I'm not outraged- I'm not hemorrhaging over TAMIYA's retailing practices, and I fully realize that TAMIYA has an agreement with ITALERI in this regard. What I don't like is that TAMIYA will ask nearly twice the price (in some cases) for the same ITALERI, or HASEGAWA, or FINEMOLDS kit in a TAMIYA box. If anyone wants to spend extra money for a kit that can be had in it's original boxing for less money, GO AHEAD! It's YOUR money...

DMS, I don't think you're getting the full situation here. So far almost all the Reboxes T-Senpai have released have been at prices equal or less than the cost of buying the original boxing in their native Japan.

Are you talking about armor kits, or kits in general? Car kits aren't expensive, with the exception of Tamiya. Its kits, in my opinion, are overpriced for what's in the box. Revellogram kit prices haven't experienced a dramatic increase over the last 20 or so years. I paid around $12 for them in the mid '90s and the same kits can be had for $18-22 today. The same can't be said for armor kits. The kits that were first issued by Dragon, 3526 (MD 530G (MMS) Gunship), for which I paid $23 in the mid-late '90s, and is still available in its catalog today, costs around 100-120% more. If, according to your statement, the cost of production has gone down, shouldn't that translate to kit prices being less than at present? Factoring in inflation rates, car kits saw an approximately 50% price increase over a twenty year period, why doesn't that rate of increase apply to the cost of armor kits? Again, I'm referring to kits which were first available during that particular period and are still manufactured today.[/quote] Prices for brand new Armor and AFV kits are not going down; if anything, they keep rising. Prices for the newer AND older kits that have been on the market for a while tend to go down because the retailers are trying to move this older stock to make room for the more expensive brand new stuff. CAD, Slide-mold technology, the cost of plastic (a petro-chemical substance, which in the last 30 years or so has risen quite noticeably) PLUS a "tiny" bit of greed have something to do with it. Then, add the high parts counts of today's Armor, AFV and Soft-skins kits and compare that to what was available to us in the 1960s-1980s, and I think you'll have a reasonable explanation for the high costs of kits in this genre. Prices for Aircraft and Automobiles have increased, but not to the point of being un-affordable. And for the Train Fans, specialized Locomotives, in both Steam and Diesel types, manufactured in plastic, brass, or brass-hybrid types have gone right through roof in price. I've seen certain HO brass Steam Locomotives selling for just under $3000.00 on ebay. Conversely, just yesterday, (kind of off-subject), I saw a DRAGON "Wittmann's Last Tiger" being listed for $299.00. Sorry, not me!!! I don't GIVE A RAT'S ASS FOR WHOSE "last Tiger" that is! $300 bucks is way too much for THAT THING! You can buy a late-production Tiger I and get aftermarket parts and decals to replicate "Wittmann's" Tiger for under a THIRD of the cost that that rip-off artist is listing his "Wittman's" Last Tiger for... But, as they say at some unscrupulous auto dealers, "There's an ass for every seat"... [/quote] I checked my stash-register and found three Type 90 tanks (Tamiya) purchased in the period 2000 to 2014 and I paid more or less the same amount of money for them. Compared to the price for milk which has doubled in the same period I would say that the increase for these Tamiya kits hasn't increased much. Increased parts count of a kit is another matter, more plastic costs more money (the price of crude oil has been going up and down the last 15 - 20 years) The labour cost for designing the molds and cutting them has definitely not increased since CAD and modern production methods have made it a lot cheaper and more efficient. Comparing an older kit with lower parts count with a modern kit with a lot more details isn't exactly fair either. A possible value to compare could be the modelling hours, or joy/entertainment, that the modeller gets for a specific amount of hard earned cash. Going to the movies in Sweden could be used as a comparison: Example: The Martian, 2 hours, 140 SEK = US $ 16:47 = Euro 15:16 = £ 10.91) The Bronco Sd.Kfz 15 would cost me Euro 56:50 so I would need to get 6 hours and 40 minutes of building joy out of the kit (the local hobby shop is more expensive but that is caused by our taxes et.c.). On the other hand I can wait for the film to turn up as a DVD for a lot less ... I don't remember what I paid for the Italeri Kfz. 15 more than 20 years ago but Italeri kits at that time were somewhere around 140 to 160 SEK which was about 2.5 movie tickets. I think that the Bronco Kfz.15 will give me more fun for the money than the Italeri one (fever parts). I think that we are actually getting better kits for inflation adjusted money even if the individual kit seems more expensive due to increased parts count. / Robin

