Tokyo Diorama Factory - "Paper" Kits

[cteno4]

So got my order today from their .com site. Not bad 1 week. $25 shipping for the small box, but probably what it would have been most shipping options these days.

 

The kits are nice, basically sankei kits. Their cardstock is pigmented all the way thru the cardboard like sankei, but is a bit thinner and definitely not as stiff or hard as the sankei laserboard. It’s much closer to a thick cardstock. Colors are good, but there is a little sheen to the cardstock. I do worry this cardstock may be more susceptible to sucking in moisture both from glue or from humidity later than sankei laserboard which definitely has a lot more resin in it. The structural design looks a bit simpler than sankei and maybe a bit fewer layers, but I’d need to carefully compare similar models. The 5 story building I went thru felt it would be a big light on the walls for the size of the building. Smaller buildings this wouldn’t be as much of an issue. But the design details are quite nice.

 

I’ll need to assemble one to see how that stacks up against a sankei.

 

i love that their designs tend compliment those of sankei structures, but the cost issue ordering from the .com site makes these not worth it to me to buy more. Hopefully hobbysearch will start stocking a variety of these and we can get them at a more reasonable price.

 

jeff