Ok-here are the rest of the pics from the trip for all the Non-Macross/Mospeada/Orguss stuff. Again, please share and spread the word about the variety of available kits!
And please visit the Wise Guys Hobbies Ebay store below! If you see something in the pictures that isn’t in the store, ASK THEM…they just haven’t posted it up yet.
Part Tres in our “3 Aisles tour!” (get it?…yeah that was bad)
How about a 190 Imai Orguss M.Lover kits? Yep…190!The Betty from Alien 4 always reminded me of those kits….the arms and all you see. I’m sure everyone who grew up on early 80’s Anime had a thought like that when you saw the movie (I can’t be the only crazy one here)Just a handful of these…I suspect they were from Ron’s personal collection just to round out the collection. Get some Nikicks!Approximately 70 NOS Imai 1/40 Variable Olson Specials on the rack. Keeping with Imai’s awesome Variable kit theme on the bottom rack, we roll into the Imai 1/72 Variable VF-1J. These kits really are worthy to get just because of the incredible box art from Takani. Just dig it!This one is in my top 3 of box art pics. We chased these kits on Yahoo Japan for ages, and now we have a shelf full, all NOS and not partially built or painted with parts off the runners. Mint-o!The Imai 1/72 Fixed Pose Orguss series. Don’t worry if you want all 4 versions…Victor found another 20+ of the Fliers! (after this pic was taken). Imai 1/72 Fixed mode Legioss fighters, with the awesome Suzuki box art. I’ll be honest, for the first 10 years I thought the box art was by Takani. Suzuki could really crank out the good stuff too!Sealed and ready for purchase! You cannot tell me this box art is not freaking awesome. Imai 1/72 Legioss Zeta and Eta …that the Gakken 1/48 Eta (Fixed Pose). Some Armo-Divers (Gerwalks…come on we all KNOW what it really is). And we have a couple of the Megaro Zamack Gerwalk Phantoms! These are super hard to find.I remember in the later 90s I ran across some MPC Laser Warriors in the store…these are the same Imai Megaro Zamack Gerwalk Phantom kits as above. They were available at drug and small stores (smaller than K-Mart) in So-Cal for a bit. I remember spending and afternoon and hitting a few and finding the series. They were originally release in the 85 (rough) I think…someone must have found some cases in a warehouse and re-distributed them.Imai’s 1/72 VF-1D kitTakani’s in action pose…VF-1A on the left and VF-1S on the right.Megaro Zamack line-upHow IMAI went out of business but Arii hung around I’ll never know, but it probably has to do with the complexity and upper-scale pricing of their kits. 1500 yen was a lot back then..vs 300-500 as the average for Arii. These variable Legioss and VF-1 kits were the closest thing to the much more expensive Gakken and Takatokus toys many of us could get.After the big 84 collapse, Bandai picked up the pieces from Imai and Arii, and repackaged their kits. These 1/100 variable kits are from the Arii HEWAT lineup. The VF-1S in the upper right (#5) is the Imai 1/100 Strike Battroid, repackaged. For the Bandai 1985 release they had a variety of guest box-artists. They are very well done (and released again in 1990) It got REAL dark here, so the flash had to engage on the cameraRon got in on some of the 1997 15th Anniversary releases tooAdditional 1/100 variables on the rackDon’t forget about the small-fry kits! Colorful green pink and blue side colors. Arii still made these kits up until 1997…I can’t remember seeing them after that thoughThe equivalent Imai variants. These Imai kits were my bread and butter when a kid-I could save my lunch money and pop over to Sprouse-Reitz in 1984/1985 and grab one a day….I had my priorities straight even back then!Imai Iron Type 1/72 VF-1S Super Battroid Fighter kits.It comes with its own diorama base too! This kit holds up on its own even today-I love the contrast of the chrome and the red Macross logos. This is one sharp looking kit!Iron Type continued…SDF-1 (back), Tomahawk, Regult..and 1/100 Glaugs!a LOT of Glaugs…my god. Buy in Bulk and pass them out to all your family members at Christmas or Hanukkah! Tell them they are valuable Japanese collectibles, and they should hold onto them in this sealed box condition! They will never forget the year they got Glauged!Bandai’s re-release of the Imai 1/72 Battroid and VF-1S Super Fighter (the same Iron Type as seen above, bit without the chrome and diorama base)Max and VF-1A Soldier (aka Cannon Fodder) type Super Fighters
And for our Macross based Finale, Anthony and team invited me and Xstoys over to one of the extra warehouses they have storing all the kits. They consolidated some of the smaller ones into this larger one, and then Anthony’s personal garage. I could not get 5 feet into this warehouse back in March. Victor reported he made a small path and posted some pics in the GTC threadintheMWforums(click here to see)
But on this cold rainy day, there was no path..it was just case chaos, and it was awesome.
Boom-here we go!
