Hello there, while many people are not greatly bothered about myself or what I build or write, for those wishing to buy Fujimi fine mould up-grades are about to be shocked.
The treble and single guns, the search lights, and double guns, we're going to buy 4 different kits, including shipping this through ebay would cost a very staggering £47.60 ------ we'll be kind and assume the seller will knock a few pound off, so we're round this off at £45.00 dead.
Because I am not building at the moment, and have a little time on my hands, and don't go back to work until tomorrow morning, I'm leaving this here and I'll wait for 2/3 replies before I hit you with a shock concerning Fujimi.
The weapons system from fine mould are honestly good, very well moulded and a lot of detail in all 1/2/3 AA guns and search lights especially good. But please remember, I am bored and this please consider a little bit of Bank Holiday fun - 4 sets with a deal £45.00, I want 2 or 3 replies before I finish this thread

Those sets are $15.00 each here in the states and considering the rate of exchange, it seems that the prices in the UK are a little high.

But, if I recall from discussions about the cost of Dragon kits there are actually two importers involved fro some reason.

There has been a good deal of talk about pricing in the UK compared to other areas.

That's one down two to go - The prices via ebay due to having no model shops selling these kits is including the shipping.

The VAT stings us Europeans. 19 to 20% tax on top of a purchase is the reward for being part of the European Union. I remember buying the old Revell 1/96 Cutty Sark from Great Models. Thought I had a deal until I had to pay for importing it.

Julian

Ah we're slowly getting away from Fujimi fine moulds pricing, basically I've been sitting down looking over the search lights I brought some time ago, along with the trieble mount AA's, as these compared to Fujimi own weapons in 1-700 appear slightly under scale, but nevertheless very nice.
When I realised what I had, and was looking at, I felt let down, somewhat cheated even, just one more reply and you're probably be thinking the same.

Hi Alec, have you tried Hobby Link Japan, I know it sounds daft, but even with shipping (as long as you don't need stuff urgently and use air mail) can work out cheaper than buying from a UK or EU supplier. Also if you order stuff in relatively small batched customs doesn't seem to take an interest so you don't get done for duty, either that or I have been lucky.

Just are thought

Si

gun 007 by warship, on Flickr

gun 002 by warship, on Flickr

gun 005 by warship, on Flickr
Thank you for the response and here is my answer, you get 32 single 25mm guns, which is about 2 kits, 6 mounted 4 inch guns, one kit, 10 double and 10 treble AA's which is a further 2 sets.
The Fujimi fine moulds are slightly under scale, the above information I came across ment you buy a lot cheaper and more of them, yes there is the dreaded mould lines to remove, but you also get a whole 1-700 ship as well.
I brought the double and treble AA mounts from Fujimi at cost, full shipping plus I brought the search lights, the smaller lights, you honestly can't use them being so small, and you'd be better off using the free Tamiya plastic set, and while these are very good, the guns even by Fujimi own standard are not in the same scale as the rest of their model range, that no doubt if you have brought these would have known.
So is there any point to any of this ? The 1-700 Fujimi Kongo new tool model plus shipping comes to £33.25, believe it or not, you get as many guns per model as you will single sets of fine moulds which comes to £47.60 if you were buying the equal amount in the Fujimi fine moulds line.
I was sitting down fiddling through the varied pieces within the Kongo kit, and quickly realised it would be cheaper to buy the model and throw away the ship which would unbelievable as it might actually saves you £15.00 in the bargain.
Of course these are not the same as the Fine Moulds range, they are a lot better then the Tamiya range, there is a lot of detail on the guns and search lights that come with the kit, and swapping a standard (say) heavy cruiser you'll pick up on ebay for £12.00, you could exchange those heavy clumpy lumps of plastic that comes with those older kits for the newer tool weapons from the Fujimi Kongo, and these are in the same scale throughout the range of 1-700 unlike those of the Fine Moulds range, and are good enough even with the mould lines (obviously you'll remove these) . I thought what a great idea. With older kits I'll always swap for Tamiya parts, now looking at the new tool model Kongo and those AA guns, these are even better, compare the prices of buying single kits to actually buying a whole model, it actually works out cheaper to buy a ship, throw it away and keep the guns.
Is that bonkers or what ?

We have a saying down south (CSA) "They sure are proud of their stuff". I get a kick sometimes looking on ebay and seeing the same object for sale with wildly divergent prices. Some HO train turn table set was running btwn $105 and $225 for the exact same thng. Don't these people look at things before they post prices?

Look at the 4'' guns I have snapped above, cut the plastic off, use brass tube and there you have it. That and all those others are in that one model kit, when I sat down and worked it out, I thought this is crazy. Buy a whole model and throw it away because its cheaper to buy those 1-700 guns this way.

