[Shadowracer]

Hi everyone! My name's Trev and I'm brand new here. Just recently got into the HO hobby with an International 4 laner and assorted Johnny Lightning cars of both chassis varieties. It was to my surprise that I found the net just full of guys who make their own bodies. Way cool.

Also cool was that I could find just about any car I wanted on Ebay. What's not so cool is this crappy "No Canadians" attitude that a lot of slotracing ebayers seem to have, keeps me from getting my mitts on a lot of them.

However, being a "turn lemons into lemonade" kind of guy, I'm looking at buying some rolling chassis (from legit sellers) and casting the bodies myself.

I've found a couple of casting tutorials that'll get me started I think. And I notice that the majority of casters seem to favor TJets. I'm wondering if there's a reason for this. I've totally got nothing against TJets, don't get me wrong, I have several myself and I love em. But is there more to it? Are screw posts easier to cast than body clips like on the XTraction chassis? Does resin not flex enough to snap the bodies onto the chassis?

Or is it that the guys doing the castings just really dig TJets?

I've surfed a lot of forums and this is the only question I've not seen asked or answered.

So, what's the dope?

 

[TX Street Racer]

HOWDY...and welcome!

You've already answered your own question in a way. It is in fact easier to cast screw posts in place.....instead of the body clips....which have to be REALLY accurate to work.

 

[AfxToo]

Hum, I've never noticed the "No Canadians" bias on EBay. Some of the strongest proponents of the HO hobby (http://members.rogers.com/gtrshop/, http://www.canho.ca/index.php) are from north of the border.

The only thing that I can figure is that it has something to do with the innate sense of fear, disbelief, and confusion that folks living south of the border have about a country that considers the bizarre activity associated with Kurling a "sport?" Maybe you need to band together or hire Dudley Do-Right to set things straight.

Just kidding! I'm sure it has something to do with customs fees. I'm pretty sure that most of the major parts vendors will ship their products to Canada with the appropriate adjustments. You should check out the following vendors and others to see what they offer for shipping to Canada...

http://www.jaghobbies.com/
http://www.scaleauto.com/
http://www.wizzardho.com/
http://www.slottech.com/
http://www.toyracecars.com/
http://www.homestead.com/budshocars/budsho.html
http://www.ncphobbies.com/
http://www.mascr.com/

 

[Dragula]

I ship to canada no problem.To answer your question about casting,there is a man on E-Bay that does AFX and Super=G bodies,his user name is "snapfit".You will find out eventualy that for all intensive purposes,T-jets have a following like no other.If I had to pick a chassis to race for the rest of my life,it would hands down be a T-jet.
Chris
Dragjet Resins.

 

[Shadowracer]

To Dragula: Thanks for the tip about that vendor, and for being willing to ship up North. And I can tell that TJets have a large following, and rightly so, they're great and really take some skill to drive. (I put one on the track for my wife to drive once after she started getting cocky about her ability with the GPlus cars that came with the set.) There's certainly a nostalgia factor there too.

AFX too: Actually, its not so much a "no Canadians" as it is US only. (I was just feeling bitter at the time of writing, cuz I'd just come across yet ANOTHER couple really sweet auctions that I wasn't eligible for.) Actually, the sender doesn't deal with customs, the buyer does.

Thanks for the links though. The guy that does the CanHo site is right in my hometown and I've spoken to him, but the HO speedways are not in operation right now. (Most of the posters there are in the Sudbury region...400 miles away from me) We DO have a freakin amazing 1/24 speedway that I'm just getting involved with. Its a Blue King - 140 foot laps and is the size of half a small gymnasium. Watching wing cars ripping around that thing in about 4 seconds...it'll either make you dizzy or hypnotize you.

I've checked a lot of the sites you've mentioned and I certainly will be dealing with a few of them...cuz really, there's NOTHIN here, not for HO, cept maybe a few old school hobby shops with no websites. Its so barren I've considered setting up shop myself.

Oh, and Curling is spelled with a C, and the only people who do it are the rich, and people from Alberta. (where, occasionally, it really DOES snow 8 months of the year...that makes them a little nuts)

To TX Street Racer: thanks for the reply. I'm surprised, as I would have thought body clips would be easier than the posts. Would you mold them the same way or would there be a different process?

 

[AfxToo]

I hope everything works out for you. There's a lot of good vendors who ship products worldwide. I'm sure some of the EBay folks just want to keep things quick and simple. I thought Kurling and Curling were the same. What do I know. Those brooms just kinda throw me into a state of confusion.

 

[Iphitsgotwheels]

No Canadians EH.

I'm from Winnipeg and have run into this problem several times.Just because the listing says US only doesn't mean no means no.With only one exception I have found if you email the seller you will find that most will ship north.You may have to pay a little more for shipping.

PS: Americans don't pay duty to ship to Canada. Canadians pay whatever duty is assessed plus a 7% sales tax.

PSS:When shipping to Canada,if you want to save the buyer some cash declare the parcel as "used toys GIFT".this sometimes saves duty and taxes.
I've been doing this for several years now and have found about a 80% success rate.

