The following is a list of some of the diecast sellers and resellers that I have have dealt with over the years. The comments regarding their quality, reliability, and other features are purely subjective and based on my experiences and observations only. You can take them as you wish, and indeed even for the vendors with whom I report bad experiences, I encourage you to where possible explore for yourself ad come to your own conclusions.
Good Vendors
Pete's Collectibles - www.PetesCollectibles.com
Pete knows his stuff and gives it to you straight. It's nice to deal with a true enthusiast, and his "Pete's Picks" are worth looking out for. A nice guy.
The Flying Mule - www.theflyingmule.com
Arguably the Internet's premier diecast aircraft retailer. While a careful shopper can, with enough hard work and scrounging often beat their regular prices, the few pennies that you have to pay extra are more than made up for by their selection and some occasional very good sales!Their telephone customer service is excellent and they do the diecast community a great favor by hosting images of many models. They are an outstanding outfit overall; in fact, the only things negative I can say about them (not that I have to, but..) are that they tend to announce some sales via certain "members only" Internet forums instead of via emails to proven customers, which strikes me as a bit off, and also that once I emailed them with an excellent suggestion as to how to dramatically improve their Google search rankings, which they implemented (and it did) a few weeks later, but didn't so much as send me an email in thanks. Oh well, I suppose I've gotten good deals from them in the past so I shouldn't complain!
Big Guns Collectibles - www.biggunscollectibles.net
I have no idea why he has the ".net" but not ".com" version of his domain name. However, the service provided by Gerry is first rate, though his site suffers a bit from a limited selection and strict MAP pricing on non-sale items. I hope he continues to be able to make a profitable side business out of his trade in diecast.
Crossroads Diecast - www.crossroadsdiecast.com
Some of the nicest guys (at least on the phone) that I've ever "met" in diecast. I wish I had more opportunities to order from them, but it just hasn't come up that often. While their prices are generally decent, occasionally a great deal or two can be found and the shipping prices are fair.
Drop Zone Diecast - www.theDZD.com
Drew is occasionally busy and hard to get hold of, but once you do, you'll find fewer nicer people in diecast. It is clear from is website that he's a true enthusiast and there are often great deals to be found.
Jumblies (UK) - www.jumbliesmodels.com
Good prices and attentive service. Occasional decent sales.
Tiger Hobbies (wholesale) - www.tiger-hobbies.co.uk
Gary Ford who owns/operates Tiger Hobbies is a legitimately nice guy who cares about the products and the hobby. This, despite the fact that he could just as easily confine his activities to somewhat anonymous "wholesaling," as regular customers generally don't or can't buy directly from him. A credit to the hobby.
ModelZone (UK) - www.ModelZone.co.uk
ModelZone is a large hobby retail chain in the UK. However, they do have a fair bit of diecast. I've found a few models from them (especially Franklin Mint aircraft) at extremely competitive prices and was happy with the speed of shipment and customer service.
OK Vendors
- SSToys - www.sstoys.co.uk
- I've downgraded SSToys from 'good' to 'ok' after an episode in which he refused to add a relatively small additional item to a GBP 200+ order I had placed in a pretty transparent attempt to squeeze a few more ducats out of me - even though the main order was both large and not scheduled to ship until the next day! Truly the definition of 'penny wise, pound foolish.' I anticipate my many pre-orders to go elsewhere now.
- OnMark
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- Richard at OnMark is one of the least friendly and accommodating guys that I have ever seen on the Internet. Not less than three orders of mine have left me with a bad taste for his business. Once he promised to hold something for me - for a day; he didn't. Another time chronically lazy updating of his store's online stocklist left me a bit out of luck. A third time, after I emailed him to ask him a question about something I was going to buy, he raised the price on it before I purchased and then wouldn't give me the pre-raise price, even though I was considering a large order. Still, the man who gave us Eagles International and its beautiful P51Bs and Cs can't be all bad, and it is possible to get a decent deal from him once in a while. One just wishes he'd had more luck with producing unique diecast aircraft - maybe he wouldn't be so bitter.
- GreatModels / myHobbyBox
- These two websites claim to be unaffiliated with each other, but it's a comedy, as they are virtually identical in terms of pricing and inventory. GreatModels appears to be the main site, but when I'm going to place an order, I always check both as the prices on one may be slightly less on the other. It's a really bizarre situation, as they're so obviously related websites and yet for some reason they do this token stuff like changing the price of each product by a small amount to make them look different. At any rate, it's possible to occasionally find good deals on Witty and Dragon items here. However, it's clear that they're basically a warehouse operation and the items are little more than SKUs to them - it could be spatulas next week and car parts the week after. Still, the service and order tracking are good.
- Trains and Planes (UK)
- Used high pressure sales tactics on me ("buy now or I'll increase the prices") crudely to buy a given model. Otherwise, an ok source of hard to find Franklin Mint Armour items. Though, with a bit of patience, you can generally find everything he sells much cheaper elsewhere.
- Historic Aviation
- Awful, awful customer service. I'm not joking - I think they hire parolees or something on a work-release. A bizarre online system which doesn't always reveal the manufacturers of items for sale. Poor online system (I have on multiple times ordered something and then later be told that it is out of stock). On the other hand, their sales can be quite good, and it is often to find some hard to find stuff there... if it's in stock. Nice catalog!
BAD Vendors
- Cleveland's Diecast
- They are a wholesale operation similar to Tiger Hobbies (above). However, Cleveland's in my limited experience don't answer emails, are rude on the phone, and truly just can't be bothered. While a good or bad web page does not necessarily earn one a spot on my lists here, theirs deserves some mention for its sheer ugliness and bad design. Corgi should dump these fools.
- Toy Train Heaven
- Bait and switch shop, pure and simple. They advertise items with low prices, and then don't have them. I placed an order for four distinct low priced items, and then they claimed that all four were separately sold out before me that morning. Utter nonsense. Maybe these guys are better with trains, but I don't trust these guys at all for aircraft. Plus, they are indifferent and slow in terms of customer service. They'd be the absolute bottom were it not for ...
- The Tiger's Den
- The poor grammar and spelling on the site should be clue number one. I won't go into too many details, but suffice it to say that this guy is firmly at the bottom of my diecast vendor's list. Surprising fun fact: given everything I know about the owner, I figure he'd be on some pig farm in Mississippi surrounded by shotguns and confederate flags. Amazingly, he's in Massachusetts. Still an incredibly bad vendor; possibly the worst.
