[dto:] I’ve only paid full price for some of my models. And all of the rest either on sale or through evil bay. And have been able to build up a sizable stash so far.
Wish I could do that for food; Kraft Foods replaced their Bakers Chocolate 8 oz package with a 4 oz package…for the same price. [8o|]
As for kits…I have been buying quite a few lately at local swap meets at a big savings.
Not the latest kits, but the purchases sure fleshed out the stash.
Hobby Lobby 40 pct off coupons still help out on occasion.
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That pretty much sums up my 20’s.
To set up any manufacturing base is expensive ( machinery,staff, electricity, raw materials, shipping, packing, printing). More kids are buying computer/mobile phone games than ever and they are not buying model kits. So the market is very uncertain, if the manufacturers could sell millions of kits the prices would reflect that and be more affordable but that is not the case. I see model kits in the UK for most of the Japanese makes with £30 - £40 and above being the norm with thousands being imported.
If I want to buy Revell/Amt/Monogram I’ll be paying £25 and upwards due to the high import costs from the USA as only hundreds are being imported. I used to buy from both LHS and Mainstream model retailers, one of which has just announced its demise and all 20+ stores are closing due to high prices of kits and few customers.
I saw a 1/12 scale bike kit reduced to £32 in the closing down sale. I went onto ebay and bought the same kit for £16 including postage! The kit was just under £10. We have no LHS now so the only place to buy will be internet stores(same pricing as chain stores) or ebay.