Holger Kranich
Dragon knows how to drive ya nuts, hu? They recycle old sprues and sell them for a bunch of bucks... I should do the same, i´m notorious low on Money!😄

Wim van der Luijt
Just opt out and breathe easy John.....nobody is forcing you to buy it 😉

H K
And to top it off, you get the infamous copy&paste instructions ( for example they let you remove all location pins on the rear wall, allthough you don`t add any add-on armor plate)- only build this kit if you have experience with at least one Stug III Smart Kit and an early Panzer III ( up to Ausf. H).
In short, I ordered it immediately 😄 What should I do. It`s a Stug. I am an addict.

Holger Kranich
Dragon Counts on addicts like us... The bad "Count Dragon", the StuG is strong in him...😉

John Van Kooten
@Wim: yes, I know nobody is forcing me. You are absolutely right in that regard. But that's not the point😉 the problem with this is that this is where it is heading with Dragon. All their kits (new ones AND reissued ones) will get nice and big upgrades, in price, that is. And their value for money is downgraded.
I used to love Dragon, hence my quite large Dragon kit collection, but they are letting me down. That's how I actually feel it. In the future, prices for all their reissues will follow their current marketing strategy (less for more), no doubt. So yeah, I actually take it personally😉

And most of the above comes forth from the same love I have for (Dragon) StuG's as what HK said. But not for these ridiculous prices.

And Holger, you are totally right. That is exactly what Dragon is counting on. People will buy their kits no matter what. Basically, they are the Apple of plastic kits.
I think Dragon is probing the boundaries of what they can get away with until people actually stop buying their kits. From a commercial point of view, I can't blame them. From a loyal customer's point of view, I do.

Wim van der Luijt
I'm just pulling your chain John 😄

John Van Kooten
LOL😉 it worked 😄 hahaha

Matthias Weiss
Easy mate, easy.... think positive, it could be 70 EUR... 🙂

Holger Kranich
Applause for the last sentence!

John Van Kooten
Hahahaha! Matthias 😛

Holger Kranich
Always good for a joke, our Matthias...😛

John Van Kooten
Absolutely! 😄 't was a good one 👍

Matthias Weiss
🙂 Well, jokes aside, you are right John, it is rediculous to pack several old sprues together, put them in a new box and call it a new kit for such a price. I understand that you are not very pleased.
Personally, I have never owned a Dragon kit before which was of course price related as they have always been more expensive than others. Also here in China they are.
Not that I could not afford it now but there are many other great kits for a lower price. In my opinion, the best money for value ratio you get from Tamiya. Or at least you know what you get for the money.

But well I agree with Wim, don't buy it or in other words, don't blow them sugar in the a**.

Joerg R.
Well I totally agree with you John. I will not buy this kit, I think I have enough stash to build. I will be 366 or older when I'm finished 😉😉😉

Mike Kryza
Is it necessary to buy DML kits...? No, and as Matthias said there are many other good kits and manufacturers. DML lived actual from the name but not from the products...😉

John Van Kooten
@Matthias:
You're right, it has nothing to do with not being able to buy it. In my case, I don't even mind spending large amounts of money but I will not spend it on kits that simply aren't worth it. So yes, indeed I do vote with my wallet ( Anthony said that once and I like that statement 🙂 ). It's for the same reason I am NOT buying any of the new Dragon Tiger kits and WILL buy the Rye Field Tiger (once they have fixed the issue with the fenders).

@Joerg:
hahaha! That is so true. I too have enough kits that will last several Life times, especially at my "speed" of finishing kits 😉

@Mike:
Also very true and I know it 🙂 I love the, f.i., AFV / Tristar / Trumpeter / MiniArt / ICM / Bronco kits I have. At this point, with all the absolutely GREAT kits other manufacturers are releasing, there is not a single reason why it would be absolutely necessary to turn to Dragon for anything.
They do indeed, like you say, think their name is enough reason for anyone to buy their stuff. Well, it isn't, as they will soon find out.

Anyway, with all that said, Dragon kits are almost always of high quality, both in accuracy and in level of detail. They rank among the best of the best. This is the prime reason I love Dragon kits. Unfortunately the company is suffering from "winner's decease", as I call it. They think they are King and can do whatever they want. Which is true, of course, unfortunately for them they have taking a (wrong) turn somewhere and I am no longer walking the same path 😉
They have forgotten how to be unique and have stopped being innovative. And I think they are somewhat confused as to who does what: kitbashing is something modelers would do, not the manufacturer 😛

Ah well, glad I was able to get that of my chest 😛 😄

Matthias Weiss
So you see John, for rivet counters like you, Dragon charges every extra rivet on the kit.... 😛
I don't think they "think they can do what they want". I think they try to make as many different versions as possible to boost their sales. These Dragon-Addicts can't withstand the 376th StuG-version or the 2875th Sherman-version or the 6538th Tiger-version. So what they think is no matter how many different versions of the same vhicle they make, it will be bought anyway. 😉

Joerg R.
@Mike No, you are right it ISN'T necessary, but it satisfies SO MUCH 😄😄😄😄😄😄😄

John Van Kooten
@Matthias:
Hahaha! Yeah, those rivets do seem to be costly 😄 And I totally agree with the sentiment of your argument. It's exactly that which I have a problem with. Like I said earlier, they are no longer innovative, they have become a mere money making machine. It won't last, as they will find out at some point.

