Model Car kits= $25 WTF?

I went to a "Michaels" store today to get some poster board for templets.No biggee,as they are the arts and crafts store around here.Kinda a big chain store i would think. As walking down the main isle to get my stuff,I spoted a Merc model from a ways away.. I went to get my stuff and hooked it down to the end of the isle to see the models.Good God! I'm not as old as some of us,but $25 bucks for a fricken model? They all were about the same! Jeez,when I was heavy into them=1-2 a week,they were 4-5 bucks!I guess it gauges my age,but damn! it's close to playing with the real thing!

 

Yea they have gotten kinda high, I do alot of the semi trucks and trailers, some of the trucks are running near a $100 now each and trailers can be in the $75 range. Jim

 

Anything over $2 is too much. I'm stuck in 1973.

 

I only could play with snap together kits in 73! Glue was forbidden!

 

The glue is probably an extra 10 bucks

 

when ever you purchase anything in CA. You always take a jar of Vaseline with you, then it don't hurt so bad. LOL

 

Plastic used for models is made using petroleum products. Have you looked at the prices at your local gas station recently? Not only will the petrol producers screw ya at the pumps, but they will get you everywhere else too, including the hobby shops.

 

Back in the summer we went to an Estate auction and they had several from the 60's/70's,still in the cello,that went for $100 or more.

 

Be thankful you arent buying vintage unbuilt kits. I saw a Revell Tweedy Pie with Boss Fink sell for 1,800.00 last year.
Kits were .75 to 1.00 when I was a kid. It was still a full weeks allowamce though.

 

FK, at 25 bucks, ya shoulda grabbed the lot.
Rod

 

I am 41, I too was at Michaels today. Plastic kits were and should be less than 12 dollars.

 

Cost to build a model on the average is 50.00 bucks ,Thats why I only build maybe one a year ,Thats 50 that could of went into hot rod.........

 

When I was tenish- I was in the "young model'rs club",and would get one in the mail every month. Always beged Mom and Dad for one at the store.Built a shitload. Built cars,customs,trucks,military.....Never would I have immagined the prices today!

But then again-If my aunt had balls,she'd be my uncle! Go figure!

 

Micheal's has 40-50% coupons online every other week.

 

I wouldnt be surprised if you have to show an id to prove your an adult to buy glue nowadays.

 

i think the last model kit i bought was 99 cents


but i think i was working for $1.25 an hour

 

Yeah WTF!!!! I noticed that last winter, The same exact kits in the same exact boxes I built 15-20 years ago for $4.99 are now $24.99 at local arts store. Walmart don't even sell them anymore.

 

Hhahahah ..True.


dam ..must be the petroleum used to make um eh?

Havent built any in so long i would have never known

 

This makes our hobby a dying thing.....fewer kids will be able to afford a kit and less people will give a kid a model kit as a gift ....just another sign!

 

After Wal-mart quite selling them the price shot through the roof. Makes it hard to find them anywhere but hobby shops. Theres not one in every town!

 

Last 10 yrs I've been buying die cast. Have a real nice collection now.

 

only 9.99 in missouri.

 

And I thought it was just me, I too was at Micheal's today looking at model kits I figured it was just me that was thinking 24.99 was a little high. Then went out to a Hobby Shop about the same money for kits, so I passed I'll find something else to pass the winter.

 

I look for deals at garage sales and swap meets. You might want to stay away from collectors.

 

the plastic model hobby is now an "adult" hobby with few young people or kids building. no big deal, times change and so do the interests of young people. i'm 36 and have been building since i was a kid in the 80's. it's still fun, it's just different now. is the hobby dying or dead? not by a long shot, the prices of stuff may be up but what's available now blows away what was available even 10 years ago.

 

I have about 200 kits sitting in my closet. Been collecting and building them for almost 30 years. I also have about 250 built ones packed up in a crate in my spare room. I guess I'm lucky, if I want to fool with one, I just go open the closet and dig one out. I won't pay that kind of money for at a store. I am in a local model car club and we always get together and go to model car shows. They always have vendors there selling kits at more reasonable prices and you can find some real gems once in a while.

 

whatever you do, dont buy the "blue" labeled "safe" glue...... holy crap you will be sitting there holding the thing for days till it dries! =O

 

funny. i can remember when a bottle of Coke was ten cents, and you had to drink it right there or pay deposit on the bottle. now a bottle of Coke is a buck and a half......

i remember Levi's for 9 bucks, and thinking that was highway robbery THEN. i don't even BUY Levi's now... what are they, 40-50 bucks a pair?

it's all relative. prices have gone UP. nowhere have prices gone DOWN.
well, yeah; they HAVE. the price we pay for getting things done by Americans has hit rock damn bottom.

 

Gas used to be 29 cents a gallon, and $2.50/hour was a decent wage too. Times have changed.

 

I remember when I was a kid you got a model 2 to 3 bucks & the kit came with 2 ways to build the car..Stock or Race.