Moments of Zen

[TheChronicOne]

Greedy, but smart. They know modelers are like Pokemon fans and Trekkers, etc.

Like... star trek.... they can make 10 "editions" of the same exact thing with only slightly different "extras."  Like, DVD sets or something. They'll make 8 versions of the same movie but one version will have a stupid cardboard cut out Enterprise.... one version will have 10 extra minutes of footage of Captain Kirk falling down stairs and eating pie. One version the lettering of the words on the front will be Gold Colored....but it's all the same movie... Then, they'll charge double what they normally would, and us Trekkers will buy all 8 copies for sake of "completion."  Well, Hasegawa will sell the same exact kit with 30 different box art and sets of transfers and next thing ya know, we have 39 "Su 27"s in the stash. 

Problem being, an old "Su 27" of the run of the mill variety will sell for $15 then all of a sudden they make a new sheet of transfers and the price rockets up by 4 fold.

Oh well.. I still love 'em.        But, best believe I am NOT paying $60 for a Blue and Yellow F-16. And..... these just seem to be my observances. I could be off base here but uhh.....  I spend a lot of time window shopping kits on the ol' internet here.

[NARSES2]

Is the Hasegawa price issue, and it is an issue, especially on the older kits, purely a specific market problem or is it global ? I know I got a boxing of their 1/72 Beaufighter I hadn't seen before in Hawaii a few years ago and it was at least a third cheaper than the then standard U.K. price.

Just interested to know if it's only specific markets being ripped off ? It could be a Customs Tariff issue I suppose ? Need to have a look

[Old Wombat]

As far as I can tell Hasegawa seem to be more pricey across the board in Aus, too, as does Dragon in the armour world.

[NARSES2]

I don't build 1/35 armour but I do find a lot of the prices mind boggling. Mind you they seem to have literally 100's of parts just for the running gear 

[Steel Penguin]

   ack  link and length tracks, ackk 

can you tell im not too keen on them

[DogfighterZen]

  ack  link and length tracks, ackk 

can you tell im not too keen on them

Can't comment about prices of anything but aircraft related products... all i know is that Hasegawa's prices are simply too high for me on most items.
I had to hunt down a few Hase kits, mostly because they were the best option in 1/72 and/or were oop when i got back into modelling.
Hasegawa's F11F, F-14D, F-16E/I/ADF, and the ASF-X Shinden II, are some of the most precious in my stash...
Now, i have to warn you guys, don't buy Italeri's 1/72 F-35, unless it's for chopping up or parts donation!
I suspect it won't be long until it's discontinued cause although it's a recent kit, the molds are already showing problems, detail is inconsistent, very soft on some areas and sharp on others and some raised panel lines on the engine and nose area are almost gone, bottom fuselage is worse ...

[TheChronicOne]

OHH! You got the Shinden II you @$^$% . lmao   

[DogfighterZen]

I know i'm a lucky skinny little b...  but that's one of the expensive kits, although i understand why, on this case.

[TheChronicOne]

Yeah!! I've had my eyes peeled for one for a long while. Can't get one cheaper than $50 then I have to wait eons for it to get here from the Land of the Rising Sun. These are one of those kits that people get ahold of and don't let loose. 


EDIT:  OH BOY. Going to get myself in trouble here. I found one and it has "make an offer" on it so I made an offer and we'll see if they accept it. 

Oh well, I paid all my bills first at least. 


EDIT:  That was fast, they took my offer of $35.17 with free shipping.     And.... there goes my spare money for the month.    Oh well, can't beat the price and it will be here in about 3 days!

You've corrupted my mind!

[Old Wombat]

You've corrupted my mind!

No we didn't!


It was already corrupted, we just fed the disease!

[TheChronicOne]

I can live with that! 

[ChernayaAkula]

One thing i don't understand is why the Hasegawa kit is so expensive...

Because theirs all are.  Even the ones using ancient ill fitting moulds like the Dart & Dagger.

Because they're greedy.

Dear *insert-deity-of-choice-or-don't*, let this stupid thing die already.  It's not Hasegawa giving you a screwing, it's their importers. Hasegawa's MSRP is printed on their boxes in Japanese Yen, which, when converted to your local currency, doesn't seem outrageous at all (bar a few exceptions). In some cases, MSRPs have stayed the same for a decade or two. Meaning you get to pay 1990s' price tags with your 2017's paychecks. They've effectively gotten cheaper!
Hasegawa's Starfighters cost half of what Italeri wants for their Esci reboxes. Much outrage? No! When Airfix resurrects an old-timey kit at contemporary prices, it's met with much "oohing", "ahhing" and "glad to see it's available again"-s, yet when Hasegawa does the very same, everybody loses their minds! Just.... why?

And apparently it's too hard a concept to grasp that Hasegawa are not running a charity. Of course they charge 2017's prices! They've got 2017's prices to pay for wages and materials. And, lastly, they've got to compete with other manufacturers in 2017's markets.
Nobody complains that Airfix' new Phantom will cost 24 GBP, yet people complain that Hasegawa's Phantoms are too expensive.

