I suppose they are like die cast models. for someone who wants the item without having to go thru the process of getting there. Instant gratification.

Or they have a lack of knowledge / too lazy to actually learn how to put a good kit together from start to end. I'm talking about painting, gluing, decaling, etc...

Some people like to cook, others like to go out. It's an easy choice for me, I'm cheap!

Stik, I think that you hit the nail right on the head.  That's what the kids want now thanks to the electronics industry.  They are so used to getting everything immediately, if not sooner, that they can't wait for anything.  My grandsons like to watch me build when they are here, but only for 5 or 10 minutes and then they HAVE TO get back to their electronic toys.  I don't even know which ones they have as they come out so fast and my stepson buys the latest ones for them as soon as they come out.  The kids ask me about the kit and why I bought that particular one, but, my reply better be short and to the point or they start backing towards the door.  I keep trying to get them interested.  Maybe some day.

Jim  

Not to get into a philosophical op-ed on modern society, but it's kind of alarming - to me, anyway. I see fewer and fewer children out playing pick-up games of sports and what-not. I also see fewer children riding bicycles, yet more and more young "adults" riding them - and I'm not talking about riding them for healthy sojourns in the park, but through the neighborhoods for the purpose of "getting around"

When I got out of the military, at age 41, I was concerned with joining the workforce being older. I started out working for construction contractors, then got on at a machine shop, and now have been an aircraft worker for going on three years. Both contractors I worked for recently adopted policies where they refuse to hire younger people for two reasons: an attitude of work-avoidance, and very poor or non-existent hand skills with an adverse attitude to learning and developing them - mind you, these are their sentiments that they didn't come to overnight, one of them nearly lost his house from being sued by customers who had sub-standard work done by his younger, former employees. When I went to trade school to learn aircraft assembly - a short, 9-week, very basic program - it was glaringly obvious how steep a drop off of maturity there was in the students in their 20's. One had to be sent home after throwing a temper tantrum because the instructor refused to give him the answers to the tests. All of the older students (myself included) who applied for work were hired - most of us immediately. Out of the 20-somethings (almost half the class), only 3 were hired and maintained employment. One of them got hired at the same time I did, at the same company. He didn't make it through probation. Why? because he was constantly late to work, and complained any time he had to "do something"

Working with one's hands has many beneficial effects, some of them possibly critical to survival. Besides making oneself more marketable, flexible, and adaptable economically, it also builds self-esteem (true self-esteem) and wards off depression. Plus, if anything catastrophic were to happen, which is always a real possibility in life, one would be able to manage the world around them as opposed to succumbing to despair out of sheer ignorance of "what to do?" and "how to do it?"

Kids should play and make messes and learn and do things. A life of ease is not natural, nor would it be much of a life at all. I'm glad I enjoy process

fox

Stik, I think that you hit the nail right on the head.  That's what the kids want now thanks to the electronics industry.  They are so used to getting everything immediately, if not sooner, that they can't wait for anything.  ...................

Jim  

The trend I have noticed with the 20 something crowd here in Las Vegas is they want to have a start up company and make lots of money in a short time and then move on to something else. What happened to the pride of completing a task and looking back and having the feeling of fulfillment knowing that you accomplished "xyz"? It seems like the current crowd of 20 somethings want it all handed to them now without the work.

“The children now love luxury. They have bad manners, contempt for authority; they show disrespect for elders and love chatter in place of exercise.” Socrates

LOL! Some things never change...

I purchased a Titanic kit similar to this at HL for my 9yo son. The parts are molded in color, black, brown, white. He had the option to paint, but chose to just build it. he wanted to play with it, much like I did when I was at that age. 

I will agree, though,  everything now is all about instant gratification, and today's youth expect everything handed to them.  My 25yo son lives in my basement. He is very smart, but, incredibly lazy. Granted he works, but does not have the ambition to better himself. I had to force him to go to school. I'm hoping he'll catch the learning bug and realize he has so much more potential.

