Or atleast thats wat dis guy says : Time Machine against The World

Interesting article, a bit aggresive, but......well, see urself la :P

Time Machine Against The World

ermm... an interesting article all right B)

if the guy would spend more time on his plastic hobby instead of writing so much stuff on his blog..i bet he would be much more happier...

too long winded for me to read the whole article.

each place will definitely have its own pro's and con's. so i will be visting Time Machine to get what i'm suppose to get when the time is right. :)

:blink: do you need to another thread with the same topic?

Man, thats an emotional blog.

I cant see myself traipsing around KL checking paint prices.... :blink: Is this some kind of public service? Gee, thanks!

Modelling is not a cheap hobby, never will be. We all get ripped off sometimes. So what? Stop whinging and get a life. There is a saying: a sucker is born everyday.
Is it the shops fault you didnt do your homework?

I pay far more for some stuff than I should, but its something I wanted, so I buy it . I dont run a blog to tell the whole world. Time better spent building.

You want the stuff, you pays the money...nobody puts a gun to our head and forces us to buy....I think its that simple. If money is the object, then take up a cheaper hobby, like planting cactus. If not, accept that modelling will cost you.

(edited cos I had more to say)

oh... i just bought the cheapest HG gundam kits there without early booking or pre-order... which i think is good enough. didn't compare every product with every ringgit and cent tho. Im bad with numbers... I agree with Landy... and i'd say, scale modeling will always "cheap" and "worth every cent" when we love it...

But it is good to have people doing price comparison of everything while asking for ZERO survey charges....

Thanks to the writer tho i have YET to need such comparison...

Edit : PS... i didnt read the article... i just know this guy is fed up after knowing the price differences of the same item

Dont read the article either, this is the first day you registered as a member and started to comment on others shop? Thats not really a good move.

We can see that the author might have some anger on TM, but heck, in the word of business, there is willing seller and willing buyer. If the price cant match your budget, just walk away.

As mentioned by other, this is a expensive hobby, you gonna spend more if you dont do some homework.

Interesting but .......not my cup of tea.........!!

Good thing Mr Low is a 5 star general........which we already know..............:)

My motto

" If I want it bad enough.....I will get it........." In scale modeling price is secondary..........:)

Best

Mr B

Well, like what my dad once told me, "if it's something you like, then it would never be expensive"...

Thinking about it, if it's something i dont like, even a RM1.00 kit from Tamiya with state-of-the-art mold complete with PE set, i would find it expensive....


Added : Jst finished the blog and i think the blogger's kinda dramatic, all drama drama.. i would assume it's a she for all the fuss she has blogged...and i think she has no idea how the business world looks like.. *grin*

A blog is not a website, and a blogger is not a writer.. The latter part i read it from some article in The Star few wks ago...

long long blog. lotsa words...brain overloaded...need plastics... :wacko:

interesting that someone actually went around checking paint prices...but kinda like walking around town checkin out the prices for Ramly burger...

anyway, won't it be easier to just know how much the paints cost in yen (since it's Tamiya n Mr Color) and then do the maths urself, whenever u step into a shop with paints, etc?

and 2 threads on the same topic is overkill.

although i have to admit, i find the "Once opened considered sold" tag on the paint shelf in Time Machine to be stupidly irritating and ridiculous. Open to check if the paint is dried or the color is correct n WHAM it's urs n u need to pay. nuts.

but i don't go around posting anything in this forum with Time Machine a link to ur emotional ranting on the shop. say ur piece...don't overdo it. now it seems like a personal vendetta against that shop. u talk abt maturity of the lady in the shop...i don't think what u're doing here is that matured either.

i am truly with u on above 2 points...

and i find it funny when on the comment bout Hobby HQ, blogger mentioned he knew how it felt to have someone go to your shop and start recording down the price and there's a possibility of being 'questioned' by the shop owner...but when it happened at Time Machine, said blogger couldnt take the 'questioning'... Blogger knew it might happen but yet when it does, felt irritated with it... Lol...

