Quote from: The Wooksta! on August 16, 2024, 12:46:20 AMAirfix are pricing themselves out of the market.

Hornby has increased it's prices by 9% and in some cases 10%.

Quote from: McColm on August 16, 2024, 01:27:04 AM

Quote from: The Wooksta! on August 16, 2024, 12:46:20 AMAirfix are pricing themselves out of the market.

Hornby has increased it's prices by 9% and in some cases 10%.

The phrase in the email I received that really stood out was :

"we have not had any major price changes since January 2022, but unfortunately, the time has come to update our product prices.".

Now, we can read into that anything we like but, if those increases are any guide then, I'm afraid my "loyalty" as a customer is likely to sorely tested.

Quote from: Beermonster58 on August 16, 2024, 01:33:00 AM

Quote from: McColm on August 16, 2024, 01:27:04 AM

Quote from: The Wooksta! on August 16, 2024, 12:46:20 AMAirfix are pricing themselves out of the market.

Hornby has increased it's prices by 9% and in some cases 10%.

The phrase in the email I received that really stood out was :

"we have not had any major price changes since January 2022, but unfortunately, the time has come to update our product prices.".

Now, we can read into that anything we like but, if those increases are any guide then, I'm afraid my "loyalty" as a customer is likely to sorely tested.

Here in Nz Airfix have been priced up the waazoo anyway ..a 48th Javalin will knock ya back 100 notes hence why I ain't got one .
Their 35th armour range prices up all over the place with some being quire reasonable..like the Cromwell being around $50 but the Ferret is over 70 notes 
When the price does go up I'll only hunt down second hand kits but even they might be way outta reach.

Quote from: Wardukw on August 16, 2024, 02:08:31 AM

Quote from: Beermonster58 on August 16, 2024, 01:33:00 AM

Quote from: McColm on August 16, 2024, 01:27:04 AM

Quote from: The Wooksta! on August 16, 2024, 12:46:20 AMAirfix are pricing themselves out of the market.

Hornby has increased it's prices by 9% and in some cases 10%.

The phrase in the email I received that really stood out was :

"we have not had any major price changes since January 2022, but unfortunately, the time has come to update our product prices.".

Now, we can read into that anything we like but, if those increases are any guide then, I'm afraid my "loyalty" as a customer is likely to sorely tested.

Here in Nz Airfix have been priced up the waazoo anyway ..a 48th Javalin will knock ya back 100 notes hence why I ain't got one .
Their 35th armour range prices up all over the place with some being quire reasonable..like the Cromwell being around $50 but the Ferret is over 70 notes 
When the price does go up I'll only hunt down second hand kits but even they might be way outta reach.

Second hand Airfix Javelin will set you back anything between £55 - £80 in rip off UK  (thats $117 - $171 NZ). However, a lot of prices are, as you point out, all over the place. I haven't actually bought a new Airfix kit in about 4 years because the only ones that really interested me were already priced out of reach. However, that's just my circumstances. I mostly seek second hand items now anyway and, not just Airfix.

I'm aware big price rises are not unique to Airfix  but, even where their own range is concerned, If there's a subject I want, I  will now seek a cheaper alternative and, if I cannot get one, I do without. Simples! .

Quote from: Wardukw on August 16, 2024, 02:08:31 AM

Quote from: Beermonster58 on August 16, 2024, 01:33:00 AM

Quote from: McColm on August 16, 2024, 01:27:04 AM

Quote from: The Wooksta! on August 16, 2024, 12:46:20 AMAirfix are pricing themselves out of the market.

Hornby has increased it's prices by 9% and in some cases 10%.

The phrase in the email I received that really stood out was :

"we have not had any major price changes since January 2022, but unfortunately, the time has come to update our product prices.".

Now, we can read into that anything we like but, if those increases are any guide then, I'm afraid my "loyalty" as a customer is likely to sorely tested.

Here in Nz Airfix have been priced up the waazoo anyway ..a 48th Javalin will knock ya back 100 notes hence why I ain't got one .
Their 35th armour range prices up all over the place with some being quire reasonable..like the Cromwell being around $50 but the Ferret is over 70 notes 
When the price does go up I'll only hunt down second hand kits but even they might be way outta reach.

I only have the 1/48 Javelin because I was
able to get one for <$40.00 USD on sale
from one of the big online vendors. Don't
recall which one and IIRC the price was
$35.00 USD and free shipping. Otherwise I wasn't going to bother getting one. 

