I did DHL, it’s what Amazon Japan usually uses and their packaged tend to arrive 5-7 days after purchase.
After all the sheer bullshit you've gone through with trying to get things in Canada, I'm genuinely happy to hear you've found a great shop for Gunpla. Plus, if they have P-Bandai, maybe they can help you special order items to get around how the P-Bandai site won't ship to Canada. It's still really weird to hear my town get named for everybody's purchases between here and some other communities I'm a member of. I knew CVG was a major freight hub but it seems EVERYTHING is going through Cincinnati - Covington.
Mazel Tov. Meanwhile, my last HLJ order is on track for 15 weeks. I chose the low cost shipping option in the last week of September, got the shipping notice in the first week of October... and now it's December and still No available updates on its shipping tracker since being picked up by the Japan post on October 5th. ..meh, another reason they're my end alI last resort store. Yet I'm not in a rush about anything.
I mean, you chose the cheapest and slowest option. That thing is probably in a container stuck in port. Thats why I did the math and loaded my order with as much as possible. $100 1-3 day shipping for 27 items IMP is well worth it, especially considering the boxes are of decent size. I’m sure the shipping box itself will be massive.
I accept full responsibility, and don't have a problem waiting. I'm just remarking that I've made another order through an import source in China that showed up surprisingly early, and I bought said items after my HLJ order. It's been more than a year since my last HLJ order before this one and as I recall, that only took a month's time shipping which was the norm. This extension to nearly three months is something else. Especially when the shipping rates are from $20 USD and up even for small packages.
FWIW I had an HLJ arrive in like two or three weeks, standard surface. I don't know how they're doing it but they're getting packages out in relatively good time. I wonder if it's specifically Japan to US that's most backed up? My HLJs still come Canada Post but we don't have as massive backlogs at port... instead we have mudslides in Vancouver narrowing traffic out of the province to a single road. Win some you lose some. It ain't perfect, it's over an hour away and buried in Markham, but it is accessible. They also have an online store, which means I can potentially get P-Bandai there as well. I could've cleaned them out but I'd rather not be homeless lmao, but there were things I genuinely never thought I'd see. PG Phenex, PB special coatings, and more. (came close to getting FRS W and Hibiki but I have them on preorder and those kits in particular were a bit pricey) I wish I took pictures. The staff were also SO nice. We showed up 20 minutes to close and they let me saunter around like a beef-stuffed bigfoot even though it was late. Next time I go I'll have to ask if I can snap pics of their displays.
I'm just glad someone other than me has gone super hard into 30MM. Speaking of, I tweaked one of my older customs, "Penumbra" with some more IBO parts to better fit with its brother unit. (Pardon the arrows, I just screenshotted them from my IG) I always open my boxes on my bed or on my couch. It's better when you have a nice big surface to spread it all across!
Here is them all. I opened up the Portanova Commander armor to give to my original Purple Portanova. (his foot bit likes to fall off.)
Just so you know, the backpacks of the Alto series and the "Nova" series are designed to clip together.
Has anyone here used Mr.Color 75 Metallic Red? Was my first time using it today, and it really doesn't feel very "metallic" after I airbrush it; it mostly just looks like a gloss red with some metallic specks in it, even after 2-3 coats. On the flipside, I also tried Mr.Color 76 Metallic Blue as well, and that one came out really nicely; like a blue-tinted steel color. Am I missing something or doing something wrong, or does Mr.Color 75 Metallic Red just kind of suck? I didn't put in a color base coat under either of the Metallic Red or Metallic Blue; it was airbrushed on a (grey) primed part. Maybe I need that for the red to work properly?
I've never used those specifically but I've used the Mr Metallic Colors and I've always put them over a gloss black to get the full luster to come out.
Thanks for the input/feedback/recommendation. I've used Mr Color Burn Iron and Metallic Black before, and never had an issue when not using a gloss black base in the past. Likewise with the Metallic Blue just earlier today. Weird that I'm running into this only with the Metallic Red, but I'll probably give it a shot anyways.
Question to the masser, for those who've already been building MG Virtue: Do the front foot parts on your example also have trouble staying attached to Nadleeh's feet? They're attached by a single tab and the slot barely has any friction.
I'm hearing that they actually click in, so you're probably being a bit too gentle and not actually sticking them on all the way.