@Joerg: LOL yeah 😉

At the moment I have 30 Dragon StuG's in my stash, so I think I'll call it a day on those 😉 I think I'm satisfied 😄 Maybe I should try actually building one or two, ey? 😛

Joerg R.
@John 30 Stugs? Well it seems to me you are very satisfied too 😄😄😄😄😄😄😄

Matthias Weiss
🙂 🙂 🙂 👍
Nice one Guido

Fabian D.
Wait. Sprues from that mid 90ties StuG F?
We probably should have a chat with Tim about warning labels for Dragon kits. Aside from "Content may vary" and "Now with DS-Tracks" a tickable box with "Prehistoric sprues included" could prevent quite a lot of harm. 😄

Matthias Weiss
Fabian, be careful what you wish for. Dragon might take your idea and call it "Vintage Special Edition" and put on a 80€ price tag..😉

John Van Kooten
@Joerg: Yeah, 30 of them. Should be enough for now, right? 😛 LOL

@Guido:
Whahahaha! 😄 Crazyness 😄 LOL!
You could be right, though, and I shall take that to Heart. I shall make more efforts to start building the mighty Dragons 😄

@Fabian: that could be a great idea! 😄 Dragon has a nag for including old crap and selling it as new 😉

However, in this particular case I must rectify a seriously big error on my part. It seems the price tag of 60 Euro is now completely justifiable because the old StuG F sprue I was referring to is actually not an old one. It seems Dragon has gone through GREAT lengths in providing us with many newly tooled parts in this kit! They have, in fact, included a whopping ONE newly tooled sprue containing MANY new parts! It's the one pictured below. So I deeply regret all my comments about them being the money making machine they are and retract that I still feel like they are letting us, the customer, down.

Was that enough sarcasm, in the last paragraph? Is it dripping off yet? ((( 😄 )))

@Matthias: don't you go give them any ideas now! Before you know it they go for another "monday-morning-product-marketing-meeting" and make it happen! 😮 😄 😉

[img1]

Fabian D.
Oh, how generous of Dragon...
I´m actually surprised they couldn´t find the parts on other sprues.😉

John Van Kooten
Hahaha! 😛 That's really funny because what you said in your last sentence were my thoughts EXACTLY! 😄

Wim van der Luijt
New sprue? So soon you'll have 31 StuG's in the stash 😉

Matthias Weiss
Wow, this is at least a ton of styrene they needed for this new sprue.
That definitely explains the price tag. Now should be really happy that it's not 70 EUR... 😛

John Van Kooten
Yeah, absolutely, this new sprue warrants the purchase of StuG kit number 31 for sure 😛 well... actually... come to think of it... I think I already have this kit if I combine the millions of extra left over parts (which, interestingly, no one has ever requested in any way) from the StuG's and Panzer III's currently in my stash 😛

Exactly, Matthias! The R&D and manufacturing costs must have been running in the hundreds of thousands of Dollars, so the price tag is most definitely acceptable now. Indeed, it should really be in the 70 to 80 Euro range! 😄 LOL hahaha!

H K
Parts H13/ 14 are really great with a nice texture; showing what Dragon can do if they want to. Luckily you don`t see it in the pic because it`s on the other side 🙂 ( why on earth they didn`t include the movable antenna at least on this sprue is a mystery. Instead they let you cut the antenna from the F8 and add the small parts you see on the sprue picture)

John Van Kooten
Yes, I agree! Those two beautiful parts are truly works of art. We can clearly see where all the money spent on R&D has gone and how that investment has made it possible to create such an outstanding piece of new tooling!

" Can't see it because it's on the other side! "
Hahaha! 😛 That's funny 😉 😉

By the way, it only now hits me that the sprue itself actually has (much) more material than all newly tooled parts combined. That's a great selling point, isn't it? 😛 LOL!

I actually haven't even bothered to check what the new pieces are but if they are for the antenna... then I couldn't agree more with you: that's just ludicrous...

Matthias Weiss
Hey John, just send them a mail, explain them your situation, I'm sure they are interested in hearing the opinion of one of the scale modellers that has fed them for so many years....

M.Julian Marles
Pretty funny. You can get the cyberhobby Stug F for like $20 at one of my online stores i shop at.

H K
I would have said, you shouldn`t do that, because you have to remove all the front lights from them for a late F. But then Dragon in their infinite wisdom ( = laziness) let you fill holes ( not the tiny ones, the bigger ones for the tow cables) on the fenders on this kit, which ruins the structure also. Funny side note- there are 4 fenders in the box.