Is it me, or has the price of desire gradually escalated over the last year until kit prices have gone through the canopy? I can understand that the cost of new tooling in this period has gone up, but existing kits seem to have also almost doubled in price. For example, the Hasegawa BF 109G in 1/32 scale first hit the shelves of hobby shops six years ago at reasonable £25, but today the same kit costs in excess of £40!
And it's not just the kits. Accessories have also gone up; glue, tweezers, cutting boards, airbrushes - all the necessary bits and pieces the hobby (and professional) modeller relies on have crept up in cost, making this a very expensive pastime and perhaps pricing out the younger kit bashers. I started at nine or ten, and would need to be on some serious pocket money to afford even the most rudimentary aircraft kit and paint.
And yet we seem to have just accepted this without complaint. Some scales have faired better than others - there's better value for money if you work in one of the less commonly requested scales. In 1/32 you can get a lot of detail and extra features for your money, particularly with someone like Trumpeter, but pity the poor 1/48 struggler.
It seems to me that the hobby is growing more popular than ever - there are more magazines devoted to it, and the subject matter for kits seems to get more diverse all the time. Only a cynic would say our enthusiasm is being exploited, but it does seem as though we will be paying more for our pleasure in the future.
