kork

My Feedback: (65)

Have people gone mad? in the last couple weeks i have seen alot of kits way over priced. My guess is they will be collecting more dust on them becasuse I cant see anyone paying that kind of cash for a 60 size kit. They still produce some of the good ones. Winter is already here in the upper midwest and the building table is getting ready for more work, but holy cow!
jason

acdii

Yep, was at a swap meet recently and the lowest priced kit I found was the CG Chipmunk I got for $100. There were several red box top flite kits, and they started at $200.  Out of all the sellers there, only 2 had actual kits to sell, for a total of 8 kits between the 2 of them. Everything else there were cheap arf's.  It was closer to Chicago though, and it looks like there is a trend towards smaller electric planes in that area, where out by me large scale planes are the norm. 

Gray Beard

My Feedback: (-1)

Even when they were being made the prices started getting silly. I recall the CG Extra at being close to $200.00 then you had to buy a good glass cowl from FGS and a good LG so the price of the kit was almost $300.00. A lot depends on the type of plane too. I sold a bunch of kits at very low prices when I made my last big score. I sold the giant scale Raven for only $200.00 plus shipping. Shipping to Calif was under $80.00 so the guy got a good deal on it. I have so many plans though I no longer even bother with kits so they can collect dust for all I care. The one kit I kept for myself keeps getting moved back in line anyway and may never get built if I keep getting more and more plans. With plans I have a much better selection too. Kits are just too expensive for me these days. Balsa wood has gone way up in price too, I just ordered planks and I had to really do a lot of searching and pricing before I bought. I'm still not happy with the wood deal I had to make. The last swap meet I went to I bought as much wood as I could find.

raptureboy

Have you checked ebay recently? They sell all day long at these kinds of prices. I bid on a Dave Platt 80" spitfire once and it went for over $500 plus shipping! If you can get a kit for under a $100 buy it! I paid $250 for a Dynaflite Pt-19 GS kit off here, but I've seen them go for as much as $350. They don't make them anymore so they are in demand. I'm gonna just buy plans and have a lazer cutter make me a kit.

kork

My Feedback: (65)

Your right, I have seen may kits go for alot of cash on ebay, I think just keeping your eyes open for good deals is the way to go. If I sell a kit, I dont try to pay off my cabin in one transaction.
Maybe kit cutters will be the thing of the future. Who know's?
jason

eddieC

My Feedback: (2)

I hit the swap shops when available, but kits are becoming rare there as well. 

ARUP

Exactly! And... for just 'the time' you can save on the laser cutter and cut the parts yourself! Very therapeutic, indeed!

Hemikiller

My Feedback: (125)

You need to amend your title to "out of production" 60 size kits for $300... Pica and classic pattern kits are super hot right now.

eBay and the kit collectors are the ones driving the prices, people research on eBay before listing here, which pushes up RCU prices. Market dynamics, plain and simple.

Scratch building and kit cutters are where it's at for me, leave the kits to the collectors.

aymodeler

My Feedback: (3)

No doubt there is some sort of "shared insanity" going on right now. I have seen IN PRODUCTION kits sell on ebay for MORE than you would pay to buy it new direct from Sig or Tower!

That said, if you are patient and keep your eyes open good deals can be had. I have scored several very nice kits this past year for under $250 (including a Dave Platt Spitfire, a Royal B-25 - with interior kit, and a Bud Nosen P51).

Be prepared for a lot of frustration/disappointment though, since more often than not some "crazy" will bid the price up. I lost far more bids than I won.

acdii

We are still kicking ourselves, last year we could have bought 3 Cub kits for $150. We just didn't have the cash at the time, and he wouldnt separate.

Gray Beard

My Feedback: (-1)

I still have a PICA 182 kit that had the center section of the wing started if anyone wants it. I'll never build it. I think I have the gentle lady kit too out there I don't plan on building.
I have gotten to the point I'm now just buying balsa planks and cutting them to the size wood I need during the build. The only bad part of plans building is setting in front of the plans figuring the wood needed for each build. Takes me about 3 days to do all that figuring then I always forget something. All that thinking makes my ears bleed too. I never use kit cutters, it's too easy to cut my own kits.
I do belong to a wood workers club and use the clubs re-cut saw to cut the planks but I usually just use my scroll saw I have in the shop to cut my kits. I keep a stack of 10 foot lengths of hard wood spars cut in most all the sizes used in models. I should be at the wood club Friday cutting up some planks to get more sheeting and sticks in stock. The last two planes about ran me out of sheeting and I had to cut down most of my 1/4 inch sheets into sticks/stringers.

dbacque

My Feedback: (3)

Good morning Mr. Phelps.

