That's too much!

[Saito2]

Our hobby isn't particularly cheap. Granted, there are far more expensive ones. There's the old joke, "Do you know how to make a small fortune? Start with a large fortune and then buy a boat." All in all, though, there are far cheaper ways to spend one's money (but are they as cool?). In a world of $400 Egresses or $500 Super Dog Fighters or what have you, has there ever been something that makes you say "Nope, I'm not going to spend that."?

For me, lately, its been Tamiya PS paints. $4-5 was hard to swallow when a standard can of spray paint ran $4 and was 3-4 times the size. Now Tamiya paint is minimally up to around $7.25 and even at that, I can say "oh well, I need it".  Today I'm seeing PS1 White going for over $10 on Amazon. That seems to be my limit. Sure I spent $250 on the kit that will need this color, but somehow I can rationalize the value there. $10 paint? Nope. I just can't do it. Silly, I know. Is there any other aspect of our hobby that has you hitting the brakes on opening the wallet?

[Twinfan]

I personally think £45+ for a brushless ESC is getting ridiculous...

[Kowalski86]

1 hour ago, Saito2 said:

 

 Is there any other aspect of our hobby that has you hitting the brakes on opening the wallet?

Yep, plenty of aspects, I could write a whole novel on the price of things, gross upsell tactics, and the "MAP" nonsense.

 There's a reason why most of my tools/greases aren't RC specific, just my shock oil, and why I only have one on-road car. My only RC tools are a MIP 1.5 wrench, and numerous T-wrenches.

Whenever I have an on-roader the cost of hop-ups always stops me cold, it doesn't matter if it's Tamiya, Traxxas, or Kyosho. I'm not really into fancy aluminum bits.

3D Printed parts, especially anything from shapeways, are ridiculously overpriced for what you're getting.

Electronics are frankly a joke, I really, really fail to see why Futaba or Sanwa receivers cost what they do (theyre just little boxes cranked out of China like my FlySky receivers), or MyLaps transponders. Then you have brushless stuff which tends to be very expensive and filled with unnecessary gimmicks (for us that don't race).

I hear you on paint prices, $10 for a little can that barely covers a shell is a bit much. Duratrax gives you slightly more in a can but it's still $9.00.

Crawling isn't necessarily cheap, but Ive come to appreciate how long most crawlers hold up with their intended use. You get the "scale" aspect of on-road but tires last forever and electronics usually hold up. Plus, you can always raid a thrift store for "scale accessories".

59 minutes ago, Twinfan said:

I personally think £45+ for a brushless ESC is getting ridiculous...

Try $60-80 for an esc, then $20 for the programming card that should've been included (I'm looking at you Castle!).

[Dakratfink]

Not so much just “too much “ in price, but the large scale basher side of the hobby is has been shifting toward “too much” for a while. 
There is a segment of the hobby where if you  don’t have at least 17mm wheel hexes, running a bare minimum of 4s and have a brushless motor the diameter of a soda can you just aren’t R/Cing. 

[Gebbly]

An 8 wheel amphibious vehicle looked really cool.....then I saw the price.

https://greensmodels.co.uk/products/cross-rc-bt8-complete-kit?_pos=1&_sid=2ca7323ca&_ss=r

On the upside I tell the missus about that and then the £80 kit I have my eye on seems so reasonable to her

[wtcc5]

Overall I think some prices in this hobby are becoming ridiculous. Especially for the small hardware (screws, colorful nuts, axles, pins, etc.).

Whole kits on the other hand don’t feel more expensive than in the 90s.

My limits are the actual prices of Tamiya aluminum lock wheel nuts, that are around 2,30€/piece…

[Dakratfink]

28 minutes ago, wtcc5 said:

Overall I think some prices in this hobby are becoming ridiculous. Especially for the small hardware (screws, colorful nuts, axles, pins, etc.).

Whole kits on the other hand don’t feel more expensive than in the 90s.

My limits are the actual prices of Tamiya aluminum lock wheel nuts, that are around 2,30€/piece…

If you balance prices / wages / other cost of living factors, some kits are probably cheaper than they were in the 90’s 

( I’m sure a re-re Mid probably cost in “real” costs than what my Dad paid for in our Mid in the late 80s ) 

Regarding screws/ pins grease / lubes etc , that stuff is pretty pricey, I try to use the hardware store equivalent of most things over hobby specific hardware and chemicals when I can.  I think the reason that stuff has gone up so much is the hobby retailers ( local or online ) are making up for the slim margins on kits and electronics with items I know hobbyist will nickel and dime themselves on. 
 

