greymack Posted June 15, 2014 Share Posted June 15, 2014 Yesterday I was at a hobby shop and noticed prices of kits have sky rocketed why is this anyone know ? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
grayghost Posted June 15, 2014 Share Posted June 15, 2014 Could it be that the price of oil went up? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Dave Van Posted June 15, 2014 Share Posted June 15, 2014 I know better than jump in here......... Per the inflation calculator a kit today vs a kit produced in 1965 should cost $15. OK....that's still less than MSRP today. AMT could sell 700,000 1965 Mustang kits and not advertise or promote at all. Add to that Ford had payed for the 1965 Mustang molds via the promos etc. Raw materials have gone up more than the rate of inflation. Otherwise gas should be $2 a gallon....see.......???? In 1965 there were a lot more model builders......I didn't know a single kid that Didn't build..... And most of us had a hobby shop nearby. Today...... Add licensing fees paid to the manufactures in place of payments from auto manufactures. Greatly decrease the number of stores carrying your product. Greatly decrease the number of model builders. A kit sells a lot less than those 700,000 Mustangs or even 1.5 million Dukes Chargers.....Sold today??? I'll stay away from that one. See where we are going??? Do the math....it's easy to see. Want a hobby that's expensive??? Come on over to O scale 3 rail trains with me!!!! Lionel's new UP Big Boy retails $2200.00 IF you can get one. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Harry P. Posted June 15, 2014 Share Posted June 15, 2014 Yesterday I was at a hobby shop and noticed prices of kits have sky rocketed why is this anyone know ? Look around. The price of everything has skyrocketed. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
High octane Posted June 16, 2014 Share Posted June 16, 2014 Everything but my monthly check Harry. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Harry P. Posted June 16, 2014 Share Posted June 16, 2014 Everything but my monthly check Harry. You got that right. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
cobraman Posted June 16, 2014 Share Posted June 16, 2014 Everything is right ! Have you been to the grocery store ? Yikes ! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Belugawrx Posted June 16, 2014 Share Posted June 16, 2014 Supply + 100% =Demand ??? It's a Gimme Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
disabled modeler Posted June 16, 2014 Share Posted June 16, 2014 That is why I haven't gotten anything for awhile...everything is up and income levels don't change. Things here are always tight to start with like most of us here....I am having enough fun just trying to pay bills so Ill have to do without for now. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Ace-Garageguy Posted June 16, 2014 Share Posted June 16, 2014 I was in WallyWorld today (stocking up on Chinese work shoes and incense) and saw a bunch of kits for $19.95. They also sell Testors spray paint, and just like in the old days, some moron had opened a can and sprayed stuff everywhere. Things never change, really. Anyway, $19.95 for current Camaros and Mustangs and a few older kits, '55 Chebby convertible and a big Pete kit too. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Harry P. Posted June 16, 2014 Share Posted June 16, 2014 I was in WallyWorld today (stocking up on Chinese work shoes and incense)... Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
jbwelda Posted June 16, 2014 Share Posted June 16, 2014 could we have some examples of just what kits have gone up and how much? because I think some are either imagining it or overblowing it. because I haven't really noticed much myself. note the OP is from Canada. well might be so up there that the price of models has exploded. might be the postage as discussed in another thread. or a million other things I suppose but I would like to see the magnitude of what is being discussed...and don't compare it to the sixties because we all know that is long gone. jb Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
CJ1971 Posted June 16, 2014 Share Posted June 16, 2014 There's some really dumb questions getting asked lately.... Either that or there's been too many people living in their 1950's bomb shelter & have just popped out into 2014.... ? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
kitbash1 Posted June 16, 2014 Share Posted June 16, 2014 What hasn't gone up lately, rent, hydro, oil, taxes, natural gas, pump gas, taxes, postage, food, phone rates, taxes, car & home insurance. What needs to go up, my pay cheque, my wifes pay cheque. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Rob Hall Posted June 16, 2014 Share Posted June 16, 2014 There's some really dumb questions getting asked lately.... Either that or there's been too many people living in their 1950's bomb shelter & have just popped out into 2014.... It seems a lot of people in this hobby are stuck in the past, be it the 50s, 60s, or 70s.. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Belugawrx Posted June 16, 2014 Share Posted June 16, 2014 I'm in the middle of building 3 kits that didn't cost me $5.00 each Problem? Not here Cheers Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
