Why the price jump in 1/35

To be fair, that's the US imported price. If you check Hobby Link Japan's website, the price of the kit is $40 USD if you  bought it there. Their shipping is rather reasonable so you'd pay $40 to 50-something delivered.

Even the pre-zimmed Dragon Elefant can be gotten for much less.

tigerman

Sprue-ce Goose

Just noticed the Tamiya advertisement on the FSM forum for the 

German Tank Destroyer Elefant  Item #35325 ...............
Guess that MSRP: $85.00 trumps the BT-7 MSRP...

Horribly over-priced. The Dragon kit is a good one and can be picked up less then half that cost.

Sprue-ce Goose

Just noticed the Tamiya advertisement on the FSM forum for the 

German Tank Destroyer Elefant  Item #35325 ...............
Guess that MSRP: $85.00 trumps the BT-7 MSRP...

Just noticed the Tamiya advertisement on the FSM forum for the 

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Shop around on Buy/Sell sites. I recently scored a Dragon Hummel Smart Kit  shipped for just $25. it can be found.

Models are like shoes, i.e. Nikes. People will pay what the market bears just to have them.

Shawker

See Rob that is the point, they are using the same (die and cast/ injection) method  nothing really new.  The BT-7 has to be one of the most basic tanks out there, besides the early t-34s.

That was the point I was making; same basic kit, lot more money.

Kit's like Tamiya's $70 BT-7 are not aimed at the casual or younger model builder. It is a classic, yet esoteric tank that would appeal to only a niche audience, mainly experienced WW2 armor modelers. Basically geared towards older guys with money to spend who would actually want an up-to-date BT-7 for their collection.

The price is $70 because they know it will not generate the sales numbers that a Sherman, Abrams or Tiger would get so they have to recoup the costs with a higher price.

The armor modelers who really wanted a Tamiya BT-7 didn't flinch too hard at the price tag. They also know where to find one online so they didn't pay that amount for one. I paid $45 for one at my local shop.

You sir are correct.

As I mentioned this in my first post "Economics aside"

I would also add to the equation logistics.

don't forget there is also the international currency market at play and all plastic comes from oil so the price of oil can affect production and shipping.

SHAWKER,

Thanks,

I don't think it's in FSM best interest and I would be surprised otherwise it they did.  To critic the hobby manufactures industry would be akin to biting the hand that feeds you. No disrespect to the subscribers intended.   However I think the old testament of supply vs demand is at play as it is in any industry. So long as we demand it or are willing to illustrated a desire to  pay  and continue to do so , so will the prices coincide with our hunger. Case in point that comes to mind,  professional sports.  Ticket price hikes to cover the deplorable salaries of professional athletes and owners alike are thru the roof.  We tolerate bad behavior from athletes, union strikes for even higher salaries and exorbitant prices for concessions. Yet we still willingly accept the admission price for entry into these stadiums. And sadly yes kids interested in the hobby are fewer and fewer it seems . Perhaps like all past times before, this is but an evolution of the species

There are not as  many balsa wood plane builders  and I have yet to come across someone with a deep love for building a ship in a bottle.

Bottom line: get creative and resourceful . Look for good deals as they are still out there. 

I used to collect baseball cards as a kid and it was fun. Now that adults took over its all about what's it going to be worth. Oh well

Again  End Rant

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RX7850 you put it better then i could from the start, you covered the true point i was trying to make in that WE control the price increase due to our ambitious nature, but with that said things like this should be pointed out to the manufacturers which are almost all overseas and pay nowhere near what it would cost to make here in the U.S. and other countries.  So how do we stand up and say enough?  Will FSM do an article on a subject like this to support our concerns?  I know most of us want this to be not only for us but for our kids and grand-kids to learn how to build models, and learn to love the hobby like we do.

I think they will eventually price themselves out of the younger generations this way.  Why pay 70 bucks for a model when you can get a video game between 20-100 bucks to them the game rates in higher/better category of things to buy..

Agreed kermit,

I still like my old esci kits. They were affordable and out of the box you had a decent model but with some patience and creative skill it would turn into, as you stated " a jewel" .  Economics aside I also think  that at some point the innocence of the hobby changed and when this happened  it was no  longer the hobby of a child with minimal  money to invest and no  desire  for museum quality. The adult in us took over and what we see today is  part of the  result.