Not to beat my own horse to death or highjack the thread too much, but I’m reminded of one of my favorite quotes in the Original Mad Max

” It’s like the sign says, Speed is just a question of money, how fast you wanna go?’ “

Ihave learned over the last couple of years in both 1:1 and R/C this may be  true about speed and  performance, but not about FUN.

[Pylon80]

Yep paint is 10$ a can for me here in the US.

But then a set of wheels for a short course truck is over 70$. Seventy. Dollars. For toy tires.

[Kowalski86]

1 hour ago, Pylon80 said:

But then a set of wheels for a short course truck is over 70$. Seventy. Dollars. For toy tires.

Then you need $15-$20 for a tiny bottle of glue to mount them.

[moffman]

For me it has to be (and it really pains me because I’m an absolute fan of Kyosho) £65 for a body for the optima mid 60th anniversary and that’s without the wing  yes it comes with decals but £65 seriously Kyosho that probably at best cost pennies to make? 

[Pylon80]

1 hour ago, Kowalski86 said:

Then you need $15-$20 for a tiny bottle of glue to mount them.

That's true, but don't forget that the bottle will last at least a year before it dries out 🤣

[MICHAELs TopForce17]

Paint has always been expensive here ps cans are under 20. For me it’s has been servo’s from overseas the price and the wait time is too much, so I have been buying them from Amazon and arrive in 1 to 3 days. 

[Blista]

Car bodies which still cost the same but now don't come with the racing livery stickers.  I've got to track down a grey-market supplier, but the quality won't make the now doubled cost worthwhile.  I end up buying nothing at all and everyone loses.

I really don't like now that every aspect of their kits are coming with the Tamiya tax.  Mechanical fixes are one thing but car bodies?  It's a bit ridiculous.

[lee82gx2]

In Japan, paint is still 600Y and thats precisely the price of a take out sandwich. I believe its not risen in price all that much over the years.

Its gotten expensive to import and tranport the goods. This is a real fact since Covid, affects ALL industries. Even the actual price of a sandwich / cheap meal has risen 2x over the covid years. 

Factoring this, in my country it costs 5-7 cheap meals or 2 MacDonalds meals for a can of spray - how about you guys?

Personally for only my location I'm using substitutes. A can of non tamiya spray / automotive spray is around 1 meal, and I just make do.

Tamiya bodies are far too expensive, knock off chinese are only 1/3 or 1/2 here. 

[Rijkvv]

My LHS is asking about 15 euros for a PS can I think, and often you need two or more cans for multiple colours or backing. I'm a firm believer of supporting local businesses, but my budget has limits. Then some of the bodies by Killerbody actually become a viable option for onroad cars.

I've read somewhere else RC-specific tools are overpriced, but quality tools in general aren't cheap and I don't want to always have to search where I left my screwdriver, so I want additional tools regardless. Then again, an Olfa knife can be found for 15 euro, the exact same knife with Tamiya branding costs about twice as much.

Some of the Tamiya cars have a slot for an on/off switch, as an autist I NEED to use it, and I see only a few options for these unless I go solder myself. One is the limited Tamiya esc, the other is one of Castle (which I'm not even sure it fits) which is in general well beyond my budget.

[skom25]

Receivers price. If you have one or two cars, it is fine. If you have more, it starts to be small fortune.

[Juggular]

My RC is basically driven by sales items.  

Tamiya sells track sets for half the price?  I'll happily abandon my plan for M-08 or BBX in favor of what's cheap now.  If time is money, the reverse must be true; I'll just wait for things to be cheap, even if it takes a year or two for BBX to be $220.  A used one is fine by me, too.  

My RC got rebooted by an item on sale.  Some hobby shop in Florida did a clearance sale. I ordered a Montero Wheelie for $85. Including shipping, it was just above $100.  After that, I ended up buying 24 Tamiya RC cars over the years. So maybe Tamiya should sell things at cost once in a while. 

 

Wait, never mind... Tamiya has nothing to do with it, it's our Max-Profit Capitalism.  

It seems that Japanese sellers are willing to make small profit by selling a can for $3.40.  Amazon Japan sells a can for whopping $5.22 and $4.89 for fancy new colors (including shipping). $3.75 for ordinary colors.  If you have ordered from Temu or Aliexpress, you know it doesn't take a lot of money to mail stuff from overseas (unless Temu or Aliexpress subsidize shipping fees. But it would still have to come out from somewhere).  So if a seller charges 15 Euro, it's the retailer or the middleman or both.  In the US, 1 can used to cost about $6-7 before, when the Japanese Yen was stronger. Considering how weak the Yen has been, it makes no sense to charge as much as $10.  Max-Greed will doom us all.  

Maybe Tamiya USA should sell these directly to us to keep us in the hobby (and make a tiny bit of profit too).  

 

 

[lee82gx2]

Also bear in mind that our hobby IS still shrinking and there is a lack of competition and lack of demand. 