Akin to i say to myself, if i whack that guy, he might whack me back...

The 1st one i whacked, doesnt whack me back, all praise and what not..

2nd person i whacked, whack me back and i go whine about it..

Really makes u go, WTF man..?!??

Sori Admin :P

Actually, I have account here also, http://www.escalemodels.com/forums/index.php?act=home

I buy lots of paint from Time MAchine also for a long time, I feel angered when I know about this.
I share this onli, so that u all atleast tahu mane nak beli.

But, ye la, I never write this Admin. Err, kalo silap, tolong deletekan post ye?

Actually, as a retailer myself for more than a decade, I must say that there are many pain-taking backstage behind every scene of low price that consumers are not aware of.

More than 10 years ago, retailers are categorized as Price Shop or Service Shop, which mean those offer cheap price with no service expected and another great service with higher price, respectively. Today, with higher demanding power given to the consumers, retailers now categorized as only Price Shop and Value Shop, which Value here refer to Value for Money, or simply put: Cheap and Good Service, which means we retailers not only must give excellent customer service, but also with lowest market price. We ask the consumers that how could this possible? And they have the support by the Trade and Consumer Ministry, that either we follow their rules or they ask consumers not to shop at our place, they are many alternatives or shop can offer lowest price with excellent customer service. And no one will choose Price Shop anymore since Value Shop offers also lowest price with better service.

Those retailers need to survive will then press the suppliers or the goods manufacturers, that we want Value goods, which means highest quality with lowest market price. Manufacturers asked how could that possible, since quality material need higher cost investment in sourcing, machine, system and quality workers with higher pay than hiring the monkeys. We told them you have no choice as we have huge numbers of other manufacturers to choose from and we have Trade and Consumer minitry to back up.

What happen behind the scene of the goods factories are blood, tears and pressure not only the bosses of the factories, but the workers, millions of workers especially China and many parts of the world are underpaid, overwork, and lowest level of treatment, especially poorer country, just to satifsty the consumer demand of highest quality products with lowest price.

This world works in circle... eventually even you find that your customers has also indirectly affected, with their lower pay and higher demand from their customers, which slowly and surely bring this negative effects to you as well. Whether you are in sales of goods or services, they start to demand lowest price with highest services from you.

But sad to say that the market is moving into that direction, with majority consumers only demand highest service, quality with lowest price, the survival instinct arises from these supply chains, it is not surprising to see more and more inferior products with branded name, chemical mixed milk powder that kills many babies, cancer drugs with no actual ingredients inside, black market Viagra, the list goes on, may be the news appears in tomorrow newspaper is the rice we eat is actually not rice at all.

To assist the underprivileged, government does the right thing by price-controlling certain essential items, but they have done overboard if to demand lower price for non-essential items. For consumers whom are looking for buying this non-essential items, instead of find ways to get the cheapest price, we should find ways to increase our income to enjoy them.

Best regards to all.

Sigh...! who else wish to open more modelling hobby stores if this price comparing continues to go on? and then what would be the prospects of the such modelling hobby in this country? The blogger, may be just expressing his or her feeling over blogging and may be thinking that he or she is doing us modeller a favor to compare price.. think I would appreciate more if he or she compare the stock available or how to get there minus the price issue....

I go to these 3 different stores for different stuff, with different stuff, price becomes irrelevent.

The two topics have been merged.

I dont really concern what you have in others forum, nor your reputation.

But I just wanna tell you that your post here is not really smart. With no biaz to any models shop but to share our modelling knowledge, in here, thats our first priority.

Fast food chain restaurant like McD will still have its own regular customer even a lot ppl complaint that their foods are expensive and serve portion is smaller.

BOOM... headshot....

