Shipping hobby paints

[MistyEyedWanderer]

And adhesives for that matter.

There are authentic rail colours that are proving difficult (and expensive) to get.
I may need to import some.

I'm not sure if international shippers are fussed about my sending little jars of hobby paints to myself via the usual drop shipper?

I am concerned about including them with other modelling goods.

Anyone have any experience in this?

[JanW]

It seems to be quite risky to send modelling paints overseas these days.
Since I live in the Netherlands I have to get it shipped and with a bit of persuation I have managed to get modelling paints from the UK.
According to the regulations there is no objection to shipping non solvent based paints.
I have ordered Railmatch acrylics but the supplier was reluctant to accept my order because customs officers seem to throw away any pot of paint, solvent based or not.
I said to them that it would be completely on my responsibility and the paint arrived safely.

So in short: according to the regulations you can ship acrylics but there is a risk that customs officers throw away your parcel.
Ship them in small amounts to minimise the risk.
I would never ship adhesives because these are available everywhere.
For plastics I use Tamiya extra thin cement which works very well.

Jan

[Intercity]

Will be folllowing with interest as I have been trying to find a reliable source of paints in the US, looked into shipping and haven't even been able to find a company or business that will accept an international order let alone ship.

Finding paints over here that match the prototypes has been equally frustrating.

If anyone figures out a reliable way of shipping please follow up in this thread.

[JanW]

I had succes with Howes models after some email exchange.
https://howesmodels.co.uk/product-category/model-railway/railmatch-paint/railmatch-acrylic-paint/

As mentioned before, there is a chance of losing your shipment.
I also look for close matching paints that are available and use vallejo acrylics for SR building colours. Don't think they are 100% accurate but close enough for me.
About colour accuracy.. the colours of my two GWR panniers are not a close match either:

[MistyEyedWanderer]

The only shipper I know that sends both ways is Planet express.  There are several options available.
You can get a package from a GB Railmatch retailer sent to Planet express, consolidate if so desired and forwarded.  I don't know that it will be cheap, but makes it possible.

A bit like how the Hattons trunk worked.

My biggest concern is that a package containing models and a paint pot would get junked rather than processed. 

I would make the deceleration as vague as possible yet truthful .  Don't forget that value is what the buyer was prepared to pay at the time, not what was actually paid.  It is subjective. 

Insurance is another matter, I usually don't bother after discovering that royal mail will do anything to get out of it.

It's worth paying a little extra to have all documentation removed and some extra wrapping/fragile stickers.

I think I have only had my first package opened on the way to GB, It had exactly inside what I said it did, so they must have been bored and disappointed  

I guess it was because the stated shipping cost was far higher than the goods, therefore it must be valuable

Fedex never seemed bothered about what is sent.

Use your intuition. 


Maybe if you had enough demand, you could become an American distributor for Railmatch and make it official?
 
And finally, I am investigating colour matching for  American railroad colours from auto paint mixing stores, maybe viable the other way around.  I will post that elsewhere if it works out.