Those people who are willing to pay silly money for a kit are welcome to it - although of course that sort of practice can often push up the prices of out of production kits. I can only think they have more money than sense!
What really annoys me, is the current and growing habit of one or two major manufacturers steadily increasing prices way beyond the actual value of a kit, and more so when that kit is a re-release of a not long withdrawn item.
An example could be, say a 1/48th Bf109, perhaps withdrawn around two years ago, when it was priced at around the £15 to £18 mark. It is now re-released - exactly the same kit, but with different decals, and new box art - but is now priced at around £45 to £50 - for a 1/48th scale fighter!!
That is really taking the p*** !!!
And I won't buy the excuse that the price of oil has affected production and raw material costs - not when a certain German-based company can turn out superb, highly detailed 1/32nd scale kits, where their large aircraft are cheaper, in this large scale, than a 1/48th scale fighter-sized aircraft kit from the aforementioned companies.
There are some close similarities here to the Japanese car imports (into the UK at least) in the early 1970s, when cars that were superior in finish and specification to their European counterparts, hit the market at substantially less cost than those counterparts, thereby establishing a foothold which eventually became a beach-head,then a 'breakout', followed by partial occupation, when prices started to rise alongside greater acceptance of the product, which eventually lead to market domination, at the cost of domestic manufacturing.
It's therefore fantastic that the above German-based company can turn out kits which not only equal, but often exceed the quality and detail of these other mentioned companies - and with new kits, not re-hashed kits from 10 or 20 year mould designs - and I hope they continue to do so, 'cos I'm b*ll*xed if I'm willing to pay these stupid prices if there are good alternatives around !