All you can do is vote with your dollars. If you watch the auction site you see some kits go for way too much money. If you don't want to pay that much for them it's simple, don't bid on them. Obviously somebody wanted them more than you did. But if you watch closely and watch often, you frequently find a gem of a kit going for a steal. I recently picked up an unmolested Phoenix 8 kit for well under $200. More recently I picked up a completely rebuilt Rossi .60 for it with two carbs for $76. A few years ago I got a Bolly kit for the Desafio S pattern plane with factory honeycombed wing cores for $126, the steal of the century!

Deals is where you find them. Bad deals is where you find them too. Your mission, should you decide to accept it, is to sort them out.

This tape will self destruct in 5 seconds.

Dave

hairy46

My Feedback: (1)

Price of the kits are just nuts! I will build what I have and see where it goes from here,this hobby keeps going up like it has I will be out in the near future!

Airplanes400

My Feedback: (349)

Jane, you ignorant ****. (Stolen from Saturday Night Live)

As we near Christmas, prices will go up. Only because people are desperate for certain items. Tis the season! I saw a Juno F-18 kit go for $160 on ebay when it can be bought directly from JunoRC for just $97

Funny thing is ... at the last swap meet I went to, people were off-loading their kits for $50 to $75
Crazy!

frequent flyer

My Feedback: (6)

Come on guys.

I build a lot of Classic Pattern kits just so myself and all can enjoy them and they are $225.00 to $300.00. I sell quite a few and everyone seems very happy with them The materials just cost a lot and at these prices I still can only hope to break even for all of my efforts to preserve the fun. I remember back in the '70s I would pay $99.00 for a patttern kit and by today's prices $300.00 is cheap! With inflation they should be about $575.00!

kochj

Kits are not cheap to make ....The balsa is typically top rate (the right kind of balsa for each area) , ohh and did I mention that they are not cheap to make?....
A 126" Carden kit is over 1700$ ....I can buy a awsome extreme flight, or H9 sukhoi, or extra for the same price READY to FLY!.....

The main dif...One is made in america, the other is CHINA>.....
Go figure....

TestPilot-101

My Feedback: (4)

Blue Jay models are producing Bridi kits,
Dirty Birdy 60 lists on their web site for $120.00 + $20 shipping.
Also, Juno RC Kits are reasonable if you like the style of models they sell.

brown2x2

My Feedback: (35)

I don't chime in very often, but look in the corner at swap meets. people miss a lot of great planes. I found a UFO with a Webra 60 payed $50 and only put bearings in the motor. TLC on the fuse and she looks and fly's great. Bridy still make great planes. And Tiporare. GP Ultra Sport 60 with a pipe.[X(]

OliverJacob

My Feedback: (12)

Juno RC is currently not selling any kits. The website does not say that, but I put an order in a few weeks ago and got
a message back - the owner is overseas for at least 6 more months, nothing abou tgetting back in business really.

So now everbody wants a fortune for these kits. I'd like to get another prop jet, but not for any price...

ronwc

My Feedback: (404)

I just got done selling about 80-100 kits (mainly on ebay under ronwc1) over the last few months and was surprised at how high some of them got up to. But considering most of these were kits were 30 to 40 years old, in great condition and very hard to find, $200 to $300 was not a bad price in some cases. However, I did see some go crazy high. But as stated above, somebody wanted them at any price.

Gray Beard

My Feedback: (-1)

I have built a few of thre kits from Blue Jay and a bunch more when Joe was cutting them. The prices haven't gone up very much over the decades, last batch of Kaos kits we got from Joe directly was $75.00 a piece for a special run of 12 for our club auction and raffle. Mr. Bridi had already quit cutting kits at that time so this was a favor for us. The Blue Jay kits are still of the same quality as when Joe was still cutting them. Can't beat the prices and the planes are still as fantastic as they ever were.

acdii

And some are now laser cut, which is even better. The ribs on some models are cut that way so the jigs fit perfectly.  I still want one, just dont know which one yet.

Gray Beard

My Feedback: (-1)

Really??? I'm really slipping behind the times and not keeping up with things. There die cutting was always good, I have never had a bad crush job from Joe or BJ but I do enjoy building laser cut kits!!!

chip_MG

My Feedback: (14)

Thats why I have been building from plans way cheaper and I get ot do my own thing on a lot

joebahl

My Feedback: (2)

I find kits at other kinds of sales and do ok. I was at a outdoor church sale 3 weeks ago when i seen a andrews aero master kit under a table for 30 bucks with a older radio in the deal. I bought it and sold it the next weekend for 80 .I buy ad sell ww1 and ww2 stuff at these sales but i always keep my eyes open and most times find some nice kits.I scratch build my own planes so i will use the cash for more balsa or glue or recievers. joe