Rmac757

A quick question for a lot of you long time collectors. What is the reason for the price variation between certain HM models. For example the Luke AFB F-5 goes for around $150 while the almost identical Alconbury one goes for around $65. They have the ability to produce more decal sets in mass if needed. I've seen this with F-4's, A-10's, F-16's etc. is there a quality difference between the higher priced ones and the "normals"?

JettRandy

Good question. The same holds true for the CW A-7E Corsair II US Navy VA-93 Ravens NF300 1980 and the A-7E Corsair II US Navy VA-93 Ravens NF301 1981. Unless I am mistaken, both look identical except for the markings -- the NF301 is considerably more.

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planemark

Are you talking about after-market pricing? If so, it's all about desire and demand. The Luke AFB F-5 is much more in demand than any other HM F-5. If you saw a big price variance from a retailer, well they are just trying to make the big dollar, even if they bought it at wholesale and then when only a few were left out there they went "unethical" and sought a huge mark up. Unfortunately, this practice does exist. In commercial 1:200 you may see it on the new IF200 KLMs. You definietely did with the Air Force Ones.

BTW, I got my Luke AFB from a local hobby shop for $60. They did not really know how rare it was or they would marked it up.

Rmac757

Interesting. It seems that some of the high prices seem sort of random. The F-4's are a great example. HM makes a nice F-4 but their prices vary wildly.

JettRandy

I had a hunch that was the case; it's all about desire and demand.

Once they're gone, they're gone.. and that tends to drive up the price on the ones that come back at a later date.

I missed out on the Luke AFB F-5 and opted for the VFC-111 "Sundowners" instead. He's pretty cool too!

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Ukrainian_Falcons

I think it's got to do with collectors mind set. That F-5 was the first SEA F-5 right ? So immediately once HM or any other manufacturer releases a new mold or a highly popular scheme, everyone rushes to get it thinking A) this is the first model from that mold, I gotta have it and B) what if they don't make another version like this ? And I've gotta have this one now rather then wait, so that drives he high demand, then anyone that missed out the first time has to pay through the nose to get it.

Even the SEA ROCAF sold like hot cakes and that was a very plain scheme with no history, I'll be waiting for HM to release a F-5F ROCAF with red bort numbers

Generally I'll wait for HM to release a few before picking one, I can't afford to buy the first one and then have to sell it on eBay at a lose and pickup a new one, I'd rather much wait and then pop, so far that practice hasn't meant I've missed out on a better scheme that's been previously released. My only exception to this was The Huff F-86, I liked the bold scheme and thought in reverse that later schemes wouldn't be as good, with the exception of Mig Mad Marine which I'd consider also getting and a ROCAF with sidewinders and shark mouth scheme

Comco

I always figured a lot of the variation you'd see from retailers is simply about how long the model has sat on their shelves. IE - they put a standard mark up on them and the A4 they get in 2012 that hasn't sold yet wholesaled less than the brand new one that just came in due to inflation and growing manufacturing costs etc. So you have two of the same models sitting next to each other with a $20 variation.

Then of course there's the desirability factor. I haven't been able to find the latest Israeli Skyhawk for under $100 shipped to Australia or $100 outright from an Aussie retailer. That's crazy for an A4 - I've previously bought them for $70-$80.

If you're talking about ebay etc - then there's absolutely no rhyme or reason except the mindset of the bidders. Someone in another thread mentioned they paid $600 for an Iranian CW Tomcat a while back - there's two listed as recently sold on Ebay right now for half that. It's hard to predict and often makes no sense whatsoever.

Skinner67

I have to agree it's simple supply and demand. There's no quality difference, except as UF said, some first releases of a mold may have errors that are subsequently fixed on later releases.

It's very hard for HM to predict the desirability of a release, so with the recent cut in production numbers, we will tend to see fewer hangar queens and sale items.

The Luke AFB F-5 and Hill AFB F-16 are excellent examples of this trend. I really thought the Triple Kastreb Killer would have done much better, but we collectors are a fickle bunch.

Rmac757

I would really like to see some more CW A-6's that aren't a tanker.

Skinner67

I agree, but the lackluster response to the latest releases may discourage them from anything new for a while, unless they ran a large batch and haven't painted them yet.

This one is what I'd really like to see:

Rmac757

Absolutely. I think "Sunday Puncher" did well. I think the "Swordsman" not as much due to the fact that it/was a tanker. It's the only game in town in regards to A-6's. I think another low-vis scheme or Vietnam era Intruder would sell like hot cakes, even with a $100 price point. An EA-6B ( Family Sedan ) on the another hand would have me bouncing off the ceiling.

Rmac757