Future of kit building?

[Njaco]

Bentwings, you brought up a cool "gotcha" that occurs sometimes. I'll show somebody my model and they go "wow" and can't believe I built that myself, brush paint and all. And thats another little piece of satisfaction. Getting kudos not only from other like-minded folks but novices who have no clue and are interested. Maybe if model shows and such were advertised alittle more might see more interest in the hobby. You know the way they advertise "sunday, Sunday, SUNDAY!! Monster trucks and babes at the Kotex-Ovaltine Arena.!"

 

[DBII]

I just found this thread. I can remember watching my father building a B-25 at the kicthen table before I even started school. It hung on the bedroom ceiling for years. I am afraid the the craft is going away soon. I went to several Walmarts and could not find any paint or models. One sales clerk said that they are no longer going to carry plastic models. They did not even have any modeling items in the clearance area.

I live just north of Houston. I know of 3 shops that has closed down. I will have to drive to the otherside of Hosuton to find a store that sales plastic models. That will be a 45 minute drive one way. I went through the yellow pages and all of the model shops listed on my side of Houston only sale radio control planes and cars or trains.

dbII

 

[bigZ]

Am one of those rivet counters that NC warned you all about. My 1:4 scale project is almost of the drawing board after 2 years working on it and surveying the real thing. Making the moulds this week for casting the tyres(complete with letters) on my homemade CNC machine use black bath sealant.

What am most looking forward too is buying the Guillows Birddog building it straight from the box(apart from improving the rubber motor) and flying it with my 3 year old son. Any excuse to use dope on tissue again.

Sometimes it good to get back to basics.

First memories of modeling is building a Matchbox 1:72 Spit with my Dad.

Anyone remember the little ladybird book 'The Story of Flight'. Its almost 30 years since I saw it but can still remember most of the illustrations vivedly. Must get a copy of ebay for the kids.

 

[Graeme]

Anyone remember the little ladybird book 'The Story of Flight'. Its almost 30 years since I saw it but can still remember most of the illustrations vivedly. Must get a copy of ebay for the kids.

But beware youngsters and pencils bigZ! This Ladybird Concorde cover now has "skis" thanks to my inventive children.

 

[machine shop tom]

I agree with those that believe videos, television, videogames, computers and the internet, and other competing activities have all combined to put the model-making hobby on the decline. Combine these things with the Wal-Mart model of business causing the destruction of smaller, more customer-friendly types of stores and you see that the kit modeler is being squeezed on all sides.

My son has done some nice modeling but it's not really his bag (at least at this time, he's going on 12). I do try to include him in my modeling time, but that's preciously short for me, too.

I think the dearth of local stores that sell entry-level or intermediate-lever models is causing a great gap in new members to the hobby. We do have a hobby shop literally down the street that has a nice selection of RC-controlled vehicles and planes, along with trains, role-playing games, and other hobby stuff. But their selection of model kits (ships, planes, armored vehicles, balsa wood airplanes), while fairly substantial, starts at 30 bucks and goes up from there. There are no kits that are cheap enough to purchase and try out wihout tossing out some serious bucks if the kid loses interest. I would like to point that out to the owners, but they can be downright unfriendly at times. I do like to shop there because I do feel the need to support the local businesses, but I actually do most of my model and accessory shopping on line.

I feel that maybe if some service organization were to offer a model contest (as the Optimists did when I was a kid) there would be an opportunity for promoting the hobby, but I don't know how that would go over because everybody seems so strapped for time.

I wish I had and answer...........

tom

 

[Heinz]

Good points Tom. I agree about the pricing and attitude of kit makers. However easyhobby I think they are called have been selling some good beginner kits here in Australia. However other than the traditional Airfix kits for beginners is limited.

I've been building since I was young with my father who started me off. It was a very basic Spitifire from a local shopping centre. Now I have no hope of getting a kit within 20kms of my home.

As for your experiences of unfriendly staff its not isolated. I've noticed that once or twice myself. Its taken me back, I mean after surely the guys working there would have an interest in models? Being polite doesn't cost much but there you go.

I've suggest maybe the Medal of honour games could come with a kit. Or one of those magazines could have a basic kit to build per week/month.

I guess the best chance at a revival in future numbers is a few good new war movies or a WW2 based television series.

Best thing we can all do is enjoy the hobby right now.

 

[ThunderThud]

The Love of modeling has to be within the person!I tried teaching both my sons when they were younger and thought thats what they wanted to do as a hobby!Yes they have built a few kits of cars or planes and tanks.But the younger generation has different intrests such as computers and vidio games and more out side contacts with cell Phones and text messages.Its not the price,even though I think some times its robbery.Look at todays prices on vidio games. A $.30 plastic disc with computer software burnt into it to play a vidio game goes for $50.00. The kids wait on line 12-1 am to get the first copies at those prices.Growing up I and I'm sure alot of you also had to be creative with your hands to be entertianed, also we grew up with WWII.Now they grow up with electronics and "Desert Storm".Why build a M1 Abrams when you can play in one on a vidio game and Kill Terrorists, and aliens.I feel this hobby will be around many more years but the average age of the modeler will be over 30.