They storage door was rolled up and we are greeted with a Tomahawk shipping case, Then Regult shipping, then the 1/72 Glaug case, and so many others we can’t even see yet. Anthony climbed up onto the boxes and grabbed a couple random boxes so we could have an impromptu discovery session . Oh here is an entire sealed case of 1/144 Imai VF-1J 4-types…and some 1/160 Monsters..and some 1/72 Glaugs…and 150 Nichimo Defenders and SDF-1 kits, and 1/100 Regult Scouts. Remember in March the update was ‘Approx 30% of the inventory has been inventoried’…I think that is about right! I can’t wait to see what else is uncovered in the upcoming months, but the Wise Guys need you to buy some of this inventory so they can clear off the shelves you’ve see so far with all this new inventory.
If you know any local hobby shops, or sellers are conventions, or want to start up your own model kit reselling business, please reach out to Anthony and strike up a conversation! Please spread the word!!
Greetings Program! As soon as the door was opened we were greeted with an Imai shipping caseThis is the Tomahawk, with #2 from the original Macross releases (#1 was the Arii 1/100 VF-1J Battroid), talk about historical!Underneath is a another Imai case, generic, this one B-1263, which is the Megaro Zamack 1/100 Gerwalk HarrierShipping case for the Arii 1/100 Small Missile RegultVotoms 1/35 SAK BersergaMoving a box, and what is in here under this dilapidated top…Oh, just an entire case of 1/144 4-Type valks NOS mint.Ron’s on-the-fly inventory system! The HBUE’s were the Nichimos, so this was probably his big box of loose Nichimos he would use to fulfill orders.it goes on and on an one. Top right is another Nichimo box. Left is the 1/100 Metalize SpartanThe big daddy of the boxes on top here…the Arii 1/72 Glaug kit! Would have had 30 of them inside.Another random box and we come across a mint Arii 1/160 Monster, and below 9 brand new 1/72 Glaugs hidden for decadesSide shotLeaning tower of Tamiya on the left, and a case of Dorvack Rook & Buffire on top. It is a little chaotic in the back theremore randomness, sometimes you never know what is inside the boxesTCI Twentieth Century Imports case. I would love to hear their stories from the pastAnother different case full of the Imai 4-Types. I might need to just get 5 of these kits…showing its 2 levels deep (for the Archives!)Nichimo shipping caseOne side was different on these, and that is what they could containNote the inventory list is different thanAnd another variant3 levels deep, each level has 50 kitsThat is a lot of defenders and sdf-1 kits!!!Case of the missile pods
The next update will be everything ELSE in the warehouse…Votoms, Dougram, L-Gaim, Gundam, Star Trek, Yamato etc etc etc
Here is the standard contact boilerplate! See you soon for the next update.
Please visit the Wise Guys Hobbies Ebay store below.
Imai 1/200 Monster Blue-Box Variation, and both Imai 4 Type sets (1/170 scale)The Blue Box variant has a mistake on the Box, calling it the MWR-00-MK II, while the other correct White Box variant has HWR-00-MK II. (Heavy Weight Robot) Just an interesting piece of Macross modeling trivia! More of the A-TypesSmall Variety of NOS Battletech figures!
Found a picture which kits come in each set here (from a TCI brochure) So above I see set 1,5,7,8 The Macross kits are re-packaged Macross Nichimo 1/200 series Battletech kits link
Arii 1/100 VF-1D Metalize Series (backside from the 6.1 update)The rest of the Arii Diorama kitsDitto on the MikimotosA slew of Arii 1/100 Super VF-1S Focker Special GerwalksFront side shot of the Arii 1/8000 SDF-1sAnd sorry…I just can’t get over how many SDF-1 kits there are…like seriously wow.Close up of the TCI sticker seen on many of the kits.A few of the huge Arii 1/72 Glaugs. We’ll get some more Glaug auction in the next update when I visit the auxiliary warehouseArii 1/100 VF-1S Focker Special fighter. When I looked at this picture I thought ‘Is there a box color variant I wasn’t aware of!?’, then confirmed no…Arii just chose to have each end slightly different color to match the top. How often could you ever even notice something as odd as this?The dark background side (upper right) is on the left side of the box, and the orange background(lower right) is on the right side of the boxNeed a Super Fighter? Overflow on the ground level. Overflow? From what?The upper level of course! Make Anthony an offer to get 50 of these…LOL There will be still be plenty remaining. And I miscounted from the previous post…I said 120…there are 236 on the inventory list..doh!ok..enough Super Fighters…lets get back into some more alternate Nichimo figures! These are the Testors R.O.B.O.T. line…another case where they repacked the Nichimo 1/200s into another box. At least in this lineup (1985) they kept the original names and the Nichimo HBUE-## series.I’ve tried to track how many of the Nichimo kits actually made it into the Testors ROBOT line-up…so far it looks like half. I’m not sure the reason for why these were chosen. If you find any others please let me know in the forums, would love to see what else is out there!I got up on a ladder I found in the corner to get this picture of the top shelve full of the Testor ROBOT kits. These tend to be like the Revell kits…always crushed and bad shape. Not these! NOS Minty, and in