You know, I’m really pretty tired of people complaining about model (and supplies) prices. It’s a HOBBY, not a necessity. Hobbies are the universe’s way of telling you that you have too much money. If modeling is too costly and you want to express yourself artistically, learn to paint or draw.
Price is relevant. You may bemoan a $60 kit but when I was a kid, an AMT annual 3 in 1 car kit cost about $2.00. Monogram’s 1/48 kits were a couple bucks as well. That was two hours at minimum wage back then. Revell started about 50 cents for box scale kits and you could get a 1/32 scale Aurora car with figures for 39 cents. A coffee cost a dime and a quarter could get you a loaf of bread, a pound of hamburger, a pack of cigarettes, admission to a double feature with cartoons or a gallon of gas. In cycling, you can easily get a built up bike for $15,000 or build one starting with a $5,000 frame, $2,000 wheels, $300 each for handle bars, seat and pedals, and a $1500 grupo. Shoes could set you back $500 and a jersey $300. My most recent tires were almost $60 on a half price sale.
Now, do I think Tamiya is justified in repackaging kits from 35 year old molds with no corrections to even the most egregious errors, i.e., their hideous gerry cans? Hades, no.
Our plastics are made from petrochemicals…OIL, black gold, Texas tea, (sorry, I had a flashback there!). That price is controlled to a great degree by speculators jacking the price of crude before it is even pumped.