 

[wm3456]

There are so many reasons for kit prices going upward and Eastward. folks like me who have been building for 40+ plus years are looking for more detail and more diversity in kit choices. when i was 8, you built an Hawk Corsair and a Revell Zero in 1/72 scale, slapped some decals on it and spent the summer "wargaming in the backyard(the Zero always lost). After a few months the Red Rider artillery and Zippo naplam turned them into flaming hulks on the driveway airfield. Maturity ruined all that and now I want a nice replica of the original aircraft that sits on the shelf so I can tell the Domestic CO the who,what and where of it's importance. She was a little shocked to know that the real Jolly Rogers carry a real skull and crossbones on every deployment and nixed the idea of me getting my own real set of same to set my models around (you can get anything on e-bay).
Now, I want the detail and the correct markings just for historical accuracy.
The cost of tooling the molds is incredibly expensive if you want that detail.
Also, the cost of the little tiny pellets to make the kits isn,t cheep anymore.
They made from petroleum you know. And with the limited global market for these "wonderkits" the cost of production has to be paseed on to the consumer. There just aren't a lot of people who are willing to put that kind of money into it anymore.
When i was 12 years old, I had a 12" black and white television in my bedroom and a 6 transistor am radio with an earplug and thought I was the epitome of high tech. That didn't stop me from getting my High def LCD and digtal surround sound home theater system with satellite hookup. When was the last time anyone went out and boutgh a VCR as opposed to a DVD player?
The point is this, if it's something you are pasionate about and can afford it, you'll find a way to make it work.
Sorry for the sermon. Now if you'll excuse me I've got to change the channel on my Three Dog Night 8 track.

 

[DOUGRD]

Well wm3456 you have some good points but you also brought to light another nail in the coffin of our favorite hobby. As you said "Now, I want the detail and the correct markings just for historical accuracy." I think I built my first model, a DR-1, manufacturer forgotten, back in 1958 when I was 8 years old. My dad was the primary builder of course, I was quality control and test pilot. From then until the mid '80's when I last built a SB2C the quality and detail slowly improved, Hasagawa and Heller being perhaps the best. Point is, if you wanted more detail than the kit provided then you added it. A lot of model contests were won because of the added detail a modeller included and it was understood that the detail usually came from a lot of research. Having it handed to you kind of takes the fun out of it for me.

 

[ThunderThud]

With the Oil prices going through the roof Litterally, the price of plastic will no doubt skyrocket!

 

[DOUGRD]

Now here's a good question for anyone: How much oil does it take to make a model kit, say 1/32 single engine? Any idea?????

 

[Trebor]

I honestly have no idea.

My stepfather often says that he and his friends often bought large scale tanks and airplanes, put 'em together, paint 'em, .....and blow 'em up. LOL

but seriously, I can't even find a decent scaled model tank or vehicle. I just finished a 1:72 scale Kubelwagen with a BMW motorbike with a sidecar. I spent 6.95 on that sucker in the hobbystore.

but I guess that nowadays we can do more with models. I mean that as in todays computers, they can take every small detail of a P-51D mustang and scale it down. I heard that injected plastic is more detailed, is it?

 

[109ROAMING]

Well myself being 16 and jobless limits my model buying capability,and my model collection to somewhere round 80-100kits with a few built

what I love seeing is peoples models collections either built or a whole heap of boxes.What i see in the boxes is a whole lot of fun ahead

when I see alot of built up kits of a certain type of plane or a whole lot of single seat RAF fighters(or what ever just as long as they're similar) it doesn't matter if they're airfix or what they look COOL as a whole

When It comes to things like this its like the Russians not quality but quantity (no offence to you russians,you guys have made some of the coolest planes in history!!

 

[otftch]

I just picked up a 1/72 Revell(advent) B-57 for ten dolars.Not the greatest kit but I think I'kk put a note on it ,that it cost $10.00/2008 and keep it as a prize.I think it cost about a dollar when new but what a price today.
Ed

 

[Blue Yonder]

I have noticed that at some stores, such as walmart, they no longer sell the kits that they used to. Now they sell the pre-painted, just snap together kits. I was speaking with a Walmart associate the last time I went and he said that it was a shame, he enjoyed building the models and he wished that the store had thought about it before they had gotten rid of their revell and monogram model kits. Now the only place I can get the same kits I like to build is near Rochester, an hour away at Dans Crafts and Things. Its more expensive then the other shops that used to surround the area, but what else are we to do? I just finished a P-47D Thunderbolt in 1/32 scale that I received for Christmas and it cost at least 30-35 dollars. The only people that I see purchasing the older kits are middle aged, not many people are interested in putting together something that takes a long time to do if you want to do it right. Many of my friends would rather buy the kits already done and then display them. But where is the sense of fulfillment? The accomplishment? It is hard to say whether our hobby will become extinct in the next several years. I would hope that it will remain strong, but who am I to predict such a change in our society? I'm a modeler and shall remain a modeler until my dying day. I enjoy putting them together and as my dad says (slightly modified) "Dam the prices and full speed ahead!"

