Personally I think its cheap for a model of that caliber and having notoriety such as this one has. I would say it's a steal.

If you want a little humble pie, fineartmodels.com has plenty of models that exceed the $10k mark and a few over $30k, and sell out runs almost instantly. I guess if you own a full-scale Mercedes SSK worth over $3M, a model of it for $32,500 is a drop in the bucket. This is also home of the 1:3 Ferrari 312pb that actually runs. Its probably worth over $200K. And they have a 1.48 scale Titanic in the gallery.

Imagine what it takes to buy one of the modern supercarriers in 1:72 scale that quite a few have built with 70+ aircraft airwings.

Check out this stuff:
http://www.fineartmodels.com/home/index.asp

I have a buddy who bought a pair of b-ball shoes at auction. Yeah, they were worn by a professional player, yeah my buddy is a sports nut, but he put down $5000 bucks for those shoes, now for me, that is hard to explain. At least with the model its hand built using techniques developed over years and years, and is something that I can appreciate. If I had enough money I would also collect well built models like this and consider it a great buy at $500. If I could apply my hourly rate that I get paid as a Handyman to my models, they would be worth a heck of a lot more than $500. Unfortunately my skill level with models does not come close the level of "Sniper."

First I'd like to thank everybody who responded to this thread. It really means alot to me to know the T34 was well-received by the people whose opinions I value and trust a great deal. We are a tight-knit community and I truly enjoy the fellowship being associated with Armorama provides. Now to clear the air ....
It was mentioned by an individual in an earlier post that he felt the auction for "Sniper" seemed suspicious and therefore it appeared "phony", or so was his "interpretation". He took his ignorance of certain features available to sellers on ebay as a reason to question the validity of said auction. Despite having no evidence, or reason other than having an ax to grind with me personally, he went on record as all but accusing me of a fraudulent act. This I take seriously. You can accuse me of building crummy patterns, bad models and even being a hack golfer (which I am, but I play anyway!), but never, ever question my honesty or my integrity. I feel he did so with his unwarranted and juvenile implications. I don't have much, but I strive to keep my reputation intact at all costs. Unfortunately there are those out there with their own agenda that seem to relish in questioning someones reputation when actually their words and actions only reveal their own painfully obvious lack of character.

I apologize for using this venue for my response, but I really felt something needed to be said.

Okay, I'm off my soapbox now!
Mike

Another angle on the 'value' of a built model is the price you would quote for a commission. $500 would be close to minimum to quote for a build of a detailed 'stock' model, let alone a superdetailed one of like this one. If a customer would specify a fully loaded, accurate model like this, with all the scratch building and research involved, the upfront prize would be considerably higher.

This whole subject should have been posted in either the junkdrawer, or the buy/sell forum, as it is not really 'model' related in the first place. That said, as long as it is conducted reasonably, we have let it run. If however it is going to degenerate into a tit-for-tat, I'll lock or delete the thread.




This can be considered a general observation, or indeed a accusation of foul play.
Ebay works in mysterious ways, and the way it shows bidding patterns can be open to interpertation. As I stated earlier, ebay recently has started to hide bidders names, presumably for security reasons. Whatever the thoughts behind this, that is the reason why the bidders are 'hidden'.
First call should be the feedback, as that gives a fairly accurate view of the sellers previous form. Not just the percentage, but the actual feedback. I know it may take a while to read a fair number of those, but they do give an indication of both the actual items sold, and the service of the seller.

Any disputes, should be dealt with through PM's, not in the forums. If any public airing would be needed, and justified, it can be done in the Junk Drawer.

Thank you
Henk

It was nice to see really good work go for a nice price.Yes,I agree the price was low for what time went into it but,as stated before,the 'buy it now' feature was used before it got into reasonable fees for time spent level.
Almost everything I have built since I re-entered the hobby has been sold on evil bay and has always started fairly low to let the demand take it wherever it goes.
e-Bay is still quirky though.I have seen 1/21 Tamiya-Mokai kits that have been OOP since 1963 go for over 3k USD and a preserved Shep Paine diorama go for just over 900 USD. It's all up to the right buyer at the right time,for the right product.
I think it was a great build and wish I could that cukoo with the detail.
Cheers for quality!