Issue 155 - http://www.modelairplaneinternational.com 11the box art, be it done by brush or
computer, both of which require
skill artists.
There are also costs that
are outside the control of
manufacturers - exchange rates
and oil. A drop in the value of
the currency you are using to
pay for overseas manufacture
and the margins become very
tight. Likewise a rise in the cost
of oil then makes plastic more
expensive.
Lastly, after the moulding
has been done, there are
the freighting, packaging and
distribution costs before that kit
fi nally arrives in your hands. And
that kit then has to make a profi t.
Invariably there will always be
comments about “if company X
can charge £$ why can’t company
Y”, but that presupposes that all
kit companies have the same
resources, staff and overheads
in the same way of thinking
that a football club at bottom of
the Premier League has all the
spending power as one at the top.
Kit companies all cut their cloth to
their own requirements.
Similarly it’s often opined that
kits that have made back their
money - “amortised” a word that
briefl y trended on modelling
forums - should be sold at a
lower price. This would be like
telling Disney that people should
be allowed to see the latest Star
Wars or Marvel fi lms at a discount
once they’ve made back their
money. Again, it’s a business, not
a service.
The announcement of Tamiya’s
forthcoming 1/48 F-14D Tomcat
brought forward some complaints
about the projected retail cost,
including suggestions that it
“should” be sold for a quarter
of the price. It’s hard to tellsometimes whether this is well-
meant naivety or a misplaced
sense of entitlement. Either way,
Tamiya’s previous Tomcat was
perhaps the closest there has
ever to been to plastic perfection
in terms of the complete package.
It was worth every penny.
Which brings me the last oddity
that seems to do the rounds when
it comes to cost of kits, ergo “I’d
love one, but it’s too pricey
for me...”
If you really want one and your
total spend on kits is in excess
of the price of that model you
“really want” then cost clearly
isn’t an issue, it’s a matter of will.
I remember shelling out what
seemed like an unfathomably
huge sum of £7.99 for a Fujimi
1/72 FGR2 Phantom in 1987
when my weekly wage was a
paltry £45. But I really wanted
one, and rather than buy other
cheaper kits that I might then put
aside and not build for a while,
I decided to go for one I was
mentally already building on the
bus ride home.
For those who genuinely cannot
afford something for reasons of
fi nances I can truly sympathise - I
cut my modelling teeth on what
I could afford and there were
long periods as a kid when the
family could barely afford to put
food on the table, so my attitude
towards modelling has largely
coloured by seeing my ability to
buy kits as a luxury rather than
an entitlement. That said, despite
the eye-watering prices of some
models these days, there are still
huge swathes of kits accessible
for around a tenner.
And as many, many modellers
are quick to point out, we have
one of the best value-for-money
hobbies out there when it comesto cost-equals-entertainment.
As soon I put this piece to bed,
I’m contemplating my Saturday
afternoon at the workbech and
whether it’s going to be that
1/72 Revell/Matchbox Hawker
Fury that I’m going to jazz up, ormaybe fi nish off that 1/48 Eduard
Albatross DIII my good friend
Tim Maunder bought for me as a
Christmas present in 2012.
Wow, six years of fun - that’s
value for money! ■COMMENT 155.indd 3 04/05/2018 14: