SEARCH FINESCALE.COM

Enter keywords or a search phrase below:

Free comic book day - maybe an idea for the model industry

7331 views
35 replies
1 rating 2 rating 3 rating 4 rating 5 rating
  • Member since
    February 2011
  • From: Ontario, Canada
Free comic book day - maybe an idea for the model industry
Posted by gunner_chris on Sunday, May 6, 2012 9:35 AM

What a great idea the comic industry has.  A nationally advertised program where stores in most cities participate, they are supplied with comics to give away but in turn get people in the door and interested in the hobby.

I wonder if it's something that the model industry could use to spark interest in young modellers.

Even a simple snap tite of common cars or tanks.

Business wise I'm sure it's a challenge because truly nothing in life is free.  The cost associated with producing a small comic book don't quite compare to a model kit.  But their appeal is not unlike ours where only a small niche of society is willing to invest their limited cash flow into it.  And from what I saw some comics or graphic novels go for $20 and up so people obviously spend quite a bit there once their interest is peaked.

 

Probably just thinking out loud, just thinking it could be what the industry needs to inject the new blood that's often discussed as lacking.

  • Member since
    July 2004
  • From: Sonora Desert
Posted by stikpusher on Sunday, May 6, 2012 2:46 PM

The hobby industry has "make and take" days. Usually put on by local IPMS chapters, but not always. If you go to Revell's website there is a link there for how to do one with their products.

 

F is for FIRE, That burns down the whole town!

U is for URANIUM... BOMBS!

N is for NO SURVIVORS...

       - Plankton

LSM

 

  • Member since
    March 2006
Posted by TD4438 on Wednesday, May 9, 2012 9:57 AM

I love FCBD.I always grab a bunch of stuff for the neices and nephews.Some stores carry a decent amount of model supplies for wargaming as well.

  • Member since
    November 2005
Posted by Anonymous on Wednesday, May 9, 2012 10:12 AM

TD4438

http://i386.photobucket.com/albums/oo309/TI4438/Free%20Comic%20Book%20Day%202011/005.jpg

http://i386.photobucket.com/albums/oo309/TI4438/Free%20Comic%20Book%20Day%202012/028.jpg

And here I was thinking WE were nerds...

  • Member since
    February 2003
  • From: Rothesay, NB Canada
Posted by VanceCrozier on Wednesday, May 9, 2012 10:51 AM

Manstein's revenge

 

 TD4438:

 

http://i386.photobucket.com/albums/oo309/TI4438/Free%20Comic%20Book%20Day%202011/005.jpg

http://i386.photobucket.com/albums/oo309/TI4438/Free%20Comic%20Book%20Day%202012/028.jpg

 

And here I was thinking WE were nerds...

 

Herr Feldmarschall, photographic proof.... we have nothing to worry about!

On the bench: Airfix 1/72 Wildcat; Airfix 1/72 Vampire T11; Airfix 1/72 Fouga Magister

  • Member since
    September 2005
  • From: Illinois: Hive of Scum and Villany
Posted by Sprue-ce Goose on Wednesday, May 9, 2012 12:30 PM

VanceCrozier
 Manstein's revenge:
 TD4438:

http://i386.photobucket.com/albums/oo309/TI4438/Free%20Comic%20Book%20Day%202011/005.jpg

http://i386.photobucket.com/albums/oo309/TI4438/Free%20Comic%20Book%20Day%202012/028.jpg

 

And here I was thinking WE were nerds...

Herr Feldmarschall, photographic proof.... we have nothing to worry about!

Are our  uniforms at AMPS shows OK, then?

They can't be all bad ; probably never strapped a 1/2 scale F-104 to their Chevys.

 

  • Member since
    July 2004
  • From: Sonora Desert
Posted by stikpusher on Wednesday, May 9, 2012 1:58 PM

TD4438

http://i386.photobucket.com/albums/oo309/TI4438/Free%20Comic%20Book%20Day%202011/005.jpg

 

Is Darth looking at Anime girls to his right????

 

F is for FIRE, That burns down the whole town!

U is for URANIUM... BOMBS!

N is for NO SURVIVORS...

       - Plankton

LSM

 

  • Member since
    March 2006
Posted by TD4438 on Wednesday, May 9, 2012 5:23 PM

I guarantee I've got you ALL out-nerded!

  • Member since
    September 2005
  • From: Illinois: Hive of Scum and Villany
Posted by Sprue-ce Goose on Wednesday, May 9, 2012 8:39 PM

TD4438

I guarantee I've got you ALL out-nerded!

http://i386.photobucket.com/albums/oo309/TI4438/010-25.jpg

Are you on a "Mission From God"?

