Markus, did you
read the first post?
Quote:
Originally Posted by ET2SN
This info shouldn't be considered "good or bad", it just helps the rest of us figure out if we would want to use it.
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Why would I want to look up those sites? Do they sell stuff? Where are they located? Do they only accept Bitcoin and PayPal?
The idea is to list stuff we found by accident or sellers we would never have considered if left to our own devices.
Here's another example:
F Toys. No, not
those kinds of "F toys".
These are mostly 1/144th scale fighter jet models. Why have we never heard of them?
That's a good question and its a rabbit hole I've recently fallen into.
As it turns out, PLATZ F Toys are made in Japan and sold in Asian and Australian markets. Literally. We're talking grocery stores and 7-11s.
Confused yet? It gets better.
Buying an F Toy in Asia means you wind up with a pre-painted, snap together fighter plane with decals. And a piece of chewing gum...
Remember those old Topps baseball cards? If you do, you're getting warmer.
So, these are really cheap toys for kids and what the heck are they doing in this thread? OK, in their home market they
are cheap and they
are designed for kids to play with and collect. Their home market also happens to be Japan, so what you get is easy to assemble but also finely molded and accurate for what it is. The paint used is, well, top notch by 1/144th scale collectable standards.
Here comes the kicker.
F Toys are also one of the few kit makers that still molds pilot figures in 1/144th scale.
Read that again, I'm not making it up. Try to find seated pilot figures in that scale. You're going to find bupkis.
That bomber or fighter you built "in flight" with the gear up? The seats are
empty.
There are no figures available from Shapeways, not in that scale. No resin, either. Here's the best part, what you get isn't half bad. These things build up looking really close to their counterparts from Revell, especially if you take the time to clean and test fit the parts before hitting them with some glue.
I found a nice F Toys Su-30 on EBay (minus the chewing gum). The kit was surprisingly good, even though the two pilots quickly defected to fly a B-52 I'm building.
Outside of Asia, EBay is your one shot at finding these kits. Just be careful. I just bought an F-14 model last week ( $9 with $7 shipping) before I realized it's shipping from China, with their latest flu lockdowns this might take a while.