shipping cases.Picture of the Imai Monster shipping case. 1/100 scale!? We wish! 40 count per case, wow.The other side with the generic Macross artA warning inside the box to not get it wet!Turning the corner on another aisle, we get some Imai 1/72 Battroids and some of the last kits Imai made, their Conversion series (Conversion meaning they came with extra decals and heads so you could buy 1 kit and make an S/J/A Max or Milia version)On the left (blue box) on the side is the Imai 1/72 Gerwalk…no on the Right is is the Imai 1/72 Gerwalk, no wait…that is the 1/72 Battroid, no wait….whut?ok…on the LEFT in gray is the 1/72 Battroid, and on the Right in blue is the 1/72 GerwalkUntil today, I never caught the misprint on the sides of the boxes. On one side they say its a Battroid and on the other side it says its a Gerwalk. Cool! I love finding these weird inconsistencies in the packaging.Some Mosepada and some box color variants, the Blue 1/72 Battroid (instead of white), and the Blue 1/72 Gerwalk (instead of Yellow)Another angle of the Mospead Ride Armor kitsHow about a few Imai 1/144 VF-1A 4-Type kits?The VF-1S and VF-1J 4-Types on the left, and some Gerwalks on the right (notice the Red VF-1A vs Yellow VF-1A box variations)Some sealed Imai Factory kits, and 1/72 Spartans galoreImai 1/40 Variable Orguss II kits. 2 levels deep!!A few 1/72 Regults. These were the go-to Regult kit until Hasegawa came along these last couple years. They held the throne for almost 40 years, not bad! The box are is pure Takani.Some Super Valks, and some 1/5000 SDF-1 kits that are a bit rough (read DISCOUNT!) Notice the back stack NOS Minty.3 levels deep of Phalanx and Nousgadeul-GersThe 1/20 Macross GU-11 Gunpod (2 levels deep) and the 1/16 Orguss Missile-Gun. I could not believe my eyes seeing so many of these rare kits in one place.Some more Monsters! Didn’t we see that warning from Imai about not getting the kits WET? Well the attic at Rons house did get a few boxes of kits. DISCOUNT for the builders!The Zentradi are coming for you! Pick up a few Quel-Quallies! 3 levels deep.The original Imai 1/48 Variable Legioss kits. Before this pic, I’m pretty sure they’ve not been seen in mass like this since 1983 in a Hobby Store. Get the kit that was the basis for the Toynami Legioss! I love these kits, they are incredible complex. Aoshima owns the molds now and they release them every few years, and Suzuki’s box art still makes an appearance.40 years and still in production…that says a lot about Imai’s design!Imai 1/72 Legioss Armo-Solider(Battroid) and Imai 1/800 SDF-1 Storm AttackerSome additional Southern Cross kits…just a few!Sorry-just have to show another angle of those Legioss kits…2 levels deep. Just wow.Imai’s 1/100 Strike Battroid (Rare) and some 1/72 DefendersImai 1/100 Tomahawks, again with Takani art!Blue variant (in stock at Wise Guys) and the White box variant shown from my collection.
Ok, another 2 Aisles down, 1 to go, then the aux wareshoue, then I’ll circle back on more of the NON-MACROSS kits…there are a ton, at least 2 full pages worth.
PLEASE feel free to reach out to Anthony with if you want any larger purchases, the Wise Guys will make you a deal! Ron was sitting on so much leftover inventory it still make my head spin.
Please visit the Wise Guys Hobbies Ebay store below.
Yes, I flew 6 hours from CA to NY, got a rental car, hotel, drove to the middle of New York state, met the Wise Guys Team, toured the Warehouses, and then did a rewind of all those steps in just 3 days time, all to look at a bunch of model kits from the 80s.
Yes, it was crazy.
And Yes, it was totally worth it.
Day #1 – The arrival
When the plane landed, I noticed this strange Nuclear Fallout in the air… Oh..that is SNOW. Just great. I just left 75 degree weather in So Cal.
What is this stuff falling from the sky?
I made the trip with fellow MacrossWorld member XSToys, he was as curious as I was, even though he is the “Toy” Guy. But he appreciates a lifetime collection as Ron had, so we met up at JFK. Leaving our respective houses at 3am. then all day flights with layovers + losing 3 hours due to the time zone meant it was a crazy snow and rain and slushfilled evening finding the rental car (JFK is HUGE), driving to the middle of New York State to the hotel, with just had enough time for a late dinner. We would engage Wise Guys first thing in the morning!
Day #2 – The Visit
Early up, grab some quick breakfast on the way, and arrive at a very non-descript location in an industrial business park. Am I at the right location? XSToys spots an empty folded TCI box in the front in a recycling pile…bingo!
A minute later Anthony pulled up and introduced me to the other members of the Wise Guys Staff, Victor (WiseGuyVic in the forums) and Joe. Insanely nice and extremely accommodating, with New York accents in full power. We couldn’t meet a more welcoming group of people.
We entered the building into the front office, and I saw a peek of the warehouse out the back door. We introduced ourselves and started talking about some of our collecting history, then XSToys started with his insane toy collecting legacy. I was ‘Yeah XS..this is all really great stuff (I’ve heard his history report a few times)…but uhmm, I gotta go into this warehouse right now or I’m gonna die. A group chuckle ensued and I was GONE.
