Anasazi37

For the most part I have a pretty vanilla collection of Macross model kits, but there are some exceptions. Thought I'd share them with you. First up is my Mike Salzo Monster. It's so big that I keep it in its own storage tub. I took one of the feet out so you can appreciate its size. Pictured with it are my John Moscato Atmospheric Booster and Launch Vehicle. Next are my Club M recasts (Queadluun-Rau, Ultimate Strike, YF-19), my Yamato Fan Racer, and my two Tanmen kits (Cat's Eye and Fan Racer). Then there's my collection of 1/72 variable kits, which started it all for me, and it includes the rare Imai VF-1J Hikaru. Last, but not least, my 1/20 Plamax kits.

I haven't received a shipping notification from AE yet. I'll be be sure to post an update when I have one. @DYRL VF-1Sis about a day ahead of me in getting his order shipped to Tenso. AE is really unpredictable when it comes to shipping. Sometimes they turn around a request within 24 hours, sometimes it takes several days.

It's just going from one part of Tokyo to another, so my best guess is that the local post office is trying to deal with the translated address. At first I attempted to use my address in Japanese, but as you also discovered, AE's site doesn't like that. I then translated the address as best I could, but was worried about accuracy. I also found that of the three fields AE gives you for a street address, only the first and third are functional (text in the second one gets wiped out when you save the entry). So, I landed on using the Rakuten Global Market version, which was already translated by Tenso and could fit in the first Address field. I also combined city and prefecture in the City field. This is what mine looks like: Address: TSXXXXXX tenso.com, 42-4, Senjyuakebono-cho City: Adachi-ku, Tokyo Country: Japan Zip Code: 120-0023

So I pulled the trigger on asking AE to use my Tenso address for shipping and it appears to be working. For two Missile sets, they only asked for ¥990 (about $9.50 using PayPal). Same price for "Fast" and "Economy" options. For anyone else who wants to try this, I carefully entered the Rakuten Global Market version of my address since that one seemed to be most compatible with AE's address form. Fingers crossed. I know the next leg is going to cost me, but at least I'm not dealing with some sketchy courier service that wants my personal information.

Or they'll pull out the same BS excuse about "visual symmetry" that they use for the reversed modex numbers on the DX VF-1S vertical stabilizer.

One dollar?! The difference between EMS and Ferry should be a lot more than that. Makes me wonder if they're pocketing the difference. It sure didn't cost $75 to ship my SSP set ($40 EMS prepaid, then $35 more to switch to UPS). I just received a notification from AE that my two Missile sets are ready to ship and like @DYRL VF-1S, I'm going to try to have them sent to my Tenso address so I can then deal with more reasonable people. I'm growing tired of stores that are either charging outrageous prices for shipping or only offering weird options. @Mommar's recent experience with AE, where I think the only option they offered him was an off-brand courier service that required him to provide personal information, pushed me over the line.

Somewhere there's a higher-dimensional being that fully comprehends the business decisions of Bandai and NY. I'm not sure that our brains could handle the complexity.

So the name is catching on! Maybe we should change it to "Dr. No-Unless-You-Ask-Five-Times". In related news, I'm finally seeing movement on my SSP set that made it through customs at the Tokyo airport on 18 Apr (shipped EMS). Basically two months of waiting in line. We'll see how long it takes until the next update, but theoretically it's now on a plane and heading to the US....

NY has been offering credit to other MW members who have requested a downgrade in shipping from EMS to Ferry.

Do you have three of them yet? That seems to be the magic number, after which Bandai makes a PO announcement.

Those rear vertical stabilizers don't get lost easily since the two pieces holding them in place (the "backpack") are glued together. Broken/junk Jetfires, and batches of Jetfire parts, tend to show up on eBay regularly at decent prices ($20-50), so you might get lucky. It's more common to find the armor parts individually, so you can assemble a full set that way, but it probably won't be cheap. The gunpod is also pricey. Might almost be less expensive to find a complete one. Also, we have a "Wanted" section where you can post stuff like this: http://www.macrossworld.com/mwf/forum/10-wanted/

I ordered the same set through FromJapan and it shipped on 18 Apr via EMS. It made it to the Tokyo airport the same day and hasn't moved since (see tracking history below). Japan Post estimated up to four months to clear out their EMS backlog. Yours is probably at the airport, too, but hasn't been processed yet.

