Simon Cornes

I understand where you’re coming from totally. You could always have a go at ‘oil canning’ your HKM nose? There’s a lovely build review on LSP by a chap whose done a lovely job of oil canning the entire airframe and the model looks excellent.

In my experience Wingnut kits are very well engineered so I don’t think you need to worry about the fuselage splitting under the strain. Colin mentioned the oil canning of the surfaces, well that’s one of the reasons why this model is so good. You look at a 1:1 Lancaster and that’s exactly what the surface texture is like and why this kit is a quantum better than the HKM in my opinion and that’s why I decided to not buy the HKM one. My view is that it is better to buy this kit whilst its available at this price. Whose ever heard of the price of a superb kit going down? I know you can but an Airfix Tiffie or Hellcat for Jess than the RRP but they are not the same kind of package and I really can’t see this kit being sold at 3/4 RRP because Border have made too many and they can’t sell them. What is more likely is that the moulds get damaged at some point - it happened with SH’s 1/32 Typhoons - and Border don’t make any more. My view is ‘get it whilst you can’ because we don’t know what tomorrow may bring. I appreciate that a) it’s horribly expensive as b) storage/display might be an issue but I have decided to cross those bridges when I come to them and I believe we’ve got 4 months plus before any money has to be spent. It feels like a unique opportunity.

Good - this is what I expected. 4 months to arrange the heist!!

£620 is the RRP that Albion Alloys have confirmed. You are better off putting in a pre order to Hannants as they’ll give you 10% off that plus free shipping I imagine. £630 posted is probably the worst case price but it won’t be available in the U.K. until early March at best so that’s 4 months plus!! Unless they’re going to grow them on a tree on the back garden then 26/10 is a crazy suggestion! Border are talking about a December release so this sounds like a scam!!

I've just had a look at the Which guide to online shopping and it says this:- If your order is over £135 you have crossed the threshold of where extra customs, VAT and delivery costs can start to kick in. New VAT rules are one of the main sources of confusion for online shoppers now that we’ve left the EU. As a member of the bloc, the price at the checkout would be the final sum you would have to pay. Now though, you may have to cough up extra fees on orders worth over £135. Some consumers have been caught out by these unexpected fees. Some of the fees you can expect to pay are: Customs and import duties Custom duties are a fee placed on gifts or goods sent to the UK from outside the EU. This only becomes payable if your order is over £135. The courier will pay this to HMRC on your behalf but you will likely have to pay this back when receiving your purchase. The fee can range from 0 - 25% depending on the goods you’ve bought. For example a pair of trainers has a duty of 16% applied when brought into the UK. The rules for customs duties and the amount applied vary depending on the item, and finding out how much tariffs arecan be time consuming. Customs charges should not be applied to products of EU origin, due to the ‘rules of origin’ agreement between the UK and the EU. This means that orders are customs duty exempt if products have been largely produced and manufactured in the EU. If you’re unsure, it’s a good idea to ask the retailer if the items you are ordering might attract any customs duties before you buy. If you are hit with a customs duty that you think you shouldn’t have to pay, you can ask the retailer to send you an ‘origin declaration’ which sets out the proof of origin of the goods you’ve bought so you can prove that your order was made and manufactured in the EU. Orders are customs duty exempt if products have been largely produced and manufactured in the EU. Import VAT Import VAT is a fee currently paid on goods sent to the UK from abroad, but instead of the normal VAT you would pay at the checkout for your items, you’ll pay ‘import VAT’ on the total cost of the item and shipping and handling costs accrued when the courier brings the purchase to the UK. The usual UK Import VAT rate is 20%. As these charges are added up after purchase, the total cost of ordering your items will start to increase and could leave you with unexpected fees on items you’ve bought online. Courier 'handling fees' The new rules have also hit delivery firms and couriers have now brought in ‘handling fees’ which are used to cover the extra admin costs they’re having to deal with when taking items through customs. These fees vary depending on which delivery service you use. DHL Express DHL Express says it is charging UK customers 2.5% of the amount paid to clear customs, with a minimum charge of £11. DHL Express is yet to confirm with Which? how it collects its payments. DPD A £5 'Customers Clearance Fee' is applied to parcels incurring import duty and tax payment transactions, to cover DPD’s additional processing costs. Recipients are notified by email or text, with a web link to pay by card or PayPal. Payment must be made online before delivery is attempted. Hermes Hermes UK has not introduced additional costs directly for this model. Inbound parcels from the EU entering the Hermes UK network have the duty/tax costs cleared ahead of arrival. Hermes UK does not ask customers to pay additional import or delivery charges. Any import costs are controlled by the retailers and depends on the terms of sale. Hermes UK does not take payment from customers for delivery or customs charges. Royal Mail For gifts over £39 and goods over £135, Royal Mail may collect the VAT and customs duties on behalf of HM Revenue & Customs (HMRC) from the recipient prior to delivery. Royal Mail charges an £8 handling fee to do so. You’ll be sent a 'Fee to pay' card, which shows how much need to pay before you can receive your item. The easiest way to pay a fee is online. You have 21 days from the date on the ‘Fee to pay’ card to clear the charges. If you miss this deadline the item will be returned to the sender. If you’re paying online, you need to pay within 19 days of the date. Once paid, your item will be delivered or you can collect the item in person. UPS Due to the increased transportation, customs and brokerage, and network adjustment costs associated with goods movements in and out of the UK, brokerage fees are now applicable. You can find more info on these charges in UPS' country specific Tariff Guides and its Brexit guide. UPS will try to phone in advance. If it can’t get through or doesn’t have contact info, it’ll ask you to pay in cash upon delivery. If you don’t have cash, it’ll ask you to pay over the phone and will redeliver the next day. Putting it all together a £150 pair of trainers will incur a 16% customs duty (£24), an additional 20% ‘import VAT’ set at the UK rate (£30, tallying £54) but say your order is delivered by Royal Mail who slap an £8 ‘handling fee’ on top of that, the delivery fee for the trainers will total £62. The total cost you might have to pay will become £212. I hope Which don't object to this information being used here but it strikes me that buying this kit (or any other exceeding £135 in value) outside the UK brings a serious risk of getting hit by the above fees. I have asked MBK if they are dealing with UK VAT payments and so far they have not replied so I suspect not but then there are Customs and Import Duties and I think MKB use DHL so their 'cut' as well! Much as I would like to buy the kit from MBK for around £520, I think that I will hang on to my Hannants pre-order and pay £558 and so pay an extra £38 above the MBK price but then avoid paying maybe £100 on top (thats not calculated, just a guesstimate) if HMRC make the dreaded charge. I suppose we have to blame Brexit but we are where we are!