Also: It's not Hasegawa's fault that importing stuffs yourself is a royal mess for the Great British Public - Evening All!   

Greedy, but smart. They know modelers are like Pokemon fans and Trekkers, etc. <...> Well, Hasegawa will sell the same exact kit with 30 different box art and sets of transfers and next thing ya know, we have 39 "Su 27"s in the stash.  <...>

Nooo!  The constant reboxes are a feature, not a bug. With most manufacturers, you've got the Model T problem. Any Revell customer can have their F/A-18F in any colour scheme they want. As longs as it's the frickin' Jolly Rogers.  With Hasegawa, you can get almost any Hornet squadron. For some people, Hasegawa's reboxes are the only way to get certain colour schemes.
And with decals being the most expensive part of a rebox, of course they're more expensive than the standard boxing.
Also, Hasegawa doesn't make you buy 39 Flankers. If you want to buy 39 Flankers in 30 different schemes, Hasegawa is there for you. If you want to build 39 Flanker in 30 different schemes, Revell will also sell you 39 Flankers, but you will have to find decals on your own. And aftermarket decals aren't cheap for a reason: limited quantity runs. Notice a trend here?

[TheChronicOne]

Fair points all, and yeah, I do see your point, it's not so much Hase but the people who re-sale. I can grok that. It's like these people that buy a limited edition gaming console thing for $150 then turn around and try to sell it for $400. Not Nintendo's fault.

Oh, and definitely not a bug! Like I've mentioned before, I love my Hase kits and I'll be buying many many more.    The variety of stuff is exactly why. I just don't think a mere sheet of transfers should cost someone $30, $40, $50, etc.  Sure, new transfers cost money to make but how much does creating a new tool cost? Skipping over that expense counts for something but that "savings" conveniently flies out the window for some reason.

I stand corrected though, it's the the people doing the re-selling that demand the nutty prices.  Case in point a couple months back when I bought the brand new Shin Kazama F-20.  Tokyo Hobby sold me one and shipped it across the planet for about $25 total while every other place I looked at had them going for WAY more than that.  That tells you all you need to know right there... In fact, I remarked at the time that I should have bought all of them and sold them at about a 100% mark up (like these shady importers).

But hey, I don't need any convincing.. I was up this morning buying Hase kits before the sun came up.     

[zenrat]

...And with decals being the most expensive part of a rebox, of course they're more expensive than the standard boxing...

So lets have more companies (like AZ) knocking them out with no decals at a cheaper rate.  Perfect for whiffers and those who will always use aftermarket decals for whatever reason.

[ChernayaAkula]

<...> I just don't think a mere sheet of transfers should cost someone $30, $40, $50, etc.  Sure, new transfers cost money to make but how much does creating a new tool cost? Skipping over that expense counts for something but that "savings" conveniently flies out the window for some reason. <...>

You won't have top pay 50, 40 or even 30 bucks for just a sheet. You also get the base kit. Combine a base kit with an aftermarket decal sheet (assuming there is one!) and you're usually above what Hasegawa charges you. Unless you're robbed by some middleman, that is.
There are no "savings". The tooling costs X, up front, whether you get a single kit out of it or ten thousand. For a 1/72 jet like the Hunter, a Revell rep told us X is about 60k EUR (IIRC). Get 100 kits out of the mould, you're looking at 600 EUR of tooling costs per kit. Get 100k out of it, you're looking at 0.6 EUR a kit. Plastic prices are all but negligible in this case, a couple of cents per kit at most. Hasegawa doesn't run a charity. Additional runs simply mean the cost per item comes down for them. It's the same for any good on the market. You wouldn't go to your car dealer to get a reimbursement because they managed to sell twice as many cars as they thought they would, would you?

So lets have more companies (like AZ) knocking them out with no decals at a cheaper rate.  Perfect for whiffers and those who will always use aftermarket decals for whatever reason.

1. Nobody who has to order a large amount of modelling goods cares for us whiffers. We're a small niche in what's basically a niche market anyway. Xtradecal's What-If TSR.2 sheets don't count. Because... TSR.2. Everybody's crazy for them. 
2. A kit without decals to use aftermarket decals on is only useful if there actually ARE aftermarket decals. For much of what Hasegawa does, there simply AREN'T.
Aftermarket decal companies won't touch these subjects because a) printing decals is expensive and b) the market is decidedly limited. You've got to pay up front for your print run and there's no guarantee you'll see it back quickly, if at all.
AZ Model is not Hasegawa. AZ lives for the niche. Hasegawa is more Airfix in that regard, meaning they sell in their home markets to casual buyers in department stores. Which is also why Hasegawa can run the risk of putting a kit with limited appeal on the market. And if there are aftermarket decals for something Hasegawa also releases, chances are Hasegawa's main clientèle doesn't even know of them. That's also why Revell can get away with dumping a really old Canberra on the German market. Most of their customers are casual buyers. They don't know there's a much nicer alternative from Airfix.