I find it strange that only place selling this kit is Ebay.

I hope you find a way to post some pictures of the build. Watching with interest.

Steve

I find it interesting too... I will start taking pix.. and hope to be able to post some in the near future

Greetings,
I am the original poster on Scalemates and I also uploaded the instructions. I am amazed by how much resistance there was about this kit. After posting it on Scalemates I was questioned by a user who doubted that I had the kit in my possession. Then in reading the thread here today I am amazed at the lengths some people think others will go to in order to perpetrate a hoax. It is unfortunate that no one noticed the thread where I was accused of being mistaken about this kit. The outrage I felt about being accused of lying about the kit should have shown I was sincere in purchasing this kit. I am glad others have purchased the kit and are enjoying it. I have notices that Hobbylink Japan has the kit on sale for $100 cheaper now. But there is no mention about how much shipping it, so it may be a wash. The eBay seller was super fast in shipping it. It looked to me that he took it straight off the pallet and stuck a label on it. To those who are building the kit, thanks for the updates. I'm looking forward to finally building mine. To those still on the fence, look into Hobbylink Japan. You may save some money. To the rest of the doubters....pbtpbtpbtpbt!!!! LOL

Vince -

The thing seemed so fantastic that it was literally hard to believe it was actually happening. With an unknown company logo on the box and the first announcements and Scalemates originally listing it as Trumpeter, it did not instill confidence.

On top of that, there have been innumerable cases of misidentification by internet posters over the years (*) that people wanted to make sure you didn't accidentally mark the 1/72 kit as 1/35.

(*) For example:

A: I've built a couple of the Italeri XYZ tanks and I never got the hull to fit right.

B: Do you mean Tamiya? Italeri has never made a XYZ kit.

A: I looked at the box and you're right, it's Tamiya.

KL

Vince,
I have to agree with Kurt here, it was simply too good to be believed. The images of the instructions in the Scalemates entry allowed me too convince myself that this was for real.

The ebay ad used pictures of the Dragon 1/72 kit as well which didn't exactly inspire confidence:

Image of the Dragon kit, courtesy of Super Hobby:


Screen dump of the ebay-ad for the "I kit" kit


The two images are extremely similar, at least to my eyes ...


Cheers / Robin

Yep, I was one of those convinced the kit was some sort of “mistake” by the Ebay seller because they used the 1/72 Dragon kit photos. That’s likely because the Ebay seller sells more than just model kits (electric trolling motors for goodness sake). Also, because the kit was not accompanied by the usual “fanfare and panoply“ of any of the mainstream hobby shows, it seemed a bit suspect. Scalemates is good, but certainly not the best way for a manufacturer to announce a new kit. But I will admit when I’m wrong about stuff, and this kit is definitely a new 1/35 version on its own. What disturbs me is the number of “new” manufacturers lately coming out with seemingly great kits, previously unannounced, but in seemingly limited numbers. All kits are limited to a certain production run, this we know, but obtaining some kits seems to be harder than obtaining others. And it seems the “no-name” companies which are really subsidiaries of other companies are in this category. The only solution seems to be to jump in and buy now at a higher price. I wonder if this is a purposeful “evil marketing plan” of the parent company to begin with?
VR, Russ

I went back last night to look at the original ad on eBay and noticed it gone. The seller relisted the kit for $30 cheaper. Perhaps he reads this forum and saw it elsewhere considerably cheaper. Paying closer attention I see he is now charging $30 for shipping where before it was free shipping. So the only money saved is the sales tax on the $30 savings.

Really no reason to buy from them now unless that is the cheapest you can find. Local hobby shops here now have the entire "I Love Kit" brand (i.e. ex-Merit), included the Atomic Annie. Hobby Easy also has the kits as well includng the Atomic Annie, which is retailing at $120 USD + shipping which is coming up for me at about $60, so +/- $180 USD.