SPA Modeler

Well there's other kits from others that came be gotten for a whole lot cheaper.

This is true.

Copy that. Ten years ago there was Tamiya and Hasegawa with a big gap to the rest of the market. But look what's going on today:
Eduard, Meng, Trumpeter/HobbyBoss are able to throw out some fantastic kits that can compete with Tamiya's quality for a much lower price. Than there are competitors like AMK and Great Wall Hobby who are doing high-end kits in the same price range like Tamiya that are superior in the details compartment.

Tamiya should watch out. The air is gettin thin up there.

So what’s Tamiya to do when they have a tight rein on price control by forcing dealers to agree to their minimum selling price policy when their product doesn’t sell?

I voice Kenny’s sentiments with discount online stores like scalehobbyist. It will be interesting to see how much of Tamiya’s products actually go on sale - let alone how much of their products sells.

Sounds to me Tamiya is only going to hurt themselves in the long run making demands on price control. Like Fermis mentioned - ego driven when it comes to the all mighty dollar.

The new retail pricing policy for Tamiya went into effect today. Tamiya's msrp on the 1/48 scale F 14A is $115. I originally bought mine at Scalehobbyist for $75. Today when you look up that aircraft on their web site it says "less han $92". If you put it in your cart the price is $76.99. It will be interesting to see if Tamiya will let them get away with selling for less than msrp. Sprue bros. is getting 91.99. sealmodel.com(China) is getting $65.

I’m curious as to what they will do with Hobby Lobby and their 40% off coupons. Granted that HL does not carry many Tamiya kits, but 40% off with a coupon does make the few that they do carry quite attractive.

I'm checking my local hobby store, their pricing has not (at least yet) changed...

Could it be, that the shops can sell their already priced stock with the old prices?

Or is this actually even true ? Fake news even in the world modellers?!

- Kari

Stikpusher wrote:I’m curious as to what they will do with Hobby Lobby and their 40% off coupons. Granted that HL does not carry many Tamiya kits, but 40% off with a coupon does make the few that they do carry quite attractive.

I know the coupons listed not good on certain items but they are 40% off any regular priced items. Besides, HL hardly ever put their model kits and supplies on sale anyway.
Aren’t their Tamiya stock usually older or repops kits anyway?

The Tamiya kits at HL that I’ve seen pretty regularly are a mix. Some old ones like the Sdkfz 251 Half Track, M41 Walker Bulldog and Panzer II, which are great kits for learning to build armor. And then they also have some new release kits such as the Gamma Goat, and M4A3E8. I have not seen any aircraft, ship, or auto kits by Tamiya, but with the Revell situation, I wonder if that will change.