Quote from: Beermonster58 on August 16, 2024, 02:42:12 AM

Quote from: Wardukw on August 16, 2024, 02:08:31 AM

Quote from: Beermonster58 on August 16, 2024, 01:33:00 AM

Quote from: McColm on August 16, 2024, 01:27:04 AM

Quote from: The Wooksta! on August 16, 2024, 12:46:20 AMAirfix are pricing themselves out of the market.

Hornby has increased it's prices by 9% and in some cases 10%.

The phrase in the email I received that really stood out was :

"we have not had any major price changes since January 2022, but unfortunately, the time has come to update our product prices.".

Now, we can read into that anything we like but, if those increases are any guide then, I'm afraid my "loyalty" as a customer is likely to sorely tested.

Here in Nz Airfix have been priced up the waazoo anyway ..a 48th Javalin will knock ya back 100 notes hence why I ain't got one .
Their 35th armour range prices up all over the place with some being quire reasonable..like the Cromwell being around $50 but the Ferret is over 70 notes 
When the price does go up I'll only hunt down second hand kits but even they might be way outta reach.

Second hand Airfix Javelin will set you back anything between £55 - £80 in rip off UK  (thats $117 - $171 NZ). However, a lot of prices are, as you point out, all over the place. I haven't actually bought a new Airfix kit in about 4 years because the only ones that really interested me were already priced out of reach. However, that's just my circumstances. I mostly seek second hand items now anyway and, not just Airfix.

I'm aware big price rises are not unique to Airfix  but, even where their own range is concerned, If there's a subject I want, I  will now seek a cheaper alternative and, if I cannot get one, I do without. Simples! .

So it would seem Monster mate that even all the way over there the Javalin is an expensive kit and ouch is the would which comes to mind 
The main place I get my kits is a auction site we have here called Trademe...there's thousands of kitsets for sale and I've have epic deals ..second hand 48th Airfix Mk24 Spitfire for 29 coins and now ive got 2 from the same seller 

One of the great things about it now is this thing called Afterpay ..it's likes a hire purchase..if it's say 100 then it's split at 25 bucks spread over 4 payments ..payed for over 8 weeks ..it's brilliant but of course not everyone has that so yep if there's something ya want and it's expensive..then that's where it's gonna stay .

Quote from: jcf on August 16, 2024, 11:10:53 AM

Quote from: Wardukw on August 16, 2024, 02:08:31 AM

Quote from: Beermonster58 on August 16, 2024, 01:33:00 AM

Quote from: McColm on August 16, 2024, 01:27:04 AM

Quote from: The Wooksta! on August 16, 2024, 12:46:20 AMAirfix are pricing themselves out of the market.

Hornby has increased it's prices by 9% and in some cases 10%.

The phrase in the email I received that really stood out was :

"we have not had any major price changes since January 2022, but unfortunately, the time has come to update our product prices.".

Now, we can read into that anything we like but, if those increases are any guide then, I'm afraid my "loyalty" as a customer is likely to sorely tested.

Here in Nz Airfix have been priced up the waazoo anyway ..a 48th Javalin will knock ya back 100 notes hence why I ain't got one .
Their 35th armour range prices up all over the place with some being quire reasonable..like the Cromwell being around $50 but the Ferret is over 70 notes 
When the price does go up I'll only hunt down second hand kits but even they might be way outta reach.

I only have the 1/48 Javelin because I was
able to get one for <$40.00 USD on sale
from one of the big online vendors. Don't
recall which one and IIRC the price was
$35.00 USD and free shipping. Otherwise I wasn't going to bother getting one.

Jon the main question here is ..Am I jealous..the answer is yep 
Ya got in good so nice score bud 👍 ☺️
I'll get one at some point ..as  my mate Perrin said ..kits have a habit of finding me 

To soften the blow for now there's a sale on, up to 30%:
https://uk.airfix.com/shop/sale?langPath=airfix-uk&filters%5Bmandatory_filter_by%5D%5Bproduct_group%5D=Airfix%20SALE&page_id=143928&sort-by=8&page=1

Airfix and many other manufacturers priced themselves out of my market a long time ago.  I cannot remember the last time I bought a kit with the exception of a couple of the "Vintage Classics" range as a nostalgia trip.  For a while our grandchildren built old kits from my stash of "vintage" Airfix and Matchbox kits. They were not interested in 100 part Spitfires or Sabres.  What they (and I) wanted was a simple kit that they could build with the minimum of tools and fuss in an afternoon or evening and then play with.  Sadly bringing young modellers into the hobby through simple affordable kits seems to have vanished. 

