Dave Williams

I think I’m OK. Added an egg sinker behind the front IP and a couple of small ones under the cockpit above the gun turret. If I push the tail down all the way, it will easily rock back onto the skids. I’m planning to leave the turrets off until last, so I’ll have access to the area in front of the front IP and under the front cockpit until the end.

Still plugging along. Don’t really like that the elevators are just a butt joint. The kit is really tail heavy. I put in about 8 grams in the ammo bay (recommended is only 3 grams) , but it’s a little marginal after adding the elevators and later adding the tail rotor is going to make it worse.

I plan to stop by for a couple of days, but won’t be entering anything.

I’m curious how big a Roden Fokker D.VII release would actually be. Seems to me that almost anyone who wanted a nice 1/32 D.VII likely already bought the WNW kit. They were out for a number of years in a number of boxings. Right now, I suspect the people who are actually paying outrageous prices for the WNW kit (as opposed to just asking high prices and not finding any takers) are mostly collectors who see the kit as an investment, with no intent to ever build. Any demand for a WNW D.VII isn’t going to translate into the same demand for a Roden kit.

ANY accurate modern tool LSP Gripen kit would be welcome, since all that’s out there is the old, long OOP, inaccurate Revell kit.

Call them customs duty, tariffs, or whatever, but generally individual items coming in through the mail or courier services to individuals are governed by the deminimus exemption, which was $800 per person per day. In other words, if the contents were valued less than $800, there should be no additional charge. Maybe there were different rates for jewelry or fabrics, but for hobby stuff and toys, I think the $800 limit applied. Today, with all of the EOs, “pauses”, rantings, etc. It’s hard to know exactly what’s in effect on any given day without wading through it all because it seems to change constantly. I THINK the current status is that the $800 deminimus exemption is still in effect, EXCEPT for packages coming from China and Hong Kong. Those have extra charges. I think there was talk about dropping deminimus for Canada and Mexico to but I think that’s currently paused. Whether that can change tomorrow or next week, who knows. Personally, I’m only holding off on buying stuff from China.

The Meng kit is an easier build and has decals that actually work. I’ve got both, and the Meng kit is the one I’d build. Also recommend the Quinta set (think it’s listed for the Takom kit, but the cockpits are the same in both kits, so it should fit Meng) as it has some of the changes in the front cockpit specific to the DI. Also, the Meng kit includes Spike missiles, which the Takom kit doesn’t.

Unsurprisingly, we aren’t just talking about airplanes anymore. Who could have guessed this might happen?

Stuff from overseas seems to be hit and miss in processing times. I have a package coming from ASK in the Czech Republic that was processed in NJ on June 6th. 4 days later, it moved to a distribution center, also in NJ. 6 days later, on June 16, it’s in a regional center in NC. So, it’s been in the U.S. for 11 days now, and only made it from NJ to NC.

I’ve gotten stuff from Poland, the UK, Australia, Italy, Ukraine, and the Czech Republic in the last month and a half and haven’t had any problem or had to pay anything extra. First of all, for all the bluster, most of the tariffs have been “paused”. Second, that’s not how they work anyway. The tariffs on stuff sent in the mail get paid by the shipper, not the end recipient. The shipper is expected to cover any added tariffs by charging extra, or just eating it. They don’t come after you for the money. They don’t make you go down to the Post Office and pay the “tariff” before they release the package to you. That’s not how it works in the U.S. They may raise the price on the product, or on shipping, but once you’ve paid what you paid, that’s it.

Did he say what the status was? Are they drawn and just waiting for printing? Not drawn yet?

Yeah, pretty good. I spent some time dry fitting and getting things aligned before glueing the fuselage together. Also opened up the locator pin holes in the fuselage half since they were a little smaller than the pins on the other half.

Got the front fuselage closed up.

Thanks guys! It really is a nice kit. The link and length tracks went together really well.