prices has dropped ???

[Dan Williams]

Hello members,
I have a Tiger 1 late that cost me $8,000.00 USD with the exchange rate at 1.84 to the GBP
Now the rate is 1.60 to the 1 GBP a friend told me he saw a Tiger 1 late selling for { with everything }
$2,000.00
For me that would be a $6,000.00 dollar loss.
Are they selling for that little or not ? I was offered $3,200.00 but that fall though, and I can't pay my Pro. Tax
with that.
Every thing is getting harder these days ?
I was wondering if other members know if this is true or not.
Thanks
Dan

[michael hilton]

Hello Dan, if my experience is anything to go by....then yes resale prices are down. I always knew I would have to sell one of my tanks this year. I have had very little interest on the Forum.....so the Comet is now up for auction. I have relisted the model after little or no interest. Plenty of very low offers.
I am fortunate in that I can afford to take a much lower offer.
That's life at the moment.....Mick

[neil pudney]

Hi Dan, i bought a Centurion kit last year with delivery of the kit just prior to xmas, i couldn't afford the motion pack and sound pack at the time of the kit purchase and in any case wanted to take things slowly. After several attempts at actually buying one, (and convincing the wife) i ordered one, a Panzer III then changed my mind and then put a deposit on a Comet a while later, then changed my mind again when i knew the Centurion was coming!
They are not something anyone should take lightly, its a huge amount of money unless you are very well off, and resale is not an easy task these days with anything especially hobby stuff. I have recently sold several items of radio control gear on ebay, expensive model kits that i paid a lot for but now am lucky if i get 30% of their true value. Ebay has turned into a 'something for nothing' mentality with people trying to offer low prices off ebay etc etc. Thats apart from the enormous selling fees on ebay for this amount of hardware.
Life is certainly tough at present and i know other armortek owners who have listed for sale their completed models seem to be having no luck. I went into this eventually knowing that i will probably never get back what i have paid but will have something that will give immense pleaseure in both building and displaying etc.At the pace im going it will be at least a year maybe longer to finish the build but again im in no hurry.
At the moment there doesn't seem to be any sign of things getting easier in the world, money is tight where ever you are. It must be especially hard for someone who has built one of these tanks to the highest standard, super detailed and painted to perfection. I dont think the armortek prices are unreasonable considering the effort and costly materials thats gone into their design and production. This hobby will always only have a small select following but for me it can stay that way as long as it likes !!
All the best,Neil

[simon_manning]

now is a good time to buy, but that will not help members selling, in my experiance of buiseness, bespoke, small build number, quality items, as these tanks are, will flutuate in price over the short term, if you can hang on they could prove to surprise the owners, talk to any scratch builder on the time involved in production, then its easy to see where the value lies in these kits, i purchased a 1954 mercedes in 1992 for £1100 of sothebys and they were very happy to pay the vendor even less after commission,i sold it to a friend who still has it today, value, one just sold for £100,000, and still going up, perhaps a bit of topic, but seems the same scenario, just a small observation from me, best of luck selling and if i had the funds available i would be buying more, regards simon manning.

[Adrian Harris]

I think it's entirely down to the current financial situation.

I've been unexpectedly out of work for three weeks now and have been eyeing up the models I would need to sell to make next month's credit card and housekeeping bills.

The prices they've been selling for on eBay are an indication of how few purchasers there are available, and once someone has bought one model, they're pretty much out of the market for any others.

I'm sure the last Armortek kit I saw actually sell on eBay was a Panzer III, which I think went for £1600. A Panzer III, with all mod cons and delivery, would have set that owner back £4006.

Adrian.

[Tim Bowman]

HI Dan

As Neil has already said, for anybody, these kits + motion packs are a serious purchase. As far as resale value goes, in my opinion it totally depends on what the buyer is after and what the seller has for sale. If both those are in alignment, a decent sale price may be possible for the seller. A Sdkfz 7 just sold on Ebay a few weeks ago for $3,100.00. It was completed with motion etc and had a nice paint and weathering job on it.

I never bought these models thinking I could recover what money and time I had put into them. I think that's an unrealistic goal for this hobby. The return on investment for me was mostly in the pleasure of building them and somewhat in the running of them. I was fortunate to sell my Panther to a good home and at a good price for both the buyer and myself. Did it come close to original cost of kit, motion pack, extra parts and time? Nope. The loss is what I considered my cost for the enjoyment over that last 6+ years with that tank.

Times are hard everywhere as others have already said. My business is no exception as I have lived off savings for the past year and a half in order to keep the employees we have. This has certainly put a crimp in my hobby funds.

Hope someone comes along for your late Tiger.

Kind regards
Tim

[chris fry]

hello all,
since I am selling some of my tanks on eBay/forum I know some of the offers people make, all I can say is stick to your guns, I try not sell for less than what the kits and motion cost to buy and when you explain to buyers this they usually come around to your asking price, they might be up for sell for a while but keep at it, I know everyone has a different financially situation but its us builders that are determining the second hand prices, like Simon says they might be a very good investment in later years,
and I have always been taught that quality sells, finished good detailed tanks will always sell well.
cheers, Chris.