Yeah, I bought the Lee/Grant and the B-17 for my grandson for Christmas (6 yo). At this time, he has no idea where the kits are.

I like pre-made stuff too, in particular smaller scales like 1/400 airliners. No way I can work at those scales.

Jetmaker, I know of what you speak. I graduated High School in 1971 and went straight into four year university, in architecture. Smart assed kid who knew it all, a very good student and not much else.

Whoa, my freshman class had a lot of late twenties-early thirties vets. Married, one kid, a mortgage or a rental somewhere. They were focused, studied after dinner and regardless of talent were pretty successful in the courses. It cleaned my act up quickly.

And as it turned out I didn't get drafted either.

I appreciate having them. Just finished my first project of the year last week after working off and on with it for the last five months. Sunday, I pulled down a prepainted/marked AMT NASCAR kit that I picked up in Nashville the week before, and knocked it out in a day. It looked pretty good, and it got me out of a slump.

There is a belief, right or wrong, that young people do not like to build things any more, and the mfgs are trying to simplify the building process.

On the other hand, when I was a kid, back in the fifties, many of my friends tried model building, but few finished one.  This was the era of stick and tissue flying models, and static model kits were a few blocks of wood you had to carve to shape.  When I joined my first model club, there were a few of us kids, but the majority of members were adults- just like clubs today.

I think the mfgs are wrong- I don't think people have changed that much in fifty years.  The serious adults are where the money is, and that is who they should aim at.  Nothing wrong with trying some experiments in simpler models, but their main effort should be the current stuff that sells.

The trend, I'm noticing is not so much the snap kits. I don't have a problem with those as there is some construction that goes with it and there are some nice looking offerings. The kits I'm seeing now seem to be mostly assembled, and you attach the wheels with screws and maybe fit the already assembled turret on and your done. It's almost like they removed those parts of a die cast display so it could fit in the box.

I don't think this is a bad thing, as some just want a quick easy display, but they (HL and Micheals at least) sell them mixed within the actual build and paint kits. I can imagine some kid buying a kit with cool looking art work and getting home and being disappointed, either because they had to assemble it, or because they didn't, and the parents had no idea what the difference was prior to purchase.

Those "models" are for the posers out there who want to say "Yeah, I built that" when they only have to do about 20% of the work. I honestly think it is a harbinger of a HUGE cultural problem with kids today.

15 years ago, 90% of my guitar students were high school kids. Today, I have two. And they're far and few in between. Today's kids' brains have been re-wired by those #&@&# cell phones and computer "toys" they get as babies. I see it all the time, and it drives me crazy.

It's one of the reasons I"ll never be a father.

"Kids these days don't value a dollar

Don't like chewin' but they sure can swaller"

Tom Rush-1970

One of the sub topics has been 20 something attitudes and youngsters in general. There are several things going on here that, in my mind, may be contributing.

First, is kids outside in "pick up games" as one poster noted. We are now into a third generation of parents raising their kids in an attitude of "stranger danger," convinced that, despite real stats that most abductions are by family members. One report says stranger abduction may be as low as 3.1% of abductions. Helicopter parents are driving their kids to the end of the driveway to catch the bus. The kids friends almost need a CORY check to be visited.

Secondly, the attitude of the so called millenials. This is something I haven't seen but let's look how they grew up vs how many of us older courmudgeons grew up. Our fathers worked their entire lives for a company that took care of them, even after they retired. My father's insurance from Pratt & Whitney covered a quarter million plus hospital bill for his last few months 3 or 4 years after he left the company.Today's employers, and these for the last couple decades think nothing of dumping jobs for overseas labor, of cutting benefits, if they provide any, and forcing workers out of the jobs. These kids saw that with their families and have no reason to offer loyalty to a company they expect will toss them aside like yesterday's newspaper.

