The Confusing Search of Tamiya's MSRP

[Gabranth 216]

I'm talking about mainly discontinued (but not quite vintage) kits, where no store stock them anymore including official sites obviously. I found single brand new DB01 Durga in local market, priced around the same as a TD4, VQS 2020, or Top Force (non EVO). And then a TRF416X chassis only in used condition a little bit less than average brand new complete TT-02 kits. Curious to see if those are good finds or not, I looked around their MSRP but I can't find any. None. Not even database-type of site like TamiyaBase.

Now I'm aware that rarity and condition for second-hand items contribute to the overall price in this wild market but I need to have base price as comparison y'know. To see that should I spend the money on these rare items, rarity and condition aside, instead of newer kits with well known and relatively stable price. I need to know where Tamiya initially put these things in their lineup, price-wise. I'm new to this hobby so maybe I'm missing something obvious here. But compared to other hobbies like Gunpla for example, it's super easy to find their MSRP, so much that I can memorize them at a glance. I'm sure vintage market is even crazier, but I was hoping that at least for something out of 1-2 decades ago there should be some more info around. 

What do you guys think?

[speedy_w_beans 4272]

A lot of the higher end kits have MSRP prices in Japanese yen next to the item number.  For example, the TRF416X box has a price of 79800 yen right next to the item number.  At today's conversion rate, that's a $547 USD kit MSRP.  Typically the street prices were lower.  If you can get a TRF416X in used, very good, complete condition for the price of a new TT02, it is absolutely worth the price if you are planning to freshen it up, protect the chassis plates, and run it / enjoy it for yourself.  It is at the opposite end of the spectrum from a TT02 with carbon/aluminum, threaded dampers, bearings, turnbuckles, suspension blocks, lots of adjustability and tuning potential.

Other kits with Japanese yen prices next to the item number include TRF201, DB01RR, TB03VDS, etc.

If you can find images of boxes for the kits you're interested in, check the sides of the box where the item number is.  There's a chance you'll find Tamiya's MSRP printed there.

[alvinlwh 5895]

Street prices really depends on where you are. For example, I am in Singapore on holiday right now and just picked up a FF-03 and F104W for ~ £220. According to a member I met up with at the Tamiya show room, these had been sitting on the clearance shelf for years! Now if i am to sell them when I return to UK, I can easily double my money (based on a rough ebay check). 

[Gabranth 216]

2 hours ago, speedy_w_beans said:

If you can find images of boxes for the kits you're interested in, check the sides of the box where the item number is.  There's a chance you'll find Tamiya's MSRP printed there.

Yes, that's a thing with Bandai's Gunpla too. That's a reliable method when you can inspect the box in the shop, but when online shopping to find clear shot of the box from all angle good enough to have legible text is not easy. By local market I mean online market in my country BTW, not ebay or international market that requires international shipping.

9 minutes ago, alvinlwh said:

Street prices really depends on where you are. For example, I am in Singapore on holiday right now and just picked up a FF-03 and F104W for ~ £220. According to a member I met up with at the Tamiya show room, these had been sitting on the clearance shelf for years! Now if i am to sell them when I return to UK, I can easily double my money (based on a rough ebay check). 

Exactly, that's why I didn't mentioned the price but used other, newer items with relatively more stable price as comparison point. I used Tamiya's MSRP in JPY mostly to see where the item falls in class or category; entry-level, mid-tier, or flagship, etc. Like if Tamiya priced certain old discontinued buggy around the same as TD4 for example, then I can assume it's (roughly) in the same class. Then when I check around local market I can see if the price is good, or the markup due to rarity is reasonable, or too unreasonable that it's better to buy that newer item I used as comparison with that money.

I'm thankful we have community like this place to help each other making purchase decision. But considering we're spread around the world with vastly different market in each country, we often have to do detective work ourselves and it can be frustrating from lack of info.