You pay the price so that you don't need to fold them PEs. How much is your labour worth is the determing factor on whether they are priced fairly or not.

Fujimi's 25mm is Okay with their Kongo release, but it appears they stopped producing those specific runners and instead now you have dedicated 25mm triple/twin and 3.9inch twin x 4 sprues. Especially the 25mm twin which actually has gone backwards in terms of molding (the injection point is different, and the barrels are thicker, not happy)

FYI, Finemolds are about the right scale or slightly bigger, Fujimi's definately overscale (need also trim the 25mm barrels by 1mm at least), PE is still best scale. The one thing going for PE is, the plastic guns all have this 'neutral' state pointing forward, when all the photo's I've seen of those guns un-manned have them pointing at least 45 degrees up. You can only do that with PE 25mm.

Sorry Jim, its the other way round my friend.
The first thing I have to ask myself, what is actual 1-700 scale ? Nothing, due to its sheer small size you'll only find a standard 1-700 scale (this is a hobby and a strongly believe no one is capable of producing a constant true 1-700 scale in their build) this is reflected throughout the range reguardless of how thick a yard arm may be or the surrounding wall of a ships bridge, this is a standard that a very high percentage of people except.
Unless Fujimi are going to produce a whole ship model the same way they have produced their FM range, that would be fantastic, but could you afford it, I very much doubt it. My research will show FMs is ''not'' a standard 1-700 piece of kit, it is very much under scale.
Hasegawa, Tamiya and Fujimi have a standard 1-700 scale that strangely enough is NOT reflected in their FMs range, most odd indeed.
The 1/2/3's AA mounts I've explained are cheap enough for you to buy the model (Kongo) throw it away and keep those wonderful looking guns.

gun 2 003 by warship, on Flickr
Looking at the photo left to right. 1-700 standard pieces Tamiya, Fujimi (standard) and finally and clearly shown smaller (quite a bit smaller) FMs very expensive piece.
My research is based upon a good solid moulded piece that can replace the old chunky plastic 30 something years ago plastic with a more up to date look, and this can no longer be Tamiya but the new tool Fujimi pieces I have tried to bring attention to, is cheap, good looking, and cheaper equipment buying a whole model and throwing it away then buying FBs in single box form.
In my view for whatever its worth, you could not replace a single, double or even a treb FMs while sitting next to a standard 1-700 as I have described above, it will look like two completely different scales.
Check the photo, also the others on my Flickr.

Overscale is a relative term to the real thing, not a comparison to some crude representation molded in the 80 and restricted by the technology of the same era.

You are talking about a different concept - consistency in detail level which I agree. However most of the bigger pieces in 1/700 are in fine, scale-wise, it's just the smaller pieces that tend to be overscale due to molding technology. Clearly the manufacturers are not attempting to upscale everything to be consistent with their AA guns. They do what they can to approximate, and the smaller the item is, the harder it is to bring it to true scale, hence the need for more expensive aftermarket parts.

If you've seen a photo of a real type 96 AA, you get an idea how big the thing should be say compared to 1/700 figures. Answer: Finemold's is closer to scale.

Btw, Finemolds is a different company to Fujimi, they both start with an "F" and are from Japan but that's about all they share.

The no doubt resin 4'' with etch parts which, you can't buy, correct ? The plastic piece I have shown is covered in flash (mould lines). Yes, I am saying that if you remove the plastic guns and replace with brass rod (or if you can find it that small tube) find a etch base probably from a catapult set, and sight from a 1-350 gun, you will have a very nice piece indeed.
Remember everyone has a view. In my view as my result shows, you can buy a whole model, throw away the ship and keep the guns because they are better then Tamiya and cheaper and more of a standard 1-700 then FMs, these are the points I have made.
Jim, sorry to write again, I did mention there is ''no'' true 1-700 scale in this hobby unless you're willing to scratch build yourself, and considering this is a hobby for a vast number of peole, this is never going to happen, therefore you must have a standard in a scale, and we're talking 1-700, and in my view, no matter how good or true to scale it might be, the FMs are under scale to the standard of every other company out there. Also if you remember, I said, you could not replace a FMs double AA for a kit AA due to the scale difference, using the FMs you ''must'' replace the lot. However using the standard scale of 1-700 you ''can'' use Tamiya or the new tool from Fujimi which are of the same standard scale. Please don't get confused by what is correct in scale, as I said you could not replace one double AA with FMs and for it not to be noticed as being totally different from every other double on that kit.
I hope this has cleared this ''standard scale'' issue and pricing that I have come across for people that would like a better moulded piece but don't want to pay the full asked for price.