What's current state of plastic modeling hobby?

Old Yeller

 

I haven't read a response that changed my impression that, unfortunately, modeling is on a steep decline caused by rising cost of the hobby and by a change in culture.  A perspective was offered that adult modelers will continue in strong enough numbers to sustain the hobby.  I suspect that for nearly all adult modelers, the "seed" was planted in their youth and they are continuing or returning to the modeling hobby as a result of that.  Today's youth don't build models, and therefore won't as adults either IMHO. 

Every generation generally considers their "good old days" as superior to "improved" modern times, and I suppose that for me this topic is another example.  The argument can be made that the gaming and computer technology-driven hobbies of today's youth make them quick-thinking tremendous multitaskers.  

Maybe some new hobbies provide a lot of these lessons, but I'd have to be convinced.  

Regarding today's youth:  Attention Deficit Disorder is often discussed.  Most youth now spend countless hours on video games, computers, iPhones, etc, and become accustomed to the rapid pace turn on/turn off control of their world.  This does not appear to create students who can focus and absorb material presented by a teacher over a 40" class period.    As discussed in many of the replies, the first hurdle is to make modeling affordable for a parent who wants to share modeling by introducing the hobby to their child.  If the modeling manufacturers and retailers recognize that their future possibly depends on meeting this challenge, they need to address this now before the next generation of parents are not interested.

Sorry for the long post, but I guess that covers my perspective.

 

  I agree 100% with everything you say, except for the part about reduced attention spans from current youth habits being speculative: Studies have already shown, despite a huge an completely unexplained rise in IQ scores for over a century (requiring periodic adjustment of IQ tests, and now stagnating in precisely the countries that were "wired" the earliest and most massively -UK and Finland- and always stagnant or even declining in the "text comprehension" part of these tests since the 1980s),  that there has been, for some time now, a decline in vocabulary, verbal, reading and writing  skills, especially notable in other kinds of less abstract tests where visual classification is of less importance.

  More "culturally neutral" tests that are purely visual (more favoured in Europe), "the Raven" etc, show a continuing performance increase as people get ever better at classifying rapidly based on visual clues, but even math scores are now stagnant or declining. See " "The Shallows"-What the Internet is doing to our brains" for a fascinating exploration of the consequence of the Internet on adult brain functions, not just kids.

  I think the decine of the Hobby is a consequence of the decline of true intelligence, which is based on more on retrieving long term memories, to establish a "context" to knowledge, than on short-term "operating" memory that is being emphasized in those tests. See also "The dumbest generation" for numerous statistics on the staggering decline of general knowledge  among the young...

  Gaston

I agree with Tojo.  There are kits in release now that I thought I'd never see.  I remember back in the early 80's when hobby shop managers were telling us that there would probably not be anymore new kits coming out because of the video game craze.  I also remember a Tamiya rep telling me at a IPMS national convention in the early 80's that they'd never do any Israeli armor because there was no market for it.  This was right before the first Merkava was released. 

It's never been like this.  How long it lasts is anyone's guess.  They could all quit making new stuff now and I would be good.  But,  I'm going to enjoy the ride while it lasts.  I do keep adding to the pile, I've lost count now. Honestly, I don't see it slowing down anytime soon.  I guess as long as the market is there in some number it just purrs along.

Doug

I think it's great,more selections,a lot of quality choices,plenty of AM products,weathering products.The Internet has opened up choices in that you don't just have to rely on what the local 5 and dime store might have.Forums like this one teach us many tricks and tips.I would say its better then ever.

The future,I don't know,once the older ones are gone,not as many young people on board.Will the hobby die out,possibly,but I will definitely enjoy the golden age right now.

Hans von Hammer

I'd also imagine that Revel-Germany kits are far cheaper in Gutenberg, Germany than they are in Guttenberg, Iowa...

Yes, that was one of the perks of overseas time in Germany. The ability to go into a German Toy/Hobby Store and hit the Revell Germany Armor aisle. I could find those great Bundeswehr AFV kits like the Luchs and Fuchs that were very HTF stateside, and for a much cheaper price. Even when the price went for DM to Euros I still found great bargains. Just wish I had picked up some of those Leopard 1A1As.... But your ruck will only hold so much safely that an AF crew chief will try to destroy when packing his bird...