blunc Posted June 16, 2014 Share Posted June 16, 2014 I was in Micheal's yesterday and picked up an AMT 70-1/2 Camaro for right around $10 after using a 50% off coupon, I had printed three of them but only got to use two of them due to my weekend commitments. Remember to sign up to the Hobby Lobby and Micheal's web site to get their coupons emailed to you and to your (smart)-phone. You can save a ton of money a little bit at a time. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
imarriedawitch Posted June 16, 2014 Share Posted June 16, 2014 Maybe it is a Canadian thing. At my local shop here in Ontario the Revell and Monogram kits have been steady in the $22 to $26 range but anything new from AMT (Jenkins '66 Nova) or MPC (Dodge Dart, Malco Gasser) are now pushing $35. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
martinfan5 Posted June 16, 2014 Share Posted June 16, 2014 There's some really dumb questions getting asked lately.... Either that or there's been too many people living in their 1950's bomb shelter & have just popped out into 2014.... It seems a lot of people in this hobby are stuck in the past, be it the 50s, 60s, or 70s.. The hobby of building model cars in the USA , and the people that partake in it are stuck in the 50's-70's. Or just blame the Chinese, seems like thats what everyone likes to do now a days . Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
CJ1971 Posted June 16, 2014 Share Posted June 16, 2014 Why does everyone blame the Chinese anyway? It's not their fault they offer cheap manufacturing etc... If you want to blame someone/something, then blame ALL the companies taking their business to China. They're the ones who have sold us all out. They'll continue to do it too because we continue to buy their products, whatever they are. We feed the demand... The companies supply that demand. Next time you're looking for a scapegoat, stop & think about who really is to blame... Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Bernard Kron Posted June 16, 2014 Share Posted June 16, 2014 (edited) Just for reference, the 4 bedroom, 2 bath house my parents bought in 1958 in a small suburban town outside NYC, which cost them $12,500 at the time, now has an estimated market price (per Zillow) of approx. $550,000, a 44 fold "appreciation". In 1958 the minimum wage was $1.00/hr. and the average (median) household income was $5,100.00. Today those numbers are $7.50 and approx. $51,000.00, seven and ten fold "appreciation" respectively. A Chevrolet 4-door family sedan sold for about $2,500.00 then and about $32,000.00 now, a 12.8 fold "appreciation". So it's understandable if some things which are less popular now than they were then, and thus less efficient to market and distribute, "feel" quite expensive when many of the basics like transportation and housing have increased in cost far more than household earnings. My local LHS sells new-release (including re-issues...) model kits from the US "Big Two" for between $26.00 and $30.00 these days. Edited June 16, 2014 by Bernard Kron Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
DynoMight Posted June 16, 2014 Share Posted June 16, 2014 I haven't been in modeling that long, but I remember when kits were usually around $15-20 and now they're pushing $25 at Micheal's, at least the new releases... paint used to be a buck and now it a buck and a quarter... also all the hobby shops are closing down around me, eventually I'll have no more hobby shops around me anymore, except Micheal's and Hobby Lobby (both are having price increases as well)... I don't have LHS anymore, not that I ever did, so we have to drive 30, 45 minutes just to get to a hobby store.... Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Harry P. Posted June 16, 2014 Share Posted June 16, 2014 ... paint used to be a buck and now it a buck and a quarter... And a loaf of bread used to be ten cents. Why would model cars and supplies be immune to inflation? Those prices go up just like the price of everything. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
cobraman Posted June 16, 2014 Share Posted June 16, 2014 Although I would like kits to be less expensive than they are I really think they are worth the money. On a normal build I take 2 to 3 weeks to finish a kit. I don't always add the extra after market stuff. So if you factor in some paint and glue and other supplies say what 15 bucks per kit more or less you/I have about 40 bucks in a kit give or take. Say I do 2 kits per month. That figures out to roughly 80 bucks a month again, give or take. What other hobby can you do for only that much a month ? When I go shooting I burn up more money than that in a couple of hours in ammo. Plus I can't do that in the house ! Your costs may differ. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
mikemodeler Posted June 16, 2014 Share Posted June 16, 2014 Yeah, wouldn't it be nice if kits were $10 and found at every retail store? Keep in mind that shipping kits from China to the US is costly; someone has to develop these kits and they don't work for free;operating a retail store is very expensive, which is why the internet is a cheap alternative;profits from the sales of kits is needed to offer more or new kits; As has been illustrated by others, many other items have risen in cost so it is only natural that models would follow suit. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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