Trumpeter , no more selling value for money model kit....

Swings & roundabouts!

This side of the pond, the $Dollar price has always been the £Pound price, plus p&p. So, as Rob G says, it pays to shop around the internet, even with shipping & import duties.

Last year at my local show the LMTV was UKP45.00  ($68.00! (xe.com)) & the M198 was the same.

Went to a show in Feb, & the same kits were UKP£ 30.00  ($53.00) each.

The Cholly 2 with Bar Armour was UKP£25.00 ($38.00) wheras the  Tamiya Cholly 2 is still about £38.00 ($57.00)

Tamiya are typically £35.00 to £40.00  ($53.00-$60.00 ) for a tank, Dragons have recently gone through the roof, with even the Orange box starting at £35.00 to £50 ($53.00-$76.00).

So in the UK at least, Trumpy & HobbyBoss are VFM,  nothing to do with a change in distributors,

Tamiya have always been expensive, & Dragon, well forget it! I don't even do those endless, mythical, panzer'46 paper tigers...

Rob Gronovius

I know their prices have been climbing, much more than other manufacturers. Probably because they do not have as wide a distribution base as the older companies. While I do buy from overseas thru eBay, I am a very smart shopper and make sure that the price plus shipping is substantially less than the shelf price at the local shop.

My most recent Trumpeter purchase was their 1/35 scale M1078 LMTV (the latest style of US deuce and a half truck that came into use in the late 90s). I bought it at Hobby Lobby. The shelf price was $79.99, a rather insane price for a truck model, although I bet the marketing rights for making a copy of the truck probably worked into the price. Anyway, I used one of Hobby Lobby's 40% off coupon and it dropped the price considerably ($32 off).

Still, paying $48 for an 8 inch long truck is rather ridiculous. Nice kit though.

Just today, I bought the same kit, from the same retailer, using the 40% coupon. Still pricey, but not as painful.

Art

I know their prices have been climbing, much more than other manufacturers. Probably because they do not have as wide a distribution base as the older companies. While I do buy from overseas thru eBay, I am a very smart shopper and make sure that the price plus shipping is substantially less than the shelf price at the local shop.

My most recent Trumpeter purchase was their 1/35 scale M1078 LMTV (the latest style of US deuce and a half truck that came into use in the late 90s). I bought it at Hobby Lobby. The shelf price was $79.99, a rather insane price for a truck model, although I bet the marketing rights for making a copy of the truck probably worked into the price. Anyway, I used one of Hobby Lobby's 40% off coupon and it dropped the price considerably ($32 off).

Still, paying $48 for an 8 inch long truck is rather ridiculous. Nice kit though.

Very true Rob. I know the main culprit on the high US prices is the importer. But I am a huge believer of support your local hobby shops. I try to keep my business local so those shops will stay in business and I have the ability to visit them and examine the kit with my own eyes before deciding to buy or not. From what we read on here that is a privelege many modelers no longer have.

I don't think so.. Academy is also by importer and both needed to ship overseas. Why is it Academy can be cheaper and not Trumpeter? Academy 1/350 Oilver Perry class frigate is a new kit but comes with a very reasonable price while Trumpeter new frigate and destroyer of 1.350 scale comes at stagging much higher price. If importer is really the problem, why older kit still at lower price? 

And some of the net pricing is very misleading... They set the kit at very cheap price to attract you but they will jerk up the shipping price to get back the profit. In the end, its back to square one of buying from some of yr trusted local hobby shop.

I know Trumpeter newer kit is good. Plenty of details and included PE to make it highly detail. But jerking up by 3-4 times the prices is quite unacceptable.

I rather done away with PE, slightly lesser detail but keep the price low. If you want detail, go for after market PE.  Let the buyer has a choice.

If you check the Far East websites for Trumpeter kits (eBay dealers from Hong Kong for that matter) you will see that Trumpeter kits are reasonably priced and that the higher prices are created by the importers.

Buying direct from Hong Kong even with overseas postage is normally much cheaper than buying locally.

Yes, Trumpeter has had pricing mood swingsof an astounding nature recently. Their SA-2 Guidline and SA-6 Gainful kits were great bargains. But then , like you said, they turn around and with the M198 or some other release ask an astounding price. Their alter ego of Hobby Boss has been showing the same trait as well.