[Dan Williams]

Wow that was interesting reading all of the replys, Thanks to all whom answered.I did sell my sdkfz7 for less than I paid mostly because over the winter I kelp it in my shed.It has a wood floor, and the tracks had orod.
turned white on many links, so I took $1250 off what I paid, and I also sold my Sherman that year.I had credit card problems, and ended up with IRS problems, and the sell of both I was able to pay my income tax,
and house ins.the 7 cost me {$5,250 and sold for $4,000.00 } the sherman { 4,116 + 1200} sound
sold for $3,000.00
The tiger 2 cost over $9,000.00 sold for $4,800.00 and paid my pro tax
the pz3 cost about 5,000 1.84 to 1 GBP and I sold it for $1,700.00
my 222 sold for 1,000 less so 2500, {sold for $1500.00
and the 88 MMgun 1,000 only because I did a bad job of building it, and I messed up a tire.it cost me $4,000.00
So no I never made any money on these models, I'm hoping to keep one, that one I drove though hell and back.
grass, snow, mud, snow and salt. ect.It has sound and smoke, and a cool paint job.plus an extra track.
But I have to read more to see if a Tiger sold for $2,000.00 with all of the options??
Thanks everyone
Dan
PS my US half track{M2}+ motion cost me about 4K sold for 3K

[Dan Williams]

I looked all though the fourm and stopped after posts dated 2011,I did not see any Tigers selling
for $2,000 USD that is with all of the options.
Thanks
Dan

[neil pudney]

Just to add a little to my previous comments, we all have to look at the current world economic situation. Its no surprise that with things as they are people trying to sell a built model, even those finished to the highest possible standards will struggle to get a decent return on what they originally spent. That goes for anything you care to mention these days apart from Gold. I used to collect ancient coins, mainly Roman. I also started to buy the odd Gold Sovereign now and again when i had some spare cash. At the time i was picking those up on Ebay for around the £55-£65 mark. That was about 10 years ago. I then decided to sell the Sovereigns a couple of years later as i needed some cash and sold each and every one. Now the same coins are selling easily on Ebay for £350 each, sometimes more if its a rarer one. The price of gold like oil is always something that never seems to go down no matter what the global climate !
One thing that is for certain, these Armortek products are built to last if looked after properly. I am also into flying R/C model aircraft. A good jet turbine model kit and engine and all the gear needed to fly will cost you around £5000.They are the ultimate in model flying. However one careless moment and your 5k investment can be a small pile of smouldering wreckage with nothing salvageable. Unless you drive your tank off the White cliffs of Dover thats not going to happen with an Armortek product!!

[John Hill]

Hello, I am new to the tank world and have just purchased a panzer 111 kit from Armortek.
I read with interest the comments on prices, having had several hobbies over the years, model engineering, clocks and mechanical music. Clocks took a big price drop about 5 years ago,now slowly rising but not back to the original high's. Remember the £80000-00 Jaguar Mk11, now £20000-00 or less. I am just the same as most selling something to fund the next project and ideally we would like our hobby's to be self funding but usually it fails to achieve this. Anything of high quality and standard will always sell even in a low market, the price achieved will often not reflect the time and effort spent in reaching that quality. This generally holds good for an antique or a new model.
I bought my kit as a hobby investment ie, pleasure and enjoyment and not as a financial investment. On unpacking the kit and viewing the number of parts and excellent finish. It became apparent, that even with my comprehensive workshop it would take me a very long time to produce what I had bought. Given I could achieve the machining repeatability I would end up working for a few pence an hour. So for me the kit was good value in financial terms. It may well be a good financial investment in years to come, who knows. As someone said, stay away from high cliffs and there will be something left to sell.

[John Fitzsimons]

I did see a Tiger last year selling for about £1800 but it was the old model with very old electoonics. Well painted though. I got a late Tiger kit partly assembled but easy to strip back to new condition recently with all electronics options at a good price. Around £2250.
I will be looking for something to power my Panzer IV in the future and would even but second hand electronics at a good price.
I have three Armorteks now and not interested in selling at current prices.

[Dan Williams]

Hi John,
I sold mine for a reason, I had to rasie money for something fast.Last year it was the IRS I had some trouble
with my income tax.Or I was unemployed and had to pay my pro taxes, so another was sold for that reason.
Whatever the reason.
the tiger you saw sell for 1800.00 gpb, in the USA would be at {1.60 to 1 } $2880, that is still more that
what people what to pay for a late tiger 1 with only the motion.
And the model you have would have cost here $3,600.00
I did see some tiger still in boxes asking price of $3,120.00 but that was in England.
Not many in the states.
Some thing to think about ?
Thanks
Dan

[Bob Gould]

Thw build quality is an all important factor. It may be possible to get your outlay back with an exceptional build but the rest is labour of love