[flyXwire]

Folks living in California should go to their closests Indian Casinos and hit the slot machines. Easy to win and easy money and you'll have plenty of extra money to spend on CW diecasts!

Seriously, I don't intend to buy another CW F-14 as I already have my fill. I do however intend to buy
as many F-8 Crusaders (regardless of price increase) coz that's my favorite jet warbird! Nuff said....

[Epapazian]

Originally Posted by Lakota Mech

With the price of everything else going up. I'll have to be more selective on what I'll buy. The price of this Crusader is awful high. I'll buy one but not a couple like I have been. To bad they didn't put the pin up on it. That would of sealed the deal for me.

This seems to be the way the diecast market is evolving. The quality manufacturers are going to raise their prices and collectors are going to buy fewer models and be more selective about their purchases. I used to jump on most new entries as soon as the first version appeared. Then, I would buy three or four others, more or less, as they appeared----even if some weren't really my favorites. Except for HM's Kate and a few others, I now wait to see what the next set of liveries look like before making a decision on which one of the first batch to buy.

[Phantom Phan1200]

Heres a little insider info to one factor why CW costs a bit more than HM even though they are made in the same Chinese factory.

Most diecast company's ship their product direct from the plant in China to their distributors around the globe, thus only rolling shipping & port fees into the cost of the product once.
Remember the price you pay for something is not just for the cost of materials & manufacturing, also factored in is the cost of transportation & distribution & whatever else to takes to bring the proiducct to market.

For whatever reason CW does not ship their product direct from China to their distributors, they ship from China to Japan & then to their distributors.
This adds a big chunk of change into the price of the model when you consider the high price of fuel & port fees, not only China & the U.S. but also Japan.
Shipping direct to the distributor would save the distributor, dealer & the retail customer money.
The only ones in the Chain who are not really effected by the double shipping are CW.

[le differance]

Originally Posted by tripoli

Size is not so relevant to cost these days. Its the labor cost that is so costly in production. It is thew same reason that kids cloths are approaching the same cost as adult wear now. Material cost was always the consideration of the past, but now when you add in the higher cost of labor, size and materials is not as much of a factor.

damn, nice point...

I suppose I could try to save face by arguing that larger aircraft tend to have more hardpoints and thus require far more ordinance,
especially if we're expecting lots of stores options (and proper mounts) for each hardpoint, but yeah, you've gotten the better of me
here...

well, another irrational thought bites the dust...

[PappyB]

Originally Posted by trex0770

In most cases, I can get a HM plane for between $29 and $45. Yes, I know most consider the HM product inferior to CW, but for my tastes there is not much of a drop off in the quality of CW's planes to what HM gives us. For example HM's A-10 is excellent with tons of ordinance and can be had for around $40, now how much better is CW's F-14 (since we don't have the exact planes to compare)?

Here is the problem for me -- I used to think that for me there really wasn't that much difference between Dragon and CW's Tomcat for the $ difference. Dragon Toms can be had for the low $20-30s if you shop around, and on ebay regularly. I'm not a stickler for 100% accuracy as I don't know an A from a B from a Pelican... I just think the Tomcat is "cool" and want a representation or two or three in my collection.

I have the Dragon Sundowner and I really like it... well make that used to.

I made the mistake of putting it on my desk last week next to the CW Black Aces Tomcat .... after a day or two that Sundowner didn't look so good anymore to me. So I moved the Sundowner to the "sell pile". Then I put some of my Dragon F/A-18s around the CW for a sort of carrier deck display.... and suddenly I found myself wishing CW would issue a Hornet, too...

So I likes the CW birds the best, but at some point I just have to say "no mas". The JR LE Tom will be my last CW Tomcat barring any deals that may happen in the future, which will likely be very few. I'll wait and see with the rest.

[Iroquois]

I was just watching the news and they were talking about Toyota's sales and profits were down in their North American sales, because of a weak US Dollar and a stronger Yen, also we are on the verge in the next couple weeks of $4.00 a gallon gas across the country.
I know for myself I have already been cutting back because of the economy hitting my pocket book.
And with everything going up Food Gas and my paycheck not getting any bigger and my savings account somewhat getting smaller. I have contemplated maybe even getting out of this hobby because of this economy here and my priorities to my family. At this point I don't see it getting better, and if this possibly becomes a trend among all the Diecast companys to raise their prices I cant do it.
It would be unfair to my family.

