Lucky Models

Vendors
21

I no longer buy from LuckyModels mainly because they don’t stock what I want anymore since I now buy mostly resin. It now takes a very long time for LuckyModels to compete with other online hobby stores for the latest kits and new releases.

However, there is one important note that I want to mention…the LuckyModels email ads don’t download well and the graphics are just blank placement boxes. Those graphics in their email ads that do download do so at a snail’s pace so it seems obvious that LuckyModels doesn’t have a proper coder or webmaster. In this day and age, computer programmers are bountiful and no other model kit company I know of has such a horrible email ad where one can’t see the photos. With high-speed internet and WiFi, I find this inexcusable.

I did email LuckyModels about this, but they didn’t reply, and their emailed ads still have those missing graphics and box art blank spaces that they never recitified.

2 Likes
22

A problem with eBay, Google search, and Amazon nowadays is that practically all the resin kits are recasts from China. That is what populates the search results. One can tell because the stock number and brand says, “Unbranded” which means it’s generic recast resin with no kit number. Google hardly lists any original resin kit manufactures in their Image webpages anymore. Thus, it pays to buy direct from a reputable online hobby shop or the vendors’ webstores to get the actual resin kit instead of second or third party sellers.

In this hobby, one really does need consumer experience, knowledge, and research so as not to buy junk. No original resin kit has a “No name” brand, or a brand like “YXRJDJPSEN” that you cannot even pronounce.

I do understand that modelers around the world cannot afford original resin kit prices and Chinese recasts will have to do depending on modeler’s budget; however, for “Unbranded” to be everywhere in a search is a trick into thinking some generic Chinese seller in China makes Polish, South Korean, Japanese, European, and Russian original design resin kits (and I don’t mean 3-D printed resin kits).

4 Likes
23

Lucky does have a reputation with a lot off modelers however i never had any problems,… ok i didn’t order that much stuf, maybe once every year or so and only stocked items or i was “lucky”

2 Likes
24

Similar to Jan, I’ve been reasonably happy with Lucky HK and had OK communications with them when I did have a delay with a GWH kit due to some issues between Mainland and HK. And postage from them to Oz is about 1/3 of USPS shipping to here. The last time I tried to use Sprue Brothers the postage was more than the kit price :pensive:

1 Like
25

Just seeing this thread now. I’ve used Lucky Model for nearly 18 years and I’ve probably spent thousands with them over that time. Unfortunately, things have gone downhill of late. I have several packages that they say have “shipped,” but have been stuck in their system for months now–one since March–and have not actually gone out (they show as “packed - queued to postal”). I’m not sure what that means, but it’s not encouraging, particularly since at least one of these should have shipped via air mail, but hasn’t.

I have repeatedly asked them to ship eight items that show as “in stock, reserved” (mostly big kits) and have been promised they will go out “soon,” but have not done so. The latest go-around was last month, when they told me the items would ship in the container going out this month. If they don’t, I’ll have to think about what my next steps are. One thing I do know for sure, I’m very unlikely to buy from them again.

4 Likes
26

They canceled my order and sent me a refund. I was worried they were just going to give me store credit. I would have gone to PayPal over that as I don’t want credit to sit and wait for another order.

2 Likes
27

The people at Lucky Model need to migrate to a modern eCommerce solution as quickly as possible. The one they use is 20 years old and sucked from day one. I also recommend they dump their current web developer, even if that person is family.

I know what I just wrote is kinda mean but a web based business depends on ease of use and trust.

3 Likes
28

Doug it doesn’t matter if what you wrote is mean, it’s the truth. Lucky Models web presence sucks wind. Their website is awful and yesterday’s news. Their business model is disastrous; I have no idea how they have stayed in business this long. They need to shut down and rebuild everything from the ground up, or just go away. The Hong Kong hobby shops I use consider 3 days a long time to ship an order. So do I. Normal shipping is same day, and in stock is 90% or better. Airshipping is 5 days to my doorstep. I would never wait 3 months on an order from a shop. Lucky Model needs to totally restructure, and now.

5 Likes
29

The people at Sprue Brothers really changed the playing field back in the 2000s when they made ‘we only sell what we have in stock’ a major customer convenience selling point. It seems like every major online model shop now embraces that paradigm.

On the one hand, ‘if you pay us in advance, we will hunt down the model for you’ is a really good service. On the other, it opens the door to long wait times, severe inventory tracking problems, and flat out failure. A company would need a really slick, really advanced inventory management system to gracefully handle that.

As an aside, Hobby Link Japan is a curiosity. The personal warehouse feature of that shop is really slick. They must have a really good back end inventory management system.

The people at Lucky Model invested in a remote warehouse system, which is very forward thinking, but something very obviously went wrong. If I were them, I would do a lot of research, find a modern eCommerce solution, find an experienced developer to implement it, and dump ‘if you pay us in advance, we will hunt down the model for you’.

Back in the 2000s, I ordered from Lucky Models. What really surprises me is that, 15 years later, customers are describing the exact same problems that plagued Lucky Models back in 2009. As a former information system developer, that is a gigantic red flag. Either the people at Lucky Models cannot afford to properly modernize the system they have or their developer is way behind the curve. In either case, they need a new solution to remain competitive. I would bet money, given 15 years of eCommerce solution development, they can find something much cheaper, much more reliable, much better looking on the front end, and much better at inventory control on the back end.

I would not advise them to immediately dump what they have and redo everything. Do your research. Find a modern eCommerce solution. Find a good developer. Plan every step of the migration. Make sure the backup plan has a backup plan. Then make the move. The less money you have, the more wisdom you must exercise when spending it.

To be clear, I wish nothing but good luck to the people at Lucky Model. If they get their inventory control problems fixed, I would buy from them again without hesitation.

4 Likes
30

I deal with HLJ all the time. They are quick with orders, and are most exceptional at sending out replacement/missing parts…to me, there are none better, hands down

2 Likes
31

Lucky model is too flaky, 10 years ago if you were a wise shopper you could get awesome deals and quick service, but once they introduced their external warehouses, everything went to sh!##. They still offer good deals, but they are definitely not a reliable seller, with items moving from warehouse to warehouse taking several months…

3 Likes