Shops I Have Used

I only used them in person, when they were at Rug Rucers, at the Hertford Radio Car Club. The owner was very helpful, and took the time to answer my questions, despite a busy racing day! Their web site was being worked on at that time, though, so I haven’t tried that yet.

Very racer oriented, and I believe the owner is a racer himself? The stock seems to be a bit spottier, but I wouldn’t be surprised if sending them a note using their contact form could get you sorted with what you need. They have free shipping on orders over £40.

As their name indicates, they specialize in GT12. Great support, I had two of an item in an order, but they put only one, I got in touch, and the missing one was in the mail the next day, free shipping. They’ve started the shop not that long ago, but are growing the business, so I’d expect it to get even better. They tell me that anything that their online inventory is not 100% complete, but that if it’s related to GT12, they probably have it, or they can get it the next day, just ask them! Their online system also doesn’t tell you the tracking number, but they gave it to me when I asked them. They do free shipping on orders above £50.

Note that their other ModelCarRacer site does not seem to have the same inventory!

This is where I got most of my initial kit from, chosen mainly because they had most of what I was looking for, so I could make a single order to get everything, instead of chasing the lowest price and piecing everything together. It turned out pretty well, I had some questions that the owner answered quickly by email, nice experience. They have free shipping on orders over £50.

I only used them for my hauler bag, as they had the best price on it, it was all as expected. Their site is nice, but as they don’t carry the Xray kits that I wanted, I didn’t use them much.

This shop has a specialization around the Yokomo R12 car (which is not that common), and other 12th scale consumables (shells, tyres, additive, etc), as well as some GT12 parts (soon to carry Schumacher and Zen GT12 spares, I’m told). Mark Stiles (a successful Yokomo team driver) runs this shop on the side, so he usually is at the nationals, and if you’re running his kit, support is top notch (I’ve seen him rebuild a customer’s pivot at a club meeting!). It’s not a big shop, so if you’re looking for touring car parts, it’s not the place to go, but he has a highly personalised service, if you need something 12th scale (especially if you have a Yokomo!), ask him about it.

Mark Stiles’ shop, so should be good for 1/12 scale.

This shop seems to specialise in radios and servos, which is where I got mine. They have a wide selection, and seem to have good prices (they had the cheapest price on the Spektrum DX4R Pro I wanted, which is an expensive piece of the kit!).

One thing I like about this shop is that they have “shadow stock”, where they might not have something in stock, but know they can get it easily from their suppliers. This is nice, because at most other shops, if there’s one thing they momentarily don’t have, you have to come back later and place your order when they have everything (and then, it might be another bit missing). Or you could do a second order, but then you might miss out on free shipping. But with this shop, they’ll set aside your order as they gather it from suppliers, and ship it together when it’s all there.

Make sure to get an account before placing your order, though, because I found out on my first order that if you don’t, there doesn’t seem to be any way to get the tracking number for your order!?

Their selection is a bit limited, but they are distributors for a few brands (among others, ARC, G-Force, Xenon, Spider Grip, Titan Blitz, BSI glue, and of course, their own Zen-Racing), which they have good stock of. What they have is of course centered around onroad racing (world champion Dave Spashett is on staff there, possibly a co-owner I think?). They have free shipping on orders above £50, (Royal Mail Signed For or UK Mail, depending on the size). They also offer track-side delivery to many events, as they are very present, and have been quite helpful with tips on how to use their products.

Shops I Did Not Use (Yet?)

This is for my own reference, as I might want to use them.

I think HobbyKing is based in Hong Kong? They appear to have warehouses in a few countries, including the UK, but I’ve heard that depending on which warehouse a given part is from, you might have to pay import tax on it, separately (when you get it?)? Their site seems to indicate which warehouse each part is available in, but if you order there, you should pay attention to that to avoid surprises!