How much of a premium are you willing to pay for a discontinued kit?

MJY65

I've been wanting to build a 1:48 RF-4C with the late 70s markings from the MN ANG.  It seems like the only decent kit is the Hasegawa.  I've seen them on eBay for several hundred dollars.   I know that there are some very nice new 1:32 Tamiya kits (for other planes) that are pushing that price point, but this was really a $30 kit in its day.  

 

I get it.  Supply and demand, but it still makes me cringe a bit.  How much is crazy?

 

Mike

 

For me, it really depends on the subject and whether or not there are worthwhile alternatives. I'd probably just seek out some other brand kit or go the conversion route before I spent too much on a rare or OOP kit. But then, that route adds up too (and provided the conversion bits are available in the first place)! As far as your Phantom goes, the RF boxings are rare. All I've ever seen are RF-4E boxings. I don't know how worthwhile it is to try to convert the Hase. RF-4E to a C, but an E might be easier to get your hands on. Are you committed to it being 1/48? Phantom Phreaks  has a 1/32 C available at Sprue Bros. Don't know much about the kit, I think it might be Revell-ish. Don't know what you'd do for your decal scheme, but that might be an option too.

Hi,

I guess along the lines of what others have hinted at, its kind of decision based more on emotions than logic for me.  I know that I have a couple kits I've probably paid more for than really makes sense, but I wanted them at the time, and usually they were kits that didn't look likely to be re-released any time soon (like my old Aurora USS Guadalcanal kit)

Pat

disastermaster

It's not worth any more than you're willing to pay. 

Yep.  That's similar to something an author on antiques & collectibles once wrote-the price of any object is what the buyer and seller can agree on at the time of the sale.

It's not worth any more than you're willing to pay.

Eugene Rowe

How do you feel about Wingnuts kits?Commodity or build? 

For me, no kit is a commodity.  I intend to build any kit I buy.

Kit collectors-not guys with a stash who do intend to build, but guys who collect a kit for whatever reason-are a minor irritant, because they drive up prices on the second-hand market.  Since I buy more kits second-hand, I have to take into account whether the price is a modeler's price or a kit collector's price.

Hi Mike!

     There have been a few times I was tempted. But, common sense won out! I have offered a ridiculous sum, for a Aurora boat kit(The Wheeler Cruiser) but lost out. Surprisingly, a lot of what I was looking for is found in shows at our twice a year Train Shows. I have picked up All of the Revell Cruise ships( Except The Brazil) from "Back in The day", some unique Gundam stuff, and Yes, even hard to find Car models. If they are over fair retail, I walk away.

      There seems to be a general attitude that you must get it now because it's an old kit. After what I have seen over the years I don't go that route. If I can't find my ship in Plastic I find it in a slightly smaller or larger scale in paper, way cheaper than Plastic. So what's the big deal? You Armor and Plane Builders are somewhat in a pinch that way. I know that the Car modelers are too. As you have seen, There are folks that find what I've seen and we make a deal. Fair Nuff!

      Oh! In closing, think! If you are near my age(79) do you really need to add to your stash? I do know of a model railroader(84) that paid $700.00 for an old Erie and Lackawanna Freight Loco. He died last year and the estate got $45.00 bucks for it!

Back when it was the only 1/48 scale kit of the subject, I paid a hundred bucks for the discontinued Classic Airframes P-43, on eBay.  I watched the auction for a long time, through many cycles of posting and no bidders.  And I had to work up to the decision to pay that much for the kit.  But since it was the only one available in my scale, I eventually bit, bid, and won it.  A few years later, Dorawings brings out its P-43.  That's just the way it goes.

I don't think I've spent more than $80 or so on a kit.  I'm too cheap.  Looking at spruebrothers and ebay the most expensive kit I bought in the past 3 years was a 1/48 SH3 Seaking - shrinkwrapped for $70.  That was a kit I had but got ruined in a water damage flood in a rental years ago, so it's a nostalgic buy and what I thought was a really good deal.  Haven't added up decals & masks, but I don't add a lot of AM other than ordanance.

I have no interest in discontinued kits,so my answer is nothing.The most I ever dropped on any kit was $225.00 for Akagi,but that was a one off but I have no interest in any nostalgia kits.

