Bandai DX Chogokin 1/48 VF-1

[505thAirborne]

26 minutes ago, Slave IV said:

That’s why LEK is the best there is at what he does. 

He really is, his skills at masking everything off especially those Tampo markings is nuts. 

[borgified]

Did anyone mange to see that the screwed up modix in the upper wingtips are not there?

Smart decision to cover the error as he was redoing the upper part of the 1s.

[Anasazi37]

I contacted NY about my SSP PO, which was supposed to ship EMS, and asked to switch to a different shipping method (FedEx or DHL). I heard back from them within a few hours, so it seems like they're being fairly responsive before shutting down for Golden Week. The only option they offered me was UPS Express Saver for an additional $36. So...I took it. I just paid a similar amount ($60) for DHL shipping from Mandarake for a Yamato 1/60. Probably the last items I try to ship from Japan for many, many months. I have some items sitting in my Private Warehouse at HLJ that will continue to sit there.

[DYRL VF-1S]

19 minutes ago, Anasazi37 said:

I contacted NY about my SSP PO, which was supposed to ship EMS, and asked to switch to a different shipping method (FedEx or DHL). I heard back from them within a few hours, so it seems like they're being fairly responsive before shutting down for Golden Week. The only option they offered me was UPS Express Saver for an additional $36. So...I took it. I just paid a similar amount ($60) for DHL shipping from Mandarake for a Yamato 1/60. Probably the last items I try to ship from Japan for many, many months. I have some items sitting in my Private Warehouse at HLJ that will continue to sit there.

Did they have the inventory to ship yet or just being proactive? 

[Anasazi37]

9 hours ago, DYRL VF-1S said:

Did they have the inventory to ship yet or just being proactive? 

Proactive. Especially given their two-week-long shutdown for Golden Week. Didn't want to leave anything to chance.

[jvmacross]

19 hours ago, 505thAirborne said:

The attention to detail is insane, you know it's a DX VF-1 but you'd swear at times it's a Photoshop illustration. 

 

Mute the sound and play this instead....

 

[DYRL VF-1S]

2 hours ago, Anasazi37 said:

Proactive. Especially given their two-week-long shutdown for Golden Week. Didn't want to leave anything to chance.

Cool. I hit them up a couple of weeks ago but I purchased 4 in one order so it was like $123 to ship UPS. Considering I spent ~$70 on EMS already, I’m just going to let them sit. Ugh

Edited April 24, 2020 by DYRL VF-1S

[kkx]

NY refunded my order. You can try asking for one if all else fail.

[DYRL VF-1S]

1 hour ago, kkx said:

NY refunded my order. You can try asking for one if all else fail.

Did you get blacklisted? Lol

[Chronocidal]

Actual refund, or store credit?  I'm not interested in cancelling, but that is odd for them to actually do it.

[Shawn]

Honestly that cel shaded 1/48 really hurts my brain...my eyes can't quite resolve exactly what I'm looking at, but it is there in real life...but it isn't at the same time.

Incredible work, I would love to see that in person!

Looking at their channel the 1/3000 SDF-1 is mind blowing, the yf-19 looks like CGI, and the Jetfire..LOL!

Skill level off the charts.

 

[eXis10z]

17 hours ago, Anasazi37 said:

I contacted NY about my SSP PO, which was supposed to ship EMS, and asked to switch to a different shipping method (FedEx or DHL). I heard back from them within a few hours, so it seems like they're being fairly responsive before shutting down for Golden Week. The only option they offered me was UPS Express Saver for an additional $36. So...I took it. I just paid a similar amount ($60) for DHL shipping from Mandarake for a Yamato 1/60. Probably the last items I try to ship from Japan for many, many months. I have some items sitting in my Private Warehouse at HLJ that will continue to sit there.

I got the same reply however I'm still considering whether to fork out the extra cash for the change in shipping. Given the golden week and their state of emergency it is possible everything will be processed after 06 May.

Edited April 24, 2020 by eXis10z

[jenius]

I would love to know what the specific issues are with Japan Post so we could hypothesize when things might start to improve a little bit. Obviously SAL went away because they couldn't use excess space in flights for cargo... since commercial flights vanished. I don't know how EMS shipments worked. Does Japan Post own a bunch of planes that they send back and forth like FedEx and DHL? If so, did EMS get waylay'ed because of domestic issues (far fewer employees picking up/sorting/delivering because of stay at home orders)? Is it because the staff at the Japanese airports have been cut way back? Is it because the staff at the destination airports has been cut way back? Is it because the count of parcels people want shipped has been reduced so much that the planes aren't filling up? I heard the USPS has been struggling with far less demand for their services since the outbreak. 

Edited April 24, 2020 by jenius

[borgified]

DX Missile Set (first shipment or the new re-leased batch?) for 7k yen (unopened, package damaged)

https://order.mandarake.co.jp/order/detailPage/item?itemCode=1129775438&ref=list&keyword=%E3%83%9E%E3%82%AF%E3%83%AD%E3%82%B9&lang=en

Edit: Already gone!! Heck that was quick grab!

