Jump to content

OMG have you seen the price of the Airfix Merlin


Mark M

Recommended Posts

New tool Merlin £55 for Airfix

Old tool Seaking with new decals £70+ from hasegawa.

I know where I would send my money.

Looking at the rapid prototype and knowing it comes with a full interior (which a lot don't) it sounds reasonable to me.

However as Mike says

lets wait & see what plastic we get before we commence the wringing of hands and wailing?

Julien

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Depends on what you get with it... lets wait & see what plastic we get before we commence the wringing of hands and wailing?
Talk of over 300 parts for it, complete cabin interior.

I'll stand by my previous statement thanks, the A400M comes with a full interior optional blades, an awful lot of plastic and probably a little licence money for Airbus.

Still it comes in below £40

Revell must be making a loss on every kit then.

£55 smacks just a bit too much, considering when built they both weigh in about the same size on the shelf.

If Jumblies do sell it for £40 then I will get it from there as that seems a fair price.

Chris

Link to comment
Share on other sites

The prototype did give the impression that we will get a lot of top quality plastic in the box. £55.00 retail, but I expect to see it for sale online for around the £40.00 mark.

Hannants almost always charge full retail (and a bit more sometimes), so the Jumblies price is more what I'd expect to pay after a bit of Internet searching.

As has already been said, best to wait and see what's in the box before we all slag off something none of us have seen yet.

There was a lot of shock when the price of the big Airfix Mossie was announced. There is an awful lot of plastic in that box and you can now pick them up well below the £139.99 retail price Airfix are asking.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Very true Scarlet, I just cant see how Hannants stay in business charging full whack for everything. I use them for "the more difficult to find" bits and bobs

but I can't remember the last time I bought a kit from them. With out trying to derail the thread, have you seen the price Hannants ask for the "Second Hand" kits... SHOCKING.

Chris

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Very true Scarlet, I just cant see how Hannants stay in business charging full whack for everything. I use them for "the more difficult to find" bits and bobs

but I can't remember the last time I bought a kit from them. With out trying to derail the thread, have you seen the price Hannants ask for the "Second Hand" kits... SHOCKING.

Chris

Hi Chris,

Hannants stay in business as they are also a wholesaler, selling probably half of the ranges they stock are also sold to trade, we would be poorer without them, I know I would as they stock my ranges! This means that if I want to buy one or two Revell or Airfix kits I can buy trade off hannants without taking a vast range direct from Airfix but at the same price, if they also sold below full retail they would be undermining their trade customers, this is something that some US wholesalers have been accused off.

Apologies for slight deviation from topic! £55 sounds a lot but as mentioned its a big detailed kit, and I would imagine there are licencing fees to the MOD and Agusta Westland to cover in the price. its bound to drop lower after being out a few months, not a good sign if its discounted on release!

Colin

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Also, the 1/48 Academy CH-53 which is only slightly bigger retails at £59.99. I think the low price of the revell kits is the exception rather than the rule, and I think it is unlikely that other manufacturers can afford to follow them.

Edited by lufbramatt
Link to comment
Share on other sites

Its the age old dichotomy of people wanting large subjects, wanting them to be packed full of detail, then wanting them at bargain prices. Sure, Revell's Arado and A-400M are exceptionally well priced, but as Lufbramat says, that's probably an exception rather than a rule.

Big kit of a large aircraft, if the SLA's at Telford were anything to go by, its not going to be a weekend project and assembling the interior alone is a model in itself. Airfix pricing themselves out of the market? I don't think so, they're still investing in the entry level stuff while doing more involved kits for the enthusiast end - but involved costs, every bit of detail adds to the budget and that has to be recuoped.

And people still want a VC10 or a 1/48 Vulcan?

Edited by Jonathan Mock
Link to comment
Share on other sites

Hi Chris,

Hannants stay in business as they are also a wholesaler, selling probably half of the ranges they stock are also sold to trade, we would be poorer without them, I know I would as they stock my ranges! This means that if I want to buy one or two Revell or Airfix kits I can buy trade off hannants without taking a vast range direct from Airfix but at the same price, if they also sold below full retail they would be undermining their trade customers, this is something that some US wholesalers have been accused off.

Apologies for slight deviation from topic! £55 sounds a lot but as mentioned its a big detailed kit, and I would imagine there are licencing fees to the MOD and Agusta Westland to cover in the price. its bound to drop lower after being out a few months, not a good sign if its discounted on release!

Colin

I'll second Colin's view. Hannants sell to a lot of the retails you buy from, so they are in a difficult position.

Paul

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Its the age old dichotomy of people wanting large subjects, wanting them to be packed full of detail, then wanting them at bargain prices. Sure, Revell's Arado and A-400M are exceptionally well priced, but as Lufbramat says, that's probably an exception rather than a rule.

Big kit of a large aircraft, if the SLA's at Telford were anything to go by, its not going to be a weekend project and assembling the interior alone is a model in itself. Airfix pricing themselves out of the market? I don't think so, they're still investing in the entry level stuff while doing more involved kits for the enthusiast end - but involved costs, every bit of detail adds to the budget and that has to be recuoped.

And people still want a VC10 or a 1/48 Vulcan?

Yeah very true - a lot of people seem to be calling for these large subjects but how much would 'the right price' be? What would be an apt RRP for, say, Revell upscaling their C-17 to 1/72nd? Or somebody doing an injected C-5 in 72nd? I have the Tamiya Spit 9 and P-51 32nd kits, and whilst they are not what you would call huge, the engineering and construction are first class, and examples of 'you get what you pay for'. I would be very surprised indeed if we saw that level of detail for 20 sobs. I would pay 'the right price' for a C-17, a Voyager, a Sentinel, Tristar, Argosy, Beverly, Comet, so long as they were accurate (ish) and not a pain in the derriere to make, but I'd be really naive to think I could get them for a tenner each.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Create an account or sign in to comment

You need to be a member in order to leave a comment

Create an account

Sign up for a new account in our community. It's easy!

Register a new account

Sign in

Already have an account? Sign in here.

Sign In Now
×
×
  • Create New...