How much have you spent on a build?

[vettecote]

A 1/8 32 Ford roadster. Been collecting parts for years on this project. Nothing glued yet. $700+

[Roadrunner]

Well, considering that I'm not swimming in cash, I tend to spend as little as possible, trying not to exceed $30 or so, all in, and preferably less.

[Andrew D the Jolly Roger]

Up 'til now it was definitely my Red Green Possum Van which I built 13 yrs ago or so. Not sure what the total was, but it entailed TWO Dodge Ram van kits, a couple of MV lenses when they were less known and far more expensive, parts for the wheels and seats, and an obscene amount of time with scratchbuilding. 

 

Now it's one which hasn't been started yet, but two kits to become Boss Hogg's Cadillac. 

[jeffdeoranut]

my how the hobby has changed...I remember the days when I could afford the kit and a tube of glue and if lucky I had money for one bottle of paint...total cost around $2.50.

[Agent G]

So, where do I begin?

I bought the kit and the Arctic Blue/German Silver paint specifically for this one. Everything else is painted with colors from my stash of spray cans and bottles. 

The light bar is a modified piece I've had lying around for a long time. The radio, siren box, shotgun rack, microphone and push bumpers are scratchbuilt from bits and pieces lying around. The spotlights are resin that I cast myself long ago. The antennae and various cords, are scraps of wire. Decals were from Danno. 

I call it a "labor of love", something I have wanted to build for quite some time. Simply looking at it three years later still gives me great satisfaction. 

Please enlighten me how I can possibly tabulate the cost of this one model car.

G

 

 

 

[Dominik]

Hmmm...if i will build a model not out of the box, i have to pay more than 25$ for one - without paint, glue or anything else, what's on the workbench.

to remember:
builing a racecar (BMW M1 for example) with another Sponsor (BASF for example), you have to by decals for 25$...perhaps some other wheels, photoetch part etc. But thats "our" Hobby, if you will build it authentic correct. my opinion.

as i am right, my "expensiv" model "ever" (i don't write it down, just have my own $-Limit per month) was this VW Caddy:

Basic Kit 25$, Transkit from C1-Models about 55$, Wheels, engine, seats and other parts from Clearly Scale about 50$  without s&h from USA. But: it is unique and (f.m.o.) the result awesome . What is not listed are all the paints for weathering that i've ordered to try on this built.

Edited August 22, 2017 by Dominik

[Pete J.]

Hmmmm, interesting question.  I've done some pretty expensive builds by the standards of the prior comments, but I know a lot several people who share my approach.  First off, I get the greatest thrill out of new skills that I develop along the way and sometimes that requires buying and learning to use a new tool.  Do you include the cost of tools in a build?

Having said that I have built two Tamiya  1:12 scale Porsche 935's with the Scale Motorsport super detail sets.  Gross cost for both of the the kits new, is in excess of $700.  Midway through the first one, my old Badger 175 gave up the ghost and I dropped another couple of hundred on a new Iwata HVLP mini gun.  Into the second one, I also picked up a Sherline lathe to add some parts that were needed.   A lot of money spent on a hobby, but then I have all the tools and by buying good ones, I don't ever need to replace them.  The metal working skills I developed along the way, bring me a lot of pleasure and pride.  

It took me years to build those two models and I got a huge amount of pleasure out of it along the way.  My net cost per hour of fun was pretty low if you want to look at it that way.  

What I have learned along the way is that it it is all about having a passion for what you are building.  There are a lot of models out there that i just have no interest in building.  No offense to these classes but I would not waste my money on a NASCAR, rat rod or a tuner.  No personal interest and building one would be drudgery for me.  When I build I want to learn about the 1:1 and then replicate it as close as possible.  That is my style. 

[M1ks]

I've never taken a tally of a kit as built, I typically build OOB mainly because I like to use my knowledge, abilities and trial and error to achieve a certain look, I wouldn't consider paint and materials in that cost unless it was a specific percentage or bought solely for the building of one model kit then discarded and for those of us in the hobby you typically start with the basics then add paints etc as required which then go a l8ng way and get used on many others, like most, if I tallied the cost of paint and materials alone it would be shocking but they've been built up over several years according to need and trying new things.  Generally I will not spend more than £30 on a kit unless something really special comes out that I really want to buy, even then, I'd baulk at going over £50, I build bike and car kits and you can go silly with aftermarket, PE, turned metal and resin but to me it takes a chunk of the challenge of making the kit plastic look good and look like some other material and because I build for my own display shelves and the people who see them are typically not as knowledgable, nor critical of the accuracy as I am myself kit plastic is good enough and I take more pride in building a good accurate representation for as cheap a cost as possible.

 

[Mooneyzs]

Yes that is the one lol

You probably honestly don't want to know...lol

[Arjay 396]

Since first seeing this topic this morning, I've been trying to figure out. I really can't say. I know I have several AMT Corvettes on the bench that I've paid $50 or more for in glue bomb form, but can't say what's the most I've ever spent on a single build.

Whatever the number is, it would pale in comparison to the value of the time I spend on each one, even at current Minimum Wage.

+1

Many of my builds begin as die-cast kits and I'm always dissatisfied with some aspect of the provided parts.  So I'm constantly on Ebay, searching for more appropriate stuff to correct and/or upgrade the model.  Today, I'm starting construction on an all-plastic car -- a '74 Roadrunner that I hope will be an exact miniature of a vehicle I once owned.  Thirty-five bucks for the kit (OOP Daisy Mae version), ten bucks for a small-block Chrysler motor (mine was a 360-4V A motor), six bucks for some '70 Cuda seats (the kit's accommodations have the wrong upholstery stitching for a '74 Roadrunner), sixteen bucks for an OOP Fred Cady decal sheet, six bucks (amortized) for a set of tampo-printed Polyglas GT's, plus whatever else it takes to make the model fit my vision of what my old Plymouth looked like.  The bottom line?

I have no clue.