Charles Hansen
velotrain
velotrain @fbb738a
Don't understand the comment "that's what I get for ordering from Japan". It is a Japanese product, so you're not going to find it in Walmart or Target! You likely ordered from Plaza Japan on eBay, and they use SAL shipping, which takes 2-4 weeks. It's shipped via air, but doesn't have priority, so can wait a week or more at Tokyo airport, and there are usually delays entering the US. You can (often) optionally pay roughly twice as much for EMS shipping, which generally takes 2-4 days.
Here are some Japanese hobby shops which specialize in dealing with non-Japanese customers and are fluent in English.
Hobby Search - http://www.1999.co.jp/eng/
This is their English-language site, which can only be accessed outside of Japan.
Loco1Hobby - http://www.loco1hobby.net/en/
Run by David Fleming, a former Australian who now lives in Japan.
ModelTrainPlus - https://www.modeltrainplus.net/
Nariichi is Japanese, and very easy to deal with.
The last two shops in particular are small and much more willing to deal with special requests, such as locating long sold-out items on auction sites, etc. All of these shops offer ~20% off list and sometimes a bit more; while Amiami often offers a greater discount, it is somewhat less friendly to deal with.
velotrain A photo of the actual product would help.
velotrain A photo of the product would help me believe you can actually do this.