[Gort]

Originally Posted by Epapazian

This seems to be the way the diecast market is evolving. The quality manufacturers are going to raise their prices and collectors are going to buy fewer models and be more selective about their purchases.

Couldn’t agree more, Epapazian. I’ve beat the drum on this theme so hard I’ve punched a hole through it. But bare with me one more time ...

Prices are rising like a tide. As they do (and please excuse this silly simile), more and more collectors will struggle to keep their ever lovin’ noses above water, until, finally, they can’t. Lucky survivors will doggy paddle until they, too, succumb.

In other words, collectors will purchase fewer models the higher prices climb. And at some point as prices overtake people’s ability to pay, the diecast world, as we know it, will collapse.

Can’t say when that’ll happen. Can’t say for sure it’ll happen. But buyers’ pockets are only so deep, and if this CW issue portends the future, I'd advise we take swimming lessons.

[Biggie]

Well, my take on this is, I will always budget in some money for my hobby, the planes the books the mags and so on. If next year I can only afford 2 planes per week, then thats what I will be getting. I have always thought CW were way high priced, better or not, more accurate or not, they were around $15.00 too high for what they are. Now I understand the cost of metal goes up, the cost of labor goes up, the cost of getting it to the USA is going up, so I can live with increases. But we all know Dragon or Witty if they wanted to could make the same accurate models same steel get the colors a little closer and be where they should be $40.00 dollars or so for a nice F-14 or A-6 or so on. Why they dont do it , I can not understand. The other thing to consider is I have been told the new model coming out is way bigger than the A-6 or Corsair II, so that may play a part in the $10.00 higher price too?

If the retail is $75.00 I bet I can get em for $65.00 anyway and in my mind even considering cost increases that we all understand these are $15.00 too high.

CW better get a grip on cost, save some on the box or somewhere or they will not be able to sell 2000 of each model and they will cease to exist.

Just my two cents, Biggie.

Originally Posted by Iroquois

I was just watching the news and they were talking about Toyota's sales and profits were down in their North American sales, because of a weak US Dollar and a stronger Yen, also we are on the verge in the next couple weeks of $4.00 a gallon gas across the country.
I know for myself I have already been cutting back because of the economy hitting my pocket book.
And with everything going up Food Gas and my paycheck not getting any bigger and my savings account somewhat getting smaller. I have contemplated maybe even getting out of this hobby because of this economy here and my priorities to my family. At this point I don't see it getting better, and if this possibly becomes a trend among all the Diecast companys to raise their prices I cant do it.
It would be unfair to my family.

[Phantom Phan1200]

Originally Posted by Phantom Phan1200

Heres a little insider info to one factor why CW costs a bit more than HM even though they are made in the same Chinese factory.

Most diecast company's ship their product direct from the plant in China to their distributors around the globe, thus only rolling shipping & port fees into the cost of the product once.
Remember the price you pay for something is not just for the cost of materials & manufacturing, also factored in is the cost of transportation & distribution & whatever else to takes to bring the product to market.

For whatever reason CW does not ship their product direct from China to their distributors, they ship from China to Japan & then to their distributors.
This adds a big chunk of change into the price of the model when you consider the high price of fuel & port fees, not only China & the U.S. but also Japan.
Shipping direct to the distributor would save the distributor, dealer & the retail customer money.
The only ones in the Chain who are not really effected by the double shipping are CW.

Guys read my above post,
I think a lot of people are missing the point, if CW did not ship their product twice, once from China to Japan & then from Japan to the rest of the world, their prices would be more in line with other brands, thats the largest factor in the higher pricing!
It's only CW's fault their prices are much higher than Witty Dragon or HM, if they drop shipped directly to their distributors it would knock a few $$ off the price of each model.

[trex0770]

I love reading all of the points everyone's made here! Just goes to show that we are a savvy bunch of collectors and really know our stuff.

Now CW should know this and take into consideration that it will eventually end up shooting itself in the foot.....ala GMP, Corgi, etc., if it doesn't do something to mitigate the increase in pricing (whether it be drop shipping, packaging, etc.). I truly hope the manufacturer's mentality is not one of, "oh, they're collectors/fanboys/fanatics and will shell out any amount for our product".

I, same as Pappy, started going back to FM b/c of the overall improvements and especially b/c of the prices as compared to 1/72. I would probably just drop 1/72 altogether if not for some of the cool selection of jets available in 1/72 that aren't available in 1/48 (I just might now with the price increases)......besides, have you ever put a 1/72 plane next to the 1/48 version? The awesomeness of the 1/48 size kills the 1/72 model!