Pete J.

I always get at bit of a charge out of these discussions about price/value of a given kit. Having spent a lot of time sales I understand the argument, but see it from a differant persective. Cost is hard dollars. Value is "what is it worth to me?" There are some people that don't like the subject matter and wouldn't pay $5 for it. It has no value to them what so ever. Others love the car and have the budget to accomidate it at almost any price. All the rest of us fall in between. I think(and correct me if I'm wrong) as a magazine editor Harry has the responsablity to devine the relative worth of the kit compared to the quality of the parts and the potential that a buyer is getting a reasonable kit for the money. I believe that his estimation is that compared to other $600 kits, this one might be lacking a little, but compaired to $300 kits it is on the mark. The rest of us are deciding if our desire to own this kit is met by the price. A lot of us have voted yes and a lot have voted no. Personal value is either there or it is not. For me, yes. I have been waiting for this kit for 10 years and am excited to have it on the work bench. Nobody can question the value to me because it is my opinion and my money. If you don't see the personal value/money in the kit, nobody can argue with that for the same reason. Is it a good quality Tamiya kit? Yes, no argument. Will they sell out of them quickly? I hope so. The question then becomes are there enough of us who are willing to buy these to make them a good value for Tamiya. Tamiya knows it's costs and how many they have to sell world wide to make it profitable for them. If is is, we are likely to see more large scale kits. Only the market and time will answer that question. Personally, I want to see Tamiya back into making new large scale kits on a regular basis.

Hobby Link Japan for mine. Still north of $300 with shipping, but I actually go one. I was a little concerned about the "limited" edition.

Oddly, they have done that on some of their street bike kits. The Yamaha Roadstar comes to mind. It really is kind of strange. I guess you could do them JDM style . Still, kind of wierd. The fuel block needs to be replace with turned metal and I think the rear suspension shocks and accumulators to be re done also. A lot to this one. Oh, the fun

Harry, it's all relative my friend. I am sure that you have your own cost is no object dreams. I have been waiting for this to come out as a builders kit for at least 10 years. This kit will give me years of building pleasure. I couldn't put a price on that.

Mine showed up about an hour ago. It does look very nice. Lots of room to to some scratch building. Man, take a look at the instruction manual! It is huge. Makes the 935 book look small. I think mine is either going to be Fly yellow or raw carbon fiber. Matthew - get the printing presses ready, I'm going to need a ton of it. Trying to decide if I will do the HiTech stuff or the clear. Hmmmm. Sorry, I won't be the first to start this puppy. I have three other projects that need to be done first. I am really looking forward to this. It will build up very nice. Take a good look at the door dampers. That is some interetesting engineering.

Mine shipped FedEx and has a delivery date of Tomorrow, but the tracker says it is in town now but doesn't show out for delivery. The tracking is one of the main reasons I ship FedEx. Slightly pricier, but I like the convenience.

Just got a large order for HLJ FedEx. Shipped Friday got here on Monday. I have been buying from Hobby Link for 15 years. Never had an issue.

Got several of the left handed screwdrivers in my tool chest. They just don't work worth a ###### but I just can't seem to bring myself to throw them away. You never know when one might come in handy!

Got notice that mine has shipped also. Look forward to getting my hands on it. Should be here on monday or tuesday according to the shipping tacker. I'm so excited..... Hmmm, could be the liric to a good song.

I think it is rather decieving. I have seen this process done by ALSA here in the states and most of the stuff you see driping off is deionized water. Here is a link to ALSA. http://www.alsacorp.com/products/chromefx/ There pump kit looks to be about $300. Still a lot for the average hobbiest.

The real kicker on this plate sight is that they don't have California plates. I don't know why. They use to. Go figure!

I like making my own fixtures for holding models. That way I can make one specifically for each task. It only takes a couple of minutes, some foam core poster board and a hot glue gun. This lets me hold the model in the way that is most advantagous to me. Here are a couple I made for my 935 build.

You missed Murphy's corrilary- If mulitple things can go wrong they will, in decending order of difficulty and in such a way as to inflict maximum damage.

I've been dealing with Hobby Link Japan now for years and never had an issue with them. Yes, sometimes the deliveries take a while but in the case of a furture release that is to be expected as they are at the mercy of the supplier. They have always treated me fairly. I am also pleased to see that they have taken the "stop sell" off of the Enzo. That tells me that they are confidant they will be able to supply all the orders that they have.

Interesting read of all the responses. Glad to hear that I am no a lone salesman with the same impressions. I will flat state that there are situations where poor customer service is the norm and that is not good, but there are far more people out there who's job and livleyhood depends on giving good customers service day in and day out. They work very hard at it and deserve a little respect for that effort. One last story about the "good customer". I've worked for Sears for the last 15 years and I still get customers in the store, probably 1 or 2 a month that want to know were the "cataloge" department is. When I tell that that we don't have a cataloge department they get all huffy and start muttering about that is why Sears is going out of business(no we are not). Really, you didn't notice that we published the last Sears general cataloge in figgin 1993!!!!! Now that is the epitomy of the not so good "good customer".

