Art & Inspiration Has it REALLY been that long since I bought a model car?

Well, I guess it has. Today, I was just driving around and bored. So, I wandered into "Hobby Lobby" with the full intention of buying a model kit. First off, the selection was small, like maybe 30 kits. But I found a T Bucket kit. interesting.

Now, I'm REALLY wanting to build one. Then, STICKER Shock! $30!? The Testors paint set was $30 for just the primary colors! WTF, man!

So, I passed on them. For now. Is $30 really the going rate? Damn!

 

Back in the early '70s when I was in the middle of a 1/24 - 1/25 scale building frenzy, they ranged from $1.37 at K-Mart to a high of $2.25 at Thrifty Drug.

Last time I purchased any about 15 years ago they were approaching 20 bucks each.

 

Like you I was shocked when I was thinking about buying a model car for my grandson since he just started driving and I was looking at a mustang model,at 35 bucks I decided to buy him a starter set of Craftsman tools.

I spent more than 35 bucks but the tools will last a lifetime
I remember the amt 3 in one models,cheapest I remember were about $1.19 HRP

 

What a coincidence TFF. I was in Hobby Lobby yesterday just wondering around when I came across their model car kits. Didn't really look at the sticker prices because I didn't see anything that piqued my interest.

 

I used to love buying and building models. A lot of my paper route money went to that.
At those prices Fred, I would also have left them on the shelf.
Seems awful expensive for something that was so affordable and fun when I was a kid.

 

Yeah, the prices have gone up exponentially over the years. The manufacturers say that licensing fees are "off the charts" and if you really think about it, there's a lot that goes into creating a model kit and bringing it to market. That said, for us old timers who starting building them in the 50's it is indeed sticker shock! I have to really temper my desire to build them anymore, typically limiting my purchases to no more than one per year.

 

I always look at the kits when I go into the hardware up here. Some neat reissues but at about $30..... they're still on the shelf. The number of those things I trashed as a kid! That AMT double dragster kit makes me tempted though.

 

.................I've still got my Double Dragster kit from the sixties. Think I paid $1.49 for it.

 

i started in the late '50s. they were $1.29 then...

 

I tend to use the weekly 40% off coupon when shopping at Hobby Lobby. It makes the prices much more palatable. Since I got a smart phone, I just pull it up and show it to be clerk and I am on my way.

When i got back into the hobby, the prices scared the crap out of me. Of coarse, when I decided to get back in the old car hobby, I nearly had a coronary.

 

I'm with you guys. A buck & a quarter, or half was top dollar for any AMT, Revell, or Monogram kit back in the 60s. Built a bunch, gave most away to a buddy's kid back in the 80s. I kept a few, boxed away somewhere.
I still have a few un-built gifted to me over the years, of different cars I've owned. Gotta get around to building those sometime.

 

The last time I bought one it was about $ 12.00 in about 2002 (Ford convertible. with a Fullhouse Flathead.)
I'am 34 and am the only person in a shop of forty that has built a model car.
My Dad is 67, he tell me he remembers when they were $ 2.00 or $ 3.00

 

old fuckers remembering prices from the old days...where's my Time Machine

 

I still have most of the AMT kits I started and never finished, lot more fun and way more time consuming to not get to finish real cars. Bob

 

I haven't got as many miles on me as some of you but even when I was building them as a kid in the '90s the most I remember paying was about $10, now average price is $30 - $40 with some of the rarer ones being closer to $100. I still buy the occasional kit from a swap meet if I find a nice one at a good price. It'd be easy 12 months since I actually built one but I like the box art and have almost the whole length of one wall of my shed lined with boxes, most of them un-built.

 

I used to build models all the time in the late 70's early 80's until I started driving, working on my car at age 15.
I think they were about 1.97 at K-Mart. I haven't bought a kit since I think I would have done the same and just walked out.

 

Kits have jumped in price in the last 10months or so, especially here in Canada. Part of it must have to do with the weak Canadian dollar, but it's also just part of the trend. In the late 90s, $15.00 was pretty average for a new kit (at least as far as I remember). By the late 2000s, they were $25 or so. Recently I'd seen them creeping up to $28-30, before tax. But now suddenly they're $35 to $44, and some of the double kits are almost 50 bucks.
When 2 kits and some paint costs 100 bucks, no wonder kids aren't flocking to the hobby
I've started trying to score models cheap off of Facebook and garage sales from people who still think they're $15 each, new.

 

GET OFF MY LAWN!

 

The plastic they use today does not compare to models of the late 50-early60; Too much vinyle in them too sorf, can't really work it IMHO

 

Your showing your "time frame" Larry!

 

I've got quite a few model kits sitting around. Sometimes I'll get one of them out and think about working on it. I'll pull out a tree, look at the parts, put it all back in the box and head for my 1:1 projects. At least they're big enough that I can see the parts for them.

 

I built the hubley and scale models metal kits in the late 80s and early 90s, the opposite happened to those kits, used to be $20 for the SC models, up to $40 for the hubley, not produced now, but you can buy either for $20 or less per kit off fleabay, I still have some new in the wrapper from back when.

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20 years ago I could pick up a shoebox Ford for less than $500, a small block for less than $200, I filled a driveway with a '53 Ford coupe, a '53 Mercury hardtop, two '63 Galaxies, three Falcons and an A-100 Dodge van and didn't have a thousand dollars across the bunch. Closest I could get to that today would be a Galaxie hulk for TWO grand that doesn't run and needs floorpans... it's all relative, costs go up.

 

I gave all my models to Brenda's little brother back in the late 60's.HRP

 

I look at the flea markets for kits or already built models they are cheaper and the ones that are built can be customized and parts swapped.

 

Plus one on the Hobby Lobby 40 perecent coupon, really brings the price down to an acceptable level but I do remember when the same kit was 2 bucks!

 

Went to the local Hobby Knobby last night and this weird chick in aisle 5 wanted $30 for something I can get 24/7 included in my internet payment plan costing 5 times a month.

 

I remember when they were $4.00. Now the same scale kits are $20.00 and more.

 

I'll be on the look out for that coupon. I really wanted that T Bucket model, because I thought it would be cool to build a scale piece to try some ideas on. 40% would bring things to an acceptable level.

 

keep an eye on classifieds here, swap meets, eBay, craigslist, yard sales, etc - sometimes you luck out finding one at a reasonable price - just don't go looking for rare collector types at dirt prices