Edited April 24, 2020 by borgified

[Anasazi37]

NY just shipped my SSP set! What the?!  They never ship things this quickly. Glad I changed my shipping method yesterday or the package would have been returned to them.

[Vertex]

5 hours ago, jenius said:

I would love to know what the specific issues are with Japan Post so we could hypothesize when things might start to improve a little bit. Obviously SAL went away because they couldn't use excess space in flights for cargo... since commercial flights vanished. I don't know how EMS shipments worked. Does Japan Post own a bunch of planes that they send back and forth like FedEx and DHL? If so, did EMS get waylay'ed because of domestic issues (far fewer employees picking up/sorting/delivering because of stay at home orders)? Is it because the staff at the Japanese airports have been cut way back? Is it because the staff at the destination airports has been cut way back? Is it because the count of parcels people want shipped has been reduced so much that the planes aren't filling up? I heard the USPS has been struggling with far less demand for their services since the outbreak. 

I read an article a week or so ago on NHK's website. Basically its coming down to reduced bandwitdth due to less air traffic. JP Post just like USPS doesn't own there own fleet of aircraft they just use / contract with commercial passenger and freight carriers. If memory serves at one time they did partner up with ANA but that was strictly for cargo between Japan and S. Korea.

[sh9000]

LEK at 50%.

[Paco Grande]

NY allegedly just shipped my strike pack as well with EMS. I’m confused because I thought EMS was shut down. We shall see what happens I guess. 
 

And I’m also shocked they shipped this quickly. I was expecting to wait for weeks. 

[DYRL VF-1S]

1 minute ago, Paco Grande said:

NY allegedly just shipped my strike pack as well with EMS. I’m confused because I thought EMS was shut down. We shall see what happens I guess. 
 

And I’m also shocked they shipped this quickly. I was expecting to wait for weeks. 

Are you in the States?  If so, the packages will just be returned to them.  EMS isn't shut down everywhere.  For example, if you're in Canada, it's still good to go for the moment.

[Vortech]

8 hours ago, Paco Grande said:

NY allegedly just shipped my strike pack as well with EMS. I’m confused because I thought EMS was shut down. We shall see what happens I guess. 
 

And I’m also shocked they shipped this quickly. I was expecting to wait for weeks. 

Depends on where your at, but it may sit at the airport for a while waiting for a flight out. 

I ordered something from Manda on 3/28, and it finally arrived at LAX on 4/24 via EMS.  

[wm cheng]

I'm shocked as well, my SSP from NY were just shipped out EMS.  They were picked up too right away and arrived at the outward exchange office.  I'm in Canada and I think its still ok.  However I ordered YF-19 DX from Mandarake which was posted to EMS on the 17th and it hasn't even been picked up yet - argh!  How much of a delay is EMS in Japan nowadays?

[borgified]

35 minutes ago, wm cheng said:

I'm shocked as well, my SSP from NY were just shipped out EMS.  They were picked up too right away and arrived at the outward exchange office.  I'm in Canada and I think its still ok.  However I ordered YF-19 DX from Mandarake which was posted to EMS on the 17th and it hasn't even been picked up yet - argh!  How much of a delay is EMS in Japan nowadays?

Check @Sandman's reply on the "Shipping suspension" thread = Received two packages with a weeks difference. The hold at the airport is up to 4 months before it gets shipped to the States

Here's National Post in regards to mail in Canada

https://nationalpost.com/news/canada-post-warns-covid-19-measures-and-unprecedented-volumes-are-causing-delivery-delays     

I have an order for a TF at the Utsunomiya branch for 15k yen and DHL is 7950 yen while EMS is 4500 yen. Emailing them right now if it's possible to change the shipping from DHL to EMS. If not possible, then keep it at DHL.

Canada has DHL, EMS and AIR for now, the United States only has DHL. 

Edit: Added and changed details 

Edited April 25, 2020 by borgified

[Sanity is Optional]

I imagine with so many fewer people able to receive their shipments, NY isn't nearly as backlogged on getting stuff out the door as usual?

[Paco Grande]

On 4/24/2020 at 10:04 AM, DYRL VF-1S said:

Are you in the States?  If so, the packages will just be returned to them.  EMS isn't shut down everywhere.  For example, if you're in Canada, it's still good to go for the moment.

No I’m in Canada. But Canada Post is severely backed up right now so it will most likely take a while. 
 

Edit: My wife works at Canada Post in the international parcels division and she told me that Japan sent out a notice on Friday stating that they aren’t accepting any international parcels for delivery to any country. Meaning they aren’t going to be shipping anything out for a while. 

Edited April 25, 2020 by Paco Grande

[Anasazi37]

8 hours ago, Sanity is Optional said:

I imagine with so many fewer people able to receive their shipments, NY isn't nearly as backlogged on getting stuff out the door as usual?

Well, at least they're not as backlogged on printing shipping labels. That's apparently as far as my SSP has progressed in the past two days, according to UPS. I suspect they packed up a bunch of stuff right before leaving for their five-day Golden Week break and marked all of it as shipped, but we probably won't see any actual movement until Thursday when they're back in the office for two days before taking off for their next five-day break.

