UK prices for model kits are getting worse..

I visited Hobbycraft today (UK hobby chain outlet) as the one local to me has just had a refit, and they now stock model kits, model supplies etc.. Thought I would visit, see what they had, you know check it out.

I was so shocked, and appalled at the prices. They had a decent selection of the newer Tamiya Car range, Subaru 2002 WRC - £26.99, Ferrari 360 Spider - £29.99, Lotus Coventry 25 Climax - £24.99 I could go on, but these prices were almost giving me heart failure..

I actually did a little test using HLJ.com. I put the Lotus Coventry 25 in the cart, along with some P/E parts for a Nissan Z-Tune I got, and some Marlboro F1 2001 fill in decals for the 2001 F1 model I’ve got, and the total price in UK sterling was £21.99. Post and packing is estimated to be around £6 SAL. £27.99 just £3 more and I got P/E parts and additional decals for some of my “yet” to do models..

Frustrating that I want to support LHS in the UK, yet I can’t afford to at these prices.. Yet dispite this, the models were selling. They had a shelf system where I could see gaps where models have been purchased.. Guess it’s good in a way, but what a rip off…

I think I’ll stick with HLJ.com and low priced bids on ebay.. Still get my paints etc from UK online retailers, and I’m currently trying out www.grandprixmodels.co,uk for SMS supplies and some Acu.Stion P/E sets.. See how that goes, been VERY slow at the moment as I’ve already waited 4 weeks for a P/E set from them..

Its simple - don't buy kits in the UK. I've not done so for years, only get my consumables like paint, styrene and glue etc.

I've gone on about this many times before, but this shows how rediculous UK prices are...The cost of the kits in Japan are cheaper than the UK retailers pay form the wholesalers/distributers.

Have you tried American sites like Towerhobbies.com? They have good prices as well (Not as cheap as HLJ but I think shipping would be better). Also have an immense selection of tools and supplies.

There was some yelling about this on an R/C car company's message board: Their parts were a lot more expensive in the UK and Europe than in the US, and basically the company said that they just sold them to distributors, and it was out of their hands then. Shipping costs, fuel, middle-men who mark up the price when it passes through their hands, and government taxes and tarriffs all drive up the prices you pay.

I too believe in supporting my local hobby shops, but you gotta worry about yourself first. Buy what you can locally, and go where you can get the best price for everything else.

OUCH. I just did the math and you are paying nearly double what we pay here for those same kits. Sucks.

Been speaking to Matthew at SMS, Grand Prix Models should be getting a delivery from SMS very soon (I have a few bits on order from them as well). As for local hobby shops, I've given up. The only shop I have near me is a Hobby Stores, and it no longer carries Tamiya paints... kits (at £££) but not paints. Duh.

Must have been 3 years since a UK Kit purchase
(Apart from 2nd hand from model shows)
All my supplies come from Japan or Hong Kong now.

Is the same in Australia. And i asked our distributer in Australia and their response was that the wholesale price to the japanese market is different to other countries around the world and they would not do the same deal to us.So Fujimi and Tamiya is so expensive over here Fujimi is worse than Tamiya most kits in Fujimi are around $55-$69aud here and around $34.00 shipped from HLJ. I,m just lucky i work in a hobby shop and buy for cost plus20%.(which is why i have to many bloody kits)

I found a hobby shop 15 miles from my house and I didnt even know it was there til last weekend! It's got a great selection & the kits are reasonable - Audi Quattro Rally £15, Lancer Evo (can't remember version number) £17, Though Williams F1 was there at £31 :eek: Due to the fact I build so slow and one model can last up to 6 months I don't mind paying for kits out of my LHS. I'll use ebay in the future for kits I can't get from the store. I'm kinda glad I can't get kits for TOO cheap because then I may do what I don't want to do...... buy more kits than I can possibly build!

I've been buying my kits from ebay at an average price of £6 per kit, some have been £9 and I got a Ferrari F1 2001 and F1 2000 deal for £15. I got the FW24 from Tomchina on ebay, with the postage it was £20 I think. I got the Ford Focus WRC 2002 just last week of ebay for £8.50.

So for these three F1 and one rally car from Hobbycraft would have cost me £102.96. Same kits from ebay, all BRAND new never touched in brand new boxes including postage was £47. Saving £55.96. These kits are pretty well detailed, and will take ages to complete if built using aftermarket add ons etc...

Been doing this for months, even the Honda RA 272 I'm building I paid only £7.50 for it. I think I became accustomed to the cheap ebay prices, so seeing these prices instore made me sit and think..!! Tamiya kits in the shops are not cheap..

TBH, I'm now in the market for aftermarket parts now. I've got enough kits to last me around 3 years now. CF decals, P/E sets etc.. I brought my last ebay kit last week, the Ford Focus WRC, there are two more Subaru WRC cars I need to get and I'm good for years..!!

I was mearly saying that UK prices are a rip off.. Even when compared to UK ebay prices they are too much. In a way, Sticky Fingers is right, the cheaper ebay prices has allowed me to buy around 20 more kits then I need, but if I had paid LHS prices then I would have paid almost the same for 20 kits, instead of having 40 kits to now build..

