Where to purchase kits

Obtaining originals could be purchased at live events in Japan via WonderFest, Treasure Festa or C3 

If you can’t attend the live events, then your next chance to obtain them would be through these New/Second hand stores, some will require a proxy, some sell directly to overseas customers.

Mandarake

A second hand chain store in Japan offering only original kits

Ships internationally.

Rakuten

New and second hand goods.

Requires a proxy to purchase.

Surugaya

Second hand in Japan, only sells original goods.

Requires a proxy to purchase.

Yahoo! JP Auctions

Auction site, second hand and new goods.

Requires proxy to purchase.

Tips for purchasing on Japanese sites:

If you need a proxy service to help you purchase, I can definitely recommend ZenMarket 

Try using any of these Japanese terms to help you search specifically when looking for garage kits:

ガレキ
ガレージキット
レジンキャスト
樹脂キャスト
followed by the character or the sculptor’s name also in Japanese.

Some kits can be purchased directly from the sculptor if it’s an original character that doesn’t require a license to sell. Check out their twitter (most of them have it) or their official site, most of the times, you’ll be able to contact them and see if they have any copies left that they can sell, my colleague and friend took the task to list all the sculptors that take online orders, so be sure to check it out here

Do Not… I repeat DO NOT purchase from ebay Thai Sellers! Or from ExtremeModel, ModelKitOnline or any other site from Thailand. If you need to know why, please check out this video on the topic

Specialized tools and materials from Hobby Link Japan that I personally use and recommend.

Carbide Scrapper tool

If you have local hobby shops around your area, I would totally recommend you give them a visit, they normally have a good selection of materials and tools, if you can’t find what you’re looking for locally, online would be your next stop, so here’s a list of websites that I personally visit when I need something I can’t get here:

• Amazon – Good place to get some mats and tools, although before you make a final purchase, check out ebay for the same products as some sellers tend to get greedy and charge you twice the price.
• Ebay – There’s a store I recommend a lot, it’s called AnimeTropolis, sells a lot of Mr hobby and Gaia paints and thinners.
• Sealmodel – Website looks sketchy and even kinda “90’s” but trust me, it’s legit, cheap and has a ton of materials and tools from different hobby brands, the only downside is that if you order more than 3 bottles of paint, they will need to send it out via surface and it will take 2 or 3 months to get to you due to flammable mats regulations, so I would recommend purchasing in bulk to take advantage of the cheap shipping. I’ve purchased from them several times, I can recommend it, they’re located in Hong Kong/China.
• Volks USA – Carries some gaia notes paints and thinners, but at a premium price, upside is that if you’re in the US and need paint ASAP, you’ll get in 3-5 days (2 if you’re in California) PLUS note: You can purchase Charagumin kits here as well.
• Brookhurts Hobbies – Also a California based shop, good selection of Mr Hobby paints and tools, a little pricey tho.

Ready to shop?

Click here to go to my very extensive list of hobby tools and materials available on both Amazon US and Amazon Japan!
Please not that the links are associate links, anything you purchase with them will help my channel and page at no extra cost to you, so help a girl out!