The world is going crazy

[paddy]

Does anyone else think the cost of kits these days is getting out of hand. you would think with 3D scanning and CAD they would be coming down ?
Many of these kits are launched along side upgrade packs because the basic kit is not really as good as you might expect ?
Meng has launched a 1:9 scale BMW motorcycle kit, its £130.00 but the upgrade kit is a further £69.00 so a total of £200 or $270 USD
Really ? for a 1:9 motorcycle ?

 

[moon puppy]

I'm waiting for the 3d folks to produce full kits in file format, maybe they already have?

 

[paddy]

Yea i suppose it will go like music and you will not buy CD, or records, you just download it and cut out the middle man

 

[Tojo72]

Your title explains it well,just look at the record inflation we are experiencing, gasoline,electricity,groceries of all kinds,restaurants hotels,building supplies,everything. So why should model manufacturers and sellers be any different.
With so much phoney money being dumped into the system, Covid outages, supply chain issues, it's the the new norm

 

[jknaus]

I'm not sure what costs have impacted models next to shipping but I am sure there are any number of them. Shipping went insane around the world when Trump axed the mail act which gave China and other countries a very low cost. Now they are increasing the prices and that gets transfered to us. Then there are the Brits with their exodus from the EU which I am sure you are painfully aware of. Now the EU has increased taxes and cost from what I can gather from various small companies who can no longer afford to sell to Europe or Britain. Shipping in the States and Canada has gone insane and made things to prohibitive to obtain. All that aside I'll mention things I have learned of the 3D movement. I wondered why companies like FC Model Trend cost so much among others. Its because of the cost of the industry. I'll talk small time companies as I was researching because some of the figures I have obtained I am allowed to sell prints of. You have to consider the price of resin which fluctuates and consumables such as the FEP for the tanks, the screens which have limited life and which can become damaged easily.You have to count the time it takes to make an item and you have to figure your failure rate. So 1K bottle of resin is $55 Cdn and the FEP is 5 for $30. Or maybe you do as I have and bought some nFEP which is $13/sheet. Lets say it take 500ml to make the Black Widow figure at 1/6 scale. It takes 3 prints of around 18 hours each assuming all goes well. Someone orders one and it takes 4 or 5 days to print it and then package and mail. What happens though if there is a failure. Now you are increasing the amount of resin, the time, and the wear and tear on your printer. I am sure you can lower the cost by buying resin in bulk and if you get more printers you can print faster bringing the turn around to 2 or so days but you have even more chances of failures. Now big companies can afford bigger better industrial printers but the one I looked at was $35000. So cost gets passed along. I love 3D printing but as long as I remember its a hobby the costs arent too bad. If I had to think business I would be more concerned. I wonder if that is why anyz has now started to sell prints as well as the actual product, so they can actually make some money. I know Kai has a seller and I think will entertain more, but I cant afford the time, money or stress of becoming one. A 3D sculpter who makes amazing figures will let me sell the print, but I am not sure of the market for them and really cant afford to buy more printers to make it viable. Bob, as for full kits, a very very talented modeler I know has made a model of Yoda's ship and will soon be selling the files so full kits are out there.

 

[paddy]

The EU is almost a criminal set up. Unelected and unaccountable. The UK was lucky, although in deep we have managed to get out but most other nations have not been given the opportunity and probably couldn't afford to now anyway. That does not stop the EU trying its best to make an example of the UK to deter others. There is absolutely no reason why cost for movement of goods between the UK and EU should be any different however the EU is manufacturing new costs and paperwork to make sure it is.
Most of the cost involved in the sale of goods world wide is not manufacturing or raw material cost, its retail profit and tax. I just bought a Scammell transporter for my Grant tank. It was cheaper to buy from China with "Free" world wide fedex shipping than to buy from a UK outlet. i think the price was £65.00 all in. what do you suppose Thunder models gets for it? HLJ want £36.00 i dont suppose thunder get more than £8-10 max

An example , i buy carburettor needles from Italy, UK importer price to the trade £8.00, i buy trade direct from Italy at £1.40 so UK importer mark up 470%
But its worse than that because these retail at £17.00 so real mark up 1114% and remember Italy are making all their manufacturing and profit on £1.40
In the UK energy cost are spiralling upwards. but hang on, that includes Electricity and Gas ? we have more wind farms and solar panel fields than anywhere else in Europe, has the cost of sunshine and wind gone up ? we have our own gas supply in the North sea but hang on ? the price we can sell it to ourselves is set by global prices ? But the real problem is tax because the tax is a % so as prices rise so does the tax and in the gas world for example while gas suppliers get it in the neck for the high prices it now transpires that actually the tax amount is 6x the profit amount.

I agree its a global problem but its a problem manufactured by a small minority that do very well out of it.

 

[Iron Mike]

Yes, the world is a crazy place and getting crazier. Let's please leave out the politics.

 

[Heavens Eagle]

Everything that has been said here goes right to the idiots that are in government. Most politicians are basically lawyers and most lawyers can't balance a checkbook. In addition most politicians solutions to problems cause more problems. Nature of the beast. Get rid of the lawyers (lying POS that most are) and put some engineers and accountants in charge and a lot of problems would probably disappear quickly. I don't care who is in charge they are ALL making a giant mess of things.

Making life tougher for "ALL" of us working stiffs.