[burnout6]

You guys might want to check out AJ. I was lucky enough to snag a SSP last week for about the same cost as my pre-order with shipping. Got the DHL shipping notification today with a delivery date of this coming Tuesday. Funny how it will get here before my pre-order. 

 

[HardlyNever]

1 hour ago, burnout6 said:

You guys might want to check out AJ. I was lucky enough to snag a SSP last week for about the same cost as my pre-order with shipping. Got the DHL shipping notification today with a delivery date of this coming Tuesday. Funny how it will get here before my pre-order. 

 

Seems to be location-specific, even within the US.  The cheapest I can find that will actually ship to my address is ￥14,800 shipped.

[borgified]

11 hours ago, Paco Grande said:

No I’m in Canada. But Canada Post is severely backed up right now so it will most likely take a while. 
 

Edit: My wife works at Canada Post in the international parcels division and she told me that Japan sent out a notice on Friday stating that they aren’t accepting any international parcels for delivery to any country. Meaning they aren’t going to be shipping anything out for a while. 

D'oh! Looks like my two packages from Amiami and Manda will be put on hold upon payment via EMS. I'm going to make the payment regardless and see what happens as I don't mind the wait. 

[DYRL VF-1S]

43 minutes ago, borgified said:

D'oh! Looks like my two packages from Amiami and Manda will be put on hold upon payment via EMS. I'm going to make the payment regardless and see what happens as I don't mind the wait. 

The main issue at hand is that commercial flights will be stunted for a long time. If JP Post contracts with commercial airlines for Int’l packages, they aren’t entirely in control of the situation as the commercial airlines are a variable. Until business travel picks up, there will be an issue. I travel for business internationally and wouldn’t be surprised if my company keeps me from doing it for the remainder of the year.

 So for example, if EMS doesn’t pick up again till next year, then I have very limited choices with NY for my SSPs. Either give them an interest free loan for over a year, or pay an exorbitant amount for UPS in addition to the exorbitant fee I already paid for EMS. Neither is acceptable to me.

 The right thing for a company would be to allow me to downgrade my shipping and refund me the difference at that point (ferry), refund me the entire purchase, or allow me to change my address to ship to a local Tenso addy and refund the difference in shipping. I have a feeling none of those will be allowed with NY and I’ll have to burn a bridge.

[sqidd]

3 minutes ago, DYRL VF-1S said:

I have a feeling none of those will be allowed with NY and I’ll have to burn a bridge.

[jenius]

I chose Ferry for my NY order and it's not in preparation in progress yet... maybe they're prioritizing the fast shippers first.

[Slave IV]

I don’t get it. Even if you pay crazy prices you aren’t guaranteed your shipment quickly. Why not just choose ferry, pay less and kick back, relax and strap on your seatbelt?

Edited April 25, 2020 by Slave IV

[sqidd]

13 minutes ago, Slave IV said:

I don’t get it. Even if you pay crazy prices you aren’t guaranteed your shipment quickly. 

Maybe with NY. But I've used DHL three times since the shipping got cut off and each delivery showed up in three days. I've been paying $36/unit average going DHL. The key is to ship multiple units at the same time.

Also, I'm not good at relaxing. A super power. And also a super weakness.

[DYRL VF-1S]

10 minutes ago, Slave IV said:

I don’t get it. Even if you pay crazy prices you aren’t guaranteed your shipment quickly. Why not just choose ferry, pay less and kick back, relax and strap on your seatbelt?

For me, I absolutely should’ve done that on the SSPs looking back.  But at the time, they were expected to release in Dec. I should’ve done one order EMS to satisfy outfitting my 1S and then a separate order for my future Valks on ferry. That would’ve been my preference. But all of that went sideways due to various things we’re all aware of.

Sooo, here we are. And NY’s customer service (along with many other shops) are being tested in unprecedented times. Unfortunately, they’re not known for above and beyond service. I’d objectively rate them a C in that department for my tastes. And a C is just fine for me on most days. But today isn’t most days.

Not complaining at all. It is what it is. I hope they can just send my large purchase ferry and refund the shipping difference. Just have a feeling they won’t accommodate or perhaps can’t due to their logistics or accounting. Hope they prove me wrong!

[HardlyNever]

19 minutes ago, Slave IV said:

I don’t get it. Even if you pay crazy prices you aren’t guaranteed your shipment quickly. Why not just choose ferry, pay less and kick back, relax and strap on your seatbelt?

I switched my shipping with NY from SAL to EMS before EMS was delayed to the US.  Had I known that was going to happen, I would have just stuck with SAL.  Their UPS option was too much of a gamble for me, because like you said, there was no guarantee when it would actually ship, much less arrive.

I might just break down a buy a slightly marked up one from Amazon Japan, and maybe sell one or two I get from NY next decade when they finally arrive.  But the combination of mediocre execution by Bandai, and NY doing NY things, has kind of soured me on this release entirely.