Well, in Japan, Japanese kits aren't imports, lol... Same-same for Chinese kits in China, I'd wager, lol..

I'd also imagine that Revel-Germany kits are far cheaper in Gutenberg, Germany than they are in Guttenberg, Iowa...

Kinda like the gas prices in Kuwait... About 88 cents US per gallon...

waikong

To the previous point someone mentioned about the hobby in the rest of the world.  It seems UK alone have at least a dozen magazinese devoted to modelling, while we have maybel 3 or 4. I was in Hong Kong recently, and visited 7 models stores all withing a few blocks of each other.  They were stocked to the hilt.

Another point not mentioned was exactly what part of the hobby was in decline. Most kids I know that are in the hobby are not building tanks or airplanes, they are building Gundam models.Here and in Asia. As far as I can see, it seems to be a quickly growing segment.  If you ever stop by a Japanese book store in the US, you will see at least 3 ro 4 dedicated Gundam model magazines. Even general interest magazines will devote 1/2 their content to Gundams.

One last thing, we should put model prices in perspective. $4 in 1970 is the equivlaent of  $23 in 2012 (accoring to online inflation calculators).   According to the US gov., avg wage was $6186 in 1970 and $41K in 2010.

I totally agree on the magazines. Bad thing about some of the Japansese and European mags is I cannot read them!!!!

There are a few guys on youtube that have posted videos of their trips to Japanese hobby shops. Pretty interesting.

I remember seeing the DML (as Dragon was known in the 90s) Sherman kits priced at $36.95 at the Ben Franklin's craft store in Huntsville, Alabama and thinking they were nuts. These were the original issue ones that were heavily based on the Italeri kits (going as far as including Italeri sprues). Italeri kits were still around the $20 mark give or take.

That store went out of business sometime one summer during my tour at Redstone Arsenal (Jan 96 to Jan 99). I remember grabbing the M4A3E8 Korean War tank kit when it was 30% off and eventually grabbing the M4A1(75) early tank when the store dropped prices to 50% off. At 30% off I thought I was overpaying, but at 50% off it seemed like a decent price.

The local closeout store (it was like a Big Lots) in Huntsville had stacks of 1/35 scale Esci M60A1 Blazer and Ti-67 for $4.99 and $3.99 respectively around the same time. I remember buying a bunch of those two kits. This was about the time Toys R Us stopped carrying model kits. I do remember buying theTamiya LVTP7A1 for $9.90 there.

I dunno...  Maybe it's because more of the "disposable income" here is going into the gas tanks and the grocery-bags... 

I know that I certainly can't buy, for the same money,  what I did four years ago...   Heck, my Military Retiree's COLA went up a whopping 3.6 % this year, and IIRC it was 3.5% in 2011, and we didn't get one for 2010, but everything it was supposed to cover went up about 35%...

Guess I shoulda retired after 20 in 1996, instead of 30 in 2006.. Then I'd already be more'n halfway through a second career...  

Come to think of it, models kits themselves took a helluva jump in in price in 2000-10 time-frame.. In the 90s, the 50.00 kits were 25.00, and 25.00 kits, ten bucks...  Guess that's why I kinda sadly shake m' head when I see a kit I bought the 80s come outta the stash to get built, still bearing it's 1986 price-tag, knowing what it would cost to buy NOW, lol...

But no matter what, inventory costs money and just having it sit on the shelves isn't making money..  Now if these stores are moving it out as fast as it comes in, well, maybe they onto something... But I rather doubt it's that way..  That's why my LHS guy doesn't stock much, but will order anything he can get for you... In his sotre, I've seen the same 150.00 model ship and 70.00 Armor kits sitting there, dusty and un-moved (without even dust getting removed from where one would handle it to look at it), for the last four years or so...

Doin' what I can to help change that though... 'Cept buy those kits... Too damn expensive... But he's my paint, Evergreen & Plastruct,  and tool guy, for sure..

