New StarCitisen models on sight

[Cugino83]

Today browsing casually on one of my models site I've discovered that CIG has apparently partnered with Kotobukiya for producing some new models:

Search | HLJ.com

HLJ.com was started over 20 years ago to help hobbyists like you buy the best quality Figures, Models and Gundam at good prices. Buy Bandai, Takara Tomy, Tamiya and lots of other brands from Japan.

www.hlj.com

F8C nontheless!

Also in two flavour: the model kit (a snap-fit one)and the complete kit, both including light effect.

Some personal consideration about the kit (pure speculation since is not yet relesed)...
Cast will be of gorgeous quality as expected by a Japanese company, maybe not at Badai level, but still very very high quality.
Price will be higher compared to the linked page since those are japan domestic prices, add shipping, import taxes rate exchange etc... consider a local MSRP around 1.5-2 time (at least for my experience in Europe), still, for the expected quality not a bad deal... (and way more cheap then the digital one)

Now I'll have to wait for August to get my hands on one (maybe in multiple copies), then I'll defenetly let you know more about it

Fun fact: this model is already outdated: it still use the old version of the repeaters that CIG has recently re-design...

 

[Lorddarthvik]

Finally! Thanks for spotting this!

I was so disappointed by the model announcements at citcon, the links that did work for the highly overpriced small quantity stuff only for whales, or the age-old 3d printed models that are priced astronomically for what they actually are...
I'm really looking forward to this, Kotobukiya can be up there in quality with Bandai when it comes to mecha (speaking from experience). I'd expect the same for spaceships. They had some "bad" kits a long while ago but even those were a far cry from the laughable "quality" of games workshop, revell, academy models and the likes. Frankly it feels like the plastic model industry is still stuck in the 70's except for the big Japanese brands like Tamiya and Bandai, while the prices just go higher and higher.

I've ordered a ton of things from HLJ over the years (gundams and trains mostly) and they been pretty good on shipping costs but yeah import duties are a pain. Only issue I have with them is their preorder system was convenient but there were models I haven't received even a year after release because they get such a limited stock, half of them goes to local market, the rest to content creators that promote them. I just stopped ordering things from them and use plazajapan instead. Very random selection but better prices and I got what I preordered with not much delay.

EDIT:
Found it on plazajapan, the kit for 56euro preorder + shipping 30eur for EMS to EU (cheapest option). Gotta be payed upfront which is something I can't really afford at the moment.

DO Note that this is not made directly by Kotobukiya, it is the model by Planet Ring, a chinese model maker. The quality can still be high, I wouldn't worry about it just yet. "third-party" model builders from China have been taking serious leaps in quality when it comes to mecha, I do believe they can pull this off as well.

Regarding Price:
You can go to the Kotobukiya site and search for official retailers near you. I found some that do have this model on pre-order, but it's listed at 132.99EUR + shipping. It's way more than what I'd have to pay for importing from Japan (101eur incl all taxes), so I'll go with HLJ. No pre-payment and possibly cheaper shipping than plaza japan.