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Bandai 1/72 B-wing UK price drop :-)


peely20

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Interesting... I was just perusing Amazon and eBay for Bandai Star Wars kits and spotted that B-wings have suddenly become more affordable this week. Average prices have usually been between £45 - £50, and that has always felt like it was just a bit too much for my pocket to stretch to and would only consider buying one for less than £40 inc p&p.

 

Well... today I found a UK seller on eBay offering them for less than £37 including free delivery. So one quick click later and a purchase was made! Happy Days!

 

Not sure exactly why prices have dropped, all the other Bandai SW kits seem to be at average price levels, if not more expensive than usual, £70 for a Y-wing! I can only assume that expensive kits sitting on shelves are not making retailers any money so are now being discounted to get them shifted.

 

Now may be the time to get one if you’ve been hovering.

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4 hours ago, peely20 said:

Not sure exactly why prices have dropped, all the other Bandai SW kits seem to be at average price levels, if not more expensive than usual, £70 for a Y-wing! I can only assume that expensive kits sitting on shelves are not making retailers any money so are now being discounted to get them shifted.

 

If you bought it from a UK or European seller, it's probably the Revell distributed B-Wing. They should sell for less than the Bandai ones from Japan. It's the same kit, and still has Bandai on the box, it's just ditributed in Europe by Revell.

 

I think the stupidly high prices for Bandai kits in general at the moment are a combination of production backlogs due to Covid, and price gouging by sellers. Hopefull in time the prices will come back down to a more sensible level.

 

Andy:cat:

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1 hour ago, The Tomohawk Kid said:

Didn't the original Disney license restrict Bandai to Japan only sales

 

Yes, originally they were only sold in Japan, but Bluefin began distributing the kits in the US a few years ago and Revell distribute a few of the kits in Europe.

 

Andy:cat:

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18 hours ago, Andy Moore said:

 

Yes, originally they were only sold in Japan, but Bluefin began distributing the kits in the US a few years ago and Revell distribute a few of the kits in Europe.

 

Andy:cat:

I hoped they'd have released some of the other kits here by now, but it's been quite a while and there's still been nothing at all about the smaller vehicle boxes (other than the Death Star + Star Destroyer box) or things like the 1/72 Y-Wing and A-Wing.

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REVELL have the license for Bandai in Europe but it is restricted to the following Kits and their Revell Official UK RRP

 

RV01200      X Wing Fighter  £29.99

RV01201      Tie Fighter        £29.99

RV01202      AT ST                £29.99

RV01203      Snowspeeder   £29.99

RV01204      Slave I               £39.99

RV01205     AT AT                 £49.99

RV01206     MILLENNIUM FALCON  £349.99

RV01207     Death Star and Star Destroyer   £19.99

RV01208     B Wing Fighter     £49.99

 

 

Edited by TIGER HOBBIESLIMITED
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Thanks to everyone who read and commented on my post and all subsequent comments, always good to hear other people’s observations.

 

My freshly ordered B-wing turned up this morning, a supremely quick service considering I only ordered it at about this time on Wednesday. I am used to ordering Bandai SW kits from Japan and waiting at least a fortnight for them to arrive.

 

It is as Andy predicted, the Revell marked boxing, which doesn’t bother me as all the rest of the box is brimmed with Bandai goodness.

 

The price of the B-wing kits is still fluctuating somewhat, but still less than what I have observed until very recently.

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On 10/30/2020 at 1:56 PM, TheVoidDragon said:

Where did you find them for that price?

Sorry for not getting back sooner... wanted to check it came through OK and with the current state of the world took longer than expected but arrived this morning. ;)

 

https://www.365games.co.uk/sci-fi-and-space-model-kits/star-wars-b-wing-172-bandai-model-kit

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5 hours ago, SMD70 said:

Sorry for not getting back sooner... wanted to check it came through OK and with the current state of the world took longer than expected but arrived this morning. ;)

 

https://www.365games.co.uk/sci-fi-and-space-model-kits/star-wars-b-wing-172-bandai-model-kit

 

Thanks! 10% off code so got it for £29! About the price it should have been in the first place I think, no idea why it's £50 RRP...

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4 minutes ago, TheVoidDragon said:

 

Thanks! 10% off code so got it for £29! About the price it should have been in the first place I think, no idea why it's £50 RRP...

Having a look at the kit... there are a lot of parts and it is very intricate with a lot of very finely cast pieces. It's more kit than a 1:72 X-wing or spitfire and I'd guess sells less well.

 

It's my new favourite kit. :)

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13 hours ago, The Tomohawk Kid said:

Out of interest, how do the Bandai kits compare with the Fine Molds equivalent ones?

 

Tommo.

 

 

Hi.

I built a Bandai X Wing and have a Fine Molds, both 1/72.
My opinion is that they are at the same level of detail. Fine Molds has a structure like a traditional mock-up and Bandai with their own where the pieces snap together but that's not a bad thing. The adjustment of both kits and the detail I think is similar.

And although it is not related to the kit issue, I would like to mention that in AliExpress there is a brand called Nuclear Models that the same Bandai kits have figures. I have bought the R2-D2 and C-3PO kits and the prices are incredibly low: approximately € 16 including shipping.
I don't really know what happened but I assure you that the staples, the instructions, the decals ... Everything is Bandai. Maybe some commercial manoeuvre packaging Bandai kits under another brand?

The bad thing is that I have only found figures (Darth Vader, imperial soldier etc) and I have not found any ships.

 

Andrés S.

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