PLUM 1:72 Shira-Dow III ("Wings of Honneamise"), sprue pics @p.3

[Dizzyfugu]

Well, depends on the total sum (item price plus postage), and to some part on the customs officers themselves and how credible the item's description (and value in the official document) is.
Officially, EUR 28,- is the "sound barrier" for free import. Not much, but O.K. for most IP kits. Anyway, with so much Asian pirate copies and other weird stuff (incl. illegal weapons, drugs, food, whatever), custom officers frequently hold dubious parcels in store, in order to have the recipients open them under official eyes. Also, many Chinese senders declare anything as "gift", which is also a good reason for the customers' suspicion.

In my case, the parcel was correctly fitted with all documents, but its gross value was clearly above the EUR 28,- (as expected), and I think they simply could not make sense of the description "toy" and "Shira-Dow 3rd". Could you...? 

The officer also told me when I left "Have fun with it ...what ever it is!?"

[zenrat]

Obviously didn't know who he was talking to.

[Old Wombat]

Maybe we should produce business cards with the site logo & address on them, & each of us can have our name printed on a stack or two.

That way, when we get asked this sort of question or receive this sort of comment, we can just give them a card & say "Look this up."

Or you could pop a few next to your builds at shows.

[zenrat]

It would certainly be easier than trying to explain.

[Dizzyfugu]

A visit at the customer office is always ...entertaining. The "figures" (me included  ) that lurk there are already worth a TV reality show, and when you see what others unwrap, and the turmoil associated with the process, is worth every minute you have to wait. I really do not want to know what the officers get to see and handle with every day... and they must have better patience than bus drivers!

[PR19_Kit]

The officer also told me when I left "Have fun with it ...what ever it is!?"

Hehehe, love it! 

That'd never happen in the UK, they go out of their way to STOP you making real contact with them. You can't phone them, you can't email them, and writing letters never ever gets a response. They think that you just have to accept their rulings and do what they say.

Until they got a letter from my MP of course.... 

[zenrat]

My sister got out of paying import duties on a "hoody" I sent to my nephew.  I wrote a letter explaining it was a gift and they relented.  She still had to pay processing charges though.
I now write "THIS IS A GIFT - DO NOT CHARGE DUTY" in 2" letters in black texter on any parcel I send to the UK.

[PR19_Kit]

Which begs the question 'Why should I pay 'processing  charges' on something that hasn't been processed?'

The answer is that the combined forces of the UK Border Agency, Her Majesty's Revenue and Customs, and the Post Office are a greedy bunch of swine and they've arranged the laws of the country so they can get away with it, most of the time......

Of course they say they need to money to pay for their staffing levels. But if they didn't have so many staff and such iniquitous rules they wouldn't NEED so many staff. It's circular logic.

[Dizzyfugu]

As a side note, a Shira-Dow III two-seater has just been announced in Japan. Easy mod, since the kit comes with a separate cockpit section. And it will be blue. 

[Madoc]

The two seater?

Where have you heard of this?

[Dizzyfugu]

When the kit was announced back in 2015, the blue two seater had already been part of the artwork:




The kit has now been mentioned in a small article with pic in the current Hobby Japan issue.

[Madoc]

Ah, that.

Okay, I was thinking you'd found a "pre-order" listing of it or something similar.  I was pretty jazzed when that 2015 announcement came out and was hoping you'd found something more "time definitive."

Still though, it's a good sign.

Now, if they'd get on to doing the jet fighters from the anime - the "Republic" one we saw at its end and the Kingdom's one launching from that carrier - that'd be hella cool.  I do have the "General Products" rendering of that navy jet and it's everything you'd expect from a General Products resin garage kit of that vintage.  An injection moulded rendering from Plum would be hellacool indeed.

[Dizzyfugu]

The two-seater is now available on HLJ.com. Same price as the red single-seater.

BTW, I agree that more designs from "Wings of Honneamise" deserve a hardware rendition. IIRC, there was also a very sleek two engine light bomber... 

[Madoc]

This is excellent news!

HLJ's listing:

https://hlj.com/product/POA38215

Hobby Search's:

http://www.1999.co.jp/eng/10483853