The price of craftsman building kits

[MRRSparky]

I received an email notification from one of the craftsman building kit manufacturers of a very nice kit being offered.  The description sounded like something I could use and the photos were of a nice looking building.  Then the price, almost $325 delivered.  This is not a Fine Scale Miniatures kit - I know I cannot afford their products.

I was taken aback by the price.  It is certainly not a price I'd be willing to pay for any building kit, so I am not their target market.  I am certainly not poor and I do have a budget for model rr stuff, but being retired I'd have to sell some of my stuff to finance such a purchase.

I am sure the kit is a marvel of engineering, the parts well designed and the instructions top notch but I wonder about a couple of things:

How many of you out there normally purchase such things?

Of those of you who do purchase them, how many actually build them?

I was surprised to learn recently that there are many people how buy these kits only acquire them to collect, not to actually build them.  I believe this is especially true of FSM kits.

I'd really much rather see a quality range of background building kits offered in the $50 to $100 range.  That I could justify, but for me most of the craftsman kits are too large for a home layout in a spare bedroom. 

Where I live on the West Coast (the Right Coast), basements are pretty much unheard of so layouts have to fit a spare room or the garage, and there is limited room for full size buildings.  I am may be making a pretty board generalization here.

[lvanhen]

I'd really much rather see a quality range of background building kits offered in the $50 to $100 range.  That I could justify, but for me most of the craftsman kits are too large for a home layout in a spare bedroom. 

I'll go along with the $50-$100 - or maybe a little less - certainly not more.  If I wanted something really unique I'd sscratch build it!!

[IRONROOSTER]

That's more than I pay.  I have succumbed to a couple in the $150 range.  I'm still working and can afford them, but not very often.  I am not a collector and I do plan to build all my buildings (and car kits and locomotive kits) but most of them won't get built until I retire in a couple of years.  Many years ago when FSM did smaller less expensive kits my wife bought the FSM Coal and Sand Shed as a Christmas present for me.  It's the only FSM kit I have and it is unassembled - no offers please, it's not for sale.

Enjoy

Paul

[hardcoalcase]

I've never gotten to the point of layout completion to consider such a purchase, but I would agree that a multi-hundred dollar price is a lot to pay for something that's not brass or go "choo-choo"!  I'm a capable scratch builder and can reasonably duplicate anything ... yeah, ok maybe not to the same level of detail, but I can make it look good ‘nuf.

That said, I have collected a modest number of freight and passenger car craftsman kits, which my wife describes as an expensive box of wood sticks.

Well, she has a point!

Jim

[PASMITH]

I can't image paying more than $50 for a craftsman structure kit. Unfortunately you get very little for your money in that price range. On the other hand, if you had the money, skills and time to build a craftsman kit in any price range you could probably do a better and faster job scratch building it yourself.


Peter Smith, Memphis

[tstage]

Scott,

I have yet to pay more than $25-$30 for a craftsman kit.  Course, the kits that I've bought (e.g. Sun Coast Models, Alexander Scale Models) are 30-40 years old.  The production quality may not be up to snuff to the current offerings by FSM.  However, with a bit of detailing and care, these older kits can still yield a very nice and detailed replica:

Alexander Scale Models NYC Freight station

Suncoast Models Fairbanks-Morse Coaling station

The idea of buying kits only to store them away - whether for collecting purposes or in order to sell them for more later on - is completely foreign to me.  I only buy what will fit my era and what I'm trying to accomplish with my layout.  Generally, $150-$300 craftsman kits don't fall into either of those categories. (Let alone my budget.)

Recently, I've enjoyed delving into and learning how to scratch-build.  Even though I've just started doing it, I find that the few projects that I've done are among my favorites on the layout - with the craftsman kits a close second.

Tom

[markpierce]

FSM sells every kit it makes, and the kits are all sold before one reads the advertisements.  So, I won't say they aren't worth the price.  Almost every one of us will just pass, consciously or not, on the offer.  (Personally, FSM structures' "quaint quotient" is too high for my taste.)  

I still have a couple of FSM's earlier kits: a freight house and the coal/sand facility unbuilt somewhere in my railroad "vault."  I did build the "Gorre and Daphetid" engine house and an earlier version of the freight house, but they have "dissolved" over the last four decades during my various moves.

Mark

[ereimer]

that's a bit out of my price range too , about double what i'd consider paying for a kit of some structure i really really wanted to include and was exactly what i wanted

at the moment i have about a dozen kits sitting on a shelf waiting for me to get started on a layout . all were purchased on ebay and i think the most expensive one was $40 . there's no FSM kits there , but they haven't made anything that i really want anyway except the G&D engine house . i kinda wish they'd redo that one with modern building techniques . i might even buy one

 

ernie 

[CNJ831]

These high-end kits are intended for a specific niche audience, with production usually running only around 350-500 units. There is unquestionably a ready market for them currently and kits such as these often sell out completely within a couple of weeks of issue (FSM kits are usually gone before they are ever officially advertised!). Perhaps surprisingly, it would appear that the market share for these kits in growing, with three or four well known manufacturers offering and selling out very expensive annual examples. I've been told that Bar Mills, previously well known for their reasonably priced structure kits, will offer a limited run kit in this extreme price range toward the end of the year.

As to the final fate of these kits, Geoge Sellios himself has said that around 50% of his kits appear to go to collectors/speculators nowadays and he has limited the number that can be purchased by an individual to help control this practice. Just as brass models were at one time, craftsman kits from certain manufacturers are a very good investment. It is typical to see a new $350 FSM kit selling for something like $500 on eBay just 6 weeks after issue. I've even seen some go for upwards of $1,000 ! Realistically, probably no more than a quarter of the kits issued are actually built by a hobbyist within the first couple of years.