Actually, I saw that in several of my early jobs in retail in the early 70's. Promises of advancement at hiring time, but increased pressure and worsening conditions to encourage leaving the job so a cheaper newbie could be hired.

jetmaker

Not to get into a philosophical op-ed on modern society, but it's kind of alarming - to me, anyway. I see fewer and fewer children out playing pick-up games of sports and what-not. I also see fewer children riding bicycles, yet more and more young "adults" riding them - and I'm not talking about riding them for healthy sojourns in the park, but through the neighborhoods for the purpose of "getting around"

When I got out of the military, at age 41, I was concerned with joining the workforce being older. I started out working for construction contractors, then got on at a machine shop, and now have been an aircraft worker for going on three years. Both contractors I worked for recently adopted policies where they refuse to hire younger people for two reasons: an attitude of work-avoidance, and very poor or non-existent hand skills with an adverse attitude to learning and developing them - mind you, these are their sentiments that they didn't come to overnight, one of them nearly lost his house from being sued by customers who had sub-standard work done by his younger, former employees. When I went to trade school to learn aircraft assembly - a short, 9-week, very basic program - it was glaringly obvious how steep a drop off of maturity there was in the students in their 20's. One had to be sent home after throwing a temper tantrum because the instructor refused to give him the answers to the tests. All of the older students (myself included) who applied for work were hired - most of us immediately. Out of the 20-somethings (almost half the class), only 3 were hired and maintained employment. One of them got hired at the same time I did, at the same company. He didn't make it through probation. Why? because he was constantly late to work, and complained any time he had to "do something"

Working with one's hands has many beneficial effects, some of them possibly critical to survival. Besides making oneself more marketable, flexible, and adaptable economically, it also builds self-esteem (true self-esteem) and wards off depression. Plus, if anything catastrophic were to happen, which is always a real possibility in life, one would be able to manage the world around them as opposed to succumbing to despair out of sheer ignorance of "what to do?" and "how to do it?"

Kids should play and make messes and learn and do things. A life of ease is not natural, nor would it be much of a life at all. I'm glad I enjoy process

Around where I live I've notice many general retail type of stores have gone to hiring more mature (i.e. older) workers as opposed to those in their late teens early twenties. There for a while it seemed like everywhere I went the employees were young kids that provided very poor service. They didnt seem to know or care about what was going on. They would be talking to a friend or run off into  a back room when customers came around.

The younger people I have worked around want the higher pay/status of a supervisor/manager but are clueless of the trade off.  They seem to think someone in management gives everyone orders and then go into their office and kick back and relax for the rest of the shift. That dont realize that as a higher paid manager you are held accountable for what those under you do or dont do. Also as management you have to strategize how you are going to get all the work done if there unforseen circumstances arise. Like an unexpected shipment or other employees calling in sick.

100% in agreement with Karl and  ajlafleche. What's even sadder? Young kids working with registers can't count money.

BlackSheepTwoOneFour

100% in agreement with Karl and  ajlafleche. What's even sadder? Young kids working with registers can't count money.

I'm afraid it goes deeper than that sad fact.  A few years ago, my wife and I stopped at a Burger King in the Dallas area.  At the counter, a rather large young man asked for our order.  With my wife by my side, I told him we would take a couple number 2 meals.  The yout looked at me for a moment and then snorted derisively, "Like, how many's a 'couple' man?"  His attitude was that I was a moron for ordering that way.  I was somewhat dumbfounded I guess. 

After a pause I said, "Well, you know (nodding towards Mrs. Texgunner), like a man and a wife?  A boy and a girl?  Like Adam and Eve?  Two?"  I smiled; but inside I was thinking, Jeeezuz.  He doesn't understand what a couple means.  Now, I could understand if I had asked for a "few" or for "several", but really?  A couple?   Dude.

BlackSheepTwoOneFour

100% in agreement with Karl and  ajlafleche. What's even sadder? Young kids working with registers can't count money.

Tex - you don't want to know what'd I would have done if it was me.

In the end it's all about the dollar. If half built kits sell, then it's on the shelves. Fortunately my son likes to build models. I started him on aircraft and he did ok with that, then ships and that fizzled out. I've been really getting into automotive model building as of late and I think we have a winner. He's built 4 automotive subjects since January. To stick back to the point.....he doesn't like the pre-painted kits because he thinks that they are "too easy". Thank tha Lord fellas! There may be hope yet......................

