SPA Modeler

Kinda surprised that no one has posted this yet. So much for getting any more Vipers or the new Tomcats.

Not surprising to me. Tamiya USA is located nearby in Aliso Viejo. At one point, they had a very good relationship with a local shop, I believe due to the owner being an officer in IPMS USA. But in recent years they had a falling out due to pricing. Tamiya USA was selling items at a lower price from their location than the shop could do. So they discounted all their Tamiya models, sold them off and did not restock. They now refuse to carry Tamiya kits. Which at sticker price on new tool kits is too much for my spare cash anyways. Now personally I don’t care for Internet Hobbies anyways due to my experience with them while I was deployed overseas. But I am curious to see what this policy will do to places like Scale Hobbyist, Sprue Brothers, and all the other discount online retailers....

If this affects Scale Hobbyist I’m gonna be really pissed off. They’re my go-to for Tamiya products.

Tamiya. The Apple of plastic.

Question, does this apply to U.S. stores only? Or international too?
Because if its U.S only then it doesnt affect me. If its international then Tamiya has basically shot themselves in the foot since theyre overpriced here anyway.

According to that ad, it applies to all hobby dealers. Presumably that includes international dealers as well. This could certainly lead to a sales slow down of their products.

From what I've been reading- some from people "in the know"- it's pretty much universally, no exceptions. If that's true, I agree- they're just hurting themselves...

I think with this action Tamiya's aiming primarily at some Hong Kong dealers who sell their kits dirt cheap. I've seen their new 109G-6 for unter $30. If I purchase them through a German retailer they're pretty expensive and I don't think they'll getting more expensive for the most of us.

Makes me think of a chef that believes his cooking is worth $50 a plate. Ego driven.
To this day, I have never paid retail for any Tamiya kit. I don't recall having ever ordered one online and I have never bought one in a shop. All the ones I have purchased have been on vendor tables, at about 50% (or less) MSRP.

Of the 200+ builds I have on display...there's only 10 Tamiya kits.
Of the 300+ stashed kits...only 3 Tamiya.

They make great kits...I don't think anybody will argue that...they just want too much for em.

Not unusual. I've seen this in other industries. For example, in fishing, Shimano has a similar deal going and some tackle shops have had a falling out with Shimano and no longer carry any Shimano product. Seems to hurt the retailer more than the manufacturer and Shimano remains a highly popular brand.