Pocket money question

[Doogydog]

I hope this ok to post in this section.
I'm having a discussion about pocket money in the early/mid 70s
Could anyone tell me (I realised this could be an open-ended question) what was the cheapest price that the kits started from, bagged on cardboard header, or plastic window, any type of military vehicle/aircraft, just as an idea...or...boxed, something like Bismark etc.
Many Thanks for any replies.
Steve.

[mattbacon]

As it happens, thanks to the current Classic British Kits SIG display, celebrating the model shops of 1973, you've come to exactly the right place to answer that question!

https://uamf.org.uk/viewtopic.php?t=24807

The newly launched Matchbox kits, which first appeared in 1973, were 23p. (My pocket money from my grandparents was 25p a week, so picking one up from the Post Office on a Friday was a bit of a ritual). Larger ones (eg the Walrus) were 45p.

Airfix Series 1 kits were 19p, Series 2 35p, and Series 3 54p. The 1/24 Hurricane was £2.65, and the big 1/12th scale Bentley was £4.50.

A FROG 1/72 Spitfire was 40p, a Jaguar was 60p and a Revell Ju88 or FROG Vickers Vimy were 70p.

Tamiya 1/35 tanks, newly arrived, were £2.50, and the "show-stopping" 1/25 remote control Centurion a princely £8.99

By 1982, Airfix Series 1 was 89p, Series 2 £1.10, Series 3 £1.69, Series 4 £2.25, Series 5 £2.95 and series 6 £3.69. The B-29 was £4.50 and the Hercules £5.99.

Hope that helps!

best,
M.

[Chuck E]

Let's try some perspective. Pocket money sort of fluctuated. Musings of an old modeller.

In the mid to late 50's, Dad was trying his hand at a few different things, one of which was working in a small engineering company in Tolworth, South London. He also did a lot of work in the day nursery in Barnes, where Mum was the Matron. I would think that their income would be £25 between them. I don't remember having money at that time, I was around 6, but I always had nice toys to play with. These were usually Dinky Cars. Birthdays and Christmas always brought the larger toys, which I remember quite well. A large fort, a Tri-ang Train set ( Figure of 8 ) and a pop gun for shooting plastic crows off a plastic fence.

Then, it happened. My first plastic kit arrived. It was a waterline model of HMS Victory made my Airfix. Yep, it's the same one that keeps popping up to this day. It was One Shilling. 1/-, in the usual script of the day. 20 shillings made one Pound Stirling. 21 Shillings was a Guinea. When we moved up to Darlington, I actually did very well, getting up to 2/6d from each parent ( Half a Dollar, or half a Crown. A Crown was 5/-, five shillings, or five bob. Equivalent to $1.00. Dad worked as a window cleaner on Saturdays. He charged 2/6d for a 2 story house. 2/6d bought a large Cod and Chips. Ten Bob, bought Cod and Chips three times, a bottle of Newcastle Brown, a Bottle of Amber Ale and a Quart of Lowcock's Lemonade. Yep, at 10 years old, I was buying beer, ( and tobacco ) and kept the change. At this time an Airfix Series 1 kit cost 2/-, so for a whole pound, you could but 10 of them. My usual Saturday morning was a trip to the pictures, which cost 1d ( One Penny ) for the bus, if it was raining. 6d ( Sixpence ) to get in, or 9d to sit right at the front of the circle. A choc ice and Kia-ora Orange drink was another 6d spent. I now had between 3/8d and 4/- left over to spend in the local toyshop. ( All this high finance!) This usually meant an Airfix kit from Series 1, or 2, maybe some paint, and hopefully keeping 1d for my bus home. About 2 miles.

This allowed me to build up a nice little collection of models. I remember buying the Spitfire IX, the Stuka, the Hurricane, Mosquito, and also the first 1/600th warship, HMS Cossack. Anything larger had to wait for birthdays and Christmas. I did very well, really. I still have a few of my original kits, though most vanished over the years. I regularly went to the paper shop on errands and picked up some odd little models of Locomotives, usually the Wild West types, with big funnels. The wheels, rods and cylinders were moulded in one piece per side, so the whole kit only had between 10, or 12 parts. I have no idea who made them. They were about 1/100 scale. They sold for about a shilling. Every time we went to visit relatives, I got a few more shillings, or a toy car to keep me occupied. We all got to be kids until we left school, really. Back then 2/- in the electric meter would keep the lights on, the TV on, and the electric fire going for about 4 hours.

Airfix seemed to stay on the same prices for quite a long time. Money really had value. Revell GB kits started to appear, but they were 2/6d for a Spitfire, where Airfix were 2/-. FROG were often around 2/9d, or 3/- for a single engine fighter. More exotic American Kits started to appear around this point. The American companies seemed to make models of all sorts of subjects, other than planes and ships. Animals, guns, houses, engines, Glow in the Dark monsters, Knights, figures, The Beatles, dragsters, dozens of cars, too. Something for everyone. All these are very rare these days, often going for huge sums on Ebay. The largest kit ever, was the Lindberg Blue Devil Destroyer, a 3 foot long Fletcher class, motorised model. It never left the top shelf of the model shop display. I was very expensive, even for an older modeller. It was about the cost of half a week's work for an adult. The largest kits that I had were the Airfix B-29 and Sunderland, and the Revell RMS Queen Mary, which used to sit on top of the tele, as I'd made a nice job of it.

It's still not easy to state Like for Like, against old kits and new ones, but I know that we could always afford new releases. I suppose that the best time for us modellers was around the 70's. We had enough money, and could come back from the shops with bags of kits, tools, paints etc. This was the peak of my model purchases, then I got married, got three super kids, had enough to live in reasonable style. Had a decent job, a house, a car and a bit of cash at the end of the month, so I could still buy the odd kit. I buy a lot less these days, as money doesn't go so far, and models can be expensive. I suppose it all comes down to one thing: Was it good value for money? That is probably the only accurate yardstick.

In my case, I still come home with a couple of little Airfix kits, pots of paint etc, and still eye those big, expensive kits up on the top shelf that I just know I'm not going to get.

[DavidWomby]

A lovely read that resonates with my experience too.

David

[iggie]

Like David, parts of your post are familiar to me from my childhood, especially having to leave the big kits behind on the top shelf of the local newsagents. I did however get the 1/24th Spitfire for Christmas, on the promise that it would be a combined Christmas/Birthday present, although that was conveniently forgotten by me of course! I do recall that it was rare for me to be able to buy a kit each week with pocket money, even a series 1 bagged kit was just a bit too much...
Like a lot of people though, once real life took hold, with family and careers and all the other stuff, I never had the chance either financially or time-wise to buy kits, and it was only once I became self employed and started my own consultancy in scaffolding that I was able to indulge myself again.
I have no idea what pocket money rates are like nowadays but with series 1 kits still less than a tenner (when/if you can find a model shop) I'm guessing that a couple of weeks pocket money will be needed still...
As for value for money, I still think as a hobby ours represents pretty good value for the time that even a simple £10 kit can provide entertainment for.

[Softscience]

Having grown up in the US, in the 80s and early 90s, I feel like I still got to experience the tail end of inexpensive kits. I remember the old Tamiya Panther being out of my reach at a whopping $15 USD.

That's 7 of your English yumplings, 4 figs, and. 11 squabs. Or something like that. I think. Yeah?


Anyway, most of the kits I would get at the time cost between $5 and $10. Which was certainly more than what your guys were seeing in the UK in the 70s, but still reasonable for a child to save up their allowance and purchase.

I don't think it was until I was in college in the end of the 90s that even basic models began to feel expensive.