Global Scale Modeller

Hi all

Just for some general model chat, I've found myself in Tokyo for a few days and visited a couple of interesting shops. I wanted to check around town to hopefully find a cool kit or 2 and wasnt disappointed.
The photos are of Leorado ET, a small space in a tiny laneway off a back alley that's crammed floor to ceiling with kits from the 50s to present day, some new, most look second-hand.

I really wanted a Tamiya classic big scale car, which they had, but on the first visit I walked out with a 1/32 hasegawa F86 Sabre High-grade kit molded all in transparent plastic - and only 40 bucks aud. A rare gem, complete with full engine detail, metal landing gear, rubber tires, pe bits, brake lines, engine cabling. Cant wait to do something with this.

Ive been back to this one and another close by and have ended up with 2 x 1/32 jets, and a 1/12 Honda F1. Unbelievable prices and some fabulous plastic to detail up this year.

Even my son, whos not into modelling, bought 4 kits and is now talking about making a diorama....



Hope the new year is treating you all well.









The ship display model is about a meter long.

Nice finds - even nicer prices!!

(If you aren't careful you'll find yourself "volunteered" to organise a forum trip to these shops!!! )

Wow I like these old style shops and of course the cheap prices for Japanese produced kits, but of course getting them home is another story.





Ps.... Love to get there one day.

RangerNeil wrote: Thu Jan 23, 2025 10:42 pm Nice finds - even nicer prices!!

(If you aren't careful you'll find yourself "volunteered" to organise a forum trip to these shops!!! )

Would be a great idea to run a virtual tour of the shop and take orders. Perhaps one day I'll be silly enough to do it.

digger303 wrote: Fri Jan 24, 2025 12:03 am Wow I like these old style shops and of course the cheap prices for Japanese produced kits, but of course getting them home is another story.





Ps.... Love to get there one day.

You'd love this shop, tons of military stuff. Saw a 1/24 Panzer which looked interesting. And yes, getting them home, still working that one out...

where theres a will theres a way







Went back again today, who wouldnt....
found this 1/20 f1 McLaren for about 55 aud, I consider it a bit of a bargain, couldnt resist one more kit.




Heres a couple more pics from the store. Overall it was a great experience and I can see myself coming back to this store, and the many more in Japan that I didnt have time to visit.
There were just so many rare and wonderful kits that I wish I had the space in my case for.

1/25 Panzer



An ancient weird fly model...



some cool trains




There were some very cool Japanese kits, like a couple of 1/2 size suits of samurai armour, a 1/3 or so kit of a set of 2 samurai swords on a stand, lots of Japanese castles and trains, cars from Wangan Midnight, if any of you have seen that car racing anime series about the Midnight Club. Lots and lots of model co. produced books, in Japanese, about every type of modelling known to man. Very good prices all round, and just a treat to visit.


And a view from the street


Off a major road into an alley


into a tiny laneway




You can load up on Boss coffee from the vending machine to pep you up before entering

cor wrote: Fri Jan 24, 2025 1:21 pm where theres a will theres a way

My last encounter with the Aussie baggage handlers resulted in me now having to buy another suitcase. I do hope you get through OK.

Get stuff! This is the kind of place you can find the holy grail of kits at reasonable prices. If I was there, it would've taken several hours to look at every single item just to make sure I didn't miss something. As a matter of fact, I would consider going there on vacation just to visit all the oddball stores and tour some of the model manufacturers.

Isn't there a way to have it packed in a shipping box and shipped it from there to home? Or is the problem the shipping, import fees, and taxes, etc.?

DRUMS01 wrote: Sat Jan 25, 2025 4:09 pm Get stuff! This is the kind of place you can find the holy grail of kits at reasonable prices. If I was there, it would've taken several hours to look at every single item just to make sure I didn't miss something. As a matter of fact, I would consider going there on vacation just to visit all the oddball stores and tour some of the model manufacturers.

Isn't there a way to have it packed in a shipping box and shipped it from there to home? Or is the problem the shipping, import fees, and taxes, etc.?

Be great if they had a cubic metre sized box for shipping containers and you could ship through them at a cheap rate even if it takes a little longer to arrive.