 

[dlw]

Here's one more place to get tjet parts, heavy front ends for racing, and presses and pullers:

http://www.csonline.net/vwalters

 

[SCJ]

If it's vinatge you want, we got you covered and will ship to anywhere!

We've bought the contents of three different Aurora warehouses and have 95% of the parts for every chassis Aurora ever made 1959 ~ 1983.

We also take Visa, MasterCard, mondy order, paypal etc...all in US funds of course!

LMK what you need.

-------------------------------
www.SlotCarJohnnies.com

 

[micyou03]

...

We also take Visa, MasterCard, mondy order, paypal etc...all in US funds of course!

LMK what you need.

-------------------------------
www.SlotCarJohnnies.com

Whats a mondy order? Is it for orders placed on Mondays only or something?

 

[Magnuts]

My company, brp, helps sponsor the Ontario HO Racing Association:
http://www.slotcars.org/ohora/index.htm
Check them out, the season starts next weekend.

brp does supply resin bodies, electronic bits, and Wizzard T-Jet parts. We do ship world wide, including our neighbors to the North!

http://sky.prohosting.com/horacer/brp/

Best Racing,
Tom

 

[AfxToo]

So all kidding aside, why would some vendors limit sales into Canada and Mexico? I've worked on projects in Canada and found that shipping equipment into the country sometimes involved some customs delays but otherwise everything was pretty straightforward.

 

[boss9]

It may have to do with the monetary system (exchange rate or type and submission of funds) or the shipping/handling of packages to that part of the world--just a thought...
cheers

 

[Shadowracer]

AFXToo: As far as I know, legit vendors will all ship to Canada. They seem to understand how things work. I think its many of the amateur Ebayers that see dealing out of the country as a hassle.

I've understood that in some places in the US, a Canadian Money Order can be a pain in the ass to cash in. If you use Paypal it's no problem, cuz it makes the currency conversion for you.

I imagine that there have been occasions where Canadian customs has held a package back. The customer, in this case, just sees that he hasn't got his stuff yet. If the guy's a moron, he may have an itchy trigger finger for neg feedback instead of being patient like he needs to be. If I'd been burned with neg feedback because of a customs screwup that wasn't my fault, I'd probably take the easy route too and just say US only from now on.

I did win a couple US auctions last Sunday (5th) and got my stuff in the mail today (the 13th) so customs is moving it through pretty good right now.

Like someone else said already, if you put Gift Used Toys or something to that effect on the box, it'll probably get through faster than a box with nothing on it.

Last note: I have heard a few stories of people who refused Canadian bidders because our government wouldn't commit troops for Iraq. I honestly don't know how much truth there is to those stories.

If there are people on the board that resent Canadians for that, I'll just say this: Prime Minister Chretien did NOT speak for the majority of Canadians when he declined the Iraq war. (that's one of the reasons why he's not Prime Minister anymore) There was a time here after 9/11 that US flags flew as prominently as Canadian flags, because we wanted to show some solidarity with the USA even though the government would not commit.

OK, enough politics (blecch)

So I see where some people are coming from when they say US only. But it still sucks, and many bad feelings could be alleviated if buyer and seller would just talk to each other. And the Canadain buyer has to learn to understand the system and explain to the seller about labelling and such.

I've read a guy on these boards who's a dork about it (saying stuff like "US Only, moron. What part of US ONLY do you NOT understand? Are you retarded?") You can't talk to those pinheads. But I've found guys that'll deal with us too.

Actually kinda sorry I brought it up, as my question about modellers favoring TJets has been overshadowed by the Canada US thing.

Cest la vie,
Shadow

 

[luke the duke]

So all kidding aside, why would some vendors limit sales into Canada and Mexico? I've worked on projects in Canada and found that shipping equipment into the country sometimes involved some customs delays but otherwise everything was pretty straightforward.

some are stupid and somepeople dont know us stamps are no good in canada.ive shipped car parts around the world and the only problem ive come across is the proper paper work for customs three or four copys for the paper pushers and alittle extra in shipping charges and its smooth sailing

 

[luke the duke]

It may have to do with the monetary system (exchange rate or type and submission of funds) or the shipping/handling of packages to that part of the world--just a thought...
cheers

insurance and paying with a credit card takes care of both problems

 

[vaBcHRog]

I ship,just about everywhere except Italy. Believe it or nor non wooden toys are on Italy' banned list.

If you can keep the order small till where it can go Air Letter Post which by the way is not too expensive then there is no Customs declaration required The total dimensions have to be under 36". So a 4 X 2 X 4 box comes in at 32" and only cost $1.10 to ship to Canada, 2.40 to England, 2.40 to Geramany. I ship for Free to overseas as long as the order can go Air Letter Post.

If you haven't tried it the Post Office has a very bice website for calculating shipping

http://www.usps.com/

Roger Corrie
Virginia Beach, VA

 

[red73mustang]

welcome to the board ShadowRacer! I too http://vroomvroomhobbies.com/ will ship to Canada, infact I have sent items to Austrailia, Germany, Canada, New Zeland with no problems.

Chet