region announced that they would stop deliveries as a kind of protest or retaliation against the tariffs since the U.S. was dropping that de minimis exemption. These changes are sometimes coming in the fly and other times there’s a warning with a lot of speculation attached. I kinda think everyone was hoping for the exemptions to be extended rather than dropped.

[Papa Rat]

1 hour ago, Big s said:

I don’t know if they really had time. They did give warnings the other week that things would be iffy and it was pretty much the other day when a few countries in the region announced that they would stop deliveries as a kind of protest or retaliation against the tariffs since the U.S. was dropping that de minimis exemption. These changes are sometimes coming in the fly and other times there’s a warning with a lot of speculation attached. I kinda think everyone was hoping for the exemptions to be extended rather than dropped.

Yeah seems like the call had to be made hastily. I totally get it. Now we wait and see. 

[Bolt]

2 hours ago, Papa Rat said:

Told my wife I was going to make a yard sign saying “keep your teriffs off my plastic models” lol. 

Lol 

Ya. Wait time. 

[Big s]

1 hour ago, Papa Rat said:

Yeah seems like the call had to be made hastily. I totally get it. Now we wait and see. 

Hlj is at least a hold your item kinda place, but I had an order I totally forgot about a hobby search that just came in stock. Not sure how that’s gonna go. It was only a $20 item and if not for shipping being stopped, it might’ve gotten that $80 fee tagged on top of shipping making a stupid little purchase something far more premium than it should be. I’ll probably have to email them regarding the situation