I will say this again because it bares repeating. Tamiya cars of tremendous quality and durability didn't cost $500. They were priced well and their durability made many of us repeat buyers. I have ALWAYS thought the tanks were ridiculously overpriced and could never understand how or why they were that high. I am certain I am not alone in this belief. For a long time I simply thought they were sort of going the way of the Lexus, which is really just a Honda, or, an Infinity, which is really just a Nissan.

A Tamiya tank was to be special in the same way and was marketed that way. It was a big mistake. There were many who would have entered the hobby had Tamiya had a better pricing structure. They could have applied some cost analysis and realized they could have sold many more at say half of what they were charging, and made many more customers and return customers. What are the components guys - plastic, metal, some bearings and so on. The cars had the same thing but they didn't cost a mortgage payment. I have not opened a RC tamiya tank box to check the contents in years, but remember when I first saw one over 10 years ago. It appeared to me to be very much a static model kit, that had been made to run. Oh yeah, it had two 550 can motors instead of the one the TAO2W I had. I suppose that justifies the extra $450 right? It was nice and looked great - but never $500 great. Now, that was a long time ago so perhaps things have changed. This notion that others can't enter the market because there is only one "GOD RC TANK MAKER" and he only makes Tamiya, is just ridiculous.

If the components of the two models are that similar then the old saying "imitation is the sincerest form of flattery" is appropriate here. Can we all be friends now and help people regardless of the model they choose?

< Message edited by Templars83 -- 5/30/2006 10:08:37 AM >

Hello Templars83

I want to try to shed some light on why Tamiya tanks are expensive:

1. Unlike RC Cars, Trucks and Planes, there is only one manufacturer of Quality and Accurate 1/16 Scale Model Tanks, that’s Tamiya.

2. Example: because you have 5 RC Ford Mustangs from 5 different manufactures, all with similar performance, you have competition, which in time will lower price, each manufacture trying to get you to buy their product. So instead of one mustang costing $500.00, because of competition from four other companies it cost $175.00. That’s because of competition. In 1/16 Scale model Tanks, there is one line, one manufacture of quality products, Tamiya, and being the ONLY manufacture, can charge whatever the market will bear.

3. Tamiya tanks don’t sell in the same numbers as RC cars, nowhere near it, another reason Tamiya tanks costs.

4. There not that many people who are interested in RC Tanks, even if Tamiya were to lower prices, sales would not go up enough to justify lower prices, Tamiya would lose money on RC Tanks, Tamiya makes most of its money off both static and RC cars, Tamiya is first and foremost an RC Car company, we are very lucky that Tamiya still sells these tanks, they don't have to.

5. Tamiya spends a great deal of effort to get details right, including the smallest, handles, hatches, etc, that too cost money.

6. To make a long story short, if you want a quality, accurate scale model RC Tank 1/16 scale and larger, it will cost money (1/8 scale tanks start at $3,500), these tanks are NOT cheap to make and they don’t sell in large numbers, its an expensive hobby.

Once your HL is finished, post some pix

calvinwill