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[quote user="mlehman"]I think I would point out here the word "remember." Just because it was that way in the past doesn't mean the economics currently support markedly cheaper kits.[/quote] Yes I remembered the price difference from some time ago. Being unsure about the price development I looked for current examples. I found kits on the current Intermountain and Walthers websites with differences of $10+ between kit and RTR. You can look at MB Kleins website too. So my examples are current and not history. [quote user="mlehman"]You mentioned earlier that Walthers and another producer sold their kits for $10 less than RTR. Don't know specofically which kits you're speaking of, but all the Walthers kits vs RTR products I can remember falling into that category were originally produced as kits. The dies/molds were depreciated long ago, the parts are generally not like the latest finest kits, etc in line in general with my earlier comments.[/quote] If this argument is valid I can't tell. The Walthers kits are Timesaver kits with about one hour building time left. Perhaps the depreciated tooling costs allow for painting, printing and assembly and a $10+ gap to the RTR car. On the other hand there is Intermountain. [quote user="mlehman"]That does point out that another reason I missed earlier behind the converging cost of kits, the fact that the cost of producing new items continues to rise and sales tend to come in smaller quantities, keeping the production cost per unit from easing.[/quote] Correct but here is one point for consideration: The tooling costs have come down considerably with 3D drawings and machined molds and the labor cost is rising steeply. So I wouldn't necessarily expect the gap to close. Regards, Volker
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