Richwood7

Even more surprising is the number of things made in China that are almost impossible to buy in China! I am an American living in Nanning. There are NO hobby shops at all here. If I want a model kit made in China I can order it from South Korea (International shipping is free) or buy it in the USA and have it shipped here. Paint is another thing as it is hard to ship due to its flammability. What is an enormous hobby in the rest of the world is a pain here in China. Dragon and Trumpeter models are more easily bought through South Korea, even though they are made in China. .

I bought this too but it was more difficult than most of you as I am an American but live in China! And there are almost no Hobby Shops here so I do everything on the Internet! Can't even buy hobby paint. It cost me about around $185 and $72 of that was just for shipping! Now I am in the process of renting another small apartment just for a hobby area as there is no room in our 60 sq meter apartment (about 650sq feet) with me, wife and 27 year old daughter! Now to answer some of your questions... there is a scale figures/accessories shop called Microform Models, Inc (Google the name) located in Marlborough, Massachusetts (not the one in Manchester NH, don't know anything about that one even though I tried to find out what it did) that makes scale things like cars, trucks, fencing, street lamps, and they are VERY reasonable, for instance a standing man is $0.27, seated, $0.29. An tractor trailer is $1.94. This is 1/16" or 1/192 metric (1 foot = 1/16th of an inch or one meter =192 meters) which is only 4% off of 1/200. About displaying it, I think it would look great in a diorama! Now these are metal casts, so detail is somewhat lacking, but a tractor trailer in this scale is only 3.5 inches long (if it is 60 foot total length in real life). So if the male figure is supposed to be 6 foot (72 inches) he will really be 74.88 inches, hardly noticeable. You must order $20 minimum. I am toying with the idea of replacing the railings with photo-etch 1/200 scale naval railings. They also say they will custom design an item, maybe in the same scale a giant dump truck??? I also have the North Sea oil rig which is 1:200 so I can use figures on that too (no tractor trialer though!) and that has far more railings than this does and the 1/200 IJN Yamato (which I also have) could use some figures.!