My side eye view whilst historical introductions were being made…I gotta GO!
I enter and hang a sharp left. This is Victor’s workspace. Victor does the translations of the never ending boxes for the ebay store and for the inventory worksheet. Most of the Macross kits have convenient english text somewhere on the boxes. Many series though are 100% Japanese text, and it was very difficult to inventory these until Victor joined. I joked to Anthony “I knew the day Victor started because I saw the immediate jump in inventory text accuracy in the inventory workbook!” : )
Fresh batch of kits extracted from the boxes. SFD3D, Battletech, and the Arii 1/170 HEWAT lineup-all 4 variants. A few Queads hidden in the background. Yes, we can use a 1/5000 SDF-1 as our temp mousepad in these parts.
To the right of Victor’s workstation there was a nice display setup of some kits…and HEY! Those are my Imai GU-11 Gunpods I’ll be reselling at the SDCon this year to pay for our server costs! Sweet!
My GU-11s! Come to SDCON this year to pick one up and support Macross World!
I noticed the sprue piles below the tables. Some of the kits outer boxes just didn’t make it from Ron’s house (in the attic there were a couple leaks), so these get shucked and thown into the Sprue boxes.
Kitbash fun!I told you…those ARII 1/170 HEWATS were literally fresh out of the case. Here is the case to prove it200 Yen each, 4 variations. 160 per case. Victor’s afternoon is going to be very busy indeed. Case of Macross 1/200 Nichimos in the upper left corner. To the right are some Zeta Gundams, middle are Macross and Orguss, right is a case of NOS Votoms…just wow!A quick glance down the first row. Camera ready, lets dive in. Going to snake down the left side, then back up the right, rinse and repeat per row if you are tracking something on the shelves.Imai’s 1/72 Variable VF-1D rebranded as the Orbot. You should take note of the condition of these boxes. In most ebay type auctions or at vendor tables at various cons, the boxes always tend to be crushed. Revell didn’t spend a lot of money on them, the cardboard is extremely thin for a wide long kit. These here? Pristine. I grabbed one of each for my personal collection.Milia’s VF-1J rebranded as Axoid. Center left is representative of what I was talking about being the norm for these things. By the way-unless you can see otherwise, these shelves are all 2-3 levels DEEP of the same kits, that you are looking at 48-60 of these Changer kits!Arii gets into the game with their 1/100 Variable lineup. These don’t have weird names or paint jobs like the Imai, they are referred to as Veritech fighters, so I imagine these were released after the released of the Robotech the TV series. Remember 2-3 levels deep, so we have about 50 of theseI’m not sure the difference between the 2 box colors(Black and Green), perhaps someone with a bit more knowledge of the Revell kits could chime in. I saw it on the earlier 1/72 lineup as wellMax type on the left, and the remaining Fockers on the right These are wonderful kits, they are just like their 1/72 larger cousins. I always wondered how Arii could copy so much from the Imai 1/72 version, just assumed it was some sort of mutual agreement in place.Arii 1/48 Nikick (fixed pose) appearing as the Decimax, and the Imai 1/40 Variable Orguss coming in as the Nebo. I get it…you often have to come up with a new name for a new market, but since they are all made up anyways, why a Decimax vs Nikick? Nebo always sounded vaguely aquatic to me.Some large box Dougram rounding out this shelfThis was the Takara Crab Gunner if I recall…memory is not so good on the Dougram stuff, so don’t quote me on that!Oh Vexar, remember when I picked you up at my local K-Mart as a young teen. I knew what it was…it was $20 cheaper than the Imai 1/72 Focker Variable kit at my local hobby store. Some mint versions in the back…yoinked one for myself!Aqualo and Airborne Attackers! And my favorite thing…an SF3D box used to block the window. Only a Wise Guy would do that.Arii’s large 1/5000 SDF-1 makes it across the Pacific into the Robotech lineup. Some of the smaller Arii factories on the right.Arii’s 1/48 Drifand Dal (Orguss Series) looks pretty damn cool as the “Trigon” on the box pic. It transforms into the more compact tank unit as well. What a cool kit.2-pack picks from Arii’s 1/170 lineup. We have random parings of kits grouped into pairs named Robotech Tactical Unit, Recon Team, Allied Forces, Sniper Squad, Ground Attackers, and Search Patrol.Continued from pic above. This wraps up the Revell Robotech section, what a stockpile!Want some small scale Yamato (Star Blazer) kits!? I saw so many cases of these! Ron must have got them in bulk! Each case has 30 different ships, between 40 and 5 each, totaling 240 kits per case. Obviously the 40 were the primary ships…with lesser seen models getting just 5.Break out of each case’s unitsOpening the case you are greeted with thisThe 30 kit lineup. What an awesome concept, for only 100 yen eachAt the end of the first row, we hit Nitto’s SF3D World. When was the last time you ever saw this many NOS