  • Member since
    June 2008
  • From: Iowa
Posted by Hans von Hammer on Thursday, May 10, 2012 5:12 AM

TD4438

I guarantee I've got you ALL out-nerded!

http://i386.photobucket.com/albums/oo309/TI4438/010-25.jpg

"It's a 106 miles to Chicago, We've got a full tank of gas, half a pack of cigarettes, it's dark, and we're wearing sunglasses."

"Hit it!"

Wow.. Do I hear the "Peter Gunn Theme"

BTW.. You're out of "uniform" there, Elwood..

Speaking of uniforms.. Closest I ever came to a "Hollywood ride", was way back around 1986.. This pic was taken in '96 or so, not long after I'd finshed partially restoring the thing, at least externally..

I'm in the right seat.. (Colonels rate a WAC driver.)

Bought it in 1986 with the intent of fully restoring it and getting it running..   But "the best-laid plans", etc, etc, etc...

I did all the welding, sheet-metal, and body-work/paint on it myself (who says that a local community college's voc-ed courses are useless? Especially when you can use the school's shop and tools)

The seat-covers came from a DRMO'd M151, but the windshield was the hardest part to find.. Finally found one after about 6 years, but it was bent, rusted, and a lotta work to repair, and the school didn't have the hydraulic press I needed to repair it..  Ended up taking it to a body-shop, but man.. That cost a LOT to fix..   Actually more than I'd paid for the damn thing in the first place..

The windsheld glass is actually Plexiglass...  I decided that that was a good money-saving measure, and I was right.. I got the "glass" for 20.00.. Try find windshield glass for a '43 Willys if you don't believe me, lol..The tires I got from an M102 howitzer, a 1/4-ton trailer (and the spare came from a broke-down Texas Air Guard M151 that was un-Guarded.. get it?) on a trail in Ft Hood one night..  But the four mains were actually paid for, but I got 'em at the local National Guard OMS, so I got 'em for a song..

 Never did find an engine, tranny, transfer case or either prop-shaft for it though, so no drive-train...  Didn't have an electrical or fuel system either, for that matter.. Or working gauges, shocks, or back seat.  Basically, it was an incomplete 1/1 scale kit-bash, lol...

Towed it behind a tractor or a pick-up in the local Memorial and Veteran's Day parades a few times, though...

 Ended up selling it in '99 (due to 3rd ex-wife and me disagreeing on which one of us was gonna live in the house after we separated.. She won that arguement, BTW)....   With no place to keep it for future completion (and no money anymore either), and the Ex keeping my house (yeah, she got the garage too.. I had to do it that way to keep the boat. But the boat is another story), half my stuff and half my money, I had to let it go to another collector..

He had it up and running in a couple-three months, dammit...'Course, he had several WW2 Army vehicles, to include a running Deuce & a half, M3 half-track and M5 Stewart too... 

*Sniff*, I miss her SO much... *Sniff*...

The Jeep, that is...

Maybe when I win the Lottery, I'll get a couple.. Maybe turn one into an SAS jeep..  Want an M151A2 too.. Drove one of those many, many miles... Sigh..

Oh yeah.. Back On Topic..

Went to the Comic Book Store that Saturday too.. Not a single "Enemy Ace" comic in the deck...  And the Graphic Novels of "The War in Heaven"? Not free at all..

And WTF happened to MY Batman??? The one I looked through shocked me! D ick Grayson is now Batman???  'Course, I have to admit that I haven't followed Batman and Robin since about 1972...

Nothing there was anything close to what I remembered about my comic books...

Phooey to it...

  • Member since
    June 2008
  • From: Iowa
Posted by Hans von Hammer on Thursday, May 10, 2012 5:16 AM

I do have an "inner nerd",  though it's still in the closet...

 

But if any of y'all ever tell anyone, I'll beam you into a wall...

  • Member since
    February 2003
  • From: Rothesay, NB Canada
Posted by VanceCrozier on Thursday, May 10, 2012 7:04 AM

Hans von Hammer

I do have an "inner nerd",  though it's still in the closet...

http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v233/HansvonHammer/STBridge.jpg

 

http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v233/HansvonHammer/Startrek1.jpg

But if any of y'all ever tell anyone, I'll beam you into a wall...

why Why WHY WHHYYYY!!!!!!!

.

.

.

.

.

.

did they always beam the entire bridge crew into dangerous situations? Thought that's what a recon detail was for....

