The Hobby Websites Rating Page
(This page is always being updated.)
When I got back into modeling I discovered a wonderful resource for modelers that did not even exist when I was a kid - the Internet and the World Wide Web. Literally at my fingertips were hundreds, no thousands, of kits, paints, tools, accessories, books, photos, references, reviews, how to's, you name it.
So I dove right in, head first - which everyone knows violates a cardinal safety rule if you're diving into something and you don't know how deep it is. I made some mistakes. I probably spent too much on some things, and ordered some items I did not really need or seldom use. Over time, I developed my own personal yardstick for what a retail hobby website needs:
Pretty basic stuff, really. Some websites do good at some things, others are simply awful, and some, I am convinced, are run by people who sooner or later are going to come to the attention of law enforcement. Ebay is a wholeeeeeeeeeeee other story and one I have only tentatively dipped my toe into. It seems to be a way to either find long out-of-production kits at a decent price or a way to spend far too much money on something you don't really need. I advise extreme caution at all times.
That said, here are my highly personal and subjective ratings of the sites I have ordered from to date, arranged alphabetically.
The ratings in each category range from 1 (Unacceptable) to 5 (Excellent). Each company could get a total of 35 points if they rated Excellent in each category:
| Company (click on link to visit their website) |
Pictures of Items | Description of Items | Clear Shipping Costs | E-mail for Product Questions | Search Engine | Ease of Ordering | Cost | Comments |
| Gold Medal Models - 29 | 4 | 4 | 5 | 5 | 4 | 3 | 4 | Fast shipping, high quality items, excellent instructions, about the best source for ship model photoetch that will actually fit the kit you're building. No on-line ordering. |
| Grandpa's Cabinets - 28 | 5 | 5 | 4 | 5 | N/A | 5 | 4 | Sooner or later you're going to want an odd-sized case for that special model. This is the guy to go to. Period. |
| Hannants - 22 | 4 | 2 | 2 | 5 | 5 | 2 | 2 | Huge variety, prices depend on exchange rate. Descriptions skimpy. Minimum shipping charge makes quantity orders necessary, out-of-stock items not always clearly indicated. Shipping can take quite awhile. |
| Hobby Link Japan - 27 | 5 | 3 | 4 | 4 | 4 | 5 | 2 | Cost depends on exchange rate. Shipping can take awhile from Japan. Comprehensive search engine, sometimes skimpy product descriptions. |
| Loose Cannon Productions - 26 | 3 | 4 | 5 | 5 | N/A | 5 | 4 | Great source for unusual resin ship kits, very helpful with specific kit questions, kits are complete with photoetch. No on-line ordering. |
| Megahobby - 27 | 5 | 2 | 4 | 4 | 3 | 5 | 4 | Customer service one of their strong points. Search engine comprehensive but usually returns pictures of kit boxes; item descriptions skimpy. |
| OzMods - 24 | 4 | 3 | 4 | 5 | N/A | 4 | 4 | Shipping can take awhile from Australia. Always answers e-mails, good product pictures and descriptions of most items. |
| Pacific Front Hobbies - 25 | 2 | 3 | 4 | 5 | 4 | 4 | 3 | Very responsive to questions. Getting Japanese kits can take time. Good search engine, clear prices on each item, but few pictures/descriptions. |
| Roll Models - 14 | 1 | 2 | 1 | 0 | 3 | 4 | 3 | Very slow to ship. Won't answer e-mails. No pictures of most items. Shipping calculator misleading. No way to know if an item is out of stock until after order is placed. |
| Sprue Brothers - 29 | 4 | 3 | 5 | 5 | 3 | 5 | 4 | Great selection, great pictures and descriptions, great customer service, fast shipping. Search engine thorough but rather clunky to use without a fast Internet connection. |
| Starfighter Decals - 25 | 5 | 4 | 4 | 1 | 4 | 3 | 4 | For aircraft carriers, this is the place - flight deck, island and aircraft decals are included with most sets. Used to be responsive to custom orders for the elusive white ink decals, but no longer. |
| Squadron - 31 | 5 | 5 | 5 | 3 | 3 | 5 | 4 | Consistently good overall, great selection, shipping usually prompt. Phone ordering (humans!) also good. Search engine doesn't always return all available items for terms used. |
| Toms Modelworks - 23 | 3 | 4 | 4 | 1 | 3 | 4 | 4 | Good source for ship model photoetch; instructions for same sometimes vague. Pictures of most items. Stock list shrinking due to death of owner. |
| White Ensign Models - 30 | 5 | 5 | 4 | 5 | 3 | 5 | 3 | Excellent people to work with. Fast shipping, even from England. Lots of unusual 1/700 ship bits and hard to find camouflage paint colors. Cost depends on the exchange rate. |
| Williams Bros. Models - 24 | 5 | 3 | 4 | 5 | N/A | 3 | 4 | Still getting it back together after assets sold to new company. Responsive customer service, many unusual plastic airplane kits at reasonable prices. |
(N/A stands for Not Available, obviously)
There you have it, for what it's worth. I update it based on my most recent experience with a particular company.
Remember, I build small ship and airplane models, so my experience with these websites reflects that bias. I know there are dozens of other retail model websites out there. These are the ones that I have personal knowledge of. I hope you find them as useful as I have.
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This page was last updated Sept. 15, 2009.