model price limits

When it comes to limited run kits, buy them when they're on the shelf otherwise you can end up paying 2 to 3 times more for the kit on e-bay. 

Case in point:  I wish I had picked up Classic Airframes 1/48 Bf109A for around $35 at my LHS (High Sierra Models) last year.  I hesitated, only to go back the next day to buy the kit... it was gone!  So, 6 months later and $83.35 poorer, here I sit with my prize.....

alumni72 wrote:

I've gotten maybe a half-dozen kits (ok, maybe closer to a dozen) since December, when I decided I wanted to build models again.  I got them all off of eBay - I found out where my closest LHSs are, and I have been stocking up on supplies - but I haven't bought any kits from them, and I don't plan on doing so for the foreseeable future (only part of the decision is based on the not-so-good selection at either one).  I'm trying to be bargain-conscious, but I wonder where you guys find all these sales where you can get a 1/350 Essex for half price, for example.  Hobby Lobby doesn't have any locations anywhere close to New Jersey (the closest is 3 states away), so my only hope is the infrequent shows (the only one I know of is coming up in April).  Hopefully I'll have some jake by then.  But I'm finding that eBay isn't prone to giving you the bargains it once did - they're still out there, but are increasingly harder to find, and even tougher to nail.  I have plenty of kits in my stash, but I don't think I have to tell anyone that a kit in the stash is nowhere near as appealing as a kit on the shelf.

Yah, no Hobby Lobby's out here either, so most of my stash is ebay. Can't beat the quantity and selection. Just don't buy the kit-du-joir and you will save a fortune.

Model kits are not the only expesive items in the hobby, paints are up there too at $2.99 for the MM line. You walk in and buy three bottles of paint and you just added $10 or more to your hobby bill after taxes. Yesterday I bought a mixture of MM, Tamiya and Humbrol paints to replace what I left behind in Riyadh last August and the tab was $77. Of course I could have bought them a couple at a time to spread out the cost but for the projects I have lined up i.e. a VIIC, P-51D, EF-2000 and some figures, I really needed the colors now to have at the ready.

Scott

I've gotten maybe a half-dozen kits (ok, maybe closer to a dozen) since December, when I decided I wanted to build models again.  I got them all off of eBay - I found out where my closest LHSs are, and I have been stocking up on supplies - but I haven't bought any kits from them, and I don't plan on doing so for the foreseeable future (only part of the decision is based on the not-so-good selection at either one).  I'm trying to be bargain-conscious, but I wonder where you guys find all these sales where you can get a 1/350 Essex for half price, for example.  Hobby Lobby doesn't have any locations anywhere close to New Jersey (the closest is 3 states away), so my only hope is the infrequent shows (the only one I know of is coming up in April).  Hopefully I'll have some jake by then.  But I'm finding that eBay isn't prone to giving you the bargains it once did - they're still out there, but are increasingly harder to find, and even tougher to nail.  I have plenty of kits in my stash, but I don't think I have to tell anyone that a kit in the stash is nowhere near as appealing as a kit on the shelf. 

Thanks to buying Tamiya's 1/350th Enterprise at full price about 11 years ago, starting it, losing interest in it when it was about 40% complete & putting it in the loft where it has spent the last 8 years waiting for the enthusiasm to return, I now have a price limit for a single kit.

Other than breaking it once for Trumpeter's Hood, I have limited myself to spending no more than a third of the Enterprise price on a single kit. As somebody said, there are always special cases.

Accessories can be painful with ship kits. PE can sometimes cost as much again as the kit itself. Also, although I managed to pick up Trumpeter's 1/350th USS Essex for half its usual price, I might end up spending as much again increasing the size of its Airwing. Buying another plane set every few months limits the pain a bit. Still, my choice to like ships, so no complaints

Good thing that I like aircraft kits too, which are a lot easier to find on discount. 

Here's a question for those that don't build strictly OOB.  Do you consider the prices of upgrades and maybe specialty paints whn you consider a new kit? 

For instance, you buy a $20 kit and then maybe a $20 resin cockpit and a $20 PE set and then you realize you're going to need a half dozen more colors that you don't already have.  All of a sudden the $30 has ended up costing you $80.  Or do justify each of those purchases seperately?

I ask because this just happened to me; a $35 kit, plus upgrades (Verlinden resin cockpit, eduard PE set and misc. parts - $55), plus reference material (books - $20) and paints ($25) is running me over $130.  Granted, I certainly won't be going all out on all my models, but I was just wondering how, or, if you guys deal with that.

-Fred

bilbirk wrote:

To me it depends on the kit. I'll spend on the average around $40 for a kit but I'll make exceptions(Leopold, Morser Karl and BR52). The wife was not happy when I bought those!

ooooooo....I have those three as well. Luckily, I have no wife to answer to anymore.

if i want it, i'll try to find the best deal. So far I've found $650 for the 1/35 Dora. Its sooooo tempting.

Help! I've just discovered ebay!

The last two weeks I have been surfing for deals and spending like hotcakes!
Good news is that I've gotten some much-wanted kits at sometimes half of what they are in the LHS. Bad news is I'm running out of space for the 'stash.'

It seems like gas prices, model kit prices are getting out of hand. New releases are on average way over $25. Look at the upcoming Hasegawa 1/32 P-47D....MFG list price is $64. How many kids can afford a model like that let alone adults? I try to wait for a kit I want to go on sale, such as when I got the 1/32 F-18D from E-hobbyland last summer when they had them on sale for around $69, yes that's steep but I still save a bundle.

Scott

Note to Wayne....When were you with VMGR 252? I was with them from 79' to 82'

jeff wrote:

If its a subject I really want in my favorite scale (1/48), though, I'll throw the limit out the window.  I did pay $28 plus shipping for an S-model vacform Vultee P-66 Vanguard.  Is the kit worth that, especially a vacuform?  By itself, not even close.  But I really wanted a 1/48 P-66, and in this scale, there's no other game in town.

I also like the P-66, a very intresting plane. I have the 1/48 Karo As kit (vacform with resin, white metal gear and PE) and I paid my favorite price for it ..... € 5,-! (it was on sale at my LHS) I could have had the Sword kit (for the same price) but I thought, bigger is better!

As my stash has grown larger, I've become quite a cheapskate, too, in model buying.  I almost never pay MSRP for them.  I either wait until they go on sale at one of the big internet places, my LHS, or find them on ebay.  Generally, $25 is my limit for 1/48 scale aircraft.  If its a subject I really want in my favorite scale (1/48), though, I'll throw the limit out the window.  I did pay $28 plus shipping for an S-model vacform Vultee P-66 Vanguard.  Is the kit worth that, especially a vacuform?  By itself, not even close.  But I really wanted a 1/48 P-66, and in this scale, there's no other game in town.

I unfortunately have a real mental barrier with the prices of 1/72nd scale aircraft these days.  I guess because I built so many of them as a kid, buying them for a dollar or two. I just can't get over the $10 barrier for a single engine 1/72nd scale aircraft, and I don't care how much resin/PE is thrown in.  Guess this is why I could never settle for Sword's 1/72nd P-66, even though the P-66 was at the top of my want list, but would have paid even more than I did for the 1/48. 

I feel like this is a confessional!  LOL!  Forgive me for I have sinned.  About a year ago I went to two LHSs and spent a grant total of around $60.  At the time, that was the most I had "splurged".  With that money I purchased two kits, one of which was a $35 Phantom kit from Hasegawa.  I think I have been spoiled on the good old Monogram kits where you could pick up a 1/48 kit for $12.  So for me to have spent $35 on that one Hasegawa kit, even that made me feel a bit uneasy at the time.

Last year I spent $50 (that included S&H) for an Anigrand kit.  That was the most I have ever spent on one kit.  My "norm" is around $25 but even then it had better be something special.

Eric

Rob Gronovius wrote:

Hey Brian, I scored another Aurora MBT70 at my LHS. Ran me around $30-35.

 Sweet! Great price, too. I still haven't started on that second one I got from you, to finish off my MBT70 trilogy!

Which release is it?

Model Grandpa wrote:

I out cheap you all.  Two of my current builds I'm into a grand total of $1.00. I purchased one from an estate sale for .25 and the other from a thrift store for .75 cents.  I will pay more for a kit but rarely over $20.

Me too, I almost exlusively buy at sales and shows. Most of my models are in the € 5 (yes, five) price range. My most expensive kit is the Azur 1/32 I-16 which i bought for a little under € 30,- (on holliday in Czech, kit's are very cheap there!

J-Hulk wrote:

DURR wrote: do anyone of you have a price limit on what you spend on a single model Nope, no limits. If I want it, I buy it. That's why I have a job; so I can buy things and enjoy life (not that "buying things" is in any way a prerequisite for enjoying life, of course! But you know what I mean.). I always look for the best deals, though...no sense in spending too much if you don't have to!

DURR wrote:

do anyone of you have a price limit on what you spend on a single model

Nope, no limits. If I want it, I buy it. That's why I have a job; so I can buy things and enjoy life (not that "buying things" is in any way a prerequisite for enjoying life, of course! But you know what I mean.).

I always look for the best deals, though...no sense in spending too much if you don't have to!

I generally try to stay around $30, but I've picked up several DML releases recently for about $35, including shipping.  The most I've personally dropped on a kit was AFV Club's 3-in-1 German half track kit for about $65.  Of course that was 3 kits in one box.  I get all of them on Ebay or I keep a very close eye on the email announced sales at a couple websites.

 I did have the AMT Star Destroyer with fiber optic lighting bought for me back when it came out for $85 or so.  It never got done.   Same with the Revell B-29.....

MaxPower wrote:

If I want it I'm going to get it. If I have to work some OT then so be it. I can pretty well just work one Saturday and get almost any 1/32 aircraft I want. One Saturday doesn't seem like a big deal.

It certainly depends on the kit. When I was a kid, I was paying .50 to a $1.00 on the old Hawk, Aurora kits and now I average around $50 per model. So far the most I paid for one model rather two since it was really a set, was over $1,000 for the Accurate Armor 1/35th U-boat and Quay side set. Figure I will build this as a retirement project some day. Today, I would check out the Squadron and Discount web sites for specials and sometime I can get a kit for $30-$40 off MFG price. Now if I can only build them OOB, the detail sets can run into big bucks too.

Scott

I don't really have a price limit per se.  It all depends on what I want and if it's worth it to me at the time. 

All of Dragons release the past year or so give a lot of bang for the buck.  At around $40 they are a bargain when you factor in the magic tracks, turned barrels, PE etc. so I'll gladly pay the purchase price.  Most of the aircraft models I buy are in the $20 to $50 range. 

I'd be willing to donate a body part though to get my hands on a Classic Airframes 1/48 Bf109A