For all of you Tamiya 1/20 F1 kits buliders / Problems concerning buying stuff on eBa

[Andy Perry]

Howdy, fellow forumites and forumers!

This is my first thread (or post) here, although I've been lurking around for quite a while now WIP - Motorsports is a great "sub-forum" which has already helped me immensely with my model builds so, first of all a big thank you to all of you for that!

I have a problem concerning a Tamiya 1/20 F1 kit and I truly hope that someone here will be able to help me out. Please!

About a month and 10 days ago, I decided to buy a Tamiya 1/20 MCLAREN MP4/5B HONDA 89720 Kit through eBay. I found one, decided to buy it (using the "Buy Now" option) and did so. I paid the seller immediately, but recieved no response from him for 10 days or so. When I mailed him about it, he informed me that I should send my money to another PayPal account, different to the one that was set by default when I went through the payment procedure on eBay website. I cancelled the payment, sent money to the other PayPal account (after some debate over additional charges for postage) and had serious trouble receiving feedback from the guy. I wanted to know if he recieved the payment and if he sent the item I won. Finally he responded and told me that the kit had been sent.

The kit arrived 4 days ago. Upon its arrival, I discovered that a part of the A tree was missing. Specifically the missing part is A 23 (the white headrest part). When I opened the plastic bag the A tree was in, I carefully checked it and it is clearly visible that part 23 had been clipped off. There is still a little piece of plastic that held the A23 piece to the A tree, present in the plastic bag. Every tree was otherwise packaged in plastic seperately. The kit box was also wrapped in plastic foil, the way they come frome the factory.

The seller says that that is the way the kit was originaly packed (from Tamiya factory) and that he has/had nothing to do with it. He also told me to contact the Tamiya factory about it I intend to pursue the whole matter and inform eBay about this problem, but that's another story. I would really appreciate it if anyone could help me shed a little light on some arreas.


My Questions:

1. Do any of you have spare parts from the Tamiya 1/20 MCLAREN MP4/5B HONDA 89720 Kit (specifically A 23 part)? If so, would it be possible for me to buy the part from you?

2. Is it possible to obtain particular parts of the kit independently ( for instance, the A tree or maybe even part A 23 alone )?

2.b If so, how would one go about ordering the desired parts and how much would it cost?

3. Have you ever had an experience with factory sealed Tamiya kits, that weren't complete (as the eBay seller assures me is the case)?

4. Is it worth the bother reporting the guy to eBay? I did not recieve the item that was advertised ("New") and for which I paid for - I paid for a complete kit, which this most definitely is not.




Thanks for botherin',

Andy

[gasdriverca]

Hey my friend sounds like a bummer! I had a problem like this but it wasn't from Tamiya it was from Italeri.The problem was when i got a truck kit (Tiger express truck & trailer kit#748) from my local hobby shop the window sprue was gone completely so i told the shop who told me to contact the dealer who supplies the kits to the shops in the region.I got the part with no problem but with Tamiya I don't know if they do that for the single part.
I would complain and report him to E-bay because your the one getting shafted and the kit from E-bay didn't say used then thats fraud in my eyes.

[Eric Cole]

Model kit's, even from Tamiya, occasionally have missing parts. It doesn't happen often but it does happen. It's not the sellers fault if the kit is factory sealed. If the seller never opened it how would they know. If they opened it to check it, then they wouldn't sell it as sealed.

Whether it came from a hobby shop, directly from Tamiya or from ebay your only real choice is to order the tree from Tamiya (if available) or ask for help from fellow builders like you've done. Now, the sellers poor communication regarding payment and shipping, that might be something to complain about.

I recently bought a sealed RoG Ferrari 250GTO kit from a hobby shop and when I opened it, it was missing the entire body. Nothing to do but contact Revell. I've bought kits that had missing decals, missing tires, three rear and 1 front tire, two sets of tires, etc... it happens.

[jano11]

I've bought once on eBay a factory sealed Ferrari 250 GT SWB kit and to my surprise half of the parts were not on the grapes anymore. Still it was complete.

