HobbiCo / Great Planes / Tower Hobbies

[Rekreant]

I mean, even with just 15% off, you arent going to get that in the local hobby shop....And for me at least tower only takes about 3-4 days delivery to my door. To me the big benefit is Easy Pay. If other companies offered a similar feature I would definite consider buying from them. I used my ecash + coupon and got 60$ worth of parts for only 32 just 2 weeks ago so...I think you can still get great savings but its a time sensitive thing.

 

[Rekreant]

Sadly, that's happening to a lot of old, good hobby shops. Kids don't want to take over so they close up shop.



Making money isn't easy and it takes money to make money. But if you find a niche that hasn't been filled yet it can be easier.

Problem with Canada is the insane postage rates and lack of tracking. When I ordered from HeyOK he told me tracking is a 20$ cost, and that shipping is terrible there because Canada is so spread out.

 

[MasteroFlego]

Problem with Canada is the insane postage rates and lack of tracking. When I ordered from HeyOK he told me tracking is a 20$ cost, and that shipping is terrible there because Canada is so spread out.

90% of Canadians live within 50km of the border, or something like that.

Sent from my Nexus 5 using Tapatalk

 

[sawback]

Do you Canadians not have a good, online hobby shop? It seems everybody in Canada orders from the US.

Canadians are to buisy sipping the green maple syrup if you know what i mean. ;-)

 

[JatoTheRipper]

I learned today that the price increase of Tamiya's products on in Tower's website was Tamiya's doing NOT Tower's.

It baffles me that Tamiya is doing this now especially at a time when the industry seems to be struggling.

I'm a huge Tamiya fan, but this definitely a turn off. And it puts the Bruiser into crazy expensive territory. It's now $1,062 on Tower!!! It was under $800 before. Pure insanity.

 

[Rekreant]

I learned today that the price increase of Tamiya's products on in Tower's website was Tamiya's doing NOT Tower's.

It baffles me that Tamiya is doing this now especially at a time when the industry seems to be struggling.

I'm a huge Tamiya fan, but this definitely a turn off. And it puts the Bruiser into crazy expensive territory. It's now $1,062 on Tower!!! It was under $800 before. Pure insanity.

I dont know why, but Ive always looked at there stuff as too good to be true. The scale details are so amazing, you almost expect it to not function properly when you actually get it. And outside of forums and such most people have never even heard of the brand. I think they are way more of a big deal in Europe and Asia so maybe they are banking on that, and increasing prices to accommodate less sales stateside.

 

[Arctic Cat ZRT]

Tamyia's new MAP program is causing a bunch of waves. I am involved in RC tanks and Tamiya is one of the best brands out there for that segment (and most expensive). While some kits can be had for about 500-600 dollars their newer and more current kits are going for around a grand if not more. Once the MAP price goes into affect prices will go to about 1500-2000 dollars depending on the model. Thankfully distributors will be able to show a much more reasonable price in the cart and get around this stupid new policy. At least this is what one distributor is doing for tanks, not sure if this is being done anywhere else.

 

[skinnyj]

I dont know why, but Ive always looked at there stuff as too good to be true. The scale details are so amazing, you almost expect it to not function properly when you actually get it. And outside of forums and such most people have never even heard of the brand. I think they are way more of a big deal in Europe and Asia so maybe they are banking on that, and increasing prices to accommodate less sales stateside.

Interesting... If you ask any of the 40+ year old crowd on here, I'll bet most of them had a Tamiya as their first hobby grade RC. Tamiya was pretty much the Traxxas of RC in the 80s.

 

[TooOldForThis]

Tamyia's new MAP program is causing a bunch of waves. I am involved in RC tanks and Tamiya is one of the best brands out there for that segment (and most expensive). While some kits can be had for about 500-600 dollars their newer and more current kits are going for around a grand if not more. Once the MAP price goes into affect prices will go to about 1500-2000 dollars depending on the model. Thankfully distributors will be able to show a much more reasonable price in the cart and get around this stupid new policy. At least this is what one distributor is doing for tanks, not sure if this is being done anywhere else.

