ngbee

Yes will be built within next few weeks, just need to finish a couple of other things first The damage to the kit box is not too bad and I wouldn't normally be that bothered but for such a special kit it kind of spoils it..

Hope this works.... Showroom

....oh, and I chose EMS and got hit for customs (UK) for about £23.00. They had marked the kit with a value of only 50USD which helped!

I recently got my Avante Black Special from RCMart and packaging was very poor. Kit box was damaged (see photos in my showroom). I think I was unlucky, there seems to be plenty of people on here who have had excellent service from RCMart - I would still use them but ask them to make sure they package your kit in a strong box. Mine had plenty of bubble wrap but the outer box was very weak.

I just got hit with charges for my Avente Black Special sent from Hong Kong. Customs label declared it as a gift with a value of 50 USD. I got charged just under £23 GBP (no bad really, considering all the kits I've had without any charges) Most of the sellers I have used have been OK but best all round service I've had by far is Stellamodels

Just added to my showroom

Not good but I still think Stella is probably one of the best sellers out there. At least you know the kit (if you can get it) will arrive in the same condition it left in. I only used another seller because Stella was sold out. Out of interest, was Stella offering the damaged kits at a reduced price?

good news is that my Avante BS arrived but bad news is the outer box is a little crushed. So, I've decided I'm definitely going to build it now. Regarding the damage, I emailed the HK seller who basically is not interested (not their fault) The standard of packaging was poor (very weak outer box) I usually buy new kits from Stella but they were out of stock when I tried to order. l will definitely try to stick with Stella for future (packaging has always been excellent) Oh, and I also got hit with customs charges for the first time! So, all round a bit of a mess with this delivery but despite all that I'm still very happy!!

I have a feeling that the next big re-release (maybe 58500) will be the 959/Celica Gr.B - I'm convinced of this and here's why: 1. When I got back into the hobby my first resto. was a Frog - Tamiya then proceeded to re-release it much to my shock. 2. I then turned my interest to the Hotshot and refurbished a few (at quite a lot of expenses - new bodies, tyres etc) - then that was re-released. 3. Then I decided to get into SRB's and bought my first battered old Scorcher and set about a very long and expensive resto. Finished it, then it too was re-released. This is one I was sure would never be re-released... Also restored a Holiday Buggy, Boomerang and Grasshopper along the way. To date, just about everything I've decided to restore has so far been re-released, usually after I've spent a bucket load of cash on eBay and T/C!! Now my latest project is a Toyota Celica Gr.B resto (which will no doubt be expensive) and I'm starting to wonder - will the same thing happen again?? I think probably, yes (and/or the Porsche 959). Either that or a yellow Holiday Buggy! What do you guys think ?? Tamiya have already shocked us with some of their recent re-releases, especially the SRB and Avante... (BTW, I'm all in favour of the re-releases. Just wish I knew about them before I splashed the cash...)

just checked the customs label on the parcel from Stellamodels - marked as a gift with a value of only USD 40.00. I must have had about 10 kits or more from Stella over the years and never been hit once by customs (just checked their website by the way, looks like they are sold out at the moment)

excellent news. the body set looks like it will be excellent value for money. might need to get me a few of them. I expect the first batch will sell very quickly.

the exhaust parts are on the same sprue as the nose cone so theres a chance it will be included but my guess is they will chop this bit off for the bodyset version. keep your fingers crossed!

Yep, I'm in UK (I'll update my profile!) I got hit with customs for my Buggy Champ (from Jason), about £18 I think. I've been hit twice with kits from Jason but so far everything I've ever had from Stella has escaped customs. Don't know if it makes a difference if it comes from Japan or HK ? I guess it shouldn't but it seems that way from my experience.

Mine was delivered at 10:30 this morning by Parcelforce and no customs charges. Thanks Stella !! Can't wait to get home from work tonight to open it up. Can't remember looking forward to any other kit as much as this one. Great stuff!

mines in the uk but stuck in customs awaiting charges!! Hopefully get it mon or Tuesday. Been a while since I got hit with customs charges but it will be worth it this time. Can't wait