I concur.  I see the hobby booming- the price increases seem to indicate this. If the hobby were really in trouble they would not be able to make those kinds of increases- and the kits sell in spite of those prices.  The molding of the styrene in new kits (at least by major mfgs) is beautiful, more kits include PE and sometimes even resin (though I suspect the use of resin will fall with the ability to better cast the styrene).  And the amount of aftermarket is astounding.

We are wading in a sea of riches- hardest job these days may be finding all the options and items offered for each new kit, since not all vendors carry all stuff.  That is one beauty of places like these forums.

I only started seriously building as a teenager in the 90s but even I can remember when my choices for ships bigger than 1/350 could be counted on my right hand and most of them were probably wood kits I couldn't afford back then anyway. Putting a 1/200 battleship kit in front of the 16 year-old version of me would have gotten the same reaction as a Lamborghini full of nekked supermodels pulling up into my driveway today.

There's plenty of interesting stuff to build these days but I do miss the "good old days" sometimes... for one the skill level bar has been set so high that I'm sure many people just getting into the hobby get scared away early on. I remember when the way to make a model ship shine was to add some Gold Medal generic railings on it; now it takes $500+ in aftermarket PE/resin, decades of experience, mad airbrushing skills and probably some hefty scratchbuilding to elicit the same reaction.

I also get frustrated with so much online rivet counting and griping along with little to no actual building or showing work to resolve those perceived errors from the rivet counters... both things I never had to put up with back then.

Chango for me it's the fun of it, no competitions, build what you like and all that. I guess thats part of what cool, theres room for all of it.

Shrug, it takes time to figure out and implement any fixes that a modeler comes up with for a shape or dimension problem.

And we all know that if you come up with a fix and show it today, for a kit released 2 years ago, you are just "doing it too late".

Sad to say, but, we either get the findings in a timely manner (and the poster gets slammed for being a Rivet Counter), or we get it after "the builder comes up with a fix",,,,,,at which point the builder gets slammed because it is not about "today's model".

Since it is a "lose-lose" situation,,,,,,,I don't show that stuff on forums. This is, after all,  the hobby where you get nasty emails and/or PM's for answering someone's "mystery" that they mention in print, when the info was published in 1986, in a book promoted in the very same magazine. (see my post about the Demon's gray rudder on here, and the article in current FSM)

I am sure I am not the only one thinking "why bother?" I have noticed that specs and references are being mentioned less and less.

Rex

I believe that we do live in amazing times as modelers. Yes there is a ton of PE available for almost any subject, yes information for those same kits can be overwhelming. For anyone to say that anybodys model is "so yesterday" speaks volumes about the person saying it. We all have skills we're good at or specific style inwhich we build, for one person to badmouth another for the use, or lack of ,aftermarket material IMO is unfounded. I'm a lousy scratchbuilder so the use of aftermarket is almost required that doesn't give me the right to criticize someone who scratchbuilds well, i enjoy what i do and they get satifaction outta what they are able to produce. My train of thought was derailed mid sentence so i'll finish with build what you want however you want to build it, be kind to others work, it takes guts to show a model even to other modelers, encouragement usually gets better results than bashing someones skills or pocketbook. Tarn your not alone, i don't post pix 'cause embarrassingly enough i still don't know how, but i imagine if i could after a few nay sayers my attitude might be similar. Your input is of great value here though.

Yes,it is indeed good times for modelers,so many choices,so much advice.The problem is sorting thru all of the info,which is a good problem.

Rivet counters; often are the ones who provide detailed information that manufacturers use to produce more accurate kits. They spot umpteen errors in current kits that spur other manufacturers to perhaps make their own, more accurate version.

Rivet counters are often the ones who do the kit reviews. Point out fit errors in the construction and the usual errors in Dragon instructions. They'll let us know if kit "A" is better than kit "B".

Rivet counters often do those impressive builds that look like more white sheet styrene and photo etch than the green plastic kit parts.

They are also the ones who quickly pan a kit, often killing sales before the kit hits the shelves.

They are the ones who often tell you that you need the turret from kit "A", hull from kit "B", after market tracks from the expensive Swedish company, aluminum gun tube from Poland, and $150 to build an accurate version of a $30 model tank.

I doubt if the modeling world is really a binary set- rivet counters and non-rivet counters. I suspect there is a continuum of modelers, ones who truly demand exact scale, those who merely want it to look pretty, and hundreds of thousands somewhere in between.  Those end points, the rivet extremist and those who merely want it to look like a ship are ideal depictions with no one actually like that.  We all fall somewhere on the scale, even those in the exact middle ;-)

Good observation. I'll go a little further: many modelers (including me) enjoy working in different genres, and have different personal standards in different genres. I'm most interested in ships, and I think my standards of accuracy for ship kits are pretty high. I also enjoy building an aircraft now and then, and when it comes to aircraft I'm most definitely not a rivet counter. Example: if I'd bought that Edouard BF-109G I probably would have been quite happy with it. But I won't touch a HECEPOB (for the uninitiated, that's Hidously Expensive Continental European Plank-on-Bulkhead) ship kit.