DRUMS01 wrote: Sat Jan 25, 2025 4:09 pm Get stuff! This is the kind of place you can find the holy grail of kits at reasonable prices. If I was there, it would've taken several hours to look at every single item just to make sure I didn't miss something. As a matter of fact, I would consider going there on vacation just to visit all the oddball stores and tour some of the model manufacturers.

Isn't there a way to have it packed in a shipping box and shipped it from there to home? Or is the problem the shipping, import fees, and taxes, etc.?

Ben, you certainly have the right idea. I did in fact go back 3 times to this shop, spending hours looking around, and I was in Tokyo only 6 days. (The wife will never understand my addiction.) My issue with buying half the store was that I was on holiday with my family so was just taking it all in and enjoying the experience without making it a modelling centered trip. And also limited space and weight restrictions for the flights - back to Hong Kong, then 2 days later home to Sydney. I got an extra carry on hard case with wheels that is packed tight with sprues - the boxes have been chucked.

Im already thinking about the next time I go to Japan, and how I will do what you're saying, maybe post a big box from Tokyo to my home. Shipping will eat into any bargains from buying, but its also the kits that you can find which make it worth while. There are also many other shops in the suburb - Akibahara - which I could not fit into my itinerary.

Also, Tamiya has recently opened a store in Tokyo that apparently has every currently available kit in stock. And they have a life size replica of one of their off road rc cars in it.
I wanted to visit it but decided my time and money was better spent in this other shop.

digger303 wrote: Sun Jan 26, 2025 2:04 am Be great if they had a cubic metre sized box for shipping containers and you could ship through them at a cheap rate even if it takes a little longer to arrive.

I'd like to contact the shop and ask if they will ship even just one kit, as shipping from Japan seems to be pretty cheap, especially with the weak Yen.
I doubt they have a catalogue but I can remember a lot of the kits and prob worth asking if they have something.



FYI

What I did buy was:
1/32 Sabre detail up, all transparent parts Hasegawa 40aud
1/12 Honda F1 car Tamiya 90aud
1/20 Mclaren Mp4/13 Tamiya 50aud
plus hasegawa Carbon fibre decals, mirror finish decal, and seatbelt cloth-like material

And from the Leonardo store about 100m away or so - which was cleaner and bigger, but a bit more expensive. Still very cool though

1/32 Tomcat F14A Tamiya 80aud

Heres a few kits that I would have bought in a heartbeat if I could get them into my luggage - all of them at least half the price of what I could find while searching the web whilst in the shop.

From memory ...

1/16 Toyota 2000GT
1/20 same car, metal body and detail up parts
A few hard to find 1/20 Tamiya F1 cars
1/32 hasegawa zero with tons of metal detail up parts - cowling prop land. gear - totally awesome - 40aud
1/24 and 1/18 Huey choppers
1/24 Bandai P51 mustang
1/32 testors F17 stealth fighter and a 1/48 SR71 spy plane
1/32 Zero with motor and sounds Tamiya
About 8 or 9 Tamiya big scale 1/12 racing cars - the Tyrell six wheeler was only $50 aud
1/12 Nissan GTR
8 or so large scale motorbikes of different companies - 1/6 and 1/8 scales - some looked very old and were quite expensive.
A few Japanese feudal castles
The samurai half scale armour and the two sword katana set. These were also pricey - a few hundred aud ish.
Quite a few very old space vehicles- soviet and US rockets and landers
The big fly kit, just for a laugh
about 5 1/48 jets and the lots of 1/32 ww2 planes

the list goes on, but I cant remember all the kits I pulled out and sat on a pile to look at and toss up if it was going to go in my suitcase.

The point of all this is that this was the best model shop I have ever been in will definitely return to.
I hope some of you can make the pilgrimage too.

Store website - not much info in it

I have bought some kits through PlazaJapan and the shipping was good right up until covid then the cheap shipping option disappeared. Now it seems the kit weight has to be under a kilo or it climbs dramatically.

I also bought a airbrush 2 yrs back from another shop ( don't remember), website was all Japanese and didn't have any issues

Made it back intact. Let the modelling commence.


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