Finished ship prices
 

Hello all.. Hope all is well for you!

I have been wondering about what I find to be a disconnect in ship model pricing and amount of time it takes to build a kit and kit price!
I have seen some ready made tall ships ( claimed to be plank on frame/ bulkhead) with all details and rigging and all... Looking pretty intricate advertised on some sites to sell for price ranges ofv300 tp 1000 dollars !?!!
How can this be? What am I missing here?
It takes tons if hours to build one f these things, then add material cost ... How can they sell for such low price? Some models sell for less than what the kit alone would cost!
I understand them being built in low cost labor countries. But still the price does not add up for me?
How can this be?
Is there something I am missing ?
To me these things should cost in thousands of dollars! Not hundreds?
Can any one shed some light on this?
Thanks
And cheers
Yojimbo

Re: Finished ship prices
 

Hi

In this case, I'm afraid it's pretty simple.

The value of an item, model ship or otherwise, is a product of a few ideas:
1 - The labor and materials that go into it.
2 - How well it reflects value, including ideas like craftsmanship and historic fidality.
3 - And last, and in this case I fear most important, what a willing buyer is will part with in order to aquire it.

I'm afraid we're looking at a deep seated "buyer's market" where the price is set largely by the buyer.

Jim

Re: Finished ship prices
 

Thanx Jim...
But the issue is these sites seem to be solid buisness establishments which means they have to turn a profit at the end of the day!
Given the hours of labor and material cost it just does not compute how they can turn a profit at those sale prices.
I understand your view when it comes to hobbiest selling a kit they built. Profit there is not an issue necessarily!
But for a buisness to sell at those prices is simply amazing.
How can they buliding them so efficiently to sell so cheap?

Check out some of this sites.. Does it make sense to you?

http://www.handcraftedmodelships.com/hms-victory.php

http://www.rjmodelships.com/store/tall-ships/?page=3

http://www.modelshipseller.com/?gcl...CFaYaQgodEFx5rQ

http://www.admiraltyshipmodels.co.u...hip_Models.html

Re: Finished ship prices
 

these models are done in a factory setting and are mass produced. the models are also made where laror is cheap. when you have someone day in day out, day after day doing the same thing they get good at it and fast.
As a hobby we take out time and think out each step, in these production settings everything is ready to go and it is just assembly.
When i was in Mexico i saw these Onyx or marble hand crafted chess sets for $25.00 and thought the same as you how can these be made and sold so cheap? then i saw how it was done a set was made in less than 2 hours and at $1.20 an hour and the raw material was $5.00 a ton i could see the profit.
assembly line building and mass production really cuts down on time. i work for the lumberyard for model shipwrights. They make milled timbering sets of ship models. It takes me 3 hours a set but if i do 2 at a time it takes 3 1/2 hours if i do 10 at a time i can do about 20 kits. So the bottom line is the more you make at a time the faster it gets per item.

Re: Finished ship prices
 

Dave, thanx for you input.... Have u ever seen one of these modeks up close?
Do the really look as good as the do in the pics?

Re: Finished ship prices
 

Hi Yojimbo,

You raise some good questions which I also have thought about from time to time. What are my models worth compared with what is available from the ship-model marketplace? Jim's reply has nailed it. It's all about what a buyer is willing to pay. Personally, like most on this forum I suspect, I could never make a profit on anything I make. I take too long, fiddle too much and never achieve the finish I want! But and it's a big "but", I bet the guys who make the models for sale don't get as much pleasure as I do in the research, planning and constructing of a scratch ship. For me, it's more about the journey than the destination. Good luck with your first project.

Regards,

Rudeau (Chris)

Re: Finished ship prices
 

Chris.. U are definitly right.. But it is amazing how they can pull it off.
For us modelers it is a labor of love! No value can be placed on it.
I have been an RC modeler and wood ship kits are new to me. But trully loving the process ( the journey as u put it)
I love turning on my iTunes baroque playlist and kicking back and having trully zen hours building!
As for my first project I shifted to Mare Norstum by AL.. I have aprox 50 hours in it and about half way through! Will post pics soon!
I pushed the Amati Enduevour to 2nd or 3rd project.(the other one is Panart Santa Lucia)

Definitly loving the hours spent!
Cheers

Re: Finished ship prices
 

P.S. I posted some pics of my first project in my albums.
All comments and advice welcome!
Cheers

Re: Finished ship prices
 

I have not seent these up close, bue even from the small pictures on the web links I can tell that the models are not up to my personal standards. The sail material is far too thick, the gun ports are too thick, the guns do not have scale shape, etc. Most of the effort I put into building a ship model goes into getting it as close to scale as possible given my tools and skills, not into rough shaping and assembly. I could save a huge amount of time if I settled for "close enough."

Re: Finished ship prices
 

I would consider those types of "models" folk art. Nothing is accurate or representative of the real ships. Places like this site,

http://www.shipmodels.ru/models/eng/

spend the time to make their models accurate and the prices show the real value of the product. They are not knock offs and are built by master modelers.

Dave