Hi All, is it just me or has anyone else noticed how many (mainley 1/48 props) have been on back order for along time. Some specific lines are just impossible to get through on line ( my atomic, sprue brothers, etc.) companies. Japanese WW2 planes seem to be on back order all the time. I’ve heard rumors from Hasegawa in financial difficulties to problems with the new distributor in the U.S. If you have any to share about Hasegawa it would be greatly appreciated !. thanks all, doc bailey
I wouldn’t be surprised. I’ve noticed that in 1/72 there have been very few new mold releases in the last year or so.
That would explain why they are reissuing old kits, combining them with new decals or a piece of resin and selling them at very high prices. The Mirage F.1 combo has a MSRP of $60 [:@] raised panel lineas and all.
I hope they find a solution.
Sorry I don’t know any specifics, but I have also noticed they have old, old kits out at complete bulls@#% prices, nothing new about them except decals. At least when Revell does this it’s the old Monogram kits that were good for the time and the price is very reasonable. I wouldn’t be surprised if they went down, personally, I always thought that their prices were in general higher than Tamiya, which, to me, makes superior models in most respects. Tamiya has their older kits, only 10 or 15 years old, out for Revell/Monogram prices, and Hasegawa won’t survive if they don’t do the same. I’m not a genius when it comes to finances, but it seems like they would be better off selling kits at much lower prices and selling a hell of a lot more of them, which would keep up their pretty good name, but maybe they already are planning to drop off, they just need to get rid of their inventory. If that happened, their kits would be like Classic Airframes: extremely rare and even more expensive! Well, I didn’t answer your question [00ps] but I had my say, so there!
No answers from me, just more editorial…
I was just having this conversation at the LHS the other day. The shop owner thinks Hasegawa’s business model is messed up. Add a torpedo to a Fw-190 and charge $80??? I was interested in a new release of theirs, a Ju-88G6 nightfighter in 1/72. And for the half the price I can get a Dragon in 1/48! Glad I didn’t buy it. Tamiya isn’t too far behind, but Tamiya’s kits are much nicer. I hope they wise up or if it is the wholesaler/importer they wise up before they drive it out of business. HLJ has high prices for the Hase kits, and they are in Japan, so it makes me think it is Hase. Just speculation… I hope they aren’t in trouble and get in step with the hobby. My two cents.
Cheers,
Greg
I dont know about Hasegawa, but I was kinda wondering the same thing, after reading the review sections in FSM…I can understand charging a large amount of money for a “high-tech” or “big scale” model, but, especially in today’s economical climate’ how do they expect to actually SELL some ofthese kits that they are charging 90 dollars and up for? I know that I will never be ableto own any of these kits, as family and mortgage and car payments and all the other bills comefirst. I have a hard time justifying a35 dollar kit.
I just dont know…
Justin
On a related matter:
A number of kit manufacturers have absolutely lost touch with reality regarding their pricing, even in this era of inflation and oil prices etc. Hasegawa and Italeri are two prime examples. Trumpeter isn’t too far behind them.
Tamiya, and Academy are smaller companies, compared to Hasegawa at least, and have struggled to keep their prices firmly planted on terra firma much to their credit. So has Revell Germany. They get my business and respect.
As mentioned in a post above, many of the overpriced kits are older, less than state of the art models that do not in any way warrant such highway robbery.
As always, I vote with my feet and purchasing dollar, and the offending companies get far less business from me than in times past.