Firstly, I apologize for the location of this thread, as I could not find a more fitting area.
I have a question regarding Dragon kits, its all to do with price im afraid, as I have noticed a trend of late regarding this manufacturer. I have no problem with paying about £30 or $55 for a Dragon kit with the PE, aluminium barrel, magic track, and so on. but I am getting a little upset that the standard Dragon kit that has none of these extras are running out at the same price now. So my question is this are the prices increases due to the manufacturer or supplier or is my local shop trying to rip us off?

'Spose it depends what you mean by 'ripping us off'? Have you see the price of the Char B from Tamiya? And you don't get loads of extras either............well, you don't get any. Nothing. Zip. Nada.
And exactly which kit do you mean by 'Standard' Dragon kit? I'm trying to think of a dead expensive, recently released Dragon kit that's been released lately at £35, with no extras included ................. nope? Come on Darren, which one?

Vinnie

Our local shop was selling Dragon tanks at 38 and 40 euro, but they put up a notice recently warning of a price increase... now the Pz 4D has come in at 45 euro.

David

I remember seeing the first Dragon Shermans (M4A1, M4A3E8), the Pershing, Patton and several German kits back in the early 90s in the $35+ range. Most current new kits are running $35-45 right now.

I guess we have ourselves to blame. We demand more accurate kits and tell the manufacturers to go measure the XYZ tank at Knox, Bovington, APG, Kubinka, etc. This adds to the price of a kit.

We want them to put more effort into accurizing the kits before producing them. We should expect the price to rise.

One thing to remember is that for some reason, kit prices are higher in the UK than in the US. While I have not priced a new Dragon kit in the US, I did see the price of the new Academy M3 at $35 and the Bronco Comet at $40. Neither one was outrageously priced.

David, Darren was asking why 'standard' Dragon kits, without all the extras were £35. The Pz IV D has got loads of extras so he obviously doesn't mean that one. I'd like to know which particular standard Dragon kit, as he put it, without extras, recently issued, costs £35 where he lives. That was the basis on which he formed his query.

Vinnie

I wouldnt say theyre over priced. Even without all the goodies...I do wish that if they were going to add them to the kit though theyd stick with the basics first...ie 234/1 metal barrel? not even in the CH "exclusive" .

I think I did see an announcement by an online hobby shop that Dragon had a price increase coming. However, I don't think I've ever bought a Dragon model that didn't give me good value for the money.

Unfortunately, prices are going up everywhere in our hobby, as Rob pointed out. Plastic is petroleum based, and we know what's happening on that front. New toolings, new techniques...I'm not an appologist for the hobby industry, but I understand why costs might be higher. I don't like it either, but I can understand.

My advice is to shop around. There are deals out there if you look for them.

Mike

The price of kits may be going up due to the rising cost of oil.
I've read somewhere that this reason caused Hasbro to stop making the big G.I Joe's.
Cmot may be referring to a kit such as Dragon's Hetzer. Very simple kit , no extras, except for a few crew members. This kit cost me 37 bucks. Compared to a kit like Academy's M3A1, (25 bucks) this seems a little high.

As we all know, from the factory to your workbench is a long way....
The manufacturer prices their product according to cost and profit margin, carefull not to make a loss, and not to price their product out of the market.
Next comes transport from the factory to the distributor in your country... Boxes of plastic models are usualy stuffed into a shipping container, which then slowly sails accross the seven seas to where you live...
This is not an expensive means of transport, but god it's slow....
Your friendly distributor then opens the container, and sends the boxes onwards to your LHS. For this simple job he adds a whopping fee, payable by the LHS... i..e. the customer..
The local hobby shop then add their profit margin, from which they have to pay rent, electric, wages, rates, taxes, etc, hoping to stay in business.

You are no doubt aware that there is a large difference in the price of kits between Europe and the rest of the world. I doubt that Dragon, or any other manufacturer for that matter, sell their kits at a different price to different countries. If anybody needs to be blamed, it's not the manufacturer, or the shop.. it's the distributor again...

Cheers
Henk

Maybe the North/South divide strikes again :-) :-) :-) :-) , just kidding.

Ive just come back from my LHS , only to get some paint though , but whilst in there in looked at the DML kits and the most expensive one they had was the new Panzer IV's at £28.99 and the new "Operation Cobra " Sherman at £26.99

However I imagine the new M1 Abrams may come in at the £35 mark but even thats not too bad a price IMHO

Or why not order online , I just got Tamiyas Quad and 25pdr for £10.99 including p&P from Lucky Models HEHEHEHE

Ian

A couple months ago DML did announce a 15% price increase in all their kits, I did notice the increase when I picked up my 234/4 kit...hell with the increase, still cheaper than Tamiya, and with what you get inside the kits now for goodies, I don't mind one bit!