SF3D kits in one location? Bonus Crusher Joe and Macross case sitting on the topSF3D Group 1. I remember seeing these being built in the early/mid 80’s issues of Hobby Japan. I always appreciated the real-world like applications of all their ships and weapons.SF3D Group 2SF3D Group 3SF3D Group 4. I remember always seeing the crazy names like Neuspotter, Fledermaus, and Hornisse. What a crazy time machine collection of kits.Shipping Case of 40 for the Macross Diorama with the VF-1J Gerwalk as the primary character. I never thought I’d see actual shipping cases from 1983 still around.The kit mentioned above. These sets were all mixed with existing WWII model assets (I believe, I can’t imagine they would make these for the Macross kits). One day I’m going to try and tracking them down.In the corner stacked up along side one of the racks, I saw a few more boxes. Here is the shipping case for the Arii 1/100 Super Valkyrie. 72 per box at 400 Yen each.The #70 Super Valkyrie box art…And as seen extracted from the case and put on the shelves ready for sale. There are 2 cases worth here…approx 120 kits! Contact Anthony and buy some in BULK-they are pretty nice kits, you could build out any squadron you could imagine.We’ve turned the corner on aisle #1 and working our way back up. HUNDREDS of the Arii 1/100 Metalize series of kits (the are the Arii’s smaller response to the Imai Iron-Type series of kits).Arii’s 1/100 VF-1S FockersI can say pretty confidently that you will never see another set of 200 SDF-1 Kits again. These are the Arii 1/8000 Cruiser mode, pic below. If you didn’t catch that…over 200 of them. More Diorama kits to the right.Build one stock. Build a green Zentradi version. How about Max and Milia variants. Can they kit-bash combine into a larger one i.e. GoLion/Voltron? With 200 you can have some fun.Arii’s 1/100 Mikimoto Box Art series of kitsHow about some Southern Cross 1/12 Figure kits?Remember that empty Nichimo Case from earlier? They’ve been unpacked! There is a great abundance of the 1/200 Defenders for some reason…something like 120 of them, plus another 100 in another case I saw.And remember when I said earlier the kits often go back 2-3 rows? For the smaller Nichimo’s we are 5 levels deep.Abundant Defenders The Max standard fighter box art is awesome-one of my favorite Takani piecesMax Valkyrie Box ArtAnd to round out this aisle, at the top of the end cap is an Arii 1/100 Regult Case, and the 1985 Bandai 1/72 Max Super Valkyrie.This box has made the grand tour from Bandai in Japan to TCI in Denver to Ron at GTC to Wise Guys Hobbies to you seeing it here
Hope you’ve enjoyed our first update since the trip, sorry its taken so long to get uploaded.
PLEASE feel free to reach out to Anthony with if you want any larger purchases, the Wise Guys will make you a deal! Ron was sitting on so much leftover inventory it still make my head spin.
Please visit the Wise Guys Hobbies Ebay store below.
Here we have another update on the seemingly never ending task of unboxing Ron’s Incredible GTC Inventory. Anthony estimates he is now about 30% unpacked, but the shelves are 3/4 full! Additional shelving is on order. I’m not exactly sure how this unboxing to shelving ration is going to end, but one helpful solution we can do is to spread the word to other sites to check out all the crazy vintage NOS inventory, so those purchases can open up shelf space for new entries!
If there was one common word about future sales, it is ‘Bulk!’. Anthony will make you great deals if you buy BULK!
Another tour and random unboxing!Look at all these 1/144 Imai 4-Type kits!The Imai International shipping label. Literally just says ‘TCI Los Angeles’ How big were TCI back in the day!?80 Assorted Mospeada and Orguss kits (2 layers!), all NOS SEALED never touched in 40 years. A truly incredible find!
For all the Vintage Box Art fans, there is a new Macross themesd Box Art Book coming out Feb 23rd. Click on the picture below to see the latest news in the forums
Happy New everyone! Hope everyone had pleasant Holidays! I feel December always goes way to fast, I wish there was a way to slow it down. But now that we are beginning the new year, another update is in order, and Anthony has delivered.
Uncasing/Unboxing the seemingly never-ending inventory is still progressing. The first truck (of 3) was unpacked and loaded into the warehouse during the last update, and the boxes from that haul have finally been processed (they were ceiling level). Anthony’s rough estimate is that 20% of the inventory has been shelved. That means 80% is still in boxes in the other warehouses!
Those boxes will now being their trek over to the main warehouse for the continued unboxing.
Please remember, if you are looking to add kits for your personal collection please visit their eBay store at the link below.
For anyone interested in bulk orders, please contact Anthony at the email here. Very good discounts are available for those buyers!
Here is our after New Years update! Take it away Anthony. As always my frame by frame analysis is after.
Lets break down some elements of the video for fun!
