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.