It might be that it isn't the eBay sellers fault.

[ZoomZoomMX-5]

You are overreacting if you start involving Ebay.

I've had at least one new/sealed Tamiya kit that was missing a part (one of the chrome velocity stacks in a Lotus 25 kit). I ended up getting one sent from a builder who used machined velocity stacks.

Tamiya will send replacement parts for missing kits. You contact them, give them the part number, and they'll send it. If it was sealed then how would the person you bought it know it was missing? It happens. It's better to buy new kits from a hobby shop or online vendor outside of Ebay; you'll get better service and they may be a lot more able and willing to give you a refund or replacement. I only use Ebay to buy stuff that I can't get elsewhere easier.

[Andy Perry]

Originally Posted by ZoomZoomMX-5

You are overreacting if you start involving Ebay.

I've had at least one new/sealed Tamiya kit that was missing a part (one of the chrome velocity stacks in a Lotus 25 kit). I ended up getting one sent from a builder who used machined velocity stacks.

Tamiya will send replacement parts for missing kits. You contact them, give them the part number, and they'll send it. If it was sealed then how would the person you bought it know it was missing? It happens. It's better to buy new kits from a hobby shop or online vendor outside of Ebay; you'll get better service and they may be a lot more able and willing to give you a refund or replacement. I only use Ebay to buy stuff that I can't get elsewhere easier.

I don't know - how about if he sealed it himself, for instance? Does Tamiya have monopoly on sealing or what? How can I know?

Some of you guys said that you have experience with missing parts in "sealed" kits, so I guess I'll have to live with it.

Which again brings me to question No. 1:

1. Do any of you have spare parts from the Tamiya 1/20 MCLAREN MP4/5B HONDA 89720 Kit (specifically A 23 part)? If so, would it be possible for me to buy the part from you?


Thanks for your replies, fellas!

[spincarez]

Hi,
What i have read or about Tamiya is that it is very rare that a part is missed in Tamiya kits because all the kits are weighed at the factory and if the weight is not right then it gets checked for any faults. Thats what i've heard.
One other thing is that Tamiya doesn't plastic wrap their kits boxes from the factory, they are done after arriving to a certain country by the distributor.

[viperofoz]

I'll admit it is very rare to have a missing part from a Tamiya kit, but as others have stated here, it does happen.

I have opened probably over 100 Tamiya kits in my lifetime and only ever had one with a missing part.... a front wing endplate on an FW-24 Williams.

Also..... I'm pretty sure Tamiya DOESN"T seal their kit boxes from the factory, I beleive its only the local distributors who seal them before distributing to the retailers..... but I could be mistaken.
I have never received a Tamiya with shrink When ordering directly from Japan (HLJ, Hobby Search etc.)

Unfortunately I can't help with the part request but hopefully someone here can.

Regards, Dan

[hirofkd]

Calm down. I think you are over-reacting.

You might want to react when you find parts like these in a perfectly sealed box! (LOL)


As for the missing part in your McLaren kit, you can easily make it with styrene. A sheet of 1.0 mm styrene, or two 0.5 mm are all you need.

For the Japanese domestic market, Tamiya, and other Japanese manufacturers don't seal their kits, (except for some resin ones). It's the customary in Japan where the customers feel comfortable knowing what they are going to pay for. I, myself, wondered why imports (into Japan) were always sealed.

[RA1028]

Actually, Tamiya never seal the box from factory. It is usually done by distributors, stores, or sellers.

[Didymus]

If you're still looking for that Tamiya part, try Hobby Link Japan. The process is slow, but it's a great service. They are great folks to deal with; they didn't even charge me for a sheet of clear parts from Hasegawa.

Their info page for ordering replacement parts is http://www.hlj.com/faq/q41.html.

Ddms

[Tibi Keke]

You could order missing Tamiya parts also here : http://www.rainbowten.co.jp/english/index.html

[millersbrm]

Local Country distributors often also have parts for replacement. Depends on the country.

Some will also sell whole trees?

Stephen