Arii 1/100 VF-1S Super Valkyrie. Box art by T. Suzuki is awesomeThe shipping CaseArii 1/100 Small Missile RegultSmall Missile Shipping CaseArii 1/100 Large Missile RegultLarge Missile Pod Shipping CaseArii 1/100 Scout Regult. Look at all of these!Create your 1/100 Arii Defender Army! Think about the Macross Dioramas you could do with this many kits.2 out of the 4 Macross Factory series (sure the other 2 are still in boxes)Arii 1/100 VF-1D Metalize SeriesThe 1/100 Arii Fighter is a really nice mold-they nailed this one. Many people overlook the Arii 1/100 line up because the Gerwalk and Battroids have oversized hands and shortened torsos, but the Fighters are another story-these are solid designs!This is what the Arii 1/100 fighters look like. As you can see-solid lines! Tell me that doesn’t look good!Here is what the Shipping Case looks like for the Metalize VF-1D for the hardcore fans!The awesome Arii 1/100 Dioramas. I know I’ve show these before, but it is a pretty cool concept!Shipping Case for the Gerwalk DioramaThere are no words….they should have sent a Poet.See the VF-1D comments above…this is a great looking kitHold on…wasn’t I just here before? Nope…its another CASE! #70See that #70 Case at the top? That is the case Ron had of the Arii 1/100 VF-1S Super Valkyries. How insane is this historical find.See the little Red kits on the very top shelf?Testors wasn’t going to just sit around and see Revell and MPC get in on all the robot action. They worked out a deal with Nichimo and sold the Macross 1/200 series.Corporate asked us to find the differences between the 2 picturesThis one will sneak by you if you aren’t paying attention. I had to zoom in to see. Guesses? The Imai Yellow box is the standard 1/72 VF-1S Battroid…come on that is too easy. What is to the right?If you guessed Imai 1/72 Battroid and Gerwalk Conversion kits, give yourself a firm pat on the back! You earned your Macross wings today!another sideanother sideIf you enjoy Takani’s artwork as much as I do, these are the kits to get. Plus you get a Summer ’84 Sticker on the front to celebrate the upcoming DYRL movie. Unfortunately Imai hit rough times at this time, so these are some of their last Macross series kits. I’ll be watching for these to come for sale.The Orguss kit fans should be enjoying this aisle (its my favorite to traverse) Those are the Variable 1/40 Orguss II kits from Imai-fully transformable!
The awesome Imai 1/72 Orguss line-all Takani art!Bottom row…Imai 1/40 Orguss Olson Special Variable kits…and a super large stack of the Imai 1/72 Transformable VF-1Js! Wow!This VF-1J fighter pic is incredibleDitto for the Mospeada fans! Imai 1/48 Legioss Iota kits..NOS! Fully transformable kits, incredibly complex. I could never afford or find the toys at the shops back in the day, but the modeling shops carried these. They were expensive back then but totally worth it. TCI was a godsend for the kit builders.
That’s about all for the commentary on this round, there are still many special kits if you look closely. Remember this is just 20% of the stash, there is so much left to uncover. I’m sure we are all excited following this crazy project, and will see you on the next update! Thanks again to Anthony and team and Wise Guys Hobbies!
Anthony sends out Happy Holiday wishes to everyone who has been watching this project unfold. There is good news on the unboxing status as Anthony added a new Wise Guys team member, Joe, whos is very knowledgeable on vintage kit identification and is helping speed up all the processing and inventory updates.
I got a sneak peak at project inventory list, and wow! They have just now hit the major goal of bringing into the processing warehouse all the boxes and cases from just ONE of the THREE 30 foot trucks they used to transport the kits. They still have to unbox everything you see in the video from that first truck load. There is a long long way to go. Try to wrap your head around that, because I cannot.
We’ve got a lot of Macross, Mospeada, and Orguss kit knowledge here in the forums, but I’d really like to enagage with some fandoms from other series like Gundam or Yamato or Ideon. I’d love to know more about those other vintage kits as I’m sure they’ll share the same excitement we are.
If you are looking to add kits for your personal collection please visit their eBay store here.
For anyone interested in bulk orders, please contact Anthony below
Here is the Holiday video update!
After looking at the inventory list, I saw some crazy numbers and I wanted to come up with a way to make the sheer volume sink in a bit better, so I mocked up some pics to show just a small handful of kits and the current inventory numbers, which are sure to increase as more boxes are emptied.
Gerwalks and Monsters!Build your Orgoroid ArmyVariable Kits, the GPB VF-1S, and GU-11 Gunpods!Mospeada bikes, and 80(!) Nousgadeul-Gers….80!For the Galvion fans (me!) you can pick up the 1/48 Variable kit. Count them…230 kits.Some Star Wars and Star Trek boxes were foundSome Regults and the SDF-1 Fleet
That’s all for this Holiday update, more updates as the unboxing continues.
After hearing all the ‘Wows’ and ‘Woahs’ and ‘Amazings’ online in the forums, from those who contacted him directly, or through his eBay Store, Anthony from Wise Guys Hobbies made an ‘Introduction to the Warehouse’ video. I’m one of the worst offenders in asking him for this, and I’m sure he was tired of hearing me request it over and over, so this is probably to quiet me down.
In this video you can see one of their 4 locations full of kits. This is where they empty the cases, group the kits together, count inventory, then take pictures for the eBay storefront. The kits then get their new home on a labeled shelf.
I know, I know…enough talking Shawn, get to the video already. Here you go.