Well, I wouldn't say that. I went in the middle of the day, right about when schools' out.  In one store, there were about 15 shoppers (not including me).  I was there for about 30 minutes, they made at least 6-7 sales, and then I bought my kit.  I walked to the 2nd store, much smaller, 4 customers came in when I was there for about 15 minutes. 1 person bought a kit.  The other stores varied somewhere between these. 

In the local hobby store here in the states, I've rarely run into more than 2 other modellers within a 30 minute span.

I was in Hong Kong recently, and visited 7 models stores all withing a few blocks of each other.  They were stocked to the hilt.

That tells me that they have a lot of inventory that they can't move..

To the previous point someone mentioned about the hobby in the rest of the world.  It seems UK alone have at least a dozen magazinese devoted to modelling, while we have maybel 3 or 4. I was in Hong Kong recently, and visited 7 models stores all withing a few blocks of each other.  They were stocked to the hilt.

Another point not mentioned was exactly what part of the hobby was in decline. Most kids I know that are in the hobby are not building tanks or airplanes, they are building Gundam models.Here and in Asia. As far as I can see, it seems to be a quickly growing segment.  If you ever stop by a Japanese book store in the US, you will see at least 3 ro 4 dedicated Gundam model magazines. Even general interest magazines will devote 1/2 their content to Gundams.

One last thing, we should put model prices in perspective. $4 in 1970 is the equivlaent of  $23 in 2012 (accoring to online inflation calculators).   According to the US gov., avg wage was $6186 in 1970 and $41K in 2010.

I've built ships...  Well, boats, anyway.. PBRs, LCMs, SSCs, whatever I can find in 1/35th that will work with 1/35 Armor and figures...

Did a coupe forced-perspective shadow boxes as well, one with a 1/48 SBD and another with an SB2C... The SBD was dive-bombing the Soryu at Midway, the Beast was about to put one down a stack on the Yamato at Leyte Gulf... Used those small scale "Waterline kits" of the ships...  Primary models were the planes though...

As far as Model RRing went, the Rivet-Counters in the clubs drove me out of that hobby about 25 years ago.. I personally think that they just couldn't stand the fact that I could landscape for a tenth of the price, and I could out-weather rolling-stock better than any of 'em...  Told 'em if they'd never built armor dios, they'd never understand..

Easy answer, better than ever.

Want a B-25J? No problem.

Want that Revell 1/32 spitfire or the corsair with the working wings? The Mono Kingfisher?

The Red Baron car. Sonny and Cher Kustom Kar?

All out there, all easy to buy with Pay Pal or what ever.

No longer your paper route money in your pocket and a two mile ride to the LHS that was run by a nasty old lady with a cat.

Tell you where they've all gone to Valhalla- the model railroad guys. About ten years ago they all got what they'd been dreaming of- Southern Pacific Black Widow EMD F3 A-B-A set in 1/87 with accurate couplers? No problem. Florida Central "Citrus" scheme Alco PA-1's. Got it.

Why? As they all came into their 60's they put the word out through clubs and magazines that they wanted accurate models at the hobby shop for less than $ 50.

Time to fly, wing nuts. We have to get around the fact that the Chinese manu's dump out good castings with bad research on the finishes. Research will save you. Aftermarket decal and detail outfits can't be expected to always catch up. Models are the best they've ever been, finish and decals not so much. But that's a skill that's achievable.

Hammer I know you'll never build a ship. There's a gestalt that enables most ship builders to have a little license. Used to be that way in railroads until the rivet n z i s invaded and yes we flange weirdos did invent that term.

Best time in the hobby, ever.

But I digress.....

One thing about spending $50 on a video game is once you've beaten it, you can chuck it up on eBay or bring it in to Game Stop and recoup some of the money back. My older boys used to do that; turn in some older games they no longer played and used the credit to defray the price of an even newer game. Selling it on eBay brought them more money though.

This hobby should not be looked at years from now as a "fad" that came and went.  That would be a shame.  Model manufacturers and sellers need to expand their thinking to realize that targeting advertising only to those already immersed in the hobby dooms their business to extinction.