It's hard to believe that I started making Macross decals in 2002. It was inspiring to see what a true master like you could do with them. I still occasionally design and print sets, but largely for my own projects--many of which I put on hold back in the day because I was filling orders and making 1/48 Yamato customs for MW members. Apart from the set I made for the 1/20 Plamax Strike Gerwalk (need to finish the ones for the Strike Fighter and regular Fighter), my other recent project has been a complete redesign of my 1/55 sets. I decided to make a single streamlined generic set that covers VF-1A CF, VF-1A TV Max/Hayao, VF-1D, VF-1J Hikaru/Max/Millia, and VF-1S. For the last one, there's a supplemental sheet for items like skulls and all of the large striped areas (arms, wings, nosecone, chest, etc.). The VE-1 and VT-1 are unique enough that they still have their own sheets (in progress). Sample of the generic and Focker supplement sets below.

Thanks!

Oh man, thanks for reminding me. I have two sets from the second wave on order at AE. I really don't want to leave them there to wait until Japan Post air-based shipping is an option again. I hear that the longer something sits at AE, the more likely it is to disappear.

I appreciate you posting what you had. Just wanted to include a pointer to the full catalog since I don't think I've done that in this thread.

I think @sqiddhas become our resident expert on DHL shipping from Mandarake.

This gives me some hope. My SSP set, shipped via EMS, has been stuck at the Tokyo airport since 18 Apr in the "Arrival at outward office of exchange" step.

All of these are sets that I designed and printed for this community. My entire catalog is posted on this site: https://sites.google.com/site/tridentdesignworksdecals/

I'm betting there are more than a few Max/Millia conversions out there. Sounds like I'm in good company! Really strange that Bandai never made the Hikaru, though. It's iconic.

Maybe we should nickname that person "Dr. No" because it seems to be the only response we ever get from them....

Ferry is still an option, but no new EMS shipments to the US have been accepted by Japan Post since 24 April: https://www.post.japanpost.jp/int/information/2020/0423_03_en.html At the time they estimated four months to clear out the current backlog. I've had an SSP set sitting at the Tokyo airport mail facility, with no movement, since 18 Apr. It wasn't returned to the shipper because it cleared customs right before the announcement was made, but several MW members saw their packages returned and then had to pick a different method.

I've bought from them a few times and a several MW members have used them a lot. They tend to have decent prices except for when they know there is high demand, like with the DX valks. In those cases they jack up the price by a lot. Their shipping tends to be a bit more expensive than other stores, but if you're in the US they're only offering ferry and UPS right now (and I think it's only if you ask them for it). Order processing can take some time, too, but my experience is limited to pre-orders, so maybe it's faster if an item has been in stock for a while. MSRP on the Good Smile website, pre-tax, is ¥7000, so ¥7800 isn't bad. With that said, I just checked Amazon Japan and they have it for cheaper with international priority shipping that will probably cost about as much as NY would charge you (¥2,941 for me): https://www.amazon.co.jp/dp/B07R4TM7Z8/ref=cm_sw_r_tw_dp_U_x_vWa3EbTFCYSXR I just went through the motions of checking out and the price dropped to ¥6680 because they removed the tax. That's probably your best option.

Very true The Gerwalk Strike kit is what motivated me to set up my workshop in the garage and design and build a spray booth large enough to handle the pieces. It's a slippery slope, because once you have the setup it becomes a lot easier to justify purchasing large kits....

I've never seen a Bandai-branded 1/72 variable Hikaru 1J. Does it exist? I know they put out a battroid kit, but you'd think with Hikaru's popularity that they'd make the variable kit, too. When I started collecting these kits about twenty years ago, I couldn't find the Hikaru, so I bought an extra Millia with the plan to just convert it to an Hikaru (including custom decals). I do have the original IMAI kit, which wasn't easy to track down back then, and I'm thinking of keeping that one unbuilt since it seems to be rare.