I wanted to repeat that Anthony is open for Bulk Dealer Inquiries. If you want to start up your own vintage model shop, feel free to contact him directly at the email on the card below if you see something in the video that catches your eye, or in the boxes from the first article here.
Or if you are like me, and you want to pick up a few NOS kits for your private collection, hit that eBay link!
As many of you will do, I went frame by frame into the video checking out all the inventory that was unboxed. I did a Macross-themed model kit breakdown below if you want to see some highlights! I was reminded that this was just a fraction of a fraction of the kits so far.
Please share this discovery where you know other vintage modelers hang out, especially for the other series of kits! I’d love to know more about the other series too.
Arii 1/100 Gerwalk Diorama. This is a great opportunity to pick up these unique series. Each comes with infantry support vehicles and figures.
Here is an example of what you get in the kit. You get a primary mech, then supporting tanks or artillery, and a display base. They are very cool!Arii 1/100 Battroid Diorama, Imai 1/100 Glaug, Arii 1/100 Defender Diorama, Arii 1/100 Spartan Diorama, Imai 1/72 VF-1A
The Zentradi Shelf…DeCulture!! Never seen so many regults in my life.
Arii 1/100 Metalize kits, and the awesome Arii 1/100 Mikimoto Art tribute kits.
Imai 1/144 4-Types, Imai 1/72 Variable VF-1A (20x of them!!), and Imai 1/72 Iron Type Valkyrie and 1/72 Iron Type Regults. If you wanted an NOS Imai Variable kit, get your order in. The box art alone is frame-worthy.
1/72 Imai Takani Action Art Special VF-1D, Imai 1/72 Super Valkyrie, Imai 1/5000 SDF-1, 1/00 Imai Phalanx, Imai 1/200 Monster, Imai 1/27 Spartan.
That original VF-1D artwork was up for sale a decade ago-check out some more of the awesome artwork here
What if you had the chance to take a time machine back to the mid 80’s? Where would you go? I know where I could be found, and that would be in Overland Park, Kansas. Why you ask? One answer…GTC.
The old-timers around here have probably heard about GTC. It stands for “Galactic Trade Commission” and was a mail order modeling shop from the 1980’s through the 2000’s. It was founded by Ron Downing. Ron would advertise in places like Starlog and other Hobby or Sci-Fi magazines, but I heard about him via word-of-mouth via the old internet newsgroups, like alt.fan.macross (really showing my age here)
Here is an ad for GTC from Starlog’s 100th issue from 1985
Back in those old days kids, you would write a letter to someone with your name and mailing address, include some actual dollar bills, stamp it, then drop it off at the post office. You then WAITED. There was no 2-day amazon shipping, shipping confirmation texts, heck you didn’t even know if your letter stuffed with cash actually made it to the addressee (you would always include an extra piece of paper to hide the money in the envelope if held up to a light…we were smart). We survived on Hope. But then about a month later, right when you start thinking it was lost, you’d get a large manilla envelope in the mailbox. You’d rip it open and you now saw your Nirvana. The GTC Catalog!
Here is what my dog-eared catalog looks like (1994 edition)
Click the picture to open it up (PDF)
You’d open it up and read about each item, amazed how how many kits you never even knew existed. How much money do I have? Then the prioritization would start as you begin ranking the kits you HAD to have first. Then you flip through all the pages of the box art at the end in amazement (Takani and Suzuki and many others)
Now its time for action. You would then head over to the phone, mentally figuring out what to tell your Mom when she saw the phone bill with the upcoming hour-length long-distance call (yes you had to pay extra for those types of calls), and dial up Ron.
Most times the phone was busy. Always busy. You would just try and try again, sometimes for days.
Then he would answer! “Hello this is GTC, Ron speaking“
He would ask which version of the catalog you had, and what you were interested in. He’d then live update you on his stock inventory and any price adjustments. You’d dutifully and manually adjust and mark up your catalog for your order with him in real-time on the phone. He would then confirm what you wanted, temporarily set it aside for you, and you would promise to send him a money order or personal check for the kits and shipping.
Then another month would go by (more WAITING) but then you’d get a big box of model kits! Rinse and Repeat.
Now lets skip ahead to the the present day, December 2022, and the call-back to my opening Time-Machine question.
Ron’s GTC’s inventory had been stored away like a time-capsule in Overland Park KS, but it has now been re-discovered and is coming available for public sale for modeling fans like us again. Due to some unfortunate health issues, Ron has had to find a buyer for his incredible inventory. Now Ron wasn’t just sitting on a few hundred kits he would need to unload, he had…wait for it…over 100,000 kits stored away. 100,000 kits. Just think about that. All NOS (new original stock), many in their original shipping cases and boxes!!
Now I’m going to introduce Anthony Marafino into the picture, from Wise Guys Hobbies, LLC, based out of New York. Anthony arranged to buy the entire 100k model kit inventory from Ron in late 2022, and now has that entire inventory spread across his multiple 1000sqft warehouses.
Anthony said it took 3 (three) 30 foot semi-truck trailers to move all the kits from GTC headquarters.
