I was looking at current armor kit prices. I see the MSRP is often over $100 and currently they can be had in the $70’s range. Where did the $47 dollar versions slide off to? Was I not paying attention, was I “asleep at the wheel”.
An example is Meng’s Chieftain Mark 10. MSRP about $125 and can be had for is $93.
Rye Fields M551 MSRP is about $112 and can be had for about $70.
Their M50 MSRP is $104 and can be had for about $80.
Takom seems to still be holding on for now.
This stemmed from my paycheck. As a substitute teacher I make $216 a day, almost $30 an hour before taxes or about $160 after taxes. I graduated high school in ‘76, so what was 30$ an hour worth in 1976? $5.38 an hour. Wow, I was making more than that in high school. So in high school I was making more than a substitute teacher is today.
I prefer free. But who doesn’t? The other alternative is to wait for the newest kit (it’ll only sit on the shelf anyway) to show up at the next model contest, often costing about 60-70 % percent of retail prices.
When I went to the Seattle IPMS show last year, there were no manufacturers tables. There were only the used kit vendors. I hear of people going to the shows and picking up good deals on new kits but not here.
Started the year at $497.07 and is currently trading at $636.04.
BAE Systems (BAESY): +12.54%
Started the year at $108.70 and is currently trading at $122.33.
RTX Corporation (RTX): +7.38%
Started the year at $184.20 and is currently trading at $197.80.
2026 Dividend Payments
All three companies have already distributed or declared their first dividends of 2026:
Lockheed Martin (LMT): Paid $3.45 per share on March 27, 2026.
This was a quarterly payment; the next is forecasted for late June.
RTX Corporation (RTX): Paid $0.68 per share on March 19, 2026.
The board recently declared the next quarterly dividend of $0.68, payable on June 12.
BAE Systems (BAESY): Paid its last dividend on December 10, 2025.
BAE pays semi-annually. A $1.22 per share dividend has been declared with an ex-dividend date of April 24 and a payment date of June 11, 2026.
I’ve researched RTX (Raytheon) due to the number of Tomahawk missiles fired in the last month. They’re suffering a huge backlog at the moment, but may ramp up production from 60-100 missiles per year to 1000. Now is not the time to strike, But soon…
Do any manufacturers aside from garage/cottage types show up to the local/regional IPMS shows? If it’s not a Nationals, most pay no mind to the smaller shows I imagine. Here at Modelzona, aside from a few locally based companies such as Value Gear, there are no manufacturers who show up. It’s all small businesses and collectors/sellers in the vendor room(s). I imagine that it’s not cost effective for the manufacturers to chase around all of the smaller shows across the nation. Their exposure comes at trade events like Nuremberg, Shizuoka, and maybe IPMS Nationals.
If I had to guess: they slid down the tariff slope.
In the EU, the kits you mention cost notably less. For example, according to Scalemates the Meng Chieftain costs about €70 and the RFM M551 is €45–50 (full prices for both, not reduced, on sale, etc.). At the moment, US1.00 = €0.87 or €1.00 = US$1.15, which means your $125 kit translates to €109, and $112 to €97 — or the EU prices convert to around $85 respectively $52–58.
Sure, there were always notable differences in price between the USA and Europe, but they were usually the other way around and not as great. Given the events of the past year or so, I suspect “tariffs” is a very likely candidate for the current, very big disparity.
My old model club is putting on a show next Saturday. Gas is over $7 US a gallon where I live in sunny California. Sales tax is approaching 10%. Once I add the cost of gas, tax, time, and vehicle wear to any model show visit, I may as well stay home and buy from out of state, even including the shipping cost.
And almost a BMP-2 and BTR-80 A as well. I had my son there encouraging me, “ come on dad, you deserve it” as he was secretly scheming to purchase a large scale Gundam for himself. Man, I love that kid !
New kits can be pricey, but they are also a lot more complex these days with tons of parts, and each sprue in the box has a cost. Unless I’m desperate I tend to lurk on ebay or pick up “under table” private sales at shows rather than buying new. There’s no perfect answer…
Me too, though my big purchases came off the retirement sales tables at AAA Hobbies on my way home from MosquitoCon; 75% off a big Russian tractor I’d never but otherwise.
In 1970, Tamiya model kits were generally priced between $1.50 and $10.00 USD, depending on the scale and complexity. While American brands like AMT or Revell were often found for under $2.00, Tamiya’s imported Japanese kits were considered premium and carried a higher price tag.
For the past several years I’ve been purchasing my kits from Chinese hobby stores on ebay. In Canada we have no tariffs, and shipping is very cheap (sometimes free). And the kits from China are usually available long before they end up on an LHS shelf.