End Rant

See Rob that is the point, they are using the same (die and cast/ injection) method  nothing really new.  The BT-7 has to be one of the most basic tanks out there, besides the early t-34s.

I remember the mid 90s when Dragon kits started appearing in greater numbers beyond the Soviet modern armor. Their $30-35 price range for their new Sherman series (M4A3 HVSS, M4A3E8, M4A1 75) was 50% above the price of the comparable Italeri Shermans (M4A1, M4A2, M4A3 Calliope around $18-20) also on the shelves.

I bought all three of the Dragon Sherman kits, but only when the Ben Franklin store was closing and put all merchandise at 50% off. I was surprised to see the Dragon Shermans were basically the Italeri Shermans with some new sprues!

Look at what Disastermaster did to a "lowly" 20 buck Eastern Express BT-7..... To me the real art is to take a cheaper kit and turning it into a jewel.

Richard

This is a hobby, a luxury, a way of disposing of disposable income. As Don said, the price will reflect what the market will bear. When I was a kid, an AMT annual car kit retailied at $1.50 with decal sheet, stock, custom and race options, and my local discount department store had it at $1.14. At the same time, a gallon of gas, a pound of hamburg and a pack of cigarettes were all about $.25. In the late 70's, you could get a good pair of running shows for $40. They've tripled or quadrupled since then, My first real bike cost about $35 in 1970. The one I'm riding now was about $2,000 and that's midrange.

If you want a cheap hobby, take up oil painting. One tube each of black, white, cyan, yellow and magenta and you have all the colors you need, then. a bit of thinner, a brush and a canvas and you're good to go.

Check your messages...Hobby Boss kits have those in them, and I'd rather someone get some use out of them.  I've been using 'em for book markers.

The Tamiya BT-7's $50-70 price tag has baffled me for some time.  I mean, sure it looks like a great kit and all, but I simply don't think it's twice as good as their older kits such as their M4A3 Sherman kit at $25-35.

I do shop around a lot and I have found the BT-7 for as low as 29.99 but my point was that if this is not a store advertising but FSM saying how much the kit will be.  I don't know how involved Monica Freitag is in the research of her article or if some intern did it.  So to me that is like all of us collectively saying go ahead and charge three times the value of a product  we don't care were used to it.

Most merchandise is priced by what the traffic will bear.  Sounds crass, but that is the way it is.  Only way to stop the increase in prices is to hold off buying things.  The neat thing lately, however, is European and US kit prices.  Most of these big price increases I see are from Asian kit mfgs.  European and US mfg prices are very reasonable for latest technology in kit production. I have built some really nice kits with super molding lately from Zvezda, Eduard, Airfix, and Revell, and their prices are very reasonable.  As long as I can get kits like these, I anticipate buying little from Trumpeter and Tamiya in the future.

True, everything is going up, but a hike like that is more the seller's hand in the pot than the actual manufacturer.  I found two versions of the kit in question at HobbyEasy, and they were in the 34-36$ range.  As suggested, shop around and compare.

regards,

Jack

There are plenty of good, affordable (cheap) kits out there.   This topic comes up often.  Just search around, and ask about a particular subject you are interested in.  The best option isn't always the most expensive one.

yes everything is going up we know that but this is a model site and the fact that Tamiya has increased its price to twice that as a year before.  They build them in China at pennies on the dollar and then slam the modellers with huge prices.  What would be nice is maybe an article writer might take notice and give us a reason to spend the money.  I for one just see more and more people/companies  being greedy

I could understand if Tamiya made a complete kit with no defaults, P.E. kits and  metal barrel, figures complete and accurate painting, unit ids etc... Okay. But we know what we will get same ole same.

Haven't you notice that everything we buy is going up in price ? It's not just models.

I've also noticed the increase.

A few years ago I was considering the advantages of 1/35 vs. 1/48 ( I used to build AURORA armor- long ago) .

I balked at the price of the Tamiyagawa 1/48 armor vs. 1/35th armor at that time.

Now that store prices are up, I'll most likely buy older Dragon Smart kits or decent but older Tamiya kits at swap meets so long as I can negotiate a good price.

I realize I won't have the most wanted kit du Jour, but cost of living is up everywhere and buying food or paying taxes are higher priorities vs. hobby purchases.