Case in point - Stargek - Singapore's biggest Tamiya dedicated dealer has just closed down. 

[skom25]

3 minutes ago, lee82gx2 said:

Also bear in mind that our hobby IS still shrinking and there is a lack of competition and lack of demand. 

Case in point - Stargek - Singapore's biggest Tamiya dedicated dealer has just closed down. 

I am not sure if RC is shrinking, but I am sure that Tamiya is bit "outdated".

I bought small can of white paint this week and I paid around 6 Euros, so it is not so bad here.

[Howards]

17 hours ago, Saito2 said:

has there ever been something that makes you say "Nope, I'm not going to spend that."?

This has been the story of pretty much every product since the pandemic. Either products have become significantly more expensive, or the quality or size has decreased.Or all three. 

Amazon stuff in general is getting more expensive - suspect some of this is due to labour / shipping costs. On small items like a can of paint this is going to be more visible. Also, yes, they've crushed the competition a bit so they can now squeeze. 

Also, I think we misjudge how rich some folks have become to the point where paying $70 for toy tires is just noise. I mean, a car tyre these days is what, $100 at the cheap end? I recently forked out $500 for spark plugs and an oil / filter change as part of a standard service. The market seems to be sustaining it, so I wonder if it's a whole strata of folks who used to be well / reasonably paid finding out they now are not. 

[Kowalski86]

2 hours ago, Juggular said:

.Maybe Tamiya USA should sell these directly to us to keep us in the hobby (and make a tiny bit of profit too). 

Blame MAP, if anyone sold Tamiya paint (or any Tamiya item) for below the normal price, they'd risk Tamiya not doing business with them, same goes for a few others in the RC business.

2 hours ago, lee82gx2 said:

Also bear in mind that our hobby IS still shrinking and there is a lack of competition and lack of demand. 

Case in point, all of the "limited retro editions" coming out as of late, vanishing tracks, LHS's...Chinese brands are adding to the competition, but not all of them are good for the hobby.

[chris.alex]

20 hours ago, Saito2 said:

Is there any other aspect of our hobby that has you hitting the brakes on opening the wallet?

Tamiya ball bearings. Futaba radios / receivers. Titan screws sets. 

Batteries over 50€. Motors and Servos over 75€. ESCs over 100€. 

 

[markbt73]

This is kind of why I've been on a scruffy vintage runner kick recently. It's about the cheapest way to get something I'll actually enjoy. As long as you don't go hog-wild trying to actually restore them, or try to throw too much power at them, old beat-up runner-quality vintage cars are actually pretty affordable.

Kit prices have definitely gotten eye-watering in the last few years. A Lunchbox was a superb value at $89, but at $150? Not so much. And I love the looks of that new Squash Van, but I don't see $200 worth of value there. By contrast, the BBX at $255 seems fair, with full bearings and aluminum shocks and all. But that's a lot to spend on any kit.

What stops me dead in my tracks are the prices of bodies, wheels, and tires, especially when it comes to the scaler/crawler scene. There are some really incredible options available these days, but man are they expensive. $109 for a set of wheels? $180 for a hard body kit? $60 for a lexan body? Nope.

[Kowalski86]

14 minutes ago, markbt73 said:

As long as you don't go hog-wild trying to actually restore them, or try to throw too much power at them, old beat-up runner-quality vintage cars are actually pretty affordable.

Case in point, this was just $40 and only needed some minor TLC. Its from a more or less dead brand, but I can still get parts from Redcat.

And I completely hear you on the crawler scene, usually it's cheaper to part out a "toy grade" RC or a model, over buying a shell.

 

[Dakratfink]

38 minutes ago, markbt73 said:

What stops me dead in my tracks are the prices of bodies, wheels, and tires, especially when it comes to the scaler/crawler scene. There are some really incredible options available these days, but man are they expensive. $109 for a set of wheels? $180 for a hard body kit? $60 for a lexan body? Nope

So much this ! 
I recently traded one of those SCX clones I had for a Carisma simply because the Carisma had a great looking body and I don’t want to think about what the difference would have cost me to outfit and paint a similar body on the old chassis. 
 

I run a mini scale toy grade New Bight Grave Digger shell on my 1/16 Revo mini that I actually picked off the trash heap . 
 

I will sometimes stop myself from bidding on a good priced roller from time to time simply because I realize fitting a body will cost more than is auction did if I win it. 
 I get that tooling and licensing are most of the cost of a lexan body, esp a licensed one, but when I see what someone like Sabula Tech gets for an unauthorized approximation of certain car, I can’t imagine J Concepts, Proline etc couldn’t sell older body styles they have already recouped the upfront costs for similar price points.