 

[Blue Yonder]

The injected plastic kits I find are detailed, but the smaller details, like rivets and plating, tend to be flimsy and prone to braking. As to finding some good kits, I would suggest Ebay, or (as in my case) there is a store 40-45 miles from where I live that sells everything to do with models, even if the prices are high.

 

[Adolf Galland Fighter ace]

1st sorry been ill and not at any pc, and well I'm also very new.

I can say about the hobby here it is strong, the local IMPS is growing and younger faces are joining. The largest hobby shop I know the owners and it is doing well.
I think with all the new kits especially high end 32nd and 24th and after market resin and etch it must be selling. Yes not cheap but then my allowance was 10 a month some of these kids spend 100 on their cell phone each month.
I build 48th up and most of the youth start with 72nd as I did and mix in some 48th, the reference material has never been better or accessible so I think the hobby has hope, as long as these kits don't take out of the working class man or lady and only like many things allow only the rich to afford it, keep it grassroots my GF always said and things seldom go wrong.

This is MHO!

 

[Heinz]

A good observation Adolf. Sorry to hear you haven't been well.

In relative turns to other 'expenditures' these days the hobby isn't that bad. Still I think its the whole psychology ' i want it now' and yet people see us modellers paying for an un assembled model.

 

[Adolf Galland Fighter ace]

In relative turns to other 'expenditures' these days the hobby isn't that bad. Still I think its the whole psychology ' i want it now' and yet people see us modellers paying for an un assembled model

Certianly agree there! Heinz, I guess it leaves us on a mission! get a young person envolved, if we each did that there would be no worry, I know when I'm hit for donations I give a model, a nice kit but not something a beginner would simply get frustrated with.
I guess the future does lie with us! And it's sites like this that are a sivler bullet so to speak.

 

[wm3456]

Well wm3456 you have some good points but you also brought to light another nail in the coffin of our favorite hobby. As you said "Now, I want the detail and the correct markings just for historical accuracy." I think I built my first model, a DR-1, manufacturer forgotten, back in 1958 when I was 8 years old. My dad was the primary builder of course, I was quality control and test pilot. From then until the mid '80's when I last built a SB2C the quality and detail slowly improved, Hasagawa and Heller being perhaps the best. Point is, if you wanted more detail than the kit provided then you added it. A lot of model contests were won because of the added detail a modeller included and it was understood that the detail usually came from a lot of research. Having it handed to you kind of takes the fun out of it for me.

Doug, yes and no. As my good eye seems to have forced me into 1/48 scale and my talent is such that I will never build contest winners, it is still for me an enjoyable hobby. I'm not a rivet counter and don't really care if my interior green is a shade or two off. I do however like to finish up with a kit that is reasonably accurate.
If I think it needs a little fine tuning here or a little scratchbuilding there or a resin cockpit to jazz it up a little bit, I do it.
If you look at a scale modeling as an art form(which In my humble opinion it is) there is lots of room for personal interpretation. This is why we do it.
The research to me is half the fun. The other half is gathering the the materials needed to to the job to my satisafaction. The whole point of any hobby is to get satisfaction out of doing it the way you want to do it.
The majority of people who paint for example don't do it with the idea of it ending up in a museum somewhere and I don't think most modellers expect their work to end up taking first prize at the IPMS Nationals. We do it for the fun of bulding the kits.
This is primarily a solitary hobby. Sure, it's great to go find like minded people to talk about it and compare techniques and review kits and tools, but in the end it's usually one person sitting in a room with plastic, putty, a paint brush and a little bit imagination bringing satisfaction to their life.
As far as getting younger people invloved I'm all for it.
Several years ago I took about 100 1/72 scale kits that will I would never build and dropped them off at the local Boy's Club. Not only were the adults who work there happy to have them, but I even got a few thank you letters from the kids. A few even sent pictues. No,they were not accuarate or anything near contest winners, but these kids sure were proud of their work!
If even on or two of those kids end up becoming modellers then I feel like I've done something worthwhile for our hobby.
Like all hobbies, the real pleasure comes from what you get out of and not neccesarilly what you put into it.