I think this is totally off topic now

For whatever reason, Italeri kits were pretty inexpensive here in NYC. When I purchased the Italeri Kfz.15 twenty years ago, I paid $13. The Elefant was around $16; the Tiger I kits about the same. The Testor/Italeri released versions were a buck or two cheaper. When Tamiya released its Sturmtiger and panther G Steel Wheel kits in 1994, I almost crapped when I saw the sticker prices at the hobby shop - $56! In 1994! I asked the owner, Lou, what was up with that. He said Tamiya jacked up the prices on everything because of the exchange rates, etc. A couple of years later, those same kits were selling for around $35. Go figure. Okay, back on track. I enjoyed building the Italeri Horch. It wasn't a bad kit for its time. Considering that the Bronco kit is eons ahead as far as detail goes and can be had for only about 7 bucks more (I found it for $43.84 plus shipping) than the current price of the Italeri offering (around $37,depending on the retailer), I'm definitely picking one up.

Well, Joseph, you must not have been shopping at Jan's Hobby Shop in the UES, because that crabby old lady doesn't let a spare dime slip through her grasp. Everything I ever bought there was pretty much retail or a little more. Of course, her rent in that neighborhood is a little high...

Shell, I used to shop at Jan's when the original store was located on York Ave., between E.81st and E.82nd, from about 1975. I still go to the new location on Lexington, between E.93rd & E.94th to pick up odds and ends. The prices are ridiculously high; but, my son and I like hanging out and talking with Madame Colette. It's also a short walk to Schaller & Weber Meat Market on Second near E.86th. Gotta pick up them wursts and things if I'm in the neighborhood. My main spot was Gateway Hobbies, which was originally on W.38th St., on the ground floor. I was a customer from just about the first day Lou Bobiak opened it in '74. I still have my Buyer's Program membership card (No. 419) buried someplace. Lou even let me work there on Saturdays on occasion. Hands down, this place was the best hobby shop in the city. Lou carried everything you could imagine. Lots of great people used to stop by there. I had the honor of having my Tamiya M60, which was on display in one of the glass cases in the back, critiqued by Steve Zaloga. Actually, he tore it to shreds. I also used to frequent Lou's other store, Ace Hobby, after he moved to 131 W.31st St. It got pretty sad in the late '90s after Lou went from a fairly large space on the fourth floor to a literal hole in the wall on the ninth, then relegated to selling stuff out of the trunk of his car in front of that address on Saturdays.

Don't forget to remember adding the cost for resin replacement wheels it could just happen that those Italeri vinyl tires decide to go bad on you If resin wheels are added to the equation the Bronco kit might just be cheaper .... I still haven't built my Italeri Kfz 15's, could be built as early or late version so I "had" to get two of them ... / Robin

Rob, I built mine at the time I bought it 20+ years ago. I used the vinyl tires included in the kit. Unlike others, I haven't experienced "tire melt". The kit tires are good to go and I didn't overcoat them with anything. Back then, as you know, there was no resin replacement option. If there was, I'd have probably skipped them anyway. No sense spending $12-20 on a set of tires for a $13 kit. Heck, I have a large Zip-Lock bag full of vinyl 1/24-25 Goodyears and Firestones closing in on their third decade and they haven't transmuted into a gloppy mess either. I keep my large collection of almost forty year old Micro-Scale A/C decals stored the same way and they're as good as the day I first bought them. Keeping all this junk in a cool, low humidity, dark area helps, too.