It is sort of funny in a way. I see almost all these post saying young kids do this, young kids do that. For all of the "here where I live the 20 something's do this bad," I know just as many of my peers that are the exact opposite.

Oh and don't get me started on retail. Are there worthless employees that are young? Absolutely. But don't for one second think it is just the young. In the store I work, ALL of the supervisors are under the age of 30 and ALL pick up the slack from the managers (who are all over 45 mind you) who either 1) do a crap job of what they're supposed to, or 2) do exactly what you say managers don't do, sit in their office. Of the actual retail associates I've worked with, I can count the over 30 crowd on one hand who I looked forward to working with because they were actually good at the job.

One of the only things I enjoy about my current job is the interaction with customers I have on a daily basis. Almost all of them are 40 or older and I love being able to talk to them about anything and everything. I realize I'm only 25 and have a lot to learn compared to almost everybody so I take the chance to do so any time I can. What I'm about to say may do more than ruffle a few feathers but how this thread has turned out, I really don't care. After all my experiences with a variety of different crowds of "older" generations, the least welcoming, friendly, cordial, whatever you want to call it of them has been the modeling crowd. Every time I go to either contests or local meetings or the hobby shop, the vast majority of the older generation want nothing to do with me precisely because I am young (disclaimer: I can count on two hands of the ones that I have had pleasant conversations with but these are definitely the exception to what I've witnessed, furthermore, the majority of my online interactions here have been pleasant, though It makes me wonder if that is only because it is online). It just amazes me that you all talk about getting the youth into modeling so it doesn't die out, yet the few 20-somethings actually partake are relegated to the corners of meetings and generally looked down upon (I witness it to other younger folks at the various meetings I've been to with various chapters).

As I'm cooling off now, If I had to sum up my rant it'd be with these points.

1) If you want modeling to continue, reaching out to real youngsters is great, but don't ignore the 20-somethings and INTERACT with them.

2) Stop complaining so much about youth do this or youth do that, I guarantee when you were that age the older generation thought you were a pain in the a$$ too.

3) (For all ages) Take a moment to reflect whenever somebody does you ill, everybody has their moments and YOU have done the same thing too, in addition, you do not know what that person is going through, it may just be a rough day for them.

4) People spend their money different ways. The majority of us buy plastic kits and build them as a HOBBY. If somebody wants to buy die cast kits without doing the work, let them, it is their own choice, why do you need to put them down for it?

Thank you Josiah.

Really, thank you.

I can't say enough good about my 25 year old daughter and her friends. But I would never do that in this discussion because her achievements are hers, and she doesn't need to be defended.

That's one point I want to bring up regarding today's current youngsters- kids are a reflection of the parenting they received while growing up. While there is always an exception to that general rule, the parents who abdicated their responsibilities to TV, music, the Internet, schools, and other outside influences are usually self absorbed in their own happenings, in denial as to what their offspring is really like, or flat out not there. There's still plenty of good kids out there. Unfortunately their more visible peers tend to give them a bad rap. But I dare say that could be said of the older ones amongst us when we were youngsters too... Be that in the punker, hippy, greaser, or even earlier eras. Times may change but people really do not change.

Funny, two of my nephews have no interest in anything like modeling but the third loves Legos, models, anything that he can build. And all three were reared in the same house and are only a few years apart so who knows???

Josiah: Sorry but a lot of us are just old and grouchy...   Now get off my lawn!!! 

Is that an M1 Garand?

You know that'll be the last time I get up from the computer scratching my head wondering if I should of posted anything at all into another opinion based thread. I didn't come here to ruffle any feathers and I sure didn't come here to have mine ruffled. An opinion is just that.....an opinion. If I, for my part, offended anyone then I apologize. I simply just came here to build and talk about models and have fun. Leaving the computer disgruntled from a place I really like to frequent...... aint fun.