Modeling has so many positive attributes.  Advertise to get the attention of children and their parents.  Convince children how rewarding and "cool" modeling is.  Convince parents that the $50 they spent on that video game would have been far better spent on models, and that some of the many  hours their child spends frantically flipping their thumbs on a video game controller would be far better spent on a modeling project.

Maybe I'm a dumb dinosaur, but I bet there are advertising people out there who could grab this concept and run with it.  It's an easy sell if you think about it: modeling would provide an enjoyable and productive diversion for any child living in an empty world of exclusively computer-generated entertainment.

MJames70

I kind of find the 'it's just too expensive, that's why it's dying' to be more than a bit of a 'straw man' argument. There are values out there, as others have pointed out. And it doesn't mean buying cr*p 40 year old kits, either. 

I've never seen anyone on here saying that expense was a detriment to the industry as a whole. As has been pointed out, we are older people with the money to "indulge ourselves" with and as far as "indulgences" go, it's not too bad. I would not consider any of the +40 models "crap". They paved the way. Everything has it's origin and evolves. What does the current crop have "over" it's predecessors? Tons of interior detail that no one will ever see? Accurate wheel well appointments that can only be viewed if the casual observer lays hand to your lovingly crafted creation and "handles" it? Who ever offers that option to their friends?

I bet you can't come up with many other forms of entertainment that will keep you amused for such a long period at only $3-$4 an hour...

Then I'm really getting the max "bang for buck", since my predilection towards "40 year old piece of crap kits" has me being "amused" at about .05 cents per hour... 

Look, let's face it... The average age of the model kit-builder is 40-something (ar least amoung the membership here), has a disposeable income in a range far higher than any kid not named Hilton could dream to have (with a few exceptions), and is proabably been out of the hobby (even for years) a time or two, and the manufacturer's KNOW it...  They offer the 100-240.00 "Uber-kits" to that demographic, leaving the Monograms, Revells, and other old-timers to the "Grey Eagles", which mainly consists of nostalgia builders and the few "real" Gizmologists that're left....   Can't tell me that there ain't a market for the old kits either, not when i took me a year to get a 1/48 Monogram Me109 kit and I had to pay almost (with shipping) 30.00 for it..

However, they also add a few more bells & whistles to their own older kits, but not enough (IMNSHO) to justify THAT kind of price-hike..  They offer 25-page instruction sheets, with photos and drawings, and on glossy paper (Who actually needs that when there's Google Image?) five different seats (!), decals for five versions (?), magnets on cowls...

Really?

There're still a few of us left out here that do things the old school way, and even though I'f love to take a crack at the Tamiya Spit or Mustang, ya just gotta be kiddin' me... No way I can justify the cost of that, regardless of it's "supremacy", when I need a Spit or Mustamg for the "Shot down" or Boneyard diorama I wanna build.. Would any of y'all take a Dremel and a razor saw to either of those kits to add, "Battle Damage" or make it "Stripped & Vandalized and Awaiting the Scrapper"?

I rather doubt it...

So.. We still need those "POS" kits of 40 years ago, and we need 'em with low-dollar price-tags... And for you kit snobs out there that wander around the tables, find an interesting 1/32 diorama, then look over your readers and say, "Oh, it's a Revell  P-51.. How... Quaint..", I got somethin' "quaint fer ya...

More manufacturers need t follow Eduard's lead, with the "Weekend-Edition" kits... I think THAT would solve a LOT of issues, in both gettin' Mom (face it, most of us got our first kit from mom while she was on a trip to the grocery store, drugstore, etc) to spring for a kit for Junior next time she's at Hobby Lobby, pickin' up some stuff for her latest decoupage project, but only if those kits are under a certain price... She's not gonna spring for a 70.00 Tamiya Betty, but she just might pick up that 1/72 Monogram F-82 or F8F...

She's not gonna spring for  a kit of ANY price from a hobby shop that doesn't cater to her interests as well, since she'd no reason to even BE in there otherwise...

Kids gotta break that "First Kit" bubble, and then they'll decide on their own if that's the way they wanna spend some of their time..  It's won't be be until years later that they can deal with on-line purchases... Kids don't have any way to 'Shop' on the internet (unless their parents have gotten them their own cards and accounts)...

