sWhat the heck is going on with pricing. The showtime 50 is now selling for 269.99. I purchases at 169 - It now costs more than the Showtime 90 at 199. i cant believe how drastically the dollar has really affected prices within the RC world. CRAZY!!!!! Im sure supply also has something to do with it in this particular case.

Yeah, I was looking at a Sundowner 50 myself but it has gotten priced right out of my range now![:@]

It's becoming a rich mans hobby do to greedy mail order houses trying become a Bill Gates over night.

If they were smart they'd keep the prices down and they'd sell a Lot more!

It's not how much you can make off of one item but how many you can move.

They're not smart business people at all....just Greedy trying to get rich over night!

Yep, thats it right there..

Of course, you could just build SPADS instead, still have to havethe radio and engine gear but the airframe is cheap to build! Dont know if a showtime has been SPADDED yet but theres a SPAD cub, a SPAD Extra, and severa Bipe designs. (Not to mention the classic trainer and sport designs of the first spadders)

the showtime 50 is more than the showtime 90 because the 90 is out of stock,and yes they can backorder. But they cant guarantee the price. Sound familiar, when the 90 is finally in stock it will be higher than the showtime 50.

It's more than just the dollar being weak. Fuel prices are still outrageous and that affects everything.

I know I may catch some flak for this but I still think $269 for an airplane that is built, covered and includes all of the necessary hardware is a pretty good deal especially when you factor in all of the development cost, packaging, marketing, transportation, warehousing and so on. If somebody asked me to design, build and cover a .40 size plane then sell it to them for $269, I would laugh at them.

Don't get me wrong of course. I hate price increases too and it will definitely affect how much I buy this year.

I agree prices are on the rise on everything we buy, the only thing i'm confused about is why hanger 9 seems to have increased thier prices so much more than other manufacturers.

Supply and demand.

Fly what ya got, be careful not to crash them, do proper ground checks and pre-flights, keep them flying, don't break them. Eventually, with fewer people buying them, the supply will be much higher than the demand which will force down prices.

You're right!

I'm sure a lot rc'ers buy more engines and planes just to know they have them. I've had my eyes on a couple of planes and engines but with the higher prices I'm just going to fly what I have until the prices go down.

Do they think us rc'ers are some kind of fools or something?

In the end the joke will be on Them!

I think most of the price increases are caused by a devalued dollar versus asian currencies and also a huge increase in the cost of shipping. It's definitely going to affect my Christmas list. I'll probably wait till the new year when the stock reduction sales start.

It wounds me to know that can hardly afford to buy the kit now, let alone finish it.. I need the engine and 1 more servo for my TF Thunderbolt. May not get finished this year, $2K to fill my oil tank for heat, wood is up to $800 a logload, and I get to cut and split it.

Unfortunately it's a sign of the times. Pretty much everything in our hobby, as well as the "outside" world, is going up. Many factors are causing this including oil prices up, falling value of the dollar, as well as other "situations" in the world. Hopefully the economy will turn around and these prices will come back down, but I doubt that is going to happen any time soon. It just means we'll all have to be a lot more economical in how we pursue this hobby.

Ken

AKA: DON'T CRASH!

Yea, I showed that to my wife. The showtime 50 is what my son wants for his Christmas present. Not too sure that's going to happen now.[&o]

The low cost of ARF’s has popularized (and spoiled) the hobby and presented some fantastic deals, but if the cost advantage does disappear (shipping cost outweigh the cheap Chinese labor) a lot of us may have go back to the roots of the hobby when you had to build a kit or scratch build to participate.


Hogflyer

IMHO, there's nothing wrong with that!!!!

Ken

Spoiled... heh, some might call it progress. If ARF prices go up a lot, it won’t force peeps to revisit the last century and kit or scratch build. What it will do, if anything, is force peeps out of the hobby, which will in turn reduce market, which will really drive prices up. Kit and scratch building is not cheap, and if anything, even if I consider my labor is worth nothing, building is much more expensive than most ARFs. Key word is “most� as there are a few exceptions. There are good reasons to design and build your own plane, but it is mainly to have control over the design and manufacturing process and the only way it is “cheaper� is if you sell some or have multiple people involved offsetting the tooling costs, but even then it is questionable if it was cheaper. Mostly likely it was more expensive, but you gain a better product.

Too much whining. This hobby has never been cheaper to get into. My first 4 channel radio cost over $1870 in today's money. No servo reversing, no dual rates, no computer programming, just a new 1970 Orbit. I bought it with my own earned money at age 16.

Fortunately, I have also bought a lot of kits for the future. Lots and lots of kits.

You really can't place the blame on the importers. As others here have said, it has to do with overhead and the law of supply versus demand. Though Hangar-9 products have risen considerably in costs, at least they will have better availability. If it gets to be more expensive to import from China and other countries, then wouldn't it make sense to bring production back to the United States? I have my doubts, because I don't think the technology and skills exist here. Hope springs eternal, though.

I think the only thing left to do now, would be to buy what ever outdated airframes you can afford along with the radio equipment. Then, take care of it and make sure you are sufficiently skilled and fully prepared before taking it out to the field. This will save money in the long run. And if you MUST buy at the new higher prices eventually, you may like to consider lowering other costs and generating less waste. Take up gardening, drive less, maybe even get into fixing and recycling older appliances. With our manufacturing base gone and prices going up, we may not have much choice.

NorfolkSouthern

It is the dollar and other factors; such as minimum wage increase.

[link=http://www.marketwatch.com/news/story/china-raises-minimum-wages-calm/story.aspx?guid=%7BB120D814-3C01-468A-9C11-B7596BCE1A35%7D]China Minimum Wage[/link]

I just sat through a long, painful meeting today regarding workers comp increases, liability increases, health care increases, fuel costs and on and on. Companies like Horizon and Hobbico deal with that stuff too. It's no surprise that things are getting more expensive.

I agree with most everything already said. RC has became quite popular over recent years, thus increasing demand. Noone is going to debate the laws of supply and demand so it is what it is. Also agree that if suppliers force folks back to the roots of kit building the popularity of our sport will fall off drastically (myself included.) As a consumer it ticks me off to see nitro jump $3.00 a gallon overnight "due to the Olympics" however, they have been over nearly a month now, and nitro is still $3.00 a gallon higher than it was prior to.. We can all do what I have done which is start looking for used RTF deals on this and other sites. There are still alot of good deals out there, but just like everything else, if everyone starts buying RTF's from other club members, the price of used planes will continue to go up and up. Damn, we're in a loosing battle here. Who started this thread anyway? Let's al refrain from buying any kits or ARF's from any of the major manufacture for the rest of the season and bring those prices back down!!! ~

What's a guy to do?

Happy flying,
Jr

Even the H9 Twist 40. Was 99 a few months ago..now 179! UNBELIEVABLE. Makes it hard to buy something you know what SOOOO MUCH cheaper just a few months earlier.

Although these posts are specific to the RC hobby, it isn't only RC that is being affected, the price of everything is going up. Truth be told we RCers have had it pretty good for quite awhile and may be just a little spoiled. There is no simple answer as to why prices are skyrocketing. There are economic experts all over the country who are unable to boil it down to something simple. Many, many factors enter into it.
I am on a fixed income and the quantum across the board increases have hurt. I am just being a lot more careful with my preflights and maintainence and saving up before I buy anything new.
Hang tight and ride it out, prices will come down, although probably not down to where they originally were.
Regards,
doubledee