Even in the 1980s when Tamiya started putting out new tooled modern armor kits like the M1, M2/3, M151A2, LVTP7, Merkava, they were much more expensive than the average armor kit of the day.
Some of that high Tamiya pricing was the utter gouging taking place by MRC, who was their importer then, though. They nearly drove Tamiya out of business here with their insane pricing, and were part of the reason TamiyaUSA came into being - they started being their own importer after dumping MRC. Meanwhile, somehow MRC has survived, despite destroying Fujimi in the US with their ridiculous pricing, too. I well recall the 1/48 Bf-109 series having MSRPs of $40-$50 - and this was in the 1990s! That’s still a lot for a single engine WWII fighter now, let alone over 25 years ago…
Yes, I spent 1987 through 1990 in Germany; Tamiya kits were more expensive than Italeri, Esci or Revell of Germany for obvious reasons, but not as expensive as they were in the States.
The downside to buying a Tamiya German armor or aircraft kit in Germany was the box had been opened to either cut out or black out the offensive and illegal WW2 German markings like the swastika or death’s head insignia.
Glad I came back. It’s heads and tails above what it used to be with anything you want, need, or need to know, just a click away.
I remember them chopping away at the license plate decals for things like Kubelwagens and staff cars, too, because SS license plates had the numbers preceded by the sieg runes…