These kits are certainly not aimed at the average hobbyist. They are more or less the province of the hobby's elite layout owners, their pikes often exhibiting numerous different examples of these high-end kits. Nevertheless, I would note that an experienced scratchbuilder can replicate them (short the cast details, of course) often for around 20% of their selling price...I've done several but that's another story.

CNJ831

[BRAKIE]

Scott,I refuse to buy a locomotive that cost more then $99.00(discount)..I refuse to pay more the $20.00(discount) for a freight car so,no way will I pay that much for a structure.

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CNJ831 wrote:These kits are certainly not aimed at the average hobbyist. They are more or less the province of the hobby's elite layout owners, their pikes often exhibiting numerous different examples of these high-end kits.

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Indeed and usually looks like a large museum diorama.

[AlreadyInUse]

All of mine have been in the $50-$100 range and I've learned they're a great foundation for kit-bashing (and a source for spare parts). However, I did buy one Micro-Scale Models kit: McGee's Hotel. I was truely impressed. It took more than a month to build and is the center piece of my small town. The quality and level of detail is orders of magnitude higher than the less expensive kits. All details are Grandt line. Foundation and chimneys of plaster casting. 20 pages of detailed instructions with at least 4 given to tips for painting and weathering.

I hope that some day my skills will improve to the level that I can duplicate the beauty of this model. Especially since I know I'll never be able to afford more than a very few of the kits.

[kcole4001]

They are certainly works of art and are priced accordingly for the most part, but as such are indeed out of the realm of the 'average' joe trying to build a decent mid-size or smaller layout.

I intend to get at least one and build it (or them) before I consider myself 'done', but as to when and how much, I really haven't any concrete plans. It will have to be something very close to a local prototype I suppose.

It's hard to justify spending $300 or more for a structure when you haven't even got the benchwork built yet!

[markpierce]

Scott,I refuse to buy a locomotive that cost more then $99.00(discount)..I refuse to pay more the $20.00(discount) for a freight car so,no way will I pay that much for a structure.

Brakie, you exhibit a level of self-control which I lack.  I can resist anything except temptation.

Mark

[steamage]

Spending several hundred dollars on a box of wood sticks and some castings just isn't my bag. I like to scratch build my structures after prototype ones that I can photograph and measure, then build using Evergreen Co. styrene shapes. Most of these industry kits are made up from someones mind of what an industry should look like; "really cute!" These industries and depots don't look like anything ever built in the regon of Southern California that I model, most look Northeastern US.
If you really want to spend little and gain much, then learn how to work in styrene. Its really easy and much more of personal satisfaction to say "I built this myself."

[loathar]

That's a bit much when you consider you can get a nice Walthers kit like this for $110!

http://www.walthers.com/exec/productinfo/933-3798

I noticed my Hobbytown USA is carrying some craftsman kits for $20-$30 these days. I thought about trying one if I can find something that fits my layout. Most I've seen would look better on a steam era layout.

[tatans]

Yikes ! ! I thought kits were in the $10-15 range, where have I been??? do people really pay $150 for a kit, well, I guess the same people who pay $40 for a plastic boxcar. I will stick to scratchbuilt thank you.

[Hudson]

I took the plunge a few years back on the SRM Brick Roundhouse with some add-on stalls. the better I get at understanding the methods of construction involved the more I eyeball that kit with the intent to capitalize on it and just scratchbuild my roundhouse from some historical elevations. After all it's just a fancy garage.

[tomikawaTT]

Since I aced the business and economics courses that were the core of my BS I can understand, and even agree with, the pricing.

That doesn't mean I'm planning to buy the kit.

Thanks to my choice of prototype, there are very few building kits available in the US that are worth using as a basis for kitbashing one the structures native to the Upper Kiso Valley, and even fewer that could be used as-is.  That being the case, I wouldn't even consider putting a serious hole in my hobby budget for a box of scratchbuilding supplies that I already have - just not precut to size for that (useless to me) building.

If somebody really wants and needs this building, enough so to $pring for the kit, I'm sure the mfg. will be very happy.  As for whether the new owner builds it, keeps it in his safe deposit box or sells it at a profit to someone who wants it worse, that's that person's problem and no concern of mine.

Chuck (modeling Central Japan in September, 1964)

[marknewton]

If you really want to spend little and gain much, then learn how to work in styrene. Its really easy and much more of personal satisfaction to say "I built this myself."

VERY nice! I like your eucalypt trees, too. If you ever decide to model Australian prototype, you'll be right at home!

Cheers,

Mark.

[simon1966]

This is a very small niche segment of the MRR market.  95% or more model railroaders are not going to purchase an FSM kit.  It is not just FSM.  There are other companies like South River Model Works and Sierra West that make the so called "super kits".  There are new entrants to the market like the recently announced roundhouse from http://www.scottymason.com/ that are in the $300 range.  In many cases these are substantial kits comprising of more than one structure. They are frequently mixed media comprising Hydro-cal stonework, laser cut wood, board-on-board fabrication and generally include substantial numbers of metal or resin detail castings.  Some of these kits take a year to design and produce.  There is even an annual convention heading into its second year http://www.css08.com/ that I was fortunate enough to attend in 2007.  Clearly this is not something for everyone, but I can tell you that I am in awe of the quality of artistry that goes into some of these kits.  Think of them as an expensive box of sticks if you like, but I prefer to think of them as the result of someones many hours of labor. 

For what it is worth there is a whole thriving market of companies, many of them one man bands, that cater to the craftsman style kit at much lower prices.  Take a look at www.foslimited.com , www.minutemanscalemodels.com, www.besttrains.com www.fullsteamahead.ca these are just a few of the less well known, and lower cost kit makers that are making unique and interesting structures.