It's not the cost, it's the value :)

[Howard Cohen]

Over the past while, maybe 6 months or a year, I notice a lot of people complaining about the cost of model kits, paint, magazines, etc., etc., etc.. 'Oh, when I was a kid, a kit was only $3 and now it's $25'. Yeah, and when you were a kid you made $5 a week delivering newspapers and now you make $1000 a week working full time; everything changes and prices and wages increase. But it's not just the cost of the item that is important, it's the value and enjoyment you get from the item that is more important!

When I buy a kit, I look at how much I will enjoy looking at it, planning how to build it, imagining all the things that can be done with it and eventually, building it. I say eventually because we all seem to have a stash of kits to build. To me the value is not the immediate cost but the long term enjoyment.

I was working with a friend selling die cast cars at a car show a couple of months ago and he sells the long term value and enjoyment rather than just the up-front cost. He explains that although an Exoto car might have a price tag of $300, the real value is in enjoying it when you get it home, placing it in a show case or in a display, looking at it every day and having that feeling of fulfillment for many years to come. That is the value of the car.

I think the same value can be placed on a model car, whether a kit or pre-built, plastic or metal or resin or whatever. If you just don't have enough money to buy the kit you really want, wait until you do. Don't buy a kit based only on the price, buy the kit based on your desires. If you want the new Ming truck and it's too expensive right now, don't buy a less expensive kit just to say you bought something and then spend the next year complaining that you should have bought the Ming kit. Buy what you really want, even if you have to wait a bit to save up. I have done that in the past and I know it will happen again in the future. We are not all made of money but we should be able to enjoy what we buy.

Now go enjoy your models

[mikemodeler]

Well said Howard. I especially agree with the comment about buying what you want and not just buying a kit for the sake of buying a kit!

It's a hobby, enjoy it!

[martinfan5]

I want to add, so many people dismiss kits because of scale, people complain when kits are in 1/24th scale over their beloved 1/25th scale, or dismiss a kit because its not made by Revell/Round2, god forbid a kit is made by a foreign country

Edited April 6, 2014 by martinfan5

[Ace-Garageguy]

...Buy what you really want, even if you have to wait a bit to save up...

That's entirely un-American. Buy what you can't afford NOW, and pay 20% extra in annual interest for the privilege of instant gratification!!!

[Harry P.]

That's entirely un-American. Buy what you can't afford NOW, and pay 20% extra in annual interest for the privilege of instant gratification!!!

Boy, ain't that the truth...

[DrGlueblob]

..who makes a grand a week? more like 300. around this barrio here.

Me? I buy what I CAN.. I BUILD what I want.

Edited April 7, 2014 by DrGlueblob

[DumpyDan]

Well said Howard, I agree with you. Lately I have come to realize that model building is the one thing I enjoy so much I would almost be willing to give up anything to do it. And yes I don't care 1/24 or 1/25 if I like it I buy it or wait til I can afford it.

WELL SAID HOWARD!

[Rob Hall]

..who makes a grand a week? more like 300. around this barrio here.

Depends on what your profession is, $1000/week seems pretty low to me, even when comparing net vs gross..

[Joe Handley]

Depends on what your profession is, $1000/week seems pretty low to me, even when comparing net vs gross..

Compared to what I make, that's pretty good, net or gross.

[DrGlueblob]

7.90 an hour. And way too many fellows I know make that or close to it here. Disability doesn't pay squat, either.

[tbill]

after getting back into the hobby last September, I find I am buying many kits from my youth, it's amazing how seeing/buying the kit again seems to jog the old memory, takes me right back to the day I first built the particular kit. to me, that is priceless.

[Bill Eh?]

Well said Howard. It is all about the enjoyment, in what ever form that takes. Scale? They are all good ... 1/12, 1/20, 1/24, 1/25 for cars, and 1/32, 1/48, 1/72 for aircraft. Earnings figure might just be a wee bit inflated.

[mikemodeler]

Regardless of what your income is, I think Howard's point is to enjoy the hobby, thus the topic title!

Some of us can afford to spend $100 a month and others can afford $100 a year, but if either one enjoys the hobby and builds to their satisfaction, who cares how big your paycheck is?

[Casey]

Value is a hard thing for some people to understand. Some have the "lowest price" mentality engrained into their minds, so it doesn't matter what you get in exchange for your money, only how much money it costs. Plus, value is such a personal and variable thing to each of us, so not everyone will find the same value in something, even if the cost is the same for both.

One of my favorite quotes is: "It is what we value, not what we have, that makes us rich." If you only focus on the money, what things cost, or how much you do or don't have, you'll probably never understand nor find value in anything, and I find that truly sad.

[Greg Myers]

Disability doesn't pay squat

Should it ?

[Thatswhatshesaid]

Can we put the 'rising costs of kits' issue to bed already and just enjoy the hobby?

[ZTony8]

$1k a week?! I wish!

[slusher]

It never mattered to me 1/24 or 1/25 scale.

Edited April 7, 2014 by slusher

[mikemodeler]

$1k a week?! I wish!

Depends on your occupation. Some jobs pay considerably more than that but have a lot of responsibility.

[Joe Handley]

Depends on your occupation. Some jobs pay considerably more than that but have a lot of responsibility.

With the previous owners of my store, I was lucky to make that per month, and I was a supervisor!

[Rob Hall]

Depends on your occupation. Some jobs pay considerably more than that but have a lot of responsibility.

Yes... I'm used to tech industry rates so I'm probably a bit jaded. Potentially lots of hours in my field, but I usually get paid for them..

[Greg Myers]

What a great thread, What do you make a month?

[Lunajammer]

My brother has a (grossly generalized) theory I like that states everything costs roughly 10-times more now than it did 50-years ago. A full size Buick was about $3,800, today $38,000. Gas .32¢, today $3.20. Stamps, food, products etc. is roughly ten times more. Give or take a bit it applies to models too. It's all just a rough approximation. So as far as value, are we really paying more relative to our standard of living than we ever did?

[Draggon]

Interesting. When I was 14, my paper route afforded me the luxury of buying 20 plus kits in a one month period if I so desired. Today that would be more close to 100, however, back then there was no rent, no utilities, no car insurance, no food, you get the idea. So its probably all relative. What does irritate me is the 50% to 100% increase in costs since I returned to building 7 to 10 years ago.

[slusher]

For the price of a kit we do get lots of enjoyment and to forget about the stresses of life for a while. There is ways to cut the price down by shopping at Hobby Lobby and Michaels with coupons.