Is Model building going to die off after our Generation goes?

[LoneWolf15]

J,

You are correct ! It's all about us ! Lol ! However , as I stated in my earlier post , it's this generation that is literally footing the bill right now .

Think back , at eighteen , how many of your buddies were into modeling ? I can guarantee the number would be no where near how many of mine were at that time! This doesn't include the older guys either , by the way .

We never really left it , nor lost our love for those particular cars of that era . As far as I can see , model building will always be with us in one form or another . It's our time right now, believe me , your day will come !

[Jon Cole]

thanks

Robert

sorry for the language i used above

Then change it. You have an EDIT feature. If you use that talk on a message board, not much good will come from it. Guaranteed.

[martinfan5]

look im 16 and i dont plan on ever letting go of the hobby unless my hands get chopped off. but you all really have to stop whining about the american kit manufactures not releasing the newer cars. they dont issue them because of lack of funds and the older stuff is much better i have built many of their new cars and they had a fair number of issues but the older kits like the 1969 charger is the best fitting car i have ever built even the reissue of the '56 del ray i like that it comes with the two suspension options. on the first page Cobraman said "I myself don't know of any kids or young adults building models. They seem to prefer the video games to building"

I myself just sold my PS3 so i could buy some new kits and an airbrush im in the process of trying to sell my nintendo wii so i can have some extra cash to buy a car or two that ive wanted for a very long time we dont want to hear your whining if you want a new car kit then buy a Tamiya kit and STFU about it. we are here to build the kits and enjoy ourselves not bitch and whine about what will happen when you die, why should you care you will be dead.

thanks

Robert

sorry for the language i used above

Not trying to start a war here, but Robert, so I need STFU because I would like to see the American model Manufacturers kit some newer cars, and are you telling my I should build kits of older cars that I have no desire to because you to me too?. And I should want to build the same kits that have been being made for the last 30 years or so?.

I really dont know what else to say

[niteowl7710]

I think that right now the hobbie is in better shape then it was ten years ago, there is so much more stuff that we didn't have just not that long ago. I dont think the hobbie will die, but I think that there might be a chance the US kit manufacturers might, and my reason is this. If in twenty years they are still catering to the builders that they are now. If they want to try and get or keep the younger builders, they will need to shift what the era of what gets tooled to more newer stuff.

I dont want to build models of cars that close to fifty years old, lets look at it this way, I could by a Hudson, or a 300, or other new kits that are 40 or more years old, or I could a kit from a Japan company of cars that I know of or can relate to, or heck even like, all for about the same price or within a few dollars.

I have nothing against with nostalgia, but I think people are living in the past and trying to pass it off as nostalgia. Bottom line there are and will be people wanting to build models, the question is ,are they going to be company's around in twenty years making kits?

And before I get hated on, I have nothing wrong with the kits that are being re re re re re re released over and over and over and over again, or the new release', just most of them I have no interest in building them, why because most are on subjects that are older then I am

There is nothing wrong with the model company's focusing on the 50+ builders, its called smart business, seeing how thats where the bulk of the buyers are, but what are they going to do when they are gone?

I grew up on video games, it started with the first Nintendo NES system when it came out, I still play video games now, just only a few a couple of times a month maybe, and I am sorry ,but this whole social media ###### is not going to pull me away from building models. I have facebook, a personal and business twitter accounts, but its not something I want to spend more the 5 minutes on

You know maybe if the model company's here would maybe listen to what the kids would want to build, hmm they might just be able to get them hooked.

I guess my biggest comment from BOTH your post, and the posts of the "older folks" that hate anything after the Beatles White album is...vote with your wallet. If you don't want to build an old car, well then don't. Go spend your money with Tamiya/Aoshima/Fujimi/Hasegawa. If the thought of a Ferrari 599 GTO makes you gag cause it's not a '48 Ford, well build the Lead Sled, and stop bashing everything assembled after the oil embargo. Revell/AMT & Moebius are here to serve. I don't understand what difference it makes whether or not Revell exists tomorrow to any of you. If they (or any of the kit maker) makes stuff you have absolutely zero interest in, well who cares if they survive, it's not like you were going to buy anything they make anyway.