Quote from: dadlamassu on August 17, 2024, 12:18:47 AMAirfix and many other manufacturers priced themselves out of my market a long time ago.  I cannot remember the last time I bought a kit with the exception of a couple of the "Vintage Classics" range as a nostalgia trip.  For a while our grandchildren built old kits from my stash of "vintage" Airfix and Matchbox kits. They were not interested in 100 part Spitfires or Sabres.  What they (and I) wanted was a simple kit that they could build with the minimum of tools and fuss in an afternoon or evening and then play with.  Sadly bringing young modellers into the hobby through simple affordable kits seems to have vanished. 

The trouble is that many youngsters with the attention span of a Tiktok video and brought up on slick, instant video game graphics find the concepts of using hand skills, exercising patience, not getting a perfect result first time and trying again, utterly anathema. Then add to that parents who think glue, paint and knives will instantly leap out of their hands and kill their little angels, and the propects of recruiting teenagers looks pretty bleak.

On the upside, there's a growing trend of 30-somethings getting burned out on social media and instant gratification, and rediscovering the pleasures of real-world physical activities and delayed gratification, so it may be that that's where the future of model-building, and all craft hobbies, lie.

Airfix were asking on Twitter ("X" ) the other day if any of their followers had built a 1/24th scale kit and if not, what subject would tempt them? I wasn't the only one to reply "never" and "nothing" and I pointed out the cost and size issues of 1/24th to them.

Interesting that they were asking though: I suspect that profit margins are better on the 1/24ths.

Quote from: Mossie on August 16, 2024, 02:05:54 PMTo soften the blow for now there's a sale on, up to 30%:
https://uk.airfix.com/shop/sale?langPath=airfix-uk&filters%5Bmandatory_filter_by%5D%5Bproduct_group%5D=Airfix%20SALE&page_id=143928&sort-by=8&page=1

Cheers Mossie! 

They've got those "European City Steps" firmly stuck where the sun don't shine, haven't they? They've been in every sale since they came out at prices as low as £3, which given their £25 RRP is pretty desperate. The only thing I can think of to do with them is recreate the dancing scene from the last Joker movie, but I've never see a suitable figure in the right scale.

EDIT: I just ordered a Dambusters Lancaster. After applying sale discount, Club discount, and Hobby Reward Points, it came to £25.14 including shipping. I don't think I'm likely to get a new-tool Lanc for less than that anywhere.

i know that 1:24 is one of the car kit scales, so i could go for that, ( possibly)  but for aircraft its a tad large ( yes thats coming from me  mr 1:48 B one and B52 kits to build) 

the cost is something that bites, and i know that wile im comparing it to other brands it still makes me double or triple think, and a lot of the time put back.

Quote from: Beermonster58 on August 15, 2024, 11:59:29 PMBy the way, I also received this email from Airfix yesterday. It was devoid of specifics :

"An Important Message for Our Loyal Customers

As one of our valued customers, we wanted you to be one of the first to know that we are adjusting our prices from 1st September 2024.

As business costs and inflation have risen over the past two years, we have worked hard to find ways to absorb these costs and avoid having to pass them on to our customers. Despite facing challenging times, we have not had any major price changes since January 2022, but unfortunately, the time has come to update our product prices.

We know this is disappointing, but it is essential for us to be able to maintain the high-quality research, design and manufacturing processes that we pride ourselves on. We are looking at each product individually, so price changes will vary.

But here's the good news: you can still grab your favourite items at their current prices. Place your pre-orders or in-stock orders by 31st August to lock these prices in before they go up.

What's more, you don't have to worry about any pre-orders you have pending – we will honour these at their current price.

Thank you for your continued support!"

An important point to consider if you're thinking about pre-ordering to avoid the the price rise:

Whe you pre-order multiple kits, you have to pay the £3.95 (minimum) postage on EACH of them, because they will be sent out as they come in.
However if you wait until they're in stock and order them all together, you pay ONE charge of £3.95 and shipping is FREE if the total comes to over £30.

This means that if you pre-order say, three kits, worth over £30 combined, you'll be signing up to pay an extra £11.85 in postage on them, whereas if you wait for them to come into stock and order them all together, you'll pay nothing.

The questions you have to answer are therefore:

1. Do I think the price rise is going to be more than the multiple postage on the kits?
2. If I wait for the last one to come into stock, will the first one be out of stock by then?

I don't know the answers to either of these, I'm afraid.

The MiG-17 and combo is excellent value, 60% off.

I've watched a few reviews of the Airfix Belvedere on YouTube, they say that the model is the preproduction and not the one shown on the box artwork or the ones that entered service.
The model is very tricky to build, some modellers have resulted in improving the kit with resin or vacform parts.
I'm wondering if the clear cockpit canopy from the Fairey Rotodyne would fit, I have an idea for a kitbash but it wouldn't be a Belvedere as you know it.