Recommended vehicle model shops around the world

[Vesa Jussila]

This topic is started based on inspiration from @galaxyg topic from Tokyo. I didn't find summary topic about recommended shops around the world. Today many of us can make holiday trips or maybe doing business trip so possibility to find some kind of recommendation list is nice to have. If there is already this kid of topic then please point me to correct direction and I ask to lock this topic. If we see this topic valuable I can maintain some kind of summary. 

 

I start with some recommendations from my side.

Helsinki

1. Tietonikkari this is very traditional model shop near city center. In this shop is also sometimes some old kits available from old collections.

Address is Ruoholahdenkatu 20, 00180 Helsinki. And is 15 min walking distance from Kamppi (There is main bus station)

Web link: https://www.tietonikkari.fi/kauppa/ where you check opening hours. Not most easiest to navigate.

2. Hobby Point is also in city center of Helsinki and is 10 min walk from main railway station. Address is Kaisaniemenkatu 7, 00100 Helsinki.

Web link: https://hobbypoint.fi/

In this new location I haven't visited, but in old shop had basic selection of car kits.

 

Berlin

1. Mario's Modellbaustudio is located in Charlottenburg district at west Berlin. Small shop that sells new and second hand kits. Some amount of car kits prices are usually sensible.  Address is Spandauer Damm 49, 14059 Berlin. Easiest way to get there is get S-bahn station Westend that is in ringbahn. Next to shop is Charlottenburg castle where you can leave your wife/girlfriend and after shopping you can enjoy German beer in Lemke am Schloss that is located maybe 300 meters from shop. Not sure if this shop can help in English.

2. Second shop I can recommend is Berliner Zinnfiguren & Preussisches Buecherkabinett at Knesebeckstraße 88, 10623 Berlin. Kits are in back room so you need to ask. Shop have excellent choise of paints and tools. Shop is located near Savignyplatz S-bahn station. People talk good English. If you visit here you can take breakfast with wife/girlfriend etc in Cappuccino Grand Café by petrocelli. That is nearby. 

Web page is: https://www.zinnfigur.com/

This is my favorite shop for paints etc.

 

Warsaw

1. Jadar Models is located in east side of Vistula river. Some distance from Zoo. Address is Ratuszowa 11/lok.243, 03-450 Warszawa. Shop is located in building that looks more like old office building. and is located in second floor. 243 in address is door number. Pictures in web are from old location. And for vehicle modeller selection is quite limited. 

Web link: https://www.jadarhobby.pl/ 

2. Model Shop Martola is second that I have used in Warsaw. This is small shop, but nice service in English. More for aeroplanes, but basic selection of cars is available.

Shop is located in Bruna 34, 02-594 Warszawa. There is metro stop maybe 1 km from there. I have used only my own car when visiting there.

Web link: https://www.martola.com.pl/

 

Edited March 11, 2023 by Vesa Jussila

[Vesa Jussila]

Lets add one more city in this list, because I have a work trip there and had time to walk in old town.

 

Aachen

Modell Center Hünerbein: This shop is located in old town of Aachen and address is Markt 9-15, 52062 Aachen. Location is very near of city hall. And nearby is nice cafe's and restaurants.  In shop they have large selection of built car kits. But also selection of Tamiya, Italeri, Revell, Heller kits. In my visit there was good selection of Revell (Monogram) US car kits. I think I need to pick some of these next visit. Also good amount of tools and paints was available for example evergreen sheets. Also I noticed that one customer was served in perfect English. 

[Marco F.]

My younger son went to this Shop for my last xmas gift. He also said that it's a good place.

Marco F 

[Malc2]

I used to live near Aachen and can confirm its a great shop. The art/craft shop Listmann on the corner of Ursulinerstrasse and Buchkremerstrasse also used to have a good selection of balsa wood upstairs, balsa is probably not much used by members of this forum though!

 

M.

[galaxyg]

@Vesa Jussila Finally got time to contribute here.

 

Tokyo - New kits

For new kits, Yodobashi Camera has by far the biggest selection and usually the best prices. There are 3 stores in Tokyo but the one in Ueno can be ignored as it's a lot smaller.  The one in Akihabara and the one in Shinjuku are both more or less the same but in the Akihabara area are a lot more other model kit stores, so it's easier to do all these stores at once. In addition, the Shuinjuku shop is spead over several buildings and finding the right one is a bit of a guessing game - especially since they keep moving which building contains kits.

 

Additionally, Bic Camera stores often but not always have model kits. The one in Yurakucho has a decent selection but since it's on the same train line only about 5 stops from Akihabara... you might as well go to Akihabara. The Yodobashi is unmissable, it's a giant building. Yodobashi has kits, tools - everything a modeller would need.    Akihabara's Bic Camera does not currently have kits.

 

Also in Akihabara:

AmiAmi is inside the Radio Keikan building, which has a giant yellow neon sign on the front, not far from the "Electric Town" exit of Akihabara station. AmiAmi's prices are usually very good, sometimes better than Yodobashi's. Also in the Radio Keikan building is Yellow Submarine, which don't seem to sell car kits any more but do have a lot of other modelling materials and tools.

TamTam hobby store - it's on the corner of a cross-junction on Chuo-dori which is the main street in Akihabara. However TamTam's prices are higher than anything else and the only reason to go there is to go in the nearby Leonardo secondhand shops.

Volks - Has recently moved to a building on Chuo-dori, but don't seen to have car kits any more. Plenty of tools however.

 

There is another shop in Shinjuku called "LABI" which also has kits. It's not far from Yodobashi. There is also a LABI in Shibuya, which also has kits. Prices are very good.

 

Tokyo - Secondhand kits

 

By far the best shop I've found is called Surugaya Speciality store. I bought 5 kits here. Massive selection and the best prices. The shop is spread over 8 or so buildings around Akihabara as they sell a lot of secondhand goods generally. The shop which has kits is on the main Chuo-dori street in Akihabara. It has a large blue sign with a circle motif (you can google it), and the kit section is currently (as of March 2023) on floor 3F - and this particular Surugaya is only on floors 2F and 3F so you have to use the lift or the stairs round the back.  If in doubt search all floors of all shops!   There is also a Suragaya in Shinjuku, and this also has a small but decent selection of secondhand kits with some rare stuff.

 

Further up (i.e away from Akihabara station) are 3 shops all called Leonardo. If you find the McDonalds on Chuo-dori, you are not far from two of them. The other is located by accessing an anonymous doorway and then getting into an almost unmarked lift and going up several floors.   How did I even find these?   From this article, which is somewhat out of date now (doesn't mention Suragaya for example) but still accurate regarding the three Leonardo shops. http://tokyo-hobby-shops.geraet040.net and it has maps and a lot of other detail I don't have to re-cover here.  I owe a lot of my stash to Mrs Galaxyg's discovery of this article several trips ago.  On this particular trip I found that all 3 Leonardo shops had prices higher than other secondhand shops, so whilst I did get a few things only they had, I spent more in Surugaya this time.

 

Also on Chuo-dori is a shop called "Liberty" which has a sign only in Japanese, green writing on white. Typically in Japanese style Liberty have two shops very close to each other. If you see the one with die-cast cars in it, then it's that one, go in and go up the stairs. Not many kits - typically about 20 or so, but they do sometimes have either rare or cheap. I've had about 4 kits from there over the years.

 

On one of the back-streets of the main electrical area of Akihabara is a shop called "Mandarake" and they sell a lot of secondhand stuff - comic books, toys, collectibles etc. On one of the higher floors are kits. Not a great selection this time but they did have the Michelin Pilot Escort I bought. It's an unmissable 8 floor giant black building.

 

A note about Chuo-dori. If you're in Akihabara and you can see the straight green rail bridge* over a wide road with lots of bright neo and gigantic anime posters on the surrounding building then you are on the Chuo-dori road.

* there is also a second green bridge in Akihabara, but it's arched and is only *near* Chuo-dori.

 

In a different section of Tokyo called Nakano (access via the JR Chuo line) is a giant indoor mall mostly dedicated to toys, figurines, comic books and collectibles. Mandarake also have many shops in here, one shop per type of item - one for figures, one for antique toys, etc. Search hard enough and you'll find the Mandarake model kit shop. Which of course, wasn't in the same place as last time so there's no point trying to write a guide when they keep moving things.  Whilst they don't have tons of car kits (maybe 70 or so), they do have some really rare stuff - like the Volvo touring car I got. I bought 4 kits here in total on this one trip.

 

Yokohama:

 

Yokohama has a Yodobashi and a Surugaya. Both are not too far from the station although the Surugaya takes a bit of finding, but is worth it. It's on a high floor in some building. Google can help you here especially combined with a pocket wi-fi and some luck.  Not as big as Tokyo's but sometimes some rare stuff.

 

Sendai.

 

Sendai also has a Yodobashi, and although it has two other independent model shops they have only new stuff at prices about 25% higher than Yodobashi - and both are a bit of a trek - time better spent on other things.