I really have no problem paying a little extra for a nice dragon kit. For even with their standard kits (no PE etc) you still get more bang for your buck than with a similarly priced Tamiya kit. Dragon kits are not perfect, but as an example, when I pay about $40 for a Dragon Sherman I know I won't have to fill in the sponsons, refashion all the grab-handles or worry about where I can dig up some periscope gaurds, or any of the other obvious foibles associated with similarly priced Tamiya Shermans (shermen?:)) . Thats only my opinion though

Everything's more expensive in the UK than in the US.

Just look at these links and see what kit you would buy.

http://www.netmerchants.co.uk/product.php/33/0/

http://www.netmerchants.co.uk/product.php/6141/0/

Now would you buy the tamiya or the dragon????


karl

The kit I was referring to exactly is the E100 however, the entire Dragon range as regards vehicles in 1:35th that I have seen stocked are £37.99 and up. Most of which I consider worth the cost however even their old kits are now retailing in the same price bracket.

Darren where ever you are shopping for your models,my advice would be to stay away.the price of £37.99 for a dragon kit is a rip off.i have just brought the dragon flak 36 from netmerchants for £23 and i carnt close the box now as iv had the sprues out :-) Hint

karl

Darren,

You don't shop in Frome by any chance??

Your shop is ripping you off, those are not Dragon prices.

Cheers
Henk

Gary?




Hmmm..... I think you may have overlooked the eighth post in this topic.

Vinnie

there is also the issue of various taxes and tariffs imposed by your individual countries for a variety of reasons (revenue generating, political, protectionist etc). In the UK for example, the VAT is huge and on top of that there are other duties and taxes as well. so the next time you go to the polls to vote for your local lawmaker, consider your modelling costs.

or go on a big model shopping trip in Japan/Hongkong/Singapore

bought my dragon late production tiger for 11 quid and panzer IV E for 13 quid. so you get the drift...

I don't think its fair to compare prices between a retail store and a net store. There is the difference between overhead, market/customer accessibility that must be taken into account. While it may be a little more expensive to buy from a LHS, you get the advantage of being able to look before you buy and make sure its all there or of a quality you are willing to pay for. In m/o you "pays your money and takes your chances". Then there is just the happy satisfaction I get with being able to walk into a store of like minded individuals, talk, catch up, look at the stuff and the social interaction you get in a brick and mortar place. Next time you hear someone complain about not having a LHS remind them of how much they saved by ordering from one of the net shops.They brought it on themselves and the genre created the demise of the LHS. No one else. Much is the pity since there is an important aspect of the hobby that is lost with each closing of a mom and pop hobby shop.
My LHS still has DML M4A4 shermans for $25. The older kits are there and in some cases at the prices they were originally posted at. The newer stuff is priced with the appropriate mark up to allow him to pay his bills and eat. He allows me to crack open boxes and look inside. Never had to fight with customer service to get a missing sprue. Get to see what new kits were just reboxing of OOD older kits. Nothing is damaged. It didnt get lost, mis directed, credit card charged and not delivered, go on sale for a special price 2 days after I received it....etc. The extra few dollars is not much more than shipping, I support a local business, he stays open. Besides, despite any considerable mark-up that may occur, where else are you going to get that much bang for your buck? Show me where I could spend the $50 and get 40 or so hours of contemplative enjoyment, flex my artistic wants, and have the satisfaction of a little bit of ego sitting in my display cabinet. And if you are one of those guys that buys a kit and sits it on a shelf for 3 years before you build it, you chose to spend your money in that way instead of something that you would get more immediate satisfaction from. Whose to blame? $50 to put a box in your stash is a senseless tie up of money in my opinion and only hurts when you get nothing from it.

no the E100 is going for £28.99 I believe I am correct when I say that this is an old model and it has a few problems with distorted shells as regards the turret and main body. However, I am addicted to the monsters even if they only got as far as paper panzers such as the E100 and panther II. now I accept that there is a small PE with engine grills, however I would not consider this something to justify the increased cost as this is the only extra but that’s it, not even a figure and its a very basic build, big but basic. Now I have mentioned this kit as a particular kit but I have noticed that all the old armour Dragon kits have gone into this price range. I was paying £ 23.99 for the latest kits and under £20 for the older kits, I also accept that the latest releases from Dragon are worth the £30 plus price tag but the old kits come on. In closing, my question is whether the supplier the manufacturer, the store, or just maybe all three are milking us or not I will bow to your input.

I've noticed that old Tamiya kits like the M41 Walker Bulldog and the Panther Ausf. A are selling for prices marginally less than the more modern tooled kits. Same with Italeri, they still sell the original Sherman and several other 20+ year old kits for just as much as later releases.

I am a firm believer in that you get what you pay for and use it or lose it, this is why I try to support my local shop as much as possible even when it costs a little more. I am trying to find out if this scenario with pricing is the store manufacturer supplier or all three. As I want to support the store and if it’s a countrywide thing then I will continue to do so, if this is not the case I cannot and will not support the local store as regards this manufacturer’s product.

Darren, it's the store. He's re-pricing old stock. Vote with your feet.

Vinnie