How much is too much?

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CK
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Re: How much is too much?

Post by CK »

How much you want to pay for a kit is very much a personal choice.

I never pay anything higher than market price for any of my kits. I still end up with more than 300 kits sitting in my basement.

I check the inflation rate for last 30 years. A dollar in the 70's is equivalent to 7 dollars now. $1 in the 80's is about $3.25 now. 1$ in 2000 is about $1.56 now. so, the price of most kits track with the inflation rate.

The fits and molding of most new kits are better these days as plastic molding technology has improve a lot. However, I find a lot of new kits are more simplified than the old one. The enthusiastic series of cars from Fujimi in the 80's have more than 300 parts. The fit is not as good as new Tamiya kits today. However, I have not seen any new kit from any plastic model companies making similar detailed kits anymore.
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SBEST
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Re: How much is too much?

Post by SBEST »

For me. When I am collecting instead of building.


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JamesB
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Re: How much is too much?

Post by JamesB »

It depends... I mostly go for the market price or less, can't resist the "very cheap kit", and that easy trigger that sometimes buys overpriced stuff matches testosterone attacks (That "Hold my beer" moment) and enough money on the Paypal account.
Unfortunately, since I have a really great stash, the "I need this one" cases are getting rare, what makes me think I'll be tempted to pay too much for them.
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dgwoodward2
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Re: How much is too much?

Post by dgwoodward2 »

First, I am typically a 1/43 guy. When I was single, and 1/43 was more of a mainstream kit that had availability (let's face it, years ago, between Meri and Tameo, they would do the entire F1 field), I would purchase more than I "needed", but more of ones I "wanted". Now with two kids in college, I am much more selective of what I will buy. That being said, if it is a topic I have a strong interest in, like the Takuma Sato 2020 Indy 500 winner, I was not so concerned of the price as much as I was the availability. As a result, I found a way to get 5 of the 1/43 and 2 of the 1/20 with plans to do other team's liveries. So several have mentioned, it is all relative to interest and desire. For the right subject, and the right configuration (scale, manufacturer, availability), I have been able to justify spending more than I normally would. All that being said, in my mind I sort of draw the line at $300 for one piece that would need to be of a larger scale to make sense for me. I have yet to pull the trigger on a 1/12 MFH, but do have the Tamiya McLaren MP4-6. If someone did a 1/12 modern Indy car I would need to pull the trigger as it is subject matter that has a bigger meaning to me. Just my 2 bits.
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Re: How much is too much?

Post by Daliracing »

for me personal i try to keep it down ( having a number in mind when going after a kit) for a rare kit tho i'm willing to pay alot ( minardi m189 from amc ). i've bought alot of kits some years ago at great prices 15 euro for a tamiya 1/20 kit in 2019 wasn't bad at all and i enjoy finding those 'deals'

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Re: How much is too much?

Post by Badi »

There were times in Brazil that exchange rate was reasonable, about 2 or 3 times more and at this point, it was expensive but ok you could afford to buy a kit, nowadays it is about 5.50 times more + every kit you want to buy you easily add 15usd freight or more.

If you are lucky, that is it. If not, and if you have caught by import duties they charge 60% of total (kit + shipping). This is cruel.

So lets say you spent 35usd on a model + freight 15usd = USD 50 x 5.50 = R$ 275,00
or (35+15) x 1,60 = USD 80 x 5,50 = R$ 440,00.

So, unforntunately, it is quite impossible in a reasonable way to buy a model nowadays, however as some people mentioned, when it is about your passion, everything is possible.

I have about 100 models to be build and I avoid to go up this number and since I have some good inventory I dont need to buy anything, but it doesnt mean that I dont want to. :mrgreen:

I just have a list of some kits that I want and keep it. If a good bargain apears, so I can decide. Also we have some local bargains groups in facebook and WhatsUp application on mobile, so time to time, we see good offers locally.

Until the exchange rate comes back to a reasonable level and it may takes time, that will be the guidance. For those Brazilians who want to make some money selling kits, this is a perfect time to export...but who wants to give up about your models? Not me...

oh, yeah, I almost forgot to mention about resin kits or multimedia kits. Only dreaming or going nuts!
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Re: How much is too much?

Post by Joaquin »

My criteria of "How much" is to pay not more that the medium price of ebay sold price. Just in case if I need to sell in future, something that happens from time to time because my collecting criteria have changed several times.

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Re: How much is too much?

Post by 43rdMichael »

Never too much for a great kit of a subject you love.
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Re: How much is too much?

Post by dgwoodward2 »

43rdMichael wrote: Wed Apr 07, 2021 5:30 pm Never too much for a great kit of a subject you love.
Concise and accurate. Well put 43rdMichael.

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Re: How much is too much?

Post by keithwwalker »

Not so much a question of cost, but a qualitative one as well.
For example, say someone came out with a bang-on highly detailed kit of your favorite F1 model in 1/8 scale - not a low detail DeAgostini kit but something that even beats the die cast market.
Nowadays, I think future F1 injection molded releases will be limited. Resin, who knows. 3d prints are just taking off, but seem to be limited to 1/43 - 1/20 is a stretch.
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