cosworth34677-ARE YOU ON DRUGS
Just kidding.
This is just the world we live in. When I bought my first new car way back in 1964 it was a bad a$$ GTO with every speed option that I could get. It cost $3100. Have you looked at the price of a new car lately? I probably paid less for the house that I live in than what a medium priced new car cost now. The world has changed. Do you really think someone can build a quality model and sell it for $500-$800? I have scratch built a few models and spent well over $2000 on materials. Not to mention tools and machine tooling. But I accepted that because that is what I wanted to do. Companies that put out large quantities of models have HUGE investment costs and simply cannot build and sell models "cheap". If you are serious, then start out small. Convert a few cheap models to R/C, to learn how, then buy some equipment (one pc, at a time) and learn how to build your own stuff. I think you will find that the true enjoyment is in the building and not the operation of a model. The first time you work with a model is exciting but after a while it becomes boring and you will be looking for something else to build.