Asian Kit dealers??? eBay experiences???

R

RGPFX

Well-Known Member
Has anyone got any experiences to share re: buying from eBay dealers located in Thailand (or other Asian locales)? The feedback rating of one I'm seeing is 97% with several thousand entries. The product seems nice. The shipping, considering it's on the other side of the world seems reasonable.

Thoughts???

RGP
 
RGPFX said:
Has anyone got any experiences to share re: buying from eBay dealers located in Thailand (or other Asian locales)? The feedback rating of one I'm seeing is 97% with several thousand entries. The product seems nice. The shipping, considering it's on the other side of the world seems reasonable.
Click to expand...

I've seen a lot of those too.. and I'm a ebay whore - the problem with the resin kits from those asian places is that a lot of them are recasts...Honestly, I've seen some that aren't that bad cast-wise and price-wise... but if you're strict about not buying a recast, I would stay away from those guys...:angry

damn asians (i'm asian.. so i'm allowed such comments right? :rolleyes)
 
Gotta agree(except for the damn asians bit ;) ). I think that most (just shy of all) of the resin kits out of HK and Thailand on ebay are recasts. The sellers have high feedback just from the sheer amount of product that they shovel out. Unfortunately most people are more concerned with getting a nice kit at a low price than an original kit at something approximating the original retail price.

The quality of the kits varies, some have nice cleany cast parts in crisp white resin. Some use cheap resin with fillers. I recommend avoiding them because at best you are still buying a recast kit.

Depending on the type of kit you are looking for you can always try Yahoo Japan for things like Japanese resin/garage kits. Thats where I go for my older JP resin kits.

So as not to over generalize, I would like to say that there are individuals from HK and Thailand selling real kits from time to time. But the sellers you see selling hundreds of kits at a time and listing the same kits week after week are recast factories. So, caveat emptor.

- TGM
 
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a few years back i bought severel resin kits from people in thailand/hk, sent requests for the invoice and they never arrived, i eventually just gave up, the luckey thing is that i didn't pay.
 
pretty much the same as the resin ones, bad copies full of flaws, and rarely the correct scale due to shrinkage from multiple recastings. i'd say unless its from a recognisable company or they at least show the packaging it come in then i'd stay away
 
Also, most of the time they are showing pictures of their original, but this is NOT what you'll get. Heard many say they cursed the day they bought the recasts, when finally having bought the original to compare to it. Just skip that step entirely and stick with the original.
 
These also guys often make vinyl kit recasts of original resin kits and resin kit recasts of original vinyl kits. Generally the latter.

Again buy the original if at all possible.

- TGM
 
TheGreenMachine said:
These also guys often make vinyl kit recasts of original resin kits and resin kit recasts of original vinyl kits. Generally the latter.

Again buy the original if at all possible.

- TGM
Click to expand...

the ones that are too good to be true are... i purchased several kits over the years, with the understanding that i may loose my money.

when a quality recast comes in (once in a while they do come very clean and nearly perfect), i'm pleasantly suprised. But for i've had plenty of kits come with badly sanded pieces, with details taken off, body features ground off... warped pieces... etc..

i usually just start cheap, and then i see, how long it takes, and the quality of the recast, and go from there... some come fast, most come slow, and some don't come at all.. it's a gamble... but i've just gone back to
http://www.e2046.com/
 
I've purchased loads of the plastic kits out of Thailand over the years and they are pretty much what you would expect for the money. Not fantastic quality but very inexpensive.

Now to go over something no one here really has mentioned... I've purchased these from several different ebay sellers and have never had a problem with getting my product in a timely fashion. I've gotten stuff from Thailand quicker than from sellers who were two states away from me.

Basically I agree with what the others here are saying, if you can get the original kit you should go that route as you will be much more happy with the quality, but often these Thailand dealers have kits that are no longer available anywhere else.
 
Flagg said:
I've purchased loads of the plastic kits out of Thailand over the years and they are pretty much what you would expect for the money. Not fantastic quality but very inexpensive.

Now to go over something no one here really has mentioned... I've purchased these from several different ebay sellers and have never had a problem with getting my product in a timely fashion. I've gotten stuff from Thailand quicker than from sellers who were two states away from me.

Basically I agree with what the others here are saying, if you can get the original kit you should go that route as you will be much more happy with the quality, but often these Thailand dealers have kits that are no longer available anywhere else.
Click to expand...

In this respect I do agree with Flagg, I have many good experience with the people. Nice, hardworking and kind hearted. Sorry for the OT.

On the topic, you get what you pay for, but not necessary always bad. I was told that sometimes the originals do have faults with the mouldings too. Good sculpters may not be good mould makers, also depends on who they approach to make moulds for them...
 
i just got a facehugger ebay kit in from thailand yesterday.

its the vinyl type.

i am very pleased with it. nice material,well cast,good packaging and really fast shipping. best 16 dollars ive spent.

z
 
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Hey Zorg,

Don't mean to highjack this thread. I have never built a vinyl kit before, normally does the kit builder need to heat and reshape the kit as part of the building process?

What are the factors that we should look at in judging the quality a vinyl kit?

Peace
 
i used to do the vinal kits years ago. the smell when i opened the box brought back memories.

this is what i do, not saying this is what you should do.

i soak the parts in hot water before trimming. when the are soft and pliable they are sooooo easy to trim up.

once your happy with the trim and shape you have it in, run it under a cold tap to "lock" in postion. i find sometimes filling in some parts with resin might be required if you know it is a stress bearing part. some of the larger vinyl kits tend to sag after a while. eg 1/1 stripe gremlin.

also i would recommend roughing up the areas to be glued with super glue (crazy glue??) with some sand paper. just gives the glue a better grip.

vinyl doesnt want to glue naturally hense the glue tube lids are made of the stuff so you have to help it out a little. i hope this helps

z

edit*******
bad vinyl kits seem to be riddled with air bubbles, this is not good and takes ages to sort out. i would stay away from kits like this

id say ive only had 1 kit that was unworkable and sent it back.
 
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