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Airfix Victor delayed?


Harrier/ViperFan

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And boy do the Airfix price rises suck! I have the feeling some retailers are profiteering as they would have ordered Victor, B-17G, Pearl Harbour Gift Set etc .... many months ago in quantity at the old prices and are now (will be) flogging them at the new prices, thats business for you...  

 

So much for the cheaper alternative to the Tamigawa Cartel

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Perhaps this has to do with the pound to euro ratio, but Airfix do seem to be pricing themselves out of the European market.

 

An Airfix 1/72nd Lightning F.6 sets me back about three, four euro's more than the Sword 1/72nd Lightnings, and those come complete with resin and photoetch.

 

Cheers,

 

Andre

 

 

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The retailers probably ordered them at the old trade price and will almost certainly be invoiced, and pay, for them at the new, higher, price.  Some (Hannants, Hattons, Wonderland?; other suppliers are available) might have been able to negotiate volume discounts and some of these might pass that benefit on to their customers, but don't bet on it.  One retailer I know has had five of his main suppliers (including Hornby) impose price rises of over 15% this year ("Oh it's due to Brexit.).  

 

Retailers can't benefit much, if at all, from the increasd RRP because they need the cash flow to make up for other increasd costs.  The retailer referred to above has had some kits on his shelves since the "New" stickers on them were appropriate (e.g. 1/48th Merlin) so he definitely hasn't benefitted from the increased RRP there, and may well wnd up selling this kit at cost (at best) just to generate something to offset the purchase cost to him.

Edited by stever219
Sppeling
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8 hours ago, Britman said:

And how much would a tamigawa Victor cost?

Far more than I'm prepared to pay, that's for sure. But as the Airfix Victor also costs more than I'm prepared to pay, the question's academic as far as I'm concerned. As it happens, I do want to build a Victor B2 with Blue Steel, so last week I bought a Revell boxing of the old Matchbox kit for less than 40% of the Airfix price: I already have a spare missile and I can make the other changes. I was fully aware of what's in the box and how it compares to the Airfix kit but, with work, it'll give me what I, personally, want.

 

Airfix are pitching their new releases at people who have a different approach to modelling and I honestly hope they've called it correctly. I've been buying their kits for over 45 years; I've bought a lot of their recent 1/72 releases (which are very good) and I want to see them prosper. I'll continue to buy new kits when they're of a subject that I want a kit of in that scale (having regard to what's already in my stash) and the cost is within my budget. But, at their new prices, there will be no more impulse buys. I hope other people feel differently and can afford to keep putting money in the Airfix bank account.

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I do not wish to add to the commentary over price, however I would think that a built up 1/72 Victor is probably going to come out at a similar size to a 1/48 Tomcat.. so plastic wise it's roughly the same.

 

Cheers.. Dave

 

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11 minutes ago, MADMUSKY said:

I think £60 is steep for Tamiyas 48th Tomcat, but at least it was 48th, paying the same for a 72nd scale aircraft kit is extortionate, no matter what aircraft it is.

Here's some 1/72 aircraft currently priced over £60 at Hannants:

Trumpeter Tu-142MR £72.99

Trumpeter Tu-95MS £74.99

Tumpeter Be-6 £62.99

Trumpeter Tu-22 £79.99

Trumpeter Tu-22M3 £72.99

Trumpeter Tu-160 £89.99

 

Then there's the Modelsvit Tu-144 for a massive £407.

 

Are these all worth the price? If you want a kit of that particular subject, I would guess so. 

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12 hours ago, Britman said:

And how much would a tamigawa Victor cost?

Probably about the same. The Victor is 228 parts according to the Airfix site. Whilst Hasegawa don't do V-bombers the 1/48 F-22 is a similar size if shorter in wingspan, but is a good deal more complex at 368 parts and the most recent issue is available from Hannants for , you guessed it,  £59.99. I'm afraid the above cliche is no longer valid, Airfix have well and truly caught up with Tamigawa prices.

