The Price of Tanks

[DRC]

Is it just me or has anyone else noticed?

Last summer I was going on Ebay and buying secondhand Tiger 1s (Heng Long 1/16th) for as little as £30. Hulls were £20 a time and life was fine. I've been on line looking for a cheap hull/tank for a project I have in mind, and the prices have rocketed! What's going on?

[mcevoyi]

Yes I've notice that a lot as I do a,lot of scratch building ..
.. perushing hulls with wheels wereally £12.50 plus postage ...now there at least £25 ..plus postage
I was quoted £22 for pershing tracks plus postage

It's getting a bit out of hand now ....

[Ad Lav]

Hobby getting more interest maybe. That's a good thing!

[mcevoyi]

Hobby getting more interest maybe. That's a good thing!

Not if the prices keep going up and up .....

[AlwynTurner]

I also noticed how spares/repair tanks that used to be £10 are suddenly posted at £25 starting price. I'm not sure if it's the economy picking up and people having more cash and hence not so desperate to sell, or people being more interested in the hobby and there being more competition for rebuild jobs. We may be victims of our own popularity/success! Alwyn

[mcevoyi]

I think people are just trying to make more money out us and our hobby ....

[DRC]

To give you one example of price rises. In December I purchased a small detailing part of Ebay for £12.99. It came and I sort of thought 'That's a bit expensive but I'll live with it.' Last night I happened to be surfing through Ebay looking for cheap tank hulls when I saw the same item being sold again by the same vendor. Only five weeks later the price had risen to £17.99!

There are Tiger tank hulls going for £59 plus £10 p+p - it will soon be cheaper to buy a fullsize army surplus Challenger 2. (Only joking).

[Max-U52]

I think people are just trying to make more money out us and our hobby ....

Agreed 100%. I was trying to put something together for an event this summer and the guy running things kept saying it's all about the hobby, but every time I talked to him it always seemed to come back to money in the end. Commercialization really sucks.

[wibblywobbly]

I have had this conversation numerous times over the past 18 months. Used to be able to pick up lower hulls for scratch builds for peanuts, and Ebay was awash with cheap tanks, but now it is cheaper to buy a whole one, rob it of the parts needed and sell the rest on. It sucks big time, there are loads of builds that I would like to have a go at, but getting hold of donor tanks is nigh on impossible.
One of the problems is Ebay fees and rising postage costs. I have tanks that I would like to sell, but when I think that I would lose a shed load of the sale cost I simply leave them on the shelf. It just isn't worth the hassle.
One solution is for the various clubs, at least here in the UK, to create for sale lists, and do the deals at meets. Many of us travel around, especially in the summer, so it would be fairly easy to relay items around the country.

Rob

[Max-U52]

Hey Wibbs, I couldn't agree more about the rising cost of postage. I have a lot of parts that I'd like to just GIVE to some of my buddies in the UK but postage keeps that from happening. It's usually cheaper to buy the part in the UK than it is to ship it there from the US!