Completed Diorama sets for sale on Yahoo Auctions

[JR 500系]

Hi all!

 

Came across these for sometime now:

 

http://page24.auctions.yahoo.co.jp/jp/auction/q31183476

 

They are completed diorama sets made ready for sale, and this one comes with lights. Judging from a few auctions that I saw them till the end, they usually get sold off around 10000-12000yen, and some more depending on the size and detail.

 

I think they look pretty good, and is quite a good option for people to just get a pre-fixed layout without any work, and straight away can run their trains on them; although most of them are small so only mini rails are used hence the longer trains will have problems.

 

The shipping would kill though, being a large piece and all. I also don't anticipate anyone ordering them and shipping them overseas, for fear of the high shipping cost, and if the item can reach you un-damaged.

 

Thoughts on this? Do the Japanese people actually buy them off Yahoo? Quite a fair number of these layouts for sale around...

[Guest ___]

It's cute, and I suspect people do buy them. When I started with J-Trains, I bought the Pro-Z diorama for the same reason why these tend to sell well. IDK, if they sell well off ebay itself, but I have seen them for sale at model train shops, on consignment.

[Guest keio6000]

They are completed diorama sets made ready for sale, and this one comes with lights. Judging from a few auctions that I saw them till the end, they usually get sold off around 10000-12000yen, and some more depending on the size and detail.

 

There are a lot of good diorama sets on sale on yahoo.jp.  As this one is in my opinion "just ok", I'd wait until one you really like comes up.   Also, I'd budget to spend a bit more.  Part of the issue is that while a lot of people can spend jpy 10000, not so many can spend jpy 40,000 (for example).  So, for 40,000 you generally get much more than 4x the value of a 10,000 yen diorama.

 

in general, the best dioramas to buy are the ones with work put into them and good artistic value.  the ones that simply contain "a lot of stuff" will often be bought by people who will pick them apart and sell the components.   i have two dioramas that i picked up years ago this way - one is a long station piece about 1.5m long and one is a shorter section of track about maybe 30cm long.  both are very high quality and i got both for a relative song.

 

if i had the time to look/shop/ship, i'd probably even buy a very well built 'big city station' (not just unitrack platforms and not those horrid yahoo layouts maide of ultrageneric 'tall buildings like this ugly/generic junk: http://page16.auctions.yahoo.co.jp/jp/auction/u45514963)  up to as much as jpy 200,000 to be the centerpiece of my train room... maybe someday. 

Edited July 26, 2014 by keio6000