It's not the age of a kid that matters... It's the kits... And after he gets a few behind him, he CAN handle a Revell/Monogram kit... Be it a 1/72 F-82 at age six/seven or maybe, around age ten, even a 1/48 B-17... I know I did...

But I hear way too many supposedly "Advanced" modeler that can't handle a 1/48 Revell/Monogram 187-part P-61but can knock out a 670-part version of a similar vein .. Well.. Give the R/M to your 12-year old..

Maybe he can help ya finish it..

    I wasn't planning on posting again until I could post some pictures of my modeling area and models.  I do look in quite a bit,  ran across this thread,  and wanted to respond.  There are a lot of kids and young adults building models at the local gaming store.  The models are getting more detailed and sophisticated.  So much so that you actually need instructions to assemble them.   If this is happening at all gaming stores then it represents a lot of modelers.  I don't know if they will turn to none- gaming models somewhere down the line,  but there is that possibility.

    I do feel the demise of  local modeling stores has hurt when it comes to getting new people interested.  The internet is great and brings the world of modeling home,  but it isn't enough for me.  Besides the gaming tables,  the local store has a great table, chairs and lighting for building and painting.  the store provides priming materials for free.  It has a freezer with ice-cream goodies and regular vending to purchase. There are people visiting, building, painting and playing every day of the week.

     I do miss the old hobby stores but found something even better.  I'm just lucky that I really enjoy the modeling that the gaming community provides. 

I kind of find the 'it's just too expensive, that's why it's dying' to be more than a bit of a 'straw man' argument. There are values out there, as others have pointed out. And it doesn't mean buying cr*p 40 year old kits, either. The new Airfix 1/72 Spitfire Mk.1a may be the best in scale of that type/mark. It costs a whopping 7 bucks or so. I could give many other examples...

At the other end, Tamiya's 1/32 Spitfire IX that I am working on is over $100 new. But I have spent over 4 weeks and probably 30 hours already working on it, with at least another 10 or so to go. I bet you can't come up with many other forms of entertainment that will keep you amused for such a long period at only $3-$4 an hour...

And you know what? Them darned video games that are stealing all the kiddies away from the hobby? They're not cheap, either. $60 new, plus a console to play them on. But you say you can buy used video games? Well, you can get models secondhand many places, too...that Spitfire IX I'm working on? Was cruising Plane Trading on Hyperscale today, and there was a guy offering the kit, two aftermarket detail sets, and an aftermarket decal sheet...for less than just the kit itself new....

I would never suggest that modeling is a 'cheap' hobby; the initial investment can be quite stiff in things like paint and tools. Once you have that, the dollar to time gotten out of the investment ratio is very, very, favorable...

Hans von Hammer

Example, one of the crewmen on the "Enola Gay" (Navigator Theodore "Dutch" Van Kirk, the sole surving member of her crew) said that he was even once introduced at a school where was giving a talk about the mission, as a "Veteran of World War Eleven"...

Periods that World Wars considered by some:

    Ottoman-Habsburg Wars (1480 — 1540)
    Dutch War of Independence or Eighty Years’ War (1568-1648) including Thirteen Years War (1593 — 1606)
    King Williams War (1689-1697)
    War of the Spanish Succession or Queen Anne’s War (1701-1713)
    The Other Thirty Years War (1733-1763) including War of the Austrian Succession (1740-1748)
    Seven Years’ War (1756-1763), which Winston Churchill called “the first world war” in A History of the English-Speaking Peoples
    The American Revolutionary War (1776-1783), fought between Britain and her colonies, drew in the help of many powers such as Spain and France.
    French Revolutionary Wars (1792-1802) and the Napoleonic Wars (1803-1815)
    The Great War (1914 — 1918)
    The Hitler War (1939 — 1945)
    The Cold War (1946 — 1989)

I am "Veteran of World War Eleven"; I have the ribbon:

Things are different today. My wife and I often talk about when we were little kids (she in So. California and me in Vermont) we played with other kids in the woods, around the neighborhood, etc. I would ride my bike with my baseball glove looking for a group of kids playing a game in one of the surrounding vacant lots.