In my younger years, when I was highly fiscally irresponsible, I would usually persuade myself to pay $50 to $100 above MSRP if it was a kit I really, really wanted.  These days, I rarely pay MSRP and generally just wait for a sale and make a biggish order of the kits that I have wanted to justify shipping costs or get free shipping.  

I have been burned several times in that if I'd just held off they were rereleased within a few years.

Side note, all those purchases still sit in the stash because they were too expensive for my skill level at the time, and now I have the skills but no longer the desire to build them.

DRUMS01

My answer is embarassing, I will just say it was over $700.00 (lots of PE, resin, and other detail items). And just to clarify, adding lots of extrs "stuff" to a kit does not necessarily make it any better or worse, it's basically ones personal choice.

Heh...I think I'm right there with you, Ben.  Didn't have to get my vintage Academy FB-111A kit from any place since I already had it in my stash.  But, the cost of the items I bought to update and "accurize" it?  Its probably approaching that figure.  It has a kitbashed cockpit made with an old Verlinden set, with newer Eduard color PE added to it.  I also wanted to display it with weapons bay doors open, since that's the way they are when the aircraft is parked.  To do that, I couldn't just buy a resin upgrade kit...but Hobby Boss had an EF-111 kit with about half of the stuff in it being mediocre at best...but theirs actually had a fully-detailed weapons bay that is amazingly accurate.  So, that's an entire kit just to be a parts donor.  Lots of detail stuff from Ozmods in Australia, including fully detailed gear wells and landing gear.  Seamless intakes from DMolds in Russia.  Poly caps from Japan for movable stabilators.  Pretty sure I have resin exhausts in there somewhere, as well as some AGM-69s.  All of that to dress up a vintage kit, because that vintage kit is the closest to the overall shape of an FB-111A.  

But, the way I see it, I usually only build one of any subject, so I want it to look exactly the way I want it to look.  Making your vision into reality is part of the fun.

I'm coming to this party late, but my response is similar to most. It always depends on my desire for the kit in question, the budget available (keeping all other builds in mind), and the overall scarcity or difficulty to find the kit. 

So far my lighest price to purchase a OOP and rare kit had been no more than $175.00 

Now comes the next question; after you get the model itself, what is the most you have ever paid for additional after-market, detail items, PE, paints, and other supplies just to finish one kit?

My answer is embarassing, I will just say it was over $700.00 (lots of PE, resin, and other detail items). And just to clarify, adding lots of extrs "stuff" to a kit does not necessarily make it any better or worse, it's basically ones personal choice.

Ben / DRUMS01

Eugene Rowe

You can probably sell it for 2 bills today!

 

wow!!

You can probably sell it for 2 bills today!

Eugene Rowe

How do you feel about Wingnuts kits?Commodity or build?

 

They are really fantastic detailed kits but on the expensive side. I picked up an SE5 kit about 12 Years ago for $40 so that was a deal even back then.

How do you feel about Wingnuts kits?Commodity or build?

I seldom buy off eBay and paying retail pretty much never happens anymore. I wait for hobby shows to visit the attending vendors. If I find a (discontinued) kit that I like and feel the price is too high, I will try to negotiate a better price. If the vendor and I cannot reach an agreement then I'll pass on the purchase. I guess the only items I pay retail for these days are paint and liquid cement. My stash has maybe fifty kits that I searched long and hard for so I have pretty much anything I really want to build. So yeah, paying a premium for a vintage or discontinued kit isn't something I'd really do.

Y'all will see me wandering the vendor aisles next month at Modelpalooza.

Eventually it's either re issued or re popped by another company. 

MJY65

I get it.  Supply and demand, but it still makes me cringe a bit.  How much is crazy?

Mike

Well Mike, I think it depends on how much you really care for that kit. I've also been modeling since about 1970 and have been on eBay since 1996. There will always be another one.

Especially if one sells for crazy money; someone has an unbuilt kit in their stash and when one sells online for a huge amount, those guys will start selling their kits in hopes of getting similar amounts of money.

When I was a young lieutenant in Germany, I found an old hobby shop in downtown Mannheim that had a bunch of old, motorized Tamiya kits. They were relatively cheap since they were old stock. Germany also has a requirement to omit certain WW2 German markings like "SS" and the particular symbol.