This is what a 30 foot truck looks like. Anthony filled 3 of these with model kits from Ron
Anthony took a couple of documentary videos when his team was clearing the inventory from the Ron’s house (Anthony noted that these were taken AFTER he already filled up one entire truck).
Anthony introducing himself and taking a quick stroll through 3 rooms and a hallway filled with kits
Anthony introducing himself and taking a quick stroll through 3 rooms and a hallway filled with kitsHeading downstairs into even more never ending inventoryThe time-capsule is rediscoverd. That case there there is the Imai Queadluun Rau!
Did you see catch all those cases with the Macross logos on them? Those are the original shipping cases from Imai and Arii and Nichimo straight out of 1982-1984! Woah.
Them be Macross Original shipping cases!
I actually have a couple of those case sides which Ron sent to me as gifts in the 90’s with my large orders of kits. They are some of the most treasured Macross items in my entire collection, thank you again Ron!!
Ron gifted me an Imai 1/5000 SDF-1 Shipping case side back in the day as a surprise giftAnother side
In an old Hobby Magazine’s furoku (furoku meaning a Japanese Magazine extra supplement), the magazine actually did a picture tour of the Imai factory at the time (83), showing the entire process from design to shipping for the 1/72 Zentradi Regult kit. The final page of the supplement shows cases of the kits stacked up and ready for delivery to the local hobby stores via Imai’s own delivery truck.
Check out the bottom right corner pic.I’m going to put an Imai sticker on the side of my car too
Anthony and his Wise Guys team members are currently sorting through all the cases of kits and documenting the inventory spread across multiple Wise Guys warehouses. They sent me a few pictures showing just a fraction of what they have to go through during this very manual and lengthy process. You can identify Macross cases from Imai and Nichimo and Arii, along with Testor’s R.O.B.O.T. Series (reboxed Nichimo), and Revell Robotech Changers (reboxed Imai/Arii). It is fun challenge to cross reference the numbers on the cases to the numbers in the GTC catalog.
Nichimo! Never thought I’d ever see one of these in my life. Pitaban for Life!That top Macross case on the right is the Arii VF-1J Gerwalk Diorama set. The unmarked case on the bottom left..AR-308/9 is a genric stash of Arii 1/8000 SDF-1 kits. Behind the loose Arii Diorama kits is another unmarked case of Arii Metal 1/100 VF-1Ds. Also seen are various Acrobunch, Pyscho Armor, Ideon, Yamato, and Zeta Gundam kits. This is Macross World so I’ll leave those specifics to the other fandoms!!The large Hikaru/Minmei case has kits from the 1/100 HEWAT lineup. It is very very hard to find the entire collection. The sideways case to the lower left is the Arii 1/100 Super Fighter. Other items like the Testors ROBOT (Nichimo) and various Revell Robotech Changers(Imai/Arii) are also identifiableAt some point it was just easier to grab the large rolls of plastic wrap and take the filled shelves themselves. I actually built that Dragonfire Trike at the top when I was a kid, it was epic.Arii Defender at eye level here, along with many cases of the Yamato kits. Take notice of all those Twentieth Century Imports generic boxes…what lies within those!??Sharp eyes will see 3x boxes of Arii 1/100 Small Missile Regults! On the right is the Imai 1/100 Tomahawk. Center stage behind the loose kits is the awesome 1/72 Arii Glaug. Notice how much bigger that case is to handle the oversized kitsAnyone remember the end of the original Indiana Jones Raiders of the Lost Ark movie?
For the sharp-eyed people, you saw many cases from TCI…Twentieth Century Imports. They were the go-to distributor for all the 80’s Japanese Sci-Fi and Anime kits. They literally shipped to everyone-Ron included. Look in your personal Macross collections and you’ll frequently see the TCI sticker on the side.
The TCI sticker on one of my kits
Here is peek into the TCI dealers catalog from 1985.
Imagine just checking as many as you wanted at those insanely low prices
Anthony is going to begin sales in earnest of the all these kits starting in February 2023, so start saving up! And also please start spreading the word…if you are interested in NOS Macross, Orguss, Mospeada, Yamato, SF3D, Ideon, Gundam, Robotech, Star Blazers, Dougram, or Crusher-Joe model kits from Imai, Arii, Nichimo, Bandai, Nitto, Takara, Aoshima and more, then this is your ONE-TIME-ONLY ticket to the past.
For individual orders he is putting up many loose kits on his ebay storefront right now, link here:
Very special thanks to Anthony for this amazing behind the scenes sneak peek. Anthony is considering taking additional videos and pictures for documenting the entire bulk collection as he opens each case and gets an accurate inventory, so please let him know what you think in the forums! It takes a lot of time to do that, so I wanted to show him support is definitely there for a detailed excursion into these boxes.
Its that time of year again!!
Come to Super Dimension Con 2018, where you can spend an entire day with hundreds of fans who enjoy talking about Macross and Southern Cross and Orguss!
There are dozens of Vendor tables, Artist Galleries, Panels, Cosplay, and Special Guests, such as Run Sasaki (Vanessa from Macross), and Mari Iijima (MinMay from Macross), who will be hosting a concert for us!