When we lived on military bases for 20 of the last 25 years, our kids enjoyed a lifestyle much like we had; roaming the neighborhood in a safe environment playing with other children on playgrounds and ballfields.

Today, there is a chance that bad stuff can happen to children left alone. Seven years ago, when my 15 yr old son was 8, he would spend all day on the playground that was shouting distance from our backdoor at Fort Knox. I can't imagine letting my 7 yr old son today roam the neighborhood we've lived in for 4 years to try to find kids his age to play with. We have one of the older kids walk him to a friend's house to play and then send one of them to get him when it's time to come home.

I agree with Hammer`s view. The worst punishment I could have as a kid was to not be allowed out. We`d all be outside 8am on weekends and Summer vacation , maybe come home for lunch, always for dinner...woof it down and back out untill the street lights came on! I kick my kids outside to punish them...you`d think they were about to die to go out and get some fresh air. Technology is a wonderous thing but too much of it , for a kid , isn`t IMO. My 3 played soccer and other sports when they were younger. Now that they`re teens they never want to leave the house and the computer. My wife and I finally had enough and restrict usage on all electronics to a couple hours a night. They get bored fast and actually go out now without being punished. No matter how hard I tried though, none of them want anything to do with modeling...prolly `cause they hear me talkin` to myself at my bench.....

fermis

I don't really think it's in decline.....it's better than ever! More companies, more variety, better engineering.....pretty much...if you want it, you can get it (if money is no object!  

As we start dying off, I'm sure all the model companies will follow......but who cares????? We'll be dead and not know about it anyway!

On the price of starter kits for beginners....you don`t need to buy a $70 kit for that, Revell has tons of reasonably priced kits out there for a youngster to give the hobby a shot. And yes, there are a few Revell kit`s that aren`t "shake and bakes" but good kits all the same, good skill builders!

Withoout the availability of Monogram/Revell, and Lindberg/HAWK/Testor's/ kits on the net in Ebay, I'd probably be outta the hobby...  While kit selection is over the top on subject-matter, and becoming yet more and more detailed (and if not, SOMEbody has a resin/PE set for it), they've gone and priced themselves forever outta my range, especially kits released in the 21st century...

Unless I find a "new" kit over some kit-hoarder's collector's (quite literally) dead body in an estate sale in which the family has no idea of what they have, I don't buy it...

My daughter inherited my love for model-building, my sons didn't...  My grandkids tried it, liked it, but not enough to keep at it, not when there's no boundry anywhere on what they can do electronically, vs using the imagination and playing with their most recent build, running around in the yard making "airplane and machinegun sounds", up until it breaks, at which point it becomes a firework or pellet-rifle target...  And many kids today have no idea of what (or when)  "World War II was...  

Example, one of the crewmen on the "Enola Gay" (Navigator Theodore "Dutch" Van Kirk, the sole surving member of her crew) said that he was even once introduced at a school where was giving a talk about the mission, as a "Veteran of Wolrd War Eleven"...

Even my 12-year old grand-daughter once asked me about my time in the 82nd (the unit patches, badges, rank, ribbons, and medals I wore during my Army career are in a shadow-box, so all three have seen them) while playing "Call of Duty-Vanguard", "Grandpa, did you land at Normandy too?" ... Bless her heart, I ain't lyin'!

'Course, she doesn't know much about 11 SEP 01 either, other than "those planes crashed into those buildings)..  They aren't teaching much about it...  However, I digress...

Modeling fo me, as a youngster, was a solitary hobby... I didn't live on base or in town, we lived way out in the sticks, and only me and my little brother built models, but he turned into a gear-head, while I still built military stuff, and my sister, who was ten years older that me, didn't have time for either of us, and would have preferred to be an only child...

But after a model was built, I would strafe his cars, dive-bomb from the Monogram 1/48 SBD and SB2C, and 1/32  F-51D (yeah, they worked!)... 

Kids today are not cut off from the outside world, in fact, they play with other kids from all over the world, in on-line games and sims, anf unless they're being punished and not allowed to use their computer (They have their OWN computers! I couldn't even have a phone-extenion in my room!)

