[ac4313]

A Century Wings F-8 was pretty much the ultimate diecast for me, but at $70 bucks they can take a long walk off a short pier. It's been hard enough to swallow paying the same price for the A-7 as the F-14. I realize that they need to make a profit, but that's just plain too dang much for ANY 1/72 scale model. The Sidewinders A-7 will be my last CW purchase, I guess. I wonder what would be better for the CW wallet, the extra $10 per model or the $60.00 I would have continued to hand over for the many new releases to come. I know the answer to that, I just wanted to whine a little longer. What a bummer.

[STARMAN 352ND]

The way the economy is i hate to see Century Wings price themselves out of the market.
JP

[firefighterpilot1]

I'm sure most of you, like myself, shop around for the best deals on these planes. I have gotten pretty decent deals on my CW's but this really just kills any possibility of getting a good deal. I have so many CW's mainly because they are almost all F-14's. If Hobby Master starts producing F-14's, I may have to switch camps...

I feel like they are just taking advantage of the fact that the vast majority of their stuff flies off the shelves, but like has been said, it is hard to justify paying the same price for the tiny Corsair II and Crusader vs. the substantial F-14 and A-6, let alone $10 more. I have bought one of every plane CW has released but there's no way this can continue. Anything less than a sheer stunner won't get my $70...

[tripoli]

Honestly, for the quality of the CW product, i am surprised they sold as low as they did. There was nothing that was prodsuced as well in detailing as these and at the price, it was all more the super replica. You look at any diecast car truck etc that is produced in low numbers and the CW prices are a steal. Manufacturers can only lower their price when thay can mass produce something like this on a much higher number. I think they are getting priced more realistically. The important thing to me is that they do not drop in quality while doing this, but rather there are continual improvements in the product and extras. If they can do that and stay competative in an ever increasing competative market, it won't be a bad thing. But I have noticed a few other Die Cast manufactureres doing the same thing, its just the economy, raw product price increases and staying power of the dollar at hand now. Not a surprise at all.

[firefighterpilot1]

But if cost of materials is the case then an F-14 should cost more than an A-7 as there is a lot more material needed to make the F-14. Not that it's what I want, but it doesn't make sense. I don't see other manufacturers, such as Hobby Master, doing the same and the Hobby Masters I own are fantastic and very close to the caliber of CW. If low numbers and collectibility are also the issues at hand, CW is not doing us any favors with the pending release of this fifth run of Jolly Rogers Tomcats.

[David Hingtgen]

Basically---I do not see much problem with increasing the prices of the largest planes with the most "goodies" included---the F-14 and A-6. But the much smaller A-7 and F-8 simpler should NOT cost as much. Or, the price increase shouldn't be as great. Have the A-7 and F-8 go up 5 bucks instead of 10. There is just no way that the materials cost of an A-7 or F-8 is equal to that of an F-14. Look at diecast airliners---within the same brand, the DC-9's and 737's do not cost as much as the 747's and A380's--and they shouldn't. The size/price ratio doesn't match exactly of course, but the basic fact is that smaller planes cost less.

[Cardinal]

Irrespective of the debate on the 'cost' of zinc, it is likely to be a lot less than the cost of labour - the question you should all ask yourselves is whether increased labour costs in China is the primary driver for increased prices, with the cost of zinc coming in a distant second place ... (I suspect that the time it takes [ie labour cost] to make an F14 or A6 is almost the same as for an A-7 or F-8 so the price will therefore be justifiably similar.)

Realistically, the prices of all diecast products (and other consumer goods from China) will most likely go up quite a lot within the next few years when one also factors in increased shipping costs etc. I hate to say this, but the 'golden era' of cheap diecast is on the wane and you'll have to enjoy what you have while budgeting carefully for that what you really want (need does not really factor into the equation) .

[11SQNLDR]

For me the key is to always pre-order and get the saving that way - I don't like paying full price for anything if I can avoid it and for those of in in New Zealand / Australia we can add another $25 easily just to get a CW shipped.

For the quality and comparatively low release numbers i'm happy to pay a bit more for Century's releases and today i've pre-ordered the Sidewinders and Fist of the Fleet A-7's and the F-8 from Pete's for less than $54 each (Marauder A-7 was ordered a few months back).

Beyond the first F-8 release i'll take things as they come - the extra $10 may make me carefully review buying more ethan one of each type release.

[ZS-VAN]

Originally Posted by 11SQNLDR

For me the key is to always pre-order and get the saving that way - I don't like paying full price for anything if I can avoid it and for those of in in New Zealand / Australia we can add another $25 easily just to get a CW shipped.

For the quality and comparatively low release numbers i'm happy to pay a bit more for Century's releases and today i've pre-ordered the Sidewinders and Fist of the Fleet A-7's and the F-8 from Pete's for less than $54 each (Marauder A-7 was ordered a few months back).

Beyond the first F-8 release i'll take things as they come - the extra $10 may make me carefully review buying more ethan one of each type release.

I with you on this one. You guys are not the only ones with hectic postage bills. I will probably draw an even shorter lot. Getting the CWs in the first place was a real challenge for me and I hung back a very long time before getting any. My first ones were the Sundowners and Grim Reapers F14s along with the Black Panthers A6. I will be a lot more circumspect before getting more. That said I do have an A7 on pre-order and will probably get the F8. How many will be the question.

[kb466]

I would imagine the size of the airplane has little to do with the cost, unless there is a huge difference. More likely the more significant factors are the complexity of the tooling and the cost to produce it and the cost of the labor to assemble it. I agree that more involved weapons loads could impact price, as there is labor needed to do the assembly.

Another factor in addition to the increased labor costs in China is the weakened dollar. For those of us in the US, this has to have an impact on pricing. Finally, I wonder if there is a connection between these increased costs and some manufacturers getting out of the business or cutting back. Dragon, Gemini Aces, GMP and others come to mind. Those manufacturers still going strong like Hobby Master and Century are having to raise their prices. Have you seen the projected price on the HM F-4's?-- they are going to run about $50.00. This has to be a high for a HM 1/72 airplane.

I never have bought more than one each of the Century planes--- mostly because of the cost and because I collect so much other stuff as well. I was thinking I would get another F-14 and I expect I will get more than one F-8 as I really like the Crusader. I will also stock up on Phantoms for the same reason.

I suspect that down the road, long after the F-8's have sold out, there are going to be a lot of regretful people wishing they had spent that extra $10 to have a CW F-8 sitting on the shelf.