Small Scale Military Headquarters

OKAY i know this subject was brought up several time but we ve got a precise idea of the price NOW : http://toys.search.ebay.com/f-14_Toys-H ... QQsbrsrtZd
damn i wish to win the lottery ....

bid entered..

NOT.

Maybe a whole bunch of us could chip in and buy it and then we could each have it to display for one day of each year.

Did you guys take a look at their website? They build some fantastic planes like the F4U-4, Hellcat, and the Avenger! Awsome work but their price for the Tom Cat is a little steep but worth it if you have the funds. I think BBI should look at their pics of the Hellcat and take some ideas from them and release the PROTOTYPE which we all know they have.

Out of curiosity, i emailed them regarding prices for the Me-410 and He-219 they make, response is below:

"hank you for your message. I believe this is not our first contact, as I found an earlier question from you directly to our email. Well then, the price for the Me-410 remains the same - approximately 2,650 GBP (5,414 CAD or 4,630 USD). The other model - He-219 would then be priced slightly lower, at about 2,570 GBP (5,252 CAD or 4,490 USD). And again, please bear in mind that these numbers are estimates and the ultimate price could differ according to requested level of details and other specifications. You may also be subject to import duties and taxes, which are not included in our price.

As the production of each model is a very complicated process, it understandably takes a long time ? usually about 8 months. The couter-argument to that is that thanks to the way we craft our models, you can choose anything you want, including all details, lids, cockpit, etc.

Our policy is to provide free shipment worldwide, there are no hidden fees and once we tell you the definite price, that is what you pay, not more. Our standard procedure is to ask for 50% prior to the shipment and the rest after the model is delivered. You are also guaranteed that in case your model does not meet your expectations in any respect, you get you money back.

Newly, we decided to keep our customers informed about the status of their order so that they know exactly what progress we are making when crafting the model. We take photographs of the production and send them to the customer regularly.

You might also want to know that due to rising interest in our models and limited production capacity, our prices are likely to go up in the near future.

I will be happy to answer any further questions, send you more photos or detailed information.

Looking forward to hearing from you soon.

Best regards,
Jan Libicek, Sales Manager,
State-of-Art Models Ltd - - libicek@stateofartmodels.co.uk"


Prices are likely to go UP

For that much money that plane better be able to give......

I will say no more.

All that money for a beautiful model of our Avenger AND the wings don't even fold up.

Sorry, I'll wait for my $75 21C Avenger.

I see the B-25 is on their product list but no pics so I guess Donald Trump hasn't contacted them to make one yet.

If I had the money.....

TTT

I'm with TTT on this one - those planes only highlight what a racket we got going. That F-14 looks entirely possible as a $100 bbi or Admiral Toys offering. With the way these birds are improving with every release I can't imagine what would make that Tomcat 40 times more expensive than an Elite Force version unless it could fly - with jet fuel.

i agree....i think their prices are outrageous. The models are beautiful and i'm sure take many, many hours of work each but i think if they were smarter businessmen, they would offer less detailed, downgraded versions, which would still be very nice models and sell them for $1000 a pop. Still a lot of money but i bet they'd sell a lot of them....there are at least 3 of their offerings i would pay a thousand dollars for....that's only $85 per month, when you figure it takes a year to make a model.

They should also offer them in kit form too....with the increase in popularity of 1/18 they'd sell a lot of those too. But at $5000+ per model, they are just simply out of reach of 99.5% of the people in this hobby.

For that kind of money I would rather make a down payment on the full scale flying replica of the stormbirds ME262

I picked up two!!!












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they do have a kit of a Me109 G-10 in 1/18 scale $600.00 US

they also had a kit of the Me 262, it was around $400 when it came out a few years ago.

aferguson wrote:i agree....i think their prices are outrageous. The models are beautiful and i'm sure take many, many hours of work each but i think if they were smarter businessmen, they would offer less detailed, downgraded versions, which would still be very nice models and sell them for $1000 a pop. Still a lot of money but i bet they'd sell a lot of them....there are at least 3 of their offerings i would pay a thousand dollars for....that's only $85 per month, when you figure it takes a year to make a model.

They should also offer them in kit form too....with the increase in popularity of 1/18 they'd sell a lot of those too. But at $5000+ per model, they are just simply out of reach of 99.5% of the people in this hobby.

Having a less detailed offering of an aircraft sounds great. On the subject of detail: they have tons, yet from what I have read (at least about the F-14) there is one aspect of detail (correct me if I'm wrong) that is lacking, WORKING LANDING GEAR!!! I'm sure they could make that happen if you wanted it, but think about how much more that little add on would add to the price tag. At least the ones we have have functioning landing gear and in the right hands of a good customizer, they can really shine.

Well put!

-Ski

You know for that price you get the real thing today. They are retired and selling like hot cakes.

Umm, I think some of us are missing something here - these are not just plastic, mass-produced "look-alikes" but are built up piece by piece matching - as closely as possible - the way the original manufacturer built the full-size version.