40 kits - WAY too many kits..!! I've been VERY ill..!! oh, the shame of my complusive buying.. I've been a very sick little boy..!! Medication might not help. To be fair though, this is 9 months worth of ebay browsing.. Average of 4 kits per month..!! Still no justification for such stupid "must" have buying..!!

HAHAHA... your story sounds damn near identical to mine!
My last buy was a 1/20 McLaren Mp4/13 from eBay (Aussie LHS's aren't bad, but can't compete with eBay), and I now focus on aftermarket parts. I can see myself spending in excess of three to four times the amount on 'extras/upgrades' than I did on the MP4/13 kit itself!

Actually I just received in the mail about 20 minutes ago my first set of Bare Metal Foil (matte aluminium)! ooooo I've got goosebumps... hehe And I'm about to have CF decals flying every which way throughout the room...

Damn it, I'm so glad I'm not the only one hooked with no hope of redemption...!

Oh, and why is it that every time I get something new I feel like posting a thread about it with pictures of every different angle...??? Does anyone else feel this insane urge...? Please tell me I'm normal...
[Make sure to look out for my 11 picture thread on my new Bare Metal Foil please folks!] hehe

I have a major reason for NOT buying more kits than I can build. And that reason is my fiancee. If I buy more kits than I can make, she'll just go out to the shops & buy morew shoes than she can possibly wear :lol2:

Ugh, I do the same thing. Of course, my impluse buying is on the lower-priced American kits: Several craft stores in the area sell Revell Monogram and AMT kits for under $15, and they often have 40% off coupons in the newspapers. Plus Wal-Mart has lots of the AMT re-releases at $5.97 (You could hit every Wal-Mart in the area and get maybe a dozen different kits for that price).

They aren't the greatest kits in the world, most are 30+ years old, but they build up OK, and how can you pass up a kit that costs as much as meal at McDonalds?

....and how can you pass up a kit that costs as much as meal at McDonalds?

Indeed, and probably much safer to eat too :biggrin:

Indeed, and probably much safer to eat too :biggrin:

And tastes better with more nutritional value!

I've looked to buy from American retailers but many will not ship outside of the US/ Canada. I think the choice in many US retailers is far better (for US styled stuff such as wheels, stereo gear etc) but shipping restrictions become extremely painful

And Mick - 40 kits, starting to get very obsessive!
I'm at 17 unbuilt now and have forced myself to stop!

And Mick - 40 kits, starting to get very obsessive!
I'm at 17 unbuilt now and have forced myself to stop!

Not wishing to brag, but I've got about 400 kits...I've sold about 50 recently on ebay and it still hasn't made a dent in the shelves full. Before I get grief...I bought just about every one with the intention of building it someday, but I have come to the decison that I could use the money more than a life full of kits.
The great thing about ebay is that most of the time if you want something specific you can usually find it. My intention now is to sell most of them, and then if I really want something specific to look for it online when I want it.

Is the same in Australia. And i asked our distributer in Australia and their response was that the wholesale price to the japanese market is different to other countries around the world and they would not do the same deal to us.So Fujimi and Tamiya is so expensive over here Fujimi is worse than Tamiya most kits in Fujimi are around $55-$69aud here and around $34.00 shipped from HLJ. I,m just lucky i work in a hobby shop and buy for cost plus20%.(which is why i have to many bloody kits)


it is so true like one of my friends who only buy kits and never built it. He has over 70 unbuilt in his show case.

It is the VAT that kills the prices for the UK consumer. I too would like to support the LHS, especially mine, as the owners are good acquaintances of mine. Unfortunately, everybody has to look after no.1, I have been a frequent customer of HLJ for many years, and I have yet to find another model source that has such a wide selection at 'realisticly affordable' prices coupled with excellent customer service.

Must just be your local Hobbycraft that sucks.

Resent purchases at my local Merry hill branch...

Tamiya RX7 with engine detail = £11.50
Toyota Celica Gt4 road car = £14.99

thats round about a japanese price when you add shipping and under if you get stung for tax at customs. I think its just the race and rally kits that are massively over priced at Hobbycraft.

I always find stuff like fujimi AE86 models that are about a £5 at HLJ marked up as "rare" and sold on UK drift sites at a silly £20 mark up. Is that fair on them crappy kits?

Tamiya RX7 with engine detail = £11.50
Toyota Celica Gt4 road car = £14.99

Those are OK prices, but are really old kits now

Those are OK prices, but are really old kits now

I've never seen any LHS or Hobbycraft selling kits for this price, seen some kits on online websites for around £11 onwards.

But really, £25.99 for a rally car and £34.99 for the FW24. Really, I mean I'll skick with the risks of ebay. OK, I've had a few kits cheap that need new decals, but I'm in the process of sorting this now, other then this, ebay has turned up some pretty good deals for me,

As for import taxes. I made an order with HLJ (my second order in 9 months) and brought the ferrari 550 and 575, along with the Z Tune. I also had a bottle of Tamiya Wax included total cost was £51.99. Good deal, or so I thought.. I've now educated myself with how "crappy" the taxman is and read the H M customs website. Oh how foolish I was..!! £13.80 to get the goods from the post office, total cost was £65 odd.. £22 per kit, and the Ferrari kits are rubbish IMO.. OK, I got some wax as well, but really..

Hmm.. Not in a good mood today...

Those are OK prices, but are really old kits now

There not old there "rare" remember LOL :naughty: