Greetings,

We are pleased to announce that Pacific Coast Models, Inc. of Santa Rosa, California has been appointed as an Importer/Distributor for the new line of XACTSCALE 1:35 armor kits for the U.S. and Canada.

XACTSCALE MODELS is a new company which is determined to bring new and exciting armor kits to the modeling community. Their experience as modelers and as businessmen, along with a group of experienced modelers and designers, will bring accurate and high quality new kits to all of us.

Their first new kit is a 1:35 Russian T-80U Main Battle Tank (XS 35001). It was the main heavy tank in the
Russian arsenal in the 1980's and 1990's. It remains in service with the Russian tank force with the latest
upgrades. Several thousand have been placed in storage for use if necessary. It has been sold to countries
all over the world including Belarus, Cyprus, Kazakhstan, Algeria, Pakistan, South Korea and the Ukraine.
It is still produced in the Ukraine.

This kit comprises over 400 pieces including a one piece gun barrel. one piece tracks, an NSVT 12.7mm AA machine gun and highly detailed road wheels. It also includes a PE set. The retail price is $69.90.

This is an exciting first kit which will bring alot of attention from modelers and hobby shops to the new XACTSCALE line. It is now available for pre-orders with an ETA of late May.

You may see it in our catalog at: www.pacmodels.com. Here is the link:

http://www.pacmodelscatalog.com/mm5/merchant.mvc?Screen=CTGY&Store_
Code=PCM&Category_Code=XSARM+135

Please click on the boxart to see the first test shot.

Pacific Coast Models, Inc., since 2000, specializes in importing and distributing unique and high quality lines of interesting subjects. Please contact your local hobby shop and ask them to order yours. If you don't have a local hobby shop, you can see the brands we carry at our web-site at: www.pacmodels.com.

We can be contacted at: [email protected] or 707-538-4850. Thank you and

Best Regards,

Ken & Mary Ellen Lawrence
Pacific Coast Models, Inc.

$70?

Only $70 for a plastic kit? If you say $100 I´ll buy one immediately.

Hope it's resin.

No. It's a plastic kit. I think the price is high for a plastic model. I do not believe that the model will be ideal and correct in all points, and if it will need to purchase aftermarket, the price will generally be unacceptable to me.

$70? Ouch... Unless the one piece barrel is metal and there's PE too I'll be passing on this one. Yeah, it could be the only accurate T-80 out right now but $70 is way too much for a basic plastic kit. I don't know what's with model prices these days but its certainly stopped me buying kits I was otherwise excited for.

But congrats to you for being selected as the importer for these kits.


Erik

Hi all!
"I don't know what's with model prices these days but its certainly stopped me buying kits I was otherwise excited for." The same here... I do not understand why Trumpeter's new KV variants costs double then teir "old" KV-1 & 2, there are no grilles, no metal barrel,, also no interior for their new BMP-1, etc...
In this T-80 we have plastic barrel and no indy tracks...
I do not like this trend
At least I do not have to spare money for this kit.

The way things are going with most manufacturers, I don't think that $70 is THAT excessive.

There are however several questions about the quality which, in due course will be answered thru Reviews, Build-Logs etc. So, comments such as:




Are, in my opinión utterly misplaced. Where exactly does the evidence come from for this kind of comment?

You want to lady about kit prices, take a look at what a certain Japanese manufacturer is asking for re-pops...

Fairness, fairness, fairness....

70 dollars

Well the Zvezda kit sounds very acceptable now

We may be rivet counters, but we are not idiots.

!!! $70.00 !!!
I have rolled all of the crack dealers.
I have sold all of my blood plasma.
I will raid the wishing wells in Carmel and Fishers !
I will have this T-80 !
I am a sprue whore.

John

Importers need to make money too. I will not say if it is a fair price or not, but it is in line with what Panda and Tasca are running. We will have to see if it holds up to those standards.

Speculating that it may require after market IS premature, BUT not a bad thing to speculate on. The price is high for a kit, in this economy, and that makes it a bit of a let down. Everyone in the business of models, from the manufacturer to the final seller, need to be reminded of this from time to time. I love the idea, I am hesitant on the price, and I am wary of the unseen product...but I am certainly not upset. So I buy 1-2 instead of 3-5. It may also help me focus....

Let's stay excited and wait to see what finally materializes.

I don't think that $70 is too much (in the States).. I only buy my models from HK.. and the last few models I've bought.. including things like Tamiya's M1A2 Tusk and Kinetic's RG-31.. after adding shipping, they've all been somewhere in the $60's.. maybe $64.. maybe $67... So, you'll be paying $70 from the your LHS with no shipping.

I'm just trying to say that it's not much different than most other "recent" kits that have been released. If you want to compare it to kits that were released years ago, that's another story

Just MHO

Hisham

UK Distributor anyone?

As for price 70 USD = £46 GBP or €54 Euro, there about's, not too bad, have paid more in the past. From what i've seen, it looks to be a good kit. Will add a couple to my stash.

Redprol

Sounds like exciting news to me! I'm not put off by the price. I'm hoping you get what you pay for (you sure do with tasca!). The only negative I see is the one piece tracks, but lets wait to see how try look in person before passing judgements.

Lets stay positive!

Not too bad... The Meng kits retail for 55-58€ in Germany.

Thomas

Well, we've only seen the box art and one test shot but this is a brand new tooling by a new manufacturer. In this economic climate new business needs all the help it can get.
The price is high but let's ' lift the lid' and have a closer look.
It might be a beaut, it won't be a dog.
I want one at least, don't forget, the first release will be cheaper than re-runs
Embrace the future.

T-80U is my second favorite Cold-War tank, and it's a shame that no new tooled T-80U for nearly 20 years....... and if it's a decent kit, I will give XACT my support,

consider it's their very first kit,and starting a new company needs tones of money, and everyone wants to pay off right?

Well not to bring up a sore subject, but PCM has been accused in the past of price fixing models...and has had several spats with other well known web based hobby shops. I know for one I WON'T be ordering one from PCM and I'll get it through other means.

http://www.network54.com/Forum/47211/thread/1341033682/Tasca%27s+pricing+policy

http://www.network54.com/Forum/149674/thread/1297461738/What+I+think+the+large+kit+makers+will+do-

It looks like I'll be going overseas to order my T-80.

Might not make that much difference with this one

Hisham

That accusation is incorrect. Price-fixing implies an element of criminality under US law and requires a collusion between competitors. People use that term to add an extremely negative cast to a perfectly legal practice.

PCM essentially establishes a contract between themselves and retail outlets wherein PCM agrees to provide the outlets kits that PCM imports and the outlets agree to charge the price PCM sets. A violation of the contract by the outlets results in the termination of PCMs agreement to provide. It is all perfectly legal and above board.

People may debate the effectiveness of the policy in protecting retail hobby shops or even PCM's profits, but there is nothing to discuss about the legality or even morality of it. We don't have an inherent right to buy our non-essential luxury goods at prices we like. Paying what the market will bear is what we should all expect and accept, and what we are all doing anyway, it's just that nobody stops to think about it.

KL

No one can challenge your opinion here, but it is not out of line with what kits cost these days. Here's some MSRP's from Squadron:

Cyber Hobby Pz III flak - $63
Kinetic RG-31 - $70
DML Pz IIIG - $63
Aber Enigma "basic"PE set - $35
Trumpeter BM-21 - $65
Miniart L1500S - $69
Tamiya BT-7 - $70

. . . and so on.

KL

Thanks Kurt, good points. And there are other alternatives to PCM if you don't like how they do business. Same goes with Trumpeter kits and SI. It is all legal.

whats wrong with one piece tracks?

Hi;

I think this should have been Titled Economics 101, yes this kit in my opion is just a Lil-Bit too High.
But as has already been said, its a Sore subject that We Consumers Better & should have Seen Comeing for a Long Time
The World Economy is only Going too get Worse, so 70 Dollars is
not unreasonable. Just Hard Too Swallow, SLOW DOWN & TAKE ANOTHER BREATH. And Be Happy We Have A T-80 ! CHEERS; MIKE.