In your opinion, are the more expensive kits like Tamiya and others “worth it”? My entire life I have always bought and built Revell/Monogram/ERTL, etc Kits, as they were available, and cheap. I have only built one Tamiya kit thus far, a M8-“greyhound” armored car in 1/35, and it was a gift. I have a 1:48 Mosquito fighter/bomber waiting to get built. So I cannot say I can safely :“judge” the Tamiya or other “higher priced” kits. RIght now I am building a 1:48 B-29 (Revell/monogram), a 1:32 Huey (revell) and a 1:35 Panzer IV (revell, ala 1970 on the bottom of hull) I guess I usually buy them now as I can buy 2-3 kits for the price of 1 “higher priced” kit. I dont have any experience with other kits lik Dragon, Bronco, AFV club, etc. I have always bought at my LHS. I AM noticing that the “flash” is terrible on these kits, epecially the Huey, Panzer. Being older now with a family, and having less modeling time, I think maybe it is worth the money for the more “expensive” kits (Say $65 and up) just to not have to deal with all the flash and sanding!! But maybe dealing with that stuff (to a point) made me a better modeler? I like to build 1:48 aircraft, and 1:35 armor, and 1:24 cars/trucks.
SO, with that said, are the “more expensive” Non-revell/monigram Kits “worth it” to you? I know it is a very SUBJECTIVE question, (define “worth it”, define “expensive”?!) but I am serious. I hope to find a kick-butt kit when I get into the Tamiya Mosquito, with little to no flash! lol
It depends very much on the subject and kit, but I can think of a couple of examples of new kits of subjects covered by older manufacturers, new kits that I don’t really care to buy because the original kits are good enough. Those are Trumpeter’s C-47, and Great Wall’s P-61 and TBD. I have no interest at all in buying the Trumpeter kit, when I have 2 of the old Monogram kit in my stash. I could see buying the P-61 and TBD, if I find them on the second-hand market for a fraction of their retail price. But I’m happy with Monogram’s kits in those cases, too.
On the other hand, for ships, I don’t mind paying ~$30 retail or so for Trumpeter 1/700 kits, because they are generally pretty good, out of the box, and I find them better than old kits of the same subjects
I agree with Baron when he says that it depends on the subject. I personally would spend more $$ on a Hasegawa Superhornet vs the Revell Superhornet simply because the Hasegawa has a bit more detail, the shape is a bit more accurate, but most importantly the control surfaces can be positioned. You have to cut them out on the Revell kit. That alone is worth extra money to me.
One of the things that make this a difficult question to answer is the recent leap in manufacturing technology that Revell, Airfix and others are going to that makes the molding quality super high in their new kits. The detail molded into the new kits used to require resin parts, but now is found in die cast styrene.
This of course only applies to their new kits, but changes the game as far as comparing the big guys vs the smaller kit manufacturers.
One other warning that results is that these companies are making their parts finer, and hence sometimes fragile, though better looking than before. This means that the mfg’s recommendation of skill level required must be considered more carefully. Newer kits embodying this technology and rated as requiring the higher skill level are not for the ham-handed,
Age is a big factor, and whether that impacts price (usually) is a variable. I recently built the Monogram M48 A2, cost me $ 18.00. But it’s so basic and lacking in detail that it cannot ever be top shelf, next to a $ 40.00 Tamiya kit.
Not all the time,but like anything you usually get what you pay for.Price is not always the end all,you could also pay good money for junk.But I don’t mind paying good money for a Dragon kit with extras included,or a good fitting a Tamiya kit.
Like all the other folks here, yes, and no. A new tooled expensive kit that has been already kitted by Monogram for a fraction of the cost is not worth it to me. Especially if the new expensive kit has flaws, as the usually do, which the old Monogram kit does not have. On the other hand, if the original kit is past a certain age, or very lacking in detail, yes the new kit may be worth the much higher price to me, depending upon the subject. There are some new F2H banshee kits due out soon in 1/48. No doubt in my mind that they will not be affordably priced for me. But the only other game in town is the ancient Hawk kit reboxed by Testors some 30+ years ago. Yeah I want one of the new kits. But I will have to find it at a serious bargain price most likely. And as I have mentioned numerous times on other threads, there is nothing like a nice 80’s onward Tamiya kit, built straight OOB, for recharging your model building batteries after a particularly involved or difficult project. Just add paint and glue and boom, your done with minimal fuss and have a good looking model.
A “highly charged” question. [H] It’s been brought up here before with rather highly charged opinions, so let’s just say that it is relative to the modeler. I don’t mind building cheap kits. I find it nostalgic to build something I did when I was a kid, and see what I can do with it now. On the other hand, I look at an expensive kit and think “I better not screw this up!” So, maybe, perhaps, the less expensive kits come with less pressure.