I put this up on one of the other forums, so if you have already seen it, I am sorry, but I would like to put this out for all who go to retail establishment(and that should be all of us) to see. It is really the view from the other side. I was reading through a number of old posts and something struck me. How often people blame poor customer service for something. I have worked in many jobs that require direct contact with customers for a very long time and I am always astonished by how rude, stupid and condescending customers can be and how often you hear the comment, "if I owned this company,.......". Let me lay out a little advice. Rule #1 Just because the person behind the counter works in retail doesn't mean that they are stupid, uneducated, in a lower social class or beneath you. If you treat them that way, they are very disinclined to assist you, and may just choose to do something to teach you a lesson that you justly deserve. One of my best days in retail was a day when a lady came in to buy appliances and was loaded with bling. She was very snooty about how she and her husband had just bought a new home and talking about how “upscale” the house was. After she decided on her purchases, I was ringing her up and when we got to the address, I recognized that she had purchase the same model and just down the street for where my wife and I had bought a house six months before. When I welcomed her to the neighborhood it was a complete thrill to watch her deflate. One of the great moments of retail. Rule # 2 If you come in expecting and looking for a fight you will most likely get one and that is about all. A customer that has a ligitement complaint and is polite and considerate of the clerk is much more likely to get what they want and more. A rude customer will likely get the minimum or less and may even walk out empty handed. Rule # 3 Don't do something stupid. The sales people will laugh at you after you leave. Example: Pay attention to what is being said - "Can I help you?" ---"No, but I have a question." Frigin really! I will run out and find the nonhelping questions person! "Do you work here?" Heck no, I always wear this stupid shirt with the company name on it and have this lanyard embossed with company name on it around my neck and the company ID tag on it and the company hat and hang out around here just to annoy idiots like you. You didn't buy it here, do you think I am stupid enough to let you return it here. See rule #1 Rule # 4 - If you have to tell someone you are a good customer, you probably are not. Just because you have been there before doesn't make you a good customer. A good customer is someone who knows the business and the sales people, who comes in frequently, and drops by to look at what is new. They also know what kind of product they sell. Don't look for bagels in a donut shop! Most importantly, this place of business is their first stop when they go looking for something. And last - they spend money there. One final bit. Almost without exception - the person who you are talking to isn't the owner and they don't make the rules. Chances are breaking the rules will cost them their job. Keep that in mind before you start the "If I owned this business..." rant. They don't own it either so get off that horse. It ain't going anywhere. The best way to get good customer service is to be a good customer. Leave the belligerence at home. OK, I'm off the soap box.

WOW! Talk about a diverse herd of humans. This is impressive!

I'm going with a model on this one. Too many things just don't look right. Front brake like is not tied to anything. In that position, going down the road it would rub the tire or get pulled off, no apparent throttle or clutch levers/actuators, I can see lines going up the the handle bars but no visable means of operating anything other than a suicide shifter and a rear brake pedal. I must say though, it has an equal amount of good parts. This is either a very cleaver bike builder or modeler. Not certian which.

After reviewing most of the comments, I find an interesting thread here. It seems that the discussion in many cases focuses on "either/or" as if you do one to the exclusion of the other. I wonder why? An airbrush and a rattle can are tools. Just as a carpenter who buys a nail gun does not throw away his hammer, the same is true of the modeler and rattle cans and airbrushes. Yes, they both apply paint, but they do so differantly and each has specific jobs that they do better than others. Learning how and when to use each is very much a personal journey for the individual. I have three air brushes that I use all the time. I also have boxes full of rattle cans that get equal billing. Here is how I brake down the basics: Air brush Pro - supurb control of paint pattern(width and density of paint) infinite mix of paints controled direction great at getting into tight places can use with any type of paint or ink Con- Clean out short term cost compressor noise(depends on compressor) storage space with compressor easily damages Rattle can - Pro- Quick deployment Ease of use low cost short term Con- No spray pattern control limited colors limited density control occational differances in paint color can to can only availible in small batches. So, pick your poison. They are one of hundreds of tools that I use for the hobby. Each time I find something new, that does a job better, I get it. That doesn't mean that I throw the old tool away as it still has situations that it works better in.

The next one!

Like may here, I use both and it is very situational. By that I mean that it depends upon what I am doing. I use a lot of differant metalizers and all of the ones I know of need to be shot through an airbrush. Also, I do a fair amount of large scale stuff and have an Awata Baby 50 which is sized between an airbrush and a touchup gun. It lays out a very wide(for a model) pattern that does a great job on 1:12 scale bodies. Rattle cans are very convenient for doing a single or a couple of pieces and they do just fine for such things a engine parts that are semigloss black. For small highly detailed pieces, you just can't beat a good airbrush. I have two Tamiya's for those jobs and the occational fade paint job. Getting into tight places is there forte. Stuff rattle cans just can't do. There is a place in my builds for both and each does somthing that the other can't. "A man just has to know his limits."

Me with my kids. They took me flying on my 60th. Been 30 years since I had a yoke in my hands. Great fun!

I like a bit of everything. Kind of like the classic bell curve. The center part is sports cars and sports race cars & F-1, next area is Krazy Kustoms, Then aircraft and things that float. Never build any armor, though I have a few kits. Armor is more of an idol curiousity to me.

Scott - I look forward to getting togeather. Our IPMS car club is cohosting a contest on June 2nd. It is a lot of fun because it is held at the Gillespie field on the same day as their air show. We are on the other side of the runway, but you still get the fun of seeing all kinds of aircraft.

Scott, Thanks for a very big complement. That truck was one that I have been very proud of. I just wish I still had it. It was stolen along with a bunch of other stuff from my garage several years ago. I have been wanting to redo it for a while. Maybe in red or yellow, though black is really sharp. Next time you are headed to San Diego are, let me know. My doors are always open to another modeler. Pete