On the bench: Airfix 1/72 Wildcat; Airfix 1/72 Vampire T11; Airfix 1/72 Fouga Magister

  • Member since
    September 2005
  • From: Illinois: Hive of Scum and Villany
Posted by Sprue-ce Goose on Thursday, May 10, 2012 9:52 AM

VanceCrozier
 Hans von Hammer:

I do have an "inner nerd",  though it's still in the closet...

http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v233/HansvonHammer/STBridge.jpg

 

http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v233/HansvonHammer/Startrek1.jpg

But if any of y'all ever tell anyone, I'll beam you into a wall...

why Why WHY WHHYYYY!!!!!!!

.did they always beam the entire bridge crew into dangerous situations? Thought that's what a recon detail was for....

Blame it on the Kobayashi Maru


  • Member since
    June 2008
  • From: Iowa
Posted by Hans von Hammer on Thursday, May 10, 2012 12:20 PM

Dunno why... But I pitied the guy in the red shirt that went down with 'em..

Scene: Kirk, Spock, McCoy, Chekov, Sulu materialize on planet surface, along with ONE GUY you've NEVER seen before, and he's in a red shirt...

You KNOW he's never gonna see the Enterprise again...

He gets one line..

Redshirt (off-camera): Captain! Over here! I found somethi--- AAAIIIEEEEEEE!!!!!!!!

Cut to McCoy:

McCoy: He's dead, Jim..

 

  • Member since
    April 2009
  • From: Longmont, Colorado
Posted by Cadet Chuck on Thursday, May 10, 2012 1:02 PM

If you guys can handle one more "Nerd" picture, here I am in my "Tom Corbett, Space Cadet" uniform.  (That's a kid's sci-fi series that ran on TV and radio from 1950 to 1955.)  Actually, there is a purpose to this. I had it made for my several on-stage appearances recreating the radio show at old time radio and film festivals, with some members of the original cast.  What a blast!

That's a real Buck Rogers Atomic Pistol from the 1930's!

 

Gimme a pigfoot, and a bottle of beer...

  • Member since
    November 2005
Posted by Anonymous on Thursday, May 10, 2012 2:32 PM

Indifferent...

I'm digging through my archive...

  • Member since
    October 2009
  • From: South La
Posted by Ti4019 on Thursday, May 10, 2012 5:53 PM

I'm with 4438 on this one. FCBD is a huge boon to the comic industry, and I spent most of Saturday sweating it out in two different uniforms at one of the local shops, pullng street duty to bring people in.    We have Make and Take in this hobby, but outside of annual shows, not many clubs push it as a true outreadh program.

My club goes to the USS Kidd / Louisiana Veterans Memorial Museum monthly and we bring the art and fun of modeling out into the public, so its not cloistered away in  a house, unseen.  We show WHAT modeling is, WHERE it is in the curent state of the art, WHERE its going and WHY we do it.  We always try to cover the basic questions, and demonstrate that the hobby doesnt stop when you turn 15.

Here I am , I'm 1:1 scale!

and here is Baton Rouge Scale Modelers doing its thing at the museum

If you aren't having fun, you're doing it wrong! Build to please yourself and they will flame you every time!

  • Member since
    December 2002
  • From: Massachusetts
Posted by ajlafleche on Thursday, May 10, 2012 6:52 PM

Now that we're back on topic...I really doubt the efficacy of make and takes as a recruiting tool. Our club has offered these off and on for nearly 20 years. We have never had someone come cack and say they got started as a result of the make and take. We had an out of box contest associated with a local air museum with a junior category. One or two kids came for a couple years and they have not been seen by us in 15 years or more.

Remember, if the women don't find you handsome, they should at least find you handy.

  • Member since
    March 2006
Posted by TD4438 on Thursday, May 10, 2012 7:14 PM

Comics,costumes or cars.The guys on this forum are definately trying to enjoy life.Keep them nerdy pics coming.

  • Member since
    March 2006
Posted by TD4438 on Thursday, May 10, 2012 7:20 PM

In the proper uniform.

  • Member since
    October 2009
  • From: South La
Posted by Ti4019 on Tuesday, May 22, 2012 8:17 PM

i certainly think the time we spend each month doing our public outreach program at the USS Kidd / Louisiana Veterans Memorial Museum works. We have picked up people from that in the past.  

We as a  club may not see the result of what we do, whether by public outreach or make and take, however those kits do leave some sort of impression.  Perhaps later down the line the hobby as a whole can recapture that individual.

Our club does not have young members, with our average age being in the mid forties. What we do get is the late-returning modeler who has empty nest syndrome. 

If you aren't having fun, you're doing it wrong! Build to please yourself and they will flame you every time!