If I remember rightly Andy’s teamed up with MKB in Germany last year with what must have been the last order sent by Wingnut so I’m not surprised that they have an offer now. I thought imports of kits to the USA were duty free, being classified as toys?

Does that include VAT then? And free shipping to? That is very good if true! I used MBK last year when they had a 'new' stock of Wingnut kits and they were very good. I am tempted to be sure!! Note that they are talking about availability in March next year

I heard it through the grapevine that the Albion RRP is £620 so 10% pre-order discount equals £558. I’m waiting for Hannants to confirm the same but they seem slightly reluctant. Note that I believe both eModels and Jadlam require payment up front whereas Hannants will invoice when in stock if you’ve preordered with them. So does that mean that Hannants are not 100% sure about this £620 RRP so don’t want to commit in case it’s wrong? MBK in Germany don’t t expect to have it until March so that’s 5 months in which anything might happen. And, if the RRP went up, would eModels and Jadlam honour the preorder or would they refund the money? Let’s hope £620 is correct and Hannants get off the fence soon.

Do they pitch the U.K. rrp based on anticipated sales? I suppose they know how many they have in order - maybe 50 say? So they probably think they can get away with a U.K. price not an EU one?

I think you’re wrong Julien, this is all related to the forthcoming Lancaster kit and it’s a lively discussion so I don’t see any problem with that. ...

It was certainly an idea put to Richard Alexander but as you say, Border are going to be guided by sales. Equally, we don't want them to wear out the fuselage mould by popping just nose sections from it although HKM obviously have a separate mould for theirs. Maybe everyone should buy the HKM 'Nose art' kit first as a 'try out' for a Border-Nut Lanc?

I've been thinking about a floor standing glass cabinet for a year or 2 now - 3 feet wide by 2 feet deep and about 6 foot high. All for 1/32 kit storage including Lanc, B-17, B-24 etc. That would cost around £1,000 which is pretty horrifying but a £700 Lancaster suddenly makes it sound not so expensive! But you have to have a piece of floor 3' by 2' to locate it on and thats surprisingly hard to find, for me at least!

Well done!

I wonder if there will be a small 'glut' of wall mounted glass cases - 1 metre by 670mm and about 20cm deep that will take a Lanc on knife edge with gear down very nicely, possibly hinged at the top so that you can remove the airframe for 'horizontal display' from time to time? Probably not but an interesting idea for all that unused wall space!! Move the mirror somewhere else!!

It could well be the 100% kit then - much like HKM to be fair but I wouldn’t have really felt the need for detail for and aft of the mid upper but you would want detail visible through the rear entrance hatch. I have seen an HKM kit built and with part of the starboard nose area left clear and it wasn’t that bad a looking machine. It’s funny, back in the 70’s I was very keen to add invisible detail to my Airfix builds but now I don’t feel the need!!