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7 minutes ago, Gary C said:

Probably about the same. The Victor is 228 parts according to the Airfix site. Whilst Hasegawa don't do V-bombers the 1/48 F-22 is a similar size if shorter in wingspan, but is a good deal more complex at 368 parts and the most recent issue is available from Hannants for , you guessed it,  £59.99. I'm afraid the above cliche is no longer valid, Airfix have well and truly caught up with Tamigawa prices.

Maybe in Japan the price would be comparable, but look at the Hannants price for the upcoming Hasegawa H8K2 Emily flying boat: £107.99 and that's with 10% off!

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15 hours ago, Uncle Dick said:

And boy do the Airfix price rises suck! I have the feeling some retailers are profiteering as they would have ordered Victor, B-17G, Pearl Harbour Gift Set etc .... many months ago in quantity at the old prices and are now (will be) flogging them at the new prices, thats business for you...  

 

So much for the cheaper alternative to the Tamigawa Cartel

I doubt if dealers have paid Airfix. They'll be invoiced when the kits are despatched not before, unless Airfix operate a very different business model to any I've ever encountered?

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18 minutes ago, VMA131Marine said:

Maybe in Japan the price would be comparable, but look at the Hannants price for the upcoming Hasegawa H8K2 Emily flying boat: £107.99 and that's with 10% off!

 

Thats more to do with Amerangs mark up than anything else. The Japanese street price is around 7000 yen which is about £50 so in their respective markets they are very comparable. How much would an Airfix Victor be in Japan if Amerang were importing them?

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If Airfix bring out a Vulcan I'd pay £60 for that as well.  Looking at the Valiant I'd be happy if the Victor was the same, but it looks better on the test shots.

 

As said above, if it's a subject you want to build the price is what it is.

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Yep. Got an email from Hornby saying the date had been pushed back to 15 December 😕. I also hesitated at the price but I like the subject and given the number of times my finger has hesitated over the "buy" button for the Revell/Matchbox versions in the past the idea of a new tool was just too good to pass up.

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37 minutes ago, Nocoolname said:

Yep. Got an email from Hornby saying the date had been pushed back to 15 December 😕. 

 

Excellent marketing strategy by AIRFIX gives them the chance for another price increase!

 

1 hour ago, GordonM said:

I doubt if dealers have paid Airfix. They'll be invoiced when the kits are despatched not before, unless Airfix operate a very different business model to any I've ever encountered?

 

My supplier (who shall remain highly classified) of all things AIRFIX (No not Hattons - well not anymore sadly :mellow: and most certainly not Hannants) told me this "The price of the Victor, B-17 and Stuka/Gladiator DD are still the same as quoted before as we ordered them before the price rise"

 

Tally Ho Chaps!

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Two comments... when hasn't a major Airfix release been delayed?  I know there's a part of my shelving that's really desperate to have a Victor sitting on it, but I think I can wait :)  You could also give the kit away with a free tenner, and some people would still complain that it was only a tenner, or they'd have preferred two fivers.  That's just some folks :shrug:

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3 hours ago, Gary C said:

 

Thats more to do with Amerangs mark up than anything else. The Japanese street price is around 7000 yen which is about £50 so in their respective markets they are very comparable. How much would an Airfix Victor be in Japan if Amerang were importing them?

Don't forget you have to add 20% VAT on top of the distributor's mark-up.

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6 minutes ago, Uncle Dick said:

Yes - Airfix could probably raise the price to £200 and those desperate enough for an Airfix Victor will fork it up 

Well I wouldn't go that far. I'm sure Airfix set the price to give them a reasonable payback based on the development cost and how many they thought they would sell. In the end, if they don't make money then, sooner rather than later, we get no new kits at all. That said, I don't understand how Revell is making money on it's new tool 1/32 Fw 190, Spitfire, and Bf 109G kits; Squadron in the US is selling them for $23.99 each (MSRP $29.99). Even Hannants' export prices (no VAT) are more than that and you still have to add shipping.

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