WARNING ! WARNING ! MODEL BUILDERS

Forgot to mention that probably nobody here yells more about the price of kits these days than me... Yet I see threads all the time about the lemming-like rush to go get the latest version of the 175.00 B/P-901 Belchfire with the PE fret and recessed panel line... (yeah, singular)

Folks will rationalize and justify it with all the "Look what a round of golf costs" rationale, but I ain't a golfer, unless you count "mini" and "PS2"...

I see no fewer than three "different" M1 105mm howitzers on the market, yet the only real difference between them and old Italeri/Testor's kit is about 30 bucks...  And that STOOF revoewed in this issue of FSM for 89.95... No cockpit detail at all, yet the reviewer gave it a "recommendedi (albeit for "intermediate" modelers...)... 

Ya can't have it all... Super-details cost money or time.. I got LOTS of time...

We, as a group, can slam the door on high kit-prices pretty simply...  But that's another rant, and another thread...

But sign me up for that, "Grumpy (and cheap) Old Man" clique...

 Earned that one...  

Frankly, If Hobby Lobby got rid of all their kits tomorrow I wouldn't hardly notice... I'd miss the 40% coupon on a 40.00 kit, but there's always Ebay... 'Course, I got a tenant that uses his employee discount for me now too.. That's another 15% off those kits..

But I'd wager that I spend far more money in there on diorama materials than kits... I mean, you can get paints, brushes, thinners, glues, more paints, frames, celluclay, styrofoam, dollhouse wallpaper, tallus, balsa, basswood, brass, aluminum, piano wire, vegitation and foliage, super-fine mesh, wood craft sticks, modeling clay, Sculpy clay, resin and casting materials, "water", and the list goes on further from thee, and 40% coupon works on ALL that stuff...

the doog

I think the high price of models is like a monster eating its own children. You'd think that the manufacturers would get the message already that a lot of people aren't buying "new" prices, and would bring the damned prices down already.

There's be more models being sold and it would help a lot of businesses that traffic in models.

Its kind of funny. Back when I got into modeling, about 2001, I was ordering them from a hobby shop. Tamiya was top of the line. Dragon was pretty much on a par, or so I was told, with Italeri. I paid $42 for a Tiger, $40 for a Wespe, a Hanomag for $17 and $22 for a Stug IV. So, I kinda figured I was getting ripped off so I went out and bought my first PC, which cost $1700, hands off.

I took a break shortly after I got into weathering in late winter/early spring 2004 and just started again last month. Some of the changes are hard to believe. Dragon went from being a pain in the ass to being the cat's meow. Shanghai Dragon is MIA. Alan, RPM, etc, etc are gone and everything is premade and marketed to modelers. To me that says its either at a peak or its still growing. I don't notice on a lot of things that the price has gone up so much but on some companies, Dragon Smart Kits, maybe Academy and I think Trumpeter, I think Geez Louis! WTH? But then there's kits like Tamiya's Marder III M that you never saw below $40 that you find cheaper, and then there are kits like the Sd Kfz 7/2 that used to go for $20 that are listed on Ebay for up to $80. And still nobody has released a good Admiral Hipper in 1/400 scale. I passed on one for $50 once in order to bid on a pair of WWI SMS Emden and SMS Dresden for $50 apiece.

So back to your point, even back in '02 you knew that if Hobby Lobby ran a sale and you missed out, they'd be listed on Ebay for an under new price a year or so later. Hell, we're stupid. There are lots and lots and lots of kits out there to keep us busy until the price comes down.

I think the high price of models is like a monster eating its own children. You'd think that the manufacturers would get the message already that a lot of people aren't buying "new" prices, and would bring the damned prices down already.

There's be more models being sold and it would help a lot of businesses that traffic in models.

Their main problem is/was that whoever they had ordering new kits simply played it stupid and kept re-ordering what they sold last week.

Here in Baton Rouge, for a while the owner of our LHS also worked at the Hobby Lobby which was literally across the street from his store, and he was influential in having them get a greater variety of better priced kits, especially from Hobby Craft.

After he left, for the most part, their buyer simply copied the last order, obviously taking no interest in trends, new releases, etc.

As we know, all they would have to do is stick to the lesser priced new releases, such as those from Lindberg, and they could expect a reasonable business.

I mean how many modelers get excited about an odd-ball Porsche Tiger?

Tom T

Personally, I don't go to HL to buy models.  I simply can't afford their prices.  They have the exact same kits month after month that collect dust on their shelves.  Even when they do mark them down they don't seem to move. 

I live in south Fort Worth and have other options, like HobbyTown in Arlington (20 minutes away).  I'm also a HUGE fan of eBay.  I would, of course, love to support an LHS; but haven't found any around my area.

I checked at the nearest Hobby Lobby a couple weeks ago and was kind of surprised they had only a few WWII models and only one of those was german armor. I think we all know how it goes at the HL: people wait until the 50% off sales then go raid the model shelves and list them on Ebay for full list price plus shipping. That's how it was back in '01 and looking at Ebay recently hasn't done much to change my opinion.

Don't get me wrong. I waited for those sales too but I only bought one of each. As a matter of fact I still have a Dragon Sd. Kfz. 250/1 le spw alte, a Pro Modeler Focke-wulf Moskito and a Revell HE 111 that came from the HL in 2002. My point is this: You had to be quick or the career Ebay sellers would snatch them ALL up before anyone else made it to the store........ those of us with jobs and all that stuff.