KIT PRICES--STICKER SHOCK

Using an inflation calculator, I found that $1.49 in 1972 would be the equivalent of $8.21 in 2012. Just so you know.  Annual inflation rate of 451.1%

Nothing costs what it did 40 years ago.

A simple answer too, is the fact that people are willing to pay the price.

Generally speaking, kids (with little/no money) aren't building models like we did to entertain ourselves. It's us "grown ups" with extra income. Manufacturers know this, and price kits as high as people are willing to spend. Notice, over time, the price of a new kit will drop off because people simply aren't buying any more.

(I know, I'm speaking more about NEW releases...as to old molds, refer back to line 1!)

You left out two significant costs. Labor and shipping.

Nowadays (for me), shipping can kill a purchase. In the past I didn't even bother looking at shipping cost knowing it would be very minor.

After being in the hobby for more than a few years I've better learned when to grab a kit...sometimes its best to grab it when it first comes out, sometimes its better to wait...it becomes instinct...It also doesn't hurt hurt to compare prices among three or more online retailers, and to "bundle" purchases to maximize your shipping dollar...

I've noticed more online sales of late as well.  But don't assume a sale will give you a better price.  I recently found that even w/ a sale of 25% from one retailer it only brought the price down to about parity with another online retailer.  Then I found out later that the other retailer was actually running a 10% off sale at the same time!!!  

Search Ebay and be patient.  I find good kits that I want for cheap all the time.  Just gotta keep looking.

Bronto

Nothing costs what it did 40 years ago.

I had looked up the inflation for quite awhile now, going back to the fifties when I first built plastic models, and for a long time, the price of kits always had an envelope so that in real dollars the old prices would fit the envelope (by envelope I mean the range between cheapest kits and most expensive ones).

In order to compare prices you need to compare apples and oranges- the complexity, accuracy, and detail of the kit.  Kits in the fifties and sixties tended to be very basic- no ccckpit detail, no wheel well details (some didn't even have landing gears- you mounted them on a stand).  You can't compare one of those with something that includes resin and photo etch.

That being said, the inflation in recent years has been low, while I see the price of kits taking big jumps in the past year or two. I guess, as someone else suggested, as long as we are willing to pay the price, they'll keep raising it, until they reach a point we stop buying.  Glad I am willing to scratch build :-)

I know my local Michael's arts & crafts store carries the Monogram M48A2 for $25, but they are also one of the retailers who habitually carry a 40% or 50% off coupon in the Sunday paper. You'd really have to be nuts to pay $25 for that old kit, but once a coupon is applied, it is fairly reasonable.

With an all-new M48 kit on the way from AFV Club (actual version is still unknown, but speculated to be either an A2 or A3), I'd save my money for it.

www.merit-intl.com/.../AFV-35048