I just checked Tower, those new Tamiya prices are jaw-dropping! :shock:


Does anyone have a link or something explaining what this MAP price thing is? I'm glad I didn't have any Tamiya plans in the works.

 

[skinnyj]

Damn... $160 for a Hornet and $220 for a Frog. :shock:

Those kits are obsolete in today's RC and play on nostalgia for people my age. I can think of better things to drop $220 on than a Frog kit.

 

[svt923]

So you can now buy nearly any Tamiya kit from RC Mart, pay $50 in shipping, and still come out ahead.

 

[TooOldForThis]

Does anyone have a link or something explaining what this MAP price thing is? I'm glad I didn't have any Tamiya plans in the works.

Google is my friend :ror:. Sharing this for anyone as confused and surprised as I was. If I knew about this sooner I might've picked up a couple kits because I don't see myself ever buying one at the new prices.

 

[skinnyj]

Yet another brand that will be exempt from coupons/site discounts.

 

[soze]

I dont know why, but Ive always looked at there stuff as too good to be true. The scale details are so amazing, you almost expect it to not function properly when you actually get it. And outside of forums and such most people have never even heard of the brand. I think they are way more of a big deal in Europe and Asia so maybe they are banking on that, and increasing prices to accommodate less sales stateside.

Interesting... If you ask any of the 40+ year old crowd on here, I'll bet most of them had a Tamiya as their first hobby grade RC. Tamiya was pretty much the Traxxas of RC in the 80s.

Exactly. Tamiya & Kyosho were quite the heavyweights back in the day.

Tower's catalog used to have pages dedicated to those two in the 80's.

You also had your Team Associated, Losi, and Yokomo for the racers... and Traxxas was considered a joke.

 

[MasteroFlego]

Exactly. Tamiya & Kyosho were quite the heavyweights back in the day.

Tower's catalog used to have pages dedicated to those two in the 80's.

You also had your Team Associated, Losi, and Yokomo for the racers... and Traxxas was considered a joke.

Wait, isn't Traxxas still considered a joke?


Jk

Sent from my Nexus 5 using Tapatalk

 

[mikemcE]

Yup, they’re laughing all the way to the bank


Hang up and Drive

 

[soze]

Yup, they’re laughing all the way to the bank


Hang up and Drive

Incredible what a good marketing team can do.

"Um guys... apparently we're not too good at this racing stuff. Let's just take these cars and drive them off ramps and smash stuff. It'll be a lot easier for the marketing folks to sell these cars..."

 

[Rekreant]

I absolutely HATE how companies feel like nostalgia factor is a good reason to raise the prices on products that have no actual increases in performance / quality to justify the price hike.

 

[JatoTheRipper]

I dont know why, but Ive always looked at there stuff as too good to be true. The scale details are so amazing, you almost expect it to not function properly when you actually get it. And outside of forums and such most people have never even heard of the brand. I think they are way more of a big deal in Europe and Asia so maybe they are banking on that, and increasing prices to accommodate less sales stateside.

If you haven't built and run a Tamiya kit you are missing out, period.

If you don't like the retro kits build one of their on road kids. They make top notch products.

They are probably more popular overseas, but they sure aren't unpopular in the US especially in the on road segment.

Incredible what a good marketing team can do.

"Um guys... apparently we're not too good at this racing stuff. Let's just take these cars and drive them off ramps and smash stuff. It'll be a lot easier for the marketing folks to sell these cars..."

I don't know why this is turning into a Traxxas hate thread again. Traxxas was a racing company, but they haven't been in decades. Why would they market their bashers on a track? That wouldn't make any sense. They make bashing videos to market their bashers - imagine that!

Many vehicles have proven Traxxas isn't a joke, but in case you needed a reminder they presented the TRX-4.

So can we move back to the topic now?

 

[2mtech]

I guess my toying around with getting a Grand Hauler kit at $360 for the last two years just left the building (pun intended). Just can't see almost $600 for the same thing now.

When I first got into this in '87 I was on Okinawa, and you could have either brand you chose: Tamiya or Kyosho. That's all there was. And they were expensive even then on an airman's salary.