I bought them anyway, built a couple and never built the rest. Quite a few years ago, I listed them on eBay and they sold for an insane amount of money. I got about $1000 for a bunch of kits I paid about 10 DM ($6ish) a piece for. I think I paid maybe $50 for the whole lot of them circa 1988 and sold them around 2012 for a grand.

Someone wanted them way more than I would have paid for them. I remember listing them at $9.99 because under $10 and your listing fee is zero. I expected to get maybe $15-20 a piece, and would have been amazed if I got $50 back for the entire lot of them. My goal was to get money to buy a better version of a modern tank kit.

So, what you might think is a crazy amount of money, someone else might think it's reasonable.

I have seen old kits for sale that I never knew existed, like a 1/12 Paxton Turbine Car and Dome-Zero, but nowadays I cannot really justify paying over the top prices.  There's a lot of new kits to distract me, so I am OK with passing over expensive collector's kits.

Regarding the RF-4C, Hasegawa put out 2 Phantom series, one with raised panel lines and another with recessed.  I do not know which series their RF-4C was based on, but it would be good to check.  Both series kits lack intake tunnels though.

You might want to consider getting a newer kit with full boogey (recessed panel lines, full intake trunk, modern level of detail) and either get a conversion set if one exists, or wait till an RF variant emerges.  Also, Hasegawa periodically re-releases their kits, so a waiting game could pay off.  I would hate to see a fellow modeler pay 10X the retail price of an old kit.  That's like being violated without the benefit of lubricant.  

Anyway, good luck with your hunt, and hope you find a better deal.

Greg

 

 

armornut

Usually it is a pulse buy that I just eat the cost to have the kit. Subsequently buyers remorse sets in and kit langusishes on the shelf.

 

 

That is a disturbing trend that I have seen in myself, and is getting worse.

I can't say I've experience buyers remorse yet, but am beginning to question the sanity of it all. (and yes, I know, the word 'sanity' doesn't belong in this conversation at all)

 

 

I second all this. I find that by the time I get to building the model, my interests change and it sits. I have 30+ year old kits I will probably never build. My interests have changed  so much that I question why I purchased it in the first place!

But to the OPs point. Myself, I would not spend a couple hundred and especially if there are other flavors of it out there for much cheaper. I might consider buying something for that amount if it's the only option available, and only if I plan to build it for my next project. 

But hey- I you want it bad... go for it! Life is too short.

armornut

Usually it is a pulse buy that I just eat the cost to have the kit. Subsequently buyers remorse sets in and kit langusishes on the shelf.

That is a disturbing trend that I have seen in myself, and is getting worse.

I can't say I've experience buyers remorse yet, but am beginning to question the sanity of it all. (and yes, I know, the word 'sanity' doesn't belong in this conversation at all)

   Premium price is always a struggle for me. I will see a kit that I would like but the price scares me so I wait. Usually  it is a pulse buy that I just eat the cost to have the kit. Subsequently buyers remorse sets in and kit langusishes on the shelf.

I've been going through my second childhood at 51 years old. I've been buying the kits I remember building when I first started around 12 year old for anywhere from $3-$5 back then. I keep looking for the best deals on older out of production kits and just can't bring myself to pay more than $50-$75 for one(most times wayyy less) but I seem to have that 1 kit that started my fascination with models that always manages to slip through my hands due to prices going from $50ish starting all the way up to $125-$150 at the end of auctions. My safe space in buying old kits would be somewhere in the $40-$60 range. If it's something I just REALLY have to have I may go a bit higher but if not I'll always just keep searching.

wpwar11

For something that is discontinued that I really want and I know it's engineered well I guess my comfort threshold is about $300.

That seems to be the case for this kit.  From what I've read, Hasegawa had the F-4 kits pretty well dialed in.  Probably due to the fact that the Japanese Air Force also flew them, so I'm guessing the kit is pretty popular there at home.  

It's a value question isn't it?  If I KNOW it's an excellent kit like a 1/32 Tamiya Corsair, Spit, or Mustang I'll gladly pay more to acquire it.  I recently completed one of those Tamiya kits and it was well worth the $200 I paid for it.  It also gave me 10 months of a great modeling experience so value to me was certainly there.  
For something that is discontinued that I really want and I know it's engineered well I guess my comfort threshold is about $300.

Really depends on how much you want the kit,in which case you will make an exception and pay more than you normally would .