With all that to do, why would kids wanna spend time alone in their rooms, gluing plastic together when they can roam the World of Warcraft and become a character that slays everyone and everything with a sword's-length and then hit it with a platinum blonde in a steel bikini (who's probably a fat, bald, 32-year-old basement-dweller who's bench is surrounded by empty pizza boxes, Dorito-bags, and Mountain Dew ot Red Bull cans) ...

Had to buy "Conan" and "Red Sonya" for that steel-bikini kinda stuff. but I prefered aircraft to swords anyway, so it was "SGT Rock", "Jeb Stewart", "The Unkown Soldier',  and "Enemy Ace-Hans von Hammer" for me....

But I digress again..

Suffice to say that the only kids that're gonna get "into" modeling in any kind of real numbers are the ones that re's getting doped up by their teachers/parents and forced to sit still for hours at a time, because there's something "wrong" with them if they choose to lead the solitary life-stlye scale-modeling often-times requires in the age-6 (when I started) to age 13... 

By that age, I was living "in town", where I found three others my age that built models!  We did MANY joint-projects, as well as the individul stuff, and succeeded in forming a "club" in which we put together the "largest diorama in the world" (at least we thought it was, at 16 x 8 feet and complete with aircraft, hangars, quarters, tower, machine and repair shops, aircraft ramp and taxiway,  O-club, and the edge of the "jungle bordering it,  in my parent's basement (which doubled as our "Clubhouse' and our Work-Bench was a fifteen-foot long monster that all four of us could work at, sharing ideas, scrap parts, paints, etc...

The only rule on consumables was paint and that was, "if you empy it, you replace it".. Testor's was still around at 19 cents a bottle (as was Practa 'Namel), and we got our kits at the grocery store, drug store, and hardware store...

Fine days indeed...

I'm more curious in how the hobby is doing in Asia. This includes China, Japan and the rest of the Pacific Rim Nations.  I've heard, and I'm not sure this is correct, is that the US and Europe are only about 15% of the plastic model market.  This seems to be where all the major manufactures are based, and has been for several decades now.

I agree with all the other posters about the aging of the modelers over here.  But, on the local Denver area, at the IPMS meetings there seem to be a fairly steady stream of modelers in their late 20's and early 30's coming back in. And they are all quite good modelers as well.  Mostly guys returning after a break  after starting families and finishing school.  And I've noticed a considerable group of younger modelers at some of the local shows as well.  Of  course, younger to me in people in their 40's.

Doug

New hobby stores!
Because it’s there. Because it’s
There. Because it’s there.

Old Yeller your are right there aren't alot of young modelers (like me) however Modeling is my only hobby and I Have started to get more advanced. my parents gave me an airbrush for chistmas and have started using pigments. I could work on a model for years.

If you want to see my latest model and Critique my latest model please do so I am always looking for ways to inprove

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2nd post down

mitsdude

Another thought is that todays "toys" can look pretty darn good to the kid wanting a figure or a vehicle representing their favorite character. Look at some of the figures put out by Todd MacFarland's company, totally awesome. Just look at any of the stuff put out when a new movie is released. True a model looks better but they are close enough.

MacFarland's figures look awesome. I have a good number of his Spawn figures as well as a number of his NFL figures. They are, however, not very durable. My older sons were into his Spawn cartoon when they were younger and bought a few action figures. It didn't take much for an arm or leg to break off. I think the only figures they released that had much ability to be played with were the ones based off of the live action movie.

Even the film industry is abandoning models. CG has taken over. As we die off, our stash kits will circulate around, never to be opened because like the "action figures", only the "new in the box", never opened ones will be worth anything.

I agree that us older folks keep the hobby going and as we die out, so will the hobby for the most part. So, will modeling go the way of newspapers? That's probably not the best analogy, since newspapers will eventually go mostly online and models really can't do that, unless they develop a program of some sort that allows you to build a virtual model complete with camo and weathering with some sort of photoshop program, but how boring would that be? Or would it?

At least the hobby is better then ever at my present age and I should have no worries that the hobby will precede me in death.