The bottom line, as several people have pointed out in this thread already, is that these are great times in the hobby. In the plastic kit world I think the standards being achieved by manufacturers are the highest they've ever been. Exception: sailing ship models. The styrene sailing ship kit seems to be almost - almost - extinct.

I fall in between; for a subject I am mildly interested in, a "good enough" kit is good enough for me. For something I am really into, I may chose the most accurate, up-to-date kit on the market. If I want to build a Mustang, I'll grab a kit that's priced right and has little fit issues. If I want another Abrams, I'll search for the newer Dragon kits.

I agree with you guys about how modelling has come a long way in the quality of kits, information reference material available and the amount of choices in subject matter. Judging by the prices of the kits, the increase that is, I think the increase is also due to a negative aspect and than the prices for kits have increased due to the technology used to create the kits.

I think another aspect to the price increase is that there aren't as many modellers to sell the kits to. 40 years ago when I was a kid I'd go to the hobby shop with my Dad and buy models for a few dollars such as te old Aurora WWI plane kits from the late 50's early 60's. My friend and I would build then get a fire cracker and blow them up...ah yes kids. Then repeat the process. Today I would never blow up a kit I spent more than $20 on.

My point is haven't you noticed there are like no hobby stores around anymore? One I just found was is in business for 8 years and is considering closing because they can't turn a profit. Kids aren't interested in the hobby, video games has kill it. Even my kids I tried to get them interested in models, they spend 5 maybe 10 minutes with me then loose interest.

As we age and pass on who will continue? Yes there is always those that will pick up the hobby but there won't be many. I don't know the answer to this problem. But since this forum is on the State of Modelling with all the Pros I listed won't stop the problem of reproducing future modellers to carry the torch to the future.

Although the term is often used in a derogatory sense, most businesses really do price by "what the traffic will bear,"  and do keep track of the traffic.  As long as the traffic stays up, price increases will continue.  I am surprised at how many of my modeling friends continually *** about the price of new kits, yet go out and buy those really high price offerings.

It is an addictive hobby. You get better as you progress (build more) and often your desires direct you towards higher quality and thus more expensive kits.

I use the term "rivet counter" as a modeler who strives for a greater level of detail than a "casual modeler." That is a term I use for a modeler who is content building a kit as it is produced, obviously filling seams and doing the basics.

I've seen casual modelers who are actually better builders than some rivet counters. Just because you prefer a certain higher level of detail doesn't mean you are a better or worse modeler than someone who builds at a different lesser level of detail.

I've rebuilt the grill doors on Tamiya Abrams kits using strip styrene and added photo etched detail to the side skirts, but I've seen Tamiya Abrams kits built straight OOB that were better builds than mine.

If ya'll will allow me a little rant I've been hearing that 'video games are killing modeling' since the good old days of Space Invaders, Asteroids, Pac-Man, Defender, and the Atari VCS 2600 and Intellivision. That was thirty years ago and it's not dead yet.

I fact I've seen several people here and on other forums being inspired by stuff like 'World of Tanks' to pick up a tank kit and want advice on how to build it.

I do see a shift to older modelers so when we die out maybe the hobby will too, but so far from the stuff on the market I'd be almost willing to call this the 'golden age' of modeling. I mean gee whiz to see crazy stuff like the T-28 and the Soviet UFO tank (from THREE companies no less!) in regular kits, not limited run resin is just incredible to me. If you'd told me this back when I was playing video games in 1982 I'd have rolled my eyes like you were crazy!

I've never bought into the video game killing modeling line. I know video games that feature military hardware like tanks and planes spur casual builders into making a model of "their" in-game vehicle.

I do think video gaming cuts into my modeling time. I know that if I have a few minutes, I might jump on face book and play candy crush until I have to go. In the past, I might have sanded a few road wheels or cleaned up some track links or just cut some parts off the sprue to test fit.

I think that's more a convenience factor; I often feel the need to take "in progress" shots, even if I never post them. I don't want to get to doing something that I might feel that I should document it. 

I too didn't think that video games had much an impact on modeling, until I got into 3D online chess.  Man, that is really cutting into my build time.  

I'm with you Gamera, 100%

Hey thanks Waikong!

The funny thing is though if I were to box up my PC and swear off computer/video games the time would get turned over to reading, watching TV and DVDs etc instead of modeling.  I seem to have a modeling mood and a non-modeling mood- if I don't feel like it cutting out other stuff isn't really going to change things. Back when I played computer games for four-five hours a night every night I still got some modeling done before I started.

Just seems to me with all the stuff no available somebody is buying it, so there must be some demand!

Sure are a lot of thoughts, but my personal one is that the hobby is of an age and maturity that theres room for all of it, from those who want absolute perfection to those who still want to blow them up. I guess my original thought was that we're so lucky to have all the choices available. Whatever we choose to do and how we choose to do it, just enjoy the time because I really do think we create mini works of art in these builds. For example, take any kit by any manufacturer and the thousands of those who've built that particular one. I think i'm on solid footing to say that no two are exactly the same, now that pretty incredible thinking about it. Anyway thats my two cents, I for one really enjoy what we do and I hope we can pass it on. Terry