True, they sometimes may be a pain to work on, but at least you can throw them in the parts box with little regret! [:)] I always figure that no matter the expense of the kit, in the end, they’ll probably wind up being thrown out in the trash or given to some of my relative’s kids to destroy who haven’t a clue what they represent.
1 do or will you buy a more exp kit if the kit’s subject really interests you
2 do you use or buy aftermarket parts (decal, photo-etch,or resin) to add to the elcheapo revell-o-gram models? and IF you do those can bring the costs up to the trump. dragon levels ,and those kits many times come with alot of those type of extras which would/does warrant the additional cost
I will agree that as a general rule, yes, they are worth it. However, I only very occasionally build a higher quality/brand/price kit, as a nice break from the usual more inexpensive but challenging kits I build. To me it goes in the same category as our once-a-month- family restaurant night out.
It really depends from subject to subject. And just HOW much more expensive a kit is.
Would I pay $80 for a Great Wall P-61 when I can get a Monogram P-61 for $15? Not on your life. Heck, I wouldn’t even pay half that.
On the other hand, would spend $10 more to get a 1/48 Tamiya Corsair over a Revell F4U? Every. Single. Time.
Another thing to consider is how far you want to take a kit. A good example would be if you wanted to make a really nice 1/48 Bf 110D. You could spend $15 on the Fujimi kit. Then $10 for a TD resin cockpit. And $5 for a vacform canopy. And $10 for Eduard PE for the wheel bays, cause they are pretty much naked out of the box. And another $5 on AM decals.
OR, you could just fork out $40 for the Cyber Hobby kit, save $5, and have a far superior kit.
I can go either way, I don’t mind building older kits cause I don’t worry if the angles are correct on a turret or hull, but I do like the newer kits cause I still dry brush my models ( I think that a dirty word these days, Lol) and l like the way it brings out all the detail. I tend to lean towards Dragons kits cause I think u get more in the kit but I still have to watch what I spend cause I’m on a buget
And occasionally, the R/M kit is superior all the way around. The R/M 1/48 F-15E Strike Eagle costs a fraction of the Hasgawa offering, builds and is detailed to the same level, and has some ordnance to hang under the wings. Comparing the R/M F-84E/G to the Tamiya F-84G kit gives a more even match up with the prices being oh so close and each having its’ pros and cons compared to the other…
Thank you everyone for your replies and input~ I hold no animosity towards any of the higher-priced kits; in fact, I look forawrd to buying many of the brands featured in FSM magazine at some point- I think I will ask the family for some for xmas. I guess I have mostly bought the Revell/monogram over the years becuase of availability. I could always find an excuse to buy one at Meijer or Wal Mart, or wherever I was grocery shopping, when these stores still carried models. I still have about 74783939349 bottles of gloss and flat black little square testors bottles of paint from a closeout at Meijer.
I see some of the kits featured in the magazine that have “aftermarket” or extra items like photo-etched metal and the like, as of now I have zero experience with PE, I look forward to trying some in the future. Those kits seem like a bargain even at the “higher” price, when all of the ordering and shipping and foot work is considered.
To answer Durr’s questions:
1 do or will you buy a more exp kit if the kit’s subject really interests you?
Yes, I will pay more for a kit if the subject interests me. I am a sucker for COOL box art!
2 do you use or buy aftermarket parts (decal, photo-etch,or resin) to add to the elcheapo revell-o-gram models? and IF you do those can bring the costs up to the trump. dragon levels ,and those kits many times come with alot of those type of extras which would/does warrant the additional cost
Up to this point, No. But more for A. not knowing where to get aftermarket items or not needing them on the particular subject, B. Lack of availability of said items for R/M subject. I may look for some for my 1:35 Panzer IV (circa 1970, says the bottom of the hull) I am working on, and the rockets and Guns on the 1:32 Revell UH-1 Huey are terible. They look worse than G-Joe stuff…
I am also finishing up Reading the FSM/Chris Mrosko “building Dioramas” book and am looking forward to adding items to some kits, and trying my hand at a diorama soon. I am off to go find some old Shep paine books about the subject as we speak…
I’d like to add to my previous comment, that I’ve built Eduard kits, and they remind me as a contemporary equivalent to Monogram in her pre-merger days. That is, for a reasonable price, you can have a kit that builds up into a nice representation of the subject, with moderate skills. The P-39 kit is a good example.
I also have Accurate Miniatures and Classic Airframes kits, particularly for subjects no one else has kitted in my favorite scale, 1/48 (like CA’s P-43), or which were kitted, back in the day, but the kits really are too basic and need a lot of work to look accurate. For example, I have CA’s F-11C, F4B-4 and SBC, which were kitted by Lindberg and Aurora. I’ve got the old kits, too, but they really need work, if you want to show cockpit details, for example.