Magazine subscripsions build a bus etc why are they so ecpensive 20 January 2018 at 12:39AM in Shop but don't drop 9 replies 3.4K views

johncas1

Just seen an advert on TV You know these magazines you get where you build a car it's a part work you buy it weekly and get the parts the latest one is build a routemaster bus the first issue is £1.99 next one £4.99 then all others are £8.99 and there are 130 magazines in the collection thats £1.137.00 in total 1 thousand pounds and you end up with a model bus you can buy in a model shop ready built for arround £100 less on ebay people still buy theseI think there a rip off people still go for them

If this is in wrong part of forum sorry could not find one for magazine subscriptions

POPPYOSCAR

Yes it looks great but wow the price of it!!

Even so I have read comments by people that they cannot wait to get it.

Quite a few people must subscribe to these things or they would not publish them.

Doc_N

Part works exist (and have done for many, many years) for two simple reasons:

1 There are plenty of people gullible enough to buy them.
2 They are extremely profitable, for obvious reasons.


Sadly, the people who buy them tend to be the people who can least afford them.

Silvertabby

They're all a rip off.

An elderly neighbour bought the one that came with a ball of wool and a knitting pattern for a blanket square (the idea being that you then sew all the squares together to make a blanket).

She was so pleased with herself I didn't have the heart to tell her that she could have bought real wool for less than half the price she was paying for cheap acrylic tat.

johncas1

I actually found out how much the model parts cost to make in china and how much the magazine costs to print so there making a huge profit you can buy the ready made model for under £100 on ebay

lincroft1710

So it will take you 2.5 years to finish making your model Routemaster!

Browntoa

Buy a 1:24 kit off a model site , only difference is this is a 1:12 scale so larger

Cost around £200 or £45 for a more basic one

fightersweep

@Johncas1

Hi!

Could you share the information you have on the actual parts cost for the Build The Routemaster kit please? I would love to know.

Also, could you share some eBay links for where I can buy a 1/12 die cast Routemaster kit for under £100 please?

Thanks in advance!

fightersweep

I just wanted to add a few points for a little bit of perspective.

I decided to buy the Routemaster partwork after carefully working out the cost first. Am I gullible? No, and to be honest, I don't appreciate being labelled as such. Apparently, I am least able to afford it. Really? I can afford it thank you. So no worries there either. After all, I gave up smoking five years ago, and was probably spending that £8.99 a day on cigarettes. I don't begrudge spending £8.99 a week on something that won't kill me.

Yes! I know they make a large profit on these partworks, but the individual buying them needs to do the maths first and make their own decision. Can you buy the same thing on eBay for less than £100? No, you can't. If the models being referred to are the Sun Star 1/24 models, then they are more like £150 to £200. This partwork is 1/12 scale. It's huge, complex and twice as large as the models on eBay and not available anywhere else. The nearest example would be a Pocher 1/8 or 1/12 kit and these retail at around £500 to £800 mark.

I've worked in the model retail industry, and I know a kit like this of the Routemaster would probably cost around £700 or £800. Less than the partwork, but it is spreading the cost over 2+ years for those that prefer it that way. You're really paying interest on spreading that cost....a bit like taking out a loan because not everyone can shell out that £800 in one go.

So there you go. It's not for everyone, but we can make our own choices with a bit of research first so you know what you're getting into.

Owain_Moneysaver

Doc_N wrote: »

Part works exist (and have done for many, many years) for two simple reasons:

1 There are plenty of people gullible enough to buy them.
2 They are extremely profitable, for obvious reasons.

Sadly, the people who buy them tend to be the people who can least afford them.

I think they used to have a valid purpose years ago when books were much more expensive and people had lower incomes. People couldn't have afforded to buy a multi-volume set in one go (which is why people bought encyclopedias by weekly payments). They also weren't any more expensive than a weekly magazine but you were getting something useful at the end.

£1,137 for a toy bus is taking the proverbial though. At least after three years of buying The Knack (anyone remember that) I knew how to build my own extension and all the furniture in it!