What are the best Internet venders for decals in the US? At the moment I'm desperately seeking specifically the 1:48 scale Coast Guard decals for the Sea King to make it a Coat Guard Pelican, which I served with.

Any help will be greatly appreciated.
Thomas

Hi Thomas,
I'm not sure of a specific vendor but you can look at some of the online hobby shops such as:

www.greatmodels.com
www.squadron.com
www.hlj.com
www.luckymodel.com


HLJ and Lucky Model are Japanese companies. Lucky Model is priced in Dollars and accepts paypal. HLJ is priced in yen but they convert the price to dollars before you check out. They also accept paypal. I've had very good luck with both companies.


Hope this helps.

Jeff

Thank you, Jeff. I checked them out, but they had very limited stock of decals. I have found one place that has the decals I want, but it's in Britain. The prices in Britain are down right absurd. This set will cost about $35. If I have no other choice I'll just have to pay it, I want it that bad.
Thomas

Hi Thomas,
Try the Buy,Sell,Trade forum on this site. There are a lot of very helpful people here....I'm sure you'll have more luck on that forum. You could also try the Aeroscale site here on the Kitmaker Network. Just go to the top left corner of the page and select browse, select Aeroscale. Those guys are all prop-heads. They know everything about wingy-thingys and Hel(no I'm not going up n one of those things)icopters.
They could probably save you a lot of money....$35.00 is too much for a set of decals.
I know this might sound like a very stupid question...have you tried eBay? Just some thoughts....But I know how it is...if you gotta have it...you gotta have it.


Jeff

G'day Thomas.

Certifiable prop-head here (thanks Jeff). My first search point for decals and other after-market goodies is Sprue Brothers . I have had no problems with their prices or service and find they generally have good range and stocks.

Give them a try, or as Jeff said, eBay has everything for a price.

Good luck with your hunt.

Cheers, D

Did you try Fireball Modelworks? They might have something.

Jim

Thanks, Jeff, I'll check those out. My sons have had some bad experiences with E-Bay so I stay away from it. Maybe I'm just getting old, but I like to find specific venders and stay with them, E-Bay is too unpredictable. I had always thought there were some big companies who made decals where you could get just about anything. Returning to model building now is quite the experiences, it's all so complicated.
Thomas

Thanks Damian, I checked it out and Sprue Brothers don't have it. Out of frustration I even checked ebay and there's very little Coast Guard stuff there. I'll keep looking, but when I get the Hasagawa 1:48 Sea King, if I don't find anything I'll just have to send to Britain for the expensive set. I'd love to build Coast Guard ships and planes I've worked with, but it just isn't a big genre with models. I was also in the navy, so at least there's plenty of navy ships and planes to build. :-)
Thomas

Thanks Jim, I'll send them an e-mail and see if they have it. Their list is very limited to modern Coast Guard aircraft.
Thomas

Thomas,Have you tried Archer?If you look around on this site it will pop up somewhere,most of the time on the left hand side with the other vendors,check scalehobbyist.com also J.T.

Jeff, I checked Archer, no luck there. Scalehobbist in my baby, I love that place. I made my first order with them this month and they are the best best site I've found. Their prices are great and the shipping is extremely good. They have a nice selection of decals, but no Coast Guard. Next month I'm ordering several decals and photoetch, along with a bunch of kits and supplies. Scalehobbyist will be getting a lot of business from me in the coming months.
Thomas

Jeff, I've been taking a closer look at Archer and they have some really cool unique decals. I don't know if I should thank you or curse you, another very cool place to spend a lot of money. :-)
Thomas

Thomas:Sorry dude I know what you mean the more I look the more I want.Yeh,scalehobbyist rules.When I had the urge to get back into modeling about a year ago,I started looking on the net for places to buy.I stumbled across their site and was impressed with it.I live in Maine,there are no LHS's anywhere close to me.When I saw they where in New Hampshire that was all it took.I have not been dissapointed,prices are good,shipping is not bad,and they are fast.I have e-mailed them 2 or 3 times with questions and they have gotten right back to me..... If you happen to run across some white 1/35 Waffen lightning bolts let me know.Then I can curse you J.T.

Jeff, I thought I found the very best with Hobbykinc, they sure beat everyone else I saw. My sons bought all of my Christmas presents from there (6 super fine kits) and I placed a $250 order in early December. Then I found Scalehobbiest and got so mad because over all we would have paid around 25% less. I could have gotten another 2 or 3 kits. I nearly fell on the floor with a temper tantrum, but at 63 I guess I'm too dignified for that... so far. :-)

I got all excited when I found the closeout section at Hobby Lobby, way back hidden in the store. They had several newer model kits 70% off. I about wet my pants and I think my son was considering having me committed. The price for the models turned out to be half what Scalehobbyist charged. People who don't care for model building just don't understand how very cool this insanity is.

Are you referring to the lightening bolts for the 1:35 scale figures or vehicles? I'm pretty sure I've seen the lapel SS bolts for the figures in a big set of figure decals. If you mean for vehicles I'll keep a good eye out, I'd kinda like to be cursed. LOL!
Thomas