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A great selection of Tamiya model kits and accessories, on sale now until August 25th!

We've got a great selection of Tamiya products, in a wide variety of genres, all on sale now! For the entire list, click HERE!

Not bad, do you know what are postage rates to UK/Europe?

Shipping fees are shown when you hover over the Yen price, as the site in most cases automatically sees which country you hail from.

If you click on the individual product page there is an info box at the top headed "Buy This", which includes the estimated shipping for Fedex, EMS and SAL. Normally their server detects your country automatically.

I generally use SAL which is usually the cheapest. Things sometimes arrive in a week, sometimes take two or three weeks because the boxes are airlifted on a "space available" basis. If there is very little difference I will use EMS instead. That is the Japan Post tracked service.

The downside to ordering from HLJ at the moment is the appallingly bad exchange rate. If you pay by PayPal you will get 125 yen to the £.

Even so there can be bargains to be had since some Tamiya kits are so overpriced in the UK. Obviously it is acceptable for the kind of items that aren't easily available in the UK.

Another thing to bear in mind is that when the goods value exceeds £18 you are in theory liable to pay import duties, VAT and a Customs processing fee. These can dramatically inflate the final cost -- for example a £20 kit could suddenly cost you as much as £37 thanks to the massive processing fee (£8 to £13).

Sometimes you get away with it by luck but there is no predicting it.

If you are going to exceed the £18 limit (pathetic isn't it? Is this the 21st century?) then you may as well go well over since you only pay one processing fee per parcel. Perhaps club together with pals to spread the cost.

It's also worth reading the item description closely since some Tamiya kits in Japan are repackaged European kits. For example, the Italian P40 tank is actually an Italeri product and should be available quite easily in the UK.

Finally, don't forget to check UK based websites such as Hannants and e-Models for competitive prices. Some UK shops may have old stock which is cheaper than HLJ, or may be having a sale.


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Here's a good example. Modelzone have the Tamiya JSU-152 1/35th scale on sale at the moment, reduced from £44.50 to £29.99. This makes it cheaper than importing from Japan.



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http://www.modelzone.co.uk/special-offers/tamiya-russian-heavy-sp-gunjsu152.html

Nice one KK, much to consider.