IJN A6M5 Carrier Fighter ZERO Model 52

Tony May Schrijver
Thanks Neal & a happy new year to you. Ah, the great seat belt revolution, I remember a time when we didn't care if a plane had seat belts. Then again we didn't care about a lot of things in those days. A stick for a gun? No problem! A rough doughnut shaped object for a wheel, just fine & dandy! 😉 Raised panel lines? Use charcoal & chalk shavings to provide the illusion of depth!

Naturally, I've been taken in by the whole thing as well. A lot of mine are just Tamiya masking tape affairs with some fine foil work for some buckles, but it's better than nothing. Honestly, I think I'm going to turn that route more often than not moving forward. I discovered that I positively detest photo-etch seat belts. Especially when the buckle is separate & is supposed to be threaded onto the belt. I think I rediscovered curse words from past lifetimes the first time I tried those! lol

I'm curious about 3D printed seat belt decals but they're darned expensive & not always easy to come by here in the states now. I well & truly miss the days of de minimus exemptions & before we went back to the early 20th century with tariffs. I was making orders from Europe very nearly on a monthly basis. Most of my business went to Super-Hobby in Poland (Moje-Hobby.)

Some of the items I could get affordably from the international market, before August of 2025, I'm looking at getting positively scalped here in the states, by buying them. Otherwise it's hit & miss everywhere I look as to what they have stock of. Some shops are either still or have just gotten their European distributor lined up. It's crazy stuff.

Something incredibly common that I hear is that shop owners don't even know what to expect their distributor to send them until it arrives. What kind of business model is that?! Furthermore, given what domestic shipping is like in the United States, you don't want to be making orders from a half dozen different shops just so you can get one project underway. Oftentimes it was literally cheaper to pay for shipping from the Czech Republic, Poland & Ukraine than to ship anything to yourself here at home. Furthermore you were were more likely to be able to access the full range of items you wanted in that one order.

Even before the recent developments though, I'd never made an order from HLJ due to the excessive shipping expenses. A lot of other modelers get together to make one collective order to make it worth their while. While I have 3 modelers in my household the other two aren't actively seeking new kits as I am at the moment. (My son is saving for a gaming PC & my wife is more inclined to continue to build our personal library.) Furthermore all of the hobby shops that carried any real assortment of model kits have closed down over the past 30 years, owing to both the small population of model builders in the region & the proliferation of eCommerce.

Tony May Schrijver
* All the regional hobby shops where I am, rather. I somehow omitted that in my initial message.