  • Member since
    November 2005
Posted by Anonymous on Wednesday, May 23, 2012 3:25 PM

The model industry earns the vast majority of its revenue from the 30ish to 50ish crowd so I don't lose any sleep over the fact that 12 year-olds are not out there trying to buy $60 kits...all this hand-wringing is for naught IMO...

  • Member since
    February 2003
  • From: Rothesay, NB Canada
Posted by VanceCrozier on Thursday, May 24, 2012 2:38 PM

Manstein's revenge

The model industry earns the vast majority of its revenue from the 30ish to 50ish crowd so I don't lose any sleep over the fact that 12 year-olds are not out there trying to buy $60 kits...all this hand-wringing is for naught IMO...

But how many of those 30-50 year olds got the bug when they were 12? They have the discretionary income to buy a $60 kit now, but if they didn't have a start earlier in life they may be more likely to blow it on a bottle of Schnapps....

On the bench: Airfix 1/72 Wildcat; Airfix 1/72 Vampire T11; Airfix 1/72 Fouga Magister

  • Member since
    September 2005
  • From: Illinois: Hive of Scum and Villany
Posted by Sprue-ce Goose on Thursday, May 24, 2012 3:58 PM

What about those over 50 ( Moi ) who have purchased kits with an MSRP over $60-- but only on sale at 50 pct. off?

Anyone have an insight about how the targeted market is identified?.

No online or brick and mortar hobby shops have ever asked if I am over 50-doubt the businesses care when money is flashed in their faces.

 

  • Member since
    November 2005
Posted by Anonymous on Friday, May 25, 2012 7:05 AM

VanceCrozier

 Manstein's revenge:

The model industry earns the vast majority of its revenue from the 30ish to 50ish crowd so I don't lose any sleep over the fact that 12 year-olds are not out there trying to buy $60 kits...all this hand-wringing is for naught IMO...

 

But how many of those 30-50 year olds got the bug when they were 12? They have the discretionary income to buy a $60 kit now, but if they didn't have a start earlier in life they may be more likely to blow it on a bottle of Schnapps....

True, and quite possibly plastic models in the era from circa 1950 to 1970 was the video game equivalent to kids from 1980 to present.  It is quite possible that once those adults in their late 30's and up in the hobby die off the industry will decline...

  • Member since
    September 2005
  • From: Illinois: Hive of Scum and Villany
Posted by Sprue-ce Goose on Friday, May 25, 2012 8:25 AM

Should be possible for surviving kit builders to eventually acquire stash collections for a very good price...Wink

 

  • Member since
    June 2008
  • From: Iowa
Posted by Hans von Hammer on Saturday, May 26, 2012 1:22 PM

Taking mine with me..

  • Member since
    September 2005
  • From: Illinois: Hive of Scum and Villany
Posted by Sprue-ce Goose on Saturday, May 26, 2012 2:30 PM

Hans von Hammer

Taking mine with me..

Just remember what happened to the treasures buried with the ancient Egyptian Pharaohs.

OTOH, the treasure thought buried on  Oak Island, off Nova Scotia ,  has never been recovered.

  • Member since
    June 2008
  • From: Iowa
Posted by Hans von Hammer on Sunday, May 27, 2012 10:29 AM

Sprue-ce Goose

 Hans von Hammer:

Taking mine with me..

 

Just remember what happened to the treasures buried with the ancient Egyptian Pharaohs.

OTOH, the treasure thought buried on  Oak Island, off Nova Scotia ,  has never been recovered.

 

Who said anyhting about burial?

I'm planning a Viking Funeral. with a 100lbs of AMFO for a Finale... Whistling

  • Member since
    September 2005
  • From: Illinois: Hive of Scum and Villany
Posted by Sprue-ce Goose on Sunday, May 27, 2012 11:08 AM

Hans von Hammer

 

 Sprue-ce Goose:

 

 

 Hans von Hammer:

Taking mine with me..

Just remember what happened to the treasures buried with the ancient Egyptian Pharaohs.

OTOH, the treasure thought buried on  Oak Island, off Nova Scotia ,  has never been recovered.

 

 

 

Who said anyhting about burial?

I'm planning a Viking Funeral. with a 100lbs of AMFO for a Finale... Whistling

http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v233/HansvonHammer/Humor/viking-pyre.jpg

with plenty of liquid refreshments for the guests.....................

JOIN OUR COMMUNITY!

Our community is FREE to join. To participate you must either login or register for an account.

SEARCH FORUMS
FREE NEWSLETTER
By signing up you may also receive reader surveys and occasional special offers. We do not sell, rent or trade our email lists. View our Privacy Policy.