Great one KIRIN... :lol: :lol: :lol:

Not every SHE is like that la. ;) :lol:

The title "Time Machine against The World".............. what a small world he/she had. :P :P

at first i thought that his info was useful but now its just getting annoying to see his post like almost everywhere in everybodys thread <_<

If its makes you feel better bro : we wont buy anything at time machine. There hope you're satisfied, we get it time machine is expensive bla bla bla now can we get to our daily routines and at least see some of youre builds? this is a model forum you know, not some 'lets boycot a shop forum kinda thingy'.

P/S: maybe we all got off at the wrong side, care to show us some of you model kits that you have built? so that we can all share new ideas etc ^_^ . Lets make this world a better place to live in ok ;)

the blog have a big title... "review of the world" or something like that lah... mana tau... one content only... which is this time machine... amat melucukan...

Williams: Got other topic lah, juz that i dun understand a word of his. He seem frustrated to this world, cursing and bad words all over. ;) ;)

been to that time machine shop... all those paints are *bleep*-ing expensive when I asked the old man he said this is the new batch. we import them ourselves.. rm 33 for mr surface primer :angry: ... rm 9 for mr gunze per bottle :o .. but the colour are quite complete. he does restock all the time...

Mr Color's retail price is 160yen which is almost equivalent to RM6.50. if u include postage & tax (if any)...that's about RM7 or 7.50 per bottle. RM9 per bottle is pricey but not a cut-throat price. RM33 for surfacer...i reckon that would be the spraycan type? if it's not...then yes, that's @#$%ing expensive as wat u said...but maybe it's wrong price tag u may want to check with them on that.

Well, I do agree with Holy P on the business world point of view.

When the blog started with the example of price comparison on burgers, I strongly disagree, and I disagree that "I won't buy burgers in town anymore statement". This is not how the world works. If what the blogger says is true for all consumers, you can't find burgers in town.

As a modeller for about 20 years, I know what prices are for model kits, tools and paints. Those days RM50 for a Tamiya kit is considered expensive. I buy Tamiya paints for RM 4.90 ~ RM 5.90 at that time (now it's RM 15 ~ 17). I buy Hasegawa 1/72 aircraft for RM 14.90 and maybe cheaper if there's Parkson Grand Sale like 15 years ago. I'd probably sigh away and stop modelling if I still live in my small world and never grow up from that era.

10~20% higher in price is acceptable, I agree that "when you like something, it's never expensive". If you found the same product at some place rediculously high price, then.... just stop going there. If you get something at very cheaper price, than you are lucky. But you can't expect everybody else selling at cheap price for products that have a tiny market size. This is not the computer and IT world.

I never been to Time Machine, and.... well... I most likely wouldn't coz I'm not into Gundam or Transformers. As far as paints, primers and top coats are concern, I do know some other places that sells them, like in one of the shop in Cineleisure LG. They are not rare.

However, I do agree to the Blogger regarding the services of a shop. If I'm buying something in Pasarmalam, I expect cheap price and no service at all. But for model shops, I expect to get some services. If a place says "once opened, considered sold".... I won't buy things from there. It's not reasonable at all. For paints, I always open them to check whether it's still fresh. For model kits, I need assistance from shopkeeper to open and check if everything is intact, before I make any payment.

rm 33 for glass bottle type :o

sorry... the type that was mixing using mr thinner.. rm 33 per bottle.. no discount.. HHQ is selling somewhere around less than rm20. correct me if I were wrong... :D

Just want to add something abt Time Machine since I know the proprieter and his parents (well, his parents help look after the shop). Derrick has a knack of finding things that are otherwise darn difficult to find. Guess it helps when he travels to Japan and HK a lot. I depend on him for these and don't mind paying a little more for his trouble.

I assume his prices would include the hardsip he endures looking for these. Of course I'm talking abt kits and figurines. Can't comment much abt the paints and tools since I don't buy those from there.

Free market = seller price an item, u ok with it, deal's on. Simple as that.

On the other hand, if someone's gonna come into my shop n start jotting down my merchandise's prices one by one, without informing me prior to that, i will just kick him out.