With all due respect to companies like BBi and C21, there is a world of difference between mass-poured plastic moulds and hand-crafted metalwork - just look at the work of Mig-29 and others in this forum and see how much work *could* be done to accurize the models we all know and love.
If you work out the time and materials these guys spend on their work, it should be quite easy to see where the costs come from - in fact, I'm a bit surprised at how low the cost is!
I did it using a 5GBP/hour wage rate and a 37-hour week; the cost per model comes out to just under 6000 GBP per model, without allowing for materials or more than one person working on one airframe at a time...

Having built an RC glider from plans using sheet balsa fuselage and ribs etc, and solarfilm coverings I know how annoying it can be when you are just a fraction of an inch out with the knifeblade - imagine doing that on something as accurate as these things need to be...

For what it's worth, someone (I think it's the German firm Graupner) make a roughly 1/9th scale radio-controlled NH-90 helicopter powered by two working jet turbines - the engines cost between two and three thousand GBP each... the heli itself is not far short of that either, if I remember correctly.
And that is not built up piece by piece as the SOTA models are, either... Roughly the same price and a bit bigger and actually flyable, but not really as good displayed sitting on a table in the center of your living room.

Would Mig be prepared to let us know roughly how much time and money he's spent so far on his Hornet? Or one of the others (sorry I cannot remember anyone else's names but his...) maybe?

Sorry if this comes across as a bit of a rant, but I get fed up with hearing people say "Ooh, why can't you add this and that and make it all super-duper but not charge me anything extra for it..." these guys have to make a living too y'know!

well said!

Fully detailed F/A 18 hornet - $4000
BBI F/A 18 hornet - $80
The joy of doing it yourself - Priceless

well, all that said, i think the business approach HPH has taken is unwise. The models are priced so high that almost nobody can afford them And while the price may be justified by the 'built by hand' labour that goes into each model, and that's 'may be justified', i think that by 'dumbing them down' a bit, making them a little less detailed etc they could still produce beautiful models but price them for a fraction of what they are now, thereby creating a larger market, thereby being able to expand their facilities and produce more cheaper etc.

Now HPH had been around a while and i'm sure they know their business but it just seems to me that a slightly simplified model at a lower price would be a better way to go, business-wise AND make a lot of people happy as they could have nice models of aircraft they like. I would really love the heinkel 219 and me-410 they make and i'd probably pay a good sum for each one. I don't need them to be of breath taking detail and built up like the real thing etc. One that is as good as an XD or BBI model would suit me fine. Price it at $500 and i'd buy it in an instant. But $4000+ for one of better detail is just out of the realm of justifiability.

from what i have read about that company, their stuff is aimed at museums & rich people.some of the finest modelers in Europe have worked for them.they have only one standard.
there was a company simular to them that used to be in US, but labor cost drove them to the Philipines.
i know on models i enter in contests and build for people i spend from 30 to 500 hours on each of them. customers tell me the detail level they want.
several of mine have ended up in private collections & aircraft museums. not to be played with.
also, high detail is also fragile.
the new batch that myself and my colaborators are working on won't be finished till around Christmas, and all we are working on is F-104s in several sizes that are starting life as kits and 21st toys.
not only building model plane but making decals/stencils, taking trips to look at real subject, taking measurements and pictures. it all adds to cost.
well that my soapbox 2 cents

Just realised my earlier post didn't make it clear (I think I missed entirely! ) that I agree with the majority - it would be very nice if they would do some lower-specced models for a (much) lower price.

I've built a few balsa models but nothing using more modern methods - how practical would it be for someone to use, say, a polystyrene foam A10 as a vacform pattern to make plastic fuselages, then (we) could have a near-as-dammit 1/18th 'Hog that (we) could detail to our hearts' content...

I guess an alternative may be to do a 'plank-and-frame' version or possibly just make one out of planks of wood trimmed as near as possible to shape and then sanded down a bit... or a lot.

What d'y'all think?

I;d probably bet some j@!koff in congress has one! Especially if he is one who attends those $50,000 a head dinners! I guess you can liken those 'State of Art' Models to a Modern Day version of a Rennaisance Painting? A Davinci David perhaps??? How many of you guys heard of those MONT BLANC Pens??? They have some pens that cost more than a fricken Mercedes Benz! - A writing instrument. I think a Bic will do fine. I think thats even crazier than those planes considering your average shmuck loses pens, glasse, and car keys!!!! What more if it was a MONT BLANC? Well when I hit the big one in the Casino...that'll be the day I come a knockin for that F-14.

R!!!

some pens cost even more than mont blanc's

luxury can't be cheap, can it ?

here we are again !

http://cgi.ebay.com/ws/eBayISAPI.dll?Vi ... Track=true
for item : 6636059258

and this kit : http://cgi.ebay.com/1-18-MPM-MESSERSCHM ... dZViewItem
for item : 6064601203

i really must play the lotery !

you will notice that i ve done the first auction on the F 18 and thus became a virtual owner of this model !