Anybody ever buy: F-TOYS JAPAN ?

[Hobby Dreamer]

I was looking for some aircraft (either 1:144 or 1:200) and came across this site:

 

http://www.bcmini.com/id245.html

 

Any thoughts ?    or experiences ?

 

 

There are a few manufacturers in these scales but the price can be obscene (e.g. $40 for one fighter jet).

 

It looks as though one has to buy in bulk at the above site (if they even allow non-retailers to buy) but the quality looks pretty decent.

 

I'd like to get a few helicopters but it looks like there is a lot of stuff in 1:144 (from other makers) for a small army base. That would be pretty cool!

 

Thanks

Rick

[cteno4]

Rick,

 

Yep ive ordered from these guys. they basically are an import wholesaler for these sets of models, stickers, erasers, etc. i got the space yamamoto set from bcmini, some eames 1/12 chairs, and a castle set. at times they have a sale page to get rid of misc individual items as well. orders are done quickly and shipped out ups excellent from my experience.  i thought we had this on a thread somewhere, but cant find it.

 

they also have the little z scale and below train scenes and futura trains:

 

http://www.bcmini.com/catalog/c31_p1.html

 

for $40-60 is usually for a box of 8-12 planes depending on the set. basically the same as tomytec vehicle sets.

 

the ftoy planes and helicopters are excellent quality. like tomytec vehicle detail quality. i have a number of the helicopters and planes and love them. great helicopters for your heli pad on a building or airport! old jet fighter for a park display!

 

ive bought all my ftoys planes and helicopters thru ebay sellers as you can usually find someone that has broken a set up and selling them individually as i usually one only one or two from a whole set. you can find some at pretty cheap prices and cheap shipping on ebay and some have a lot of models and good combined shipping.

 

cheers

 

jeff

[jappomania]

Hi Rick,

I bought some F-Toys and also CafeReo and Doyusha wings sets and single

I have one Frecce Tricolori PAN set of 10 airplane and some JASDF F15 sets (some double or triple...) and more.

Quality is very good, maybe CafeReo and Doyusha are a little bit better, but for me the best is the Tomytec Gimix series (JASDF and USAF F4, F15, UH1, CH47 etc.. pre-painted kit with some optional like led afterburner, I just have a couple)

right price going from 100 to 700JPY in Japan, from 3 to 10-15 USD on ebay, excluding really hard to find items from old series and hard to find WW2 bombers

Gimix collection is more expensive (1800 to 2300JPY)

http://www.1999.co.jp/search.asp?Typ1_c=101&SC=97&Typ=0&sortID=0&scope=0&urikire=&andor=&scope2=0&ItKey=tomytec+144&SPage=1

http://www.tomytec.co.jp/gimix/lineup/index.html

 

ciao

Massimo

[Hobby Dreamer]

Thanks Jeff and Massimo!

 

@ Massimo

It took me a few minutes to understand your reply (Gimix?, but I've figured it out)

 

Where do you get CafeReo and Doyusha wings sets?

 

It says that the Tomytec are pre-painted kits? Are there ready made ones? Would the kit ones be too fragile?

 

 

Thanks, Jeff, for the comments about the helicopters. It might be fun to have a helipad.

 

Bravo One.. ready for liftoff!

Rick

[jappomania]

Hi Rick,

 

Gimix (or Gi Mix?) is the translation of the series logo)  ,  I don't know more...

 

http://www.tomytec.co.jp/gimix/common/images/logo_gimix.jpg

 

Doyusha and CafeReo (and Gimix) are available at HS (scroll down, not only airplanes...)

http://www.1999.co.jp/search_e.asp?Typ1_c=101&scope=0&scope2=0&itkey=doyusha

http://www.1999.co.jp/search_e.asp?Typ1_c=101&scope=0&scope2=0&itkey=Cafereo

http://www.1999.co.jp/search_e.asp?Typ1_c=101&scope=0&scope2=0&itkey=gimix

 

also on ebay (but take care, some people think that sell gold and not plastic! )

I bought wings from Angolamodelshop, 7toy7, Yagutoro and more.. please wait I control my old auctions history 

 

on yahoo auction (in this case I'm lucky because my friend in Japan buy them for me, is less expensive than Auction Center or similar services)

 

if you are curious about Doyusha (scroll down fro 1:144)

http://www.doyusha-model.com/list/listtop/list-figure.html

http://www.f-toys.net/index.php?m=fproduct&t=list (is better that you use website translation on original japanese version instead the english version because it's incomplete)

 

unfortunately Cafe Reo website don't report old release, you can find something on the web (like Cafe Reo or Algernon products)

 

Tomytec kits aren't too fragile, of course the small part needs care for assemble and handling, but is the same for the other kits (Doyusha, Cafe Reo etc... ), they needs to assemble small parts like weapons, wheels, tail rudders (it's the correct term?)

the best is that you can assemble all without glue (but for small parts simple to lose a drop is better) and you could improve painting (if you are able to do this)

 

p.s. about helicopters, Tomytec-Gimix are also simple (but expensive) to motorize

http://www.tomytec.co.jp/gimix/lineup/op/op04.html

 

question: which series you like or you would collect? WW2, JASDF, US-Navy.....

 

 

ciao

Massimo

[Hobby Dreamer]

Thanks Massimo for the detailed response... !!!!!

 

question: which series you like or you would collect? WW2, JASDF, US-Navy.....

 

To be honest I did not think there would be anything in 1:144..  I was originally thinking about helicopters..  Probably modern planes... Probably US because there are some vehicles available as well in 1:144. I know that this scale is a "bit" large but better this than 1:200, which would be too small I think, although in the background it might not matter!

 

Actually, I'd be thrilled with any era or country! I have a few 1:72 Dragon fighters for WWII and for modern. I think some planes and helicopters might make the layout more interesting.

 

I've never done a layout before and am thinking about ideas for what will fill the middle or edges..  Helicopters came to mind because you need only a small helipad. But maybe a hint of runway, a small hanger etc would look great on a layout.

 

Herpa makes a lot of small scale stuff:

http://www.herpa.de/collect/%28S%28j12swp45ytav13ud1v31kd55%29%29/detail.aspx?ProductID=553704&lang=en-GB&express=&thumb=1

 

but I think 1:200 may be a bit small. I may purchase one plane for both scales and think about which works best.

 

Thanks again for your detailed response!

Rick

[cteno4]

Rick,

 

careful these can be addictive! as Massimo indicated some of the ebay prices can be ridiculous. so best go in knowing whats a reasonable price and hunt and lurk. I have gotten some great deals on ebay this way on helicopters especially. so much so on a few that i picked up extras at a $1-2 on sales (some guy dumping the rest of collections that im sure there one or two high priced sellers in and stuck with a load of the rest of them). again look for guys that have more than one item you may want as many times the shipping can be as much as the model. i now have way more helis than places to ever show them, but then i can just swap them out to have some variety in the long run!

 

the 1/144 is not so bad being over scale as most folks dont have a great sense of aircraft scale as we usually are not around them very close or have know objects around them that much (even most airport vehicles are odd shaped/sized and throw folks off) to give folks a true sense of scale.

 

there are also some air strip accessory things you can find in 1/144 as well in the military stuff that could be turned civilian like generators and such. i think i even saw a small aircraft tractor once, think it was german ww2.

 

jeff