Why are most kits military subjects?

Actually car models far out sell military models. But recently many real 1:1 scale manufacturers have been requiring licensing to produce scale models of their cars and trucks. This may slow down new car model production.

 I remember way back when a new car model was produced/retooled to match each year of a car's model year.

Reflect back to your youth, what motivated you to attend a movie or watch one on television? Generally is was something mechanical. Cars, planes, ships and armor which took on a personality of their own.

Example, EAA's AirVenture is an air show centered around civil aviation, homebuilts specifically. But what draws a majority of the crowd...the Warbirds or aircraft that are SPECTACULAR in size, shape, speed or played a part in a military conflict. Concorde, Dreamlifter, An124, SR-71, U-2, Voyager..etc

Take that one step further..Observation, Training and Cargo aircraft do not get the notority that Fighters and Bombers get, yet they are as important to our military as homebuilts are to general aviation.

Cars, well, Herbie seemed to very popular. A certain black Firebird, made Smokey and the Bandit a hit. Even in old war movies a piece of equipment can become a leading character...the jeeps in The Rat Patrol. Herman Munster's hot rod wagon and Grandpa's hot rod coffin. The Rifleman's Winchester rifle...yes at one time models of guns were very popular and they are starting to come back.

Mechanical things seem to take center stage in comparison to animals or even people...like in SciFi movies...get the idea? 

Rob Gronovius wrote:

I remember way back when a new car model was produced/retooled to match each year of a car's model year.

AMT and SMP would put out at least one, sometime a convertible and a hardtop, of just about every American car each fall. These would be three in one kits, stock, custom or race and retailed at $1.49. Okay, the custom and race sprues would be the same for all the cars and the decal sheets might not vary either, but there they were. Revell produced many kits of both stock an custom cars. Monogram specialized in wild customs. Up until recently, these also produced large numbers of NASCAR kits, but licensing fees all but killed that (along with the prohibition of beer livery decals on items geared to kids-right!) Aurora had a line of European spors cars and ICM put out several car kits including the GT 40, Ford J car, both with several engine options, the Dodge Little Red Wagon and a two in one VW beetle with a blown big block dragster option. Hasegawa, Fujimi and Tamiya still have good lines of sports, endurance and rally cars. There are still quite a number of 1/43 cars featuring endurance cars.

In the past, there have been lines by Aurora featuring animals, such as a white tail deer, a nd birds by Lifellicke which came with a set of paint pellets and solvent with which to paint them. Don't forget Aurora's famous monster line which culminated in the infamous "working" guillotime that shocked early 60's moms across America. Revell once produced both the NS Savannah and the SS United States. There have been a goodly number of commercial airliners, such as the DC-7 and the Constellation.