I'm 4 years older than you (presuming your MCM age is correct), and I just bought a C 300, and I have my Toyota 86/Subaru BRZ from Tamiya on pre-order. Both of them are of equal interest to me. If the classic 50's car don't float your boat, so be it, I don't think anyone should be told to build something they don't want, it is after all a hobby. You can't interest me in classic drag racing, midgets, most race cars, or any of the show rods. But at the same time I don't think it's fair to pin all of your "rage" on the "elderly", they have the cash, and as such they rule the world right now. I was at the NNL over the weekend in NJ. I saw for more people barely capable of walking unassisted, than I did people our age and younger. In 20 years kit manufacturers will have to make what "we" want, as "WE" will be the cranky old folk complaining about new technology, the current guys will all be...well if not dead, at least incapable of building (and before the venom spews I mean mostly failing eyesight, shaking hands, etc).

If nothing from AMT interests me, there's Revell, there's Moebius, there's Revell Germany, there's Fujimi, there's Aoshima, there's Tamiya. Somewhere, at some point one of those 7 companies are going to kit something I want to buy. In the mean time I have about 300 model kits in the basement of things I just had to have to tide me over.

As far as asking kids what they want to build...well there's a double edged sword. What do kids want to build, and the fact that kids (and here I presume you're speaking of minor children, not Gen Xers) don't actually have any disposable income, or ANY income at all come to think of it. Is it really a realistic expectation for Revell to spend a few hundred thousand dollars developing new "kid tested, mother approved" kits, when you then have to depend on mom or dad taking them out to the store with their birthday money to buy said kits.

While there are teenagers that never drop off the hobby surface in their twenties, lets face the fact that most all of us DID, so developing kits towards older teens also has the same pitfalls. Once your customer base hits 18 and goes off to college, or gets a real job, and has bills, rent, women, etc they're going to disappear until they hit their late 20's/early 30's if they ever come back at all. When they do come back it will probably be with a completely different (or at least more mature and developed) taste in automobiles. Man that's a narrow gate to shoot through...

Everyone needs to take a deep breath and stop wringing their collective hands over things that while they can influence, they ultimately can't change. If you spend all your time worrying about the future, you're completely missing out on the here and now. Now back to the workbenches with the whole lot of you!

[martinfan5]

I do buy a lot of Revell kits, and AMT kits, if it interst me, I will build it, plain and simple, I like some cars from the 60's, some cars from the 70's, and there are a lot cars from those decades I would like to see kitted as well.

I never said that Revell or AMT make stuff I dont like, they do make a lot of stuff that I like and have built.

And believe you me, I am not sitting here worrying if the the hobbie is going to die , I have much more important things to worry about, we are all just partaking in a discussion

The last two kits I just bought where , Revell Datsun 280z , and Tamyia Nissan Skyline 2000 GTR kit, so I must really hate older cars huh

Edited April 26, 2012 by martinfan5

[niteowl7710]

Those last two kits aren't old cars the same way the Hudson and Chrysler C 300 are. Let's be honest here, you have posted quite a bit in multiple threads about cars that are older than you are holding no appeal. I respect your right to hold that opinion, but it doesn't hold true for me, which is why I bought those two and you didn't.

My point was if Company A doesn't make what I want to build, then I will spend my money with Company B, C, or D. I just don't get the jist of harping that American companies don't make new cars. There are Charger, Corvette & Camaro kits from AMT. Revell offers the Charger, Camaro, Mustang (in 2 recent generations), Magnum, Audi A8, and a slew of Ferraris. There are just certain subjects...like the Toyota 86/Scion - Subaru BRZ twins, Lexus cars, Nissan GTR and the like you're never going to see American kit makers cut molds for, and why should they, when the kits are already out there, and lets face it, they're probably better than anything we'd get simply because American builders are (of course not ALL, but most) not willing to step up their spending to get those kits. Nor are they willing to by and large to accept curbside kits...OUR KITS MUST INCLUDED ENGINES DANG IT!!!!

If you think back AMT/Ertl had a massive line of annual kits from the late 80's into the late 90's, which along with all the Camaros, Mustangs & Corvettes included such steller vehicles as the Ford Probe and Chevrolet Beretta. A good chunk of those kits were sales abominations, but were funded by the 1:1 manufacturers who wanted promotional models of those kits cut. That business model doesn't exist in 2012, and I'm not really sure where I see much of anything of current modern U.S. vehicles I would want to see made into a full detail model. So long as a I get more variations of the current generation Camaro & Mustang, and we see a new kit of the 2013 Viper, I'm good with it.

[martinfan5]

Those last two kits aren't old cars the same way the Hudson and Chrysler C 300 are. Let's be honest here, you have posted quite a bit in multiple threads about cars that are older than you are holding no appeal. I respect your right to hold that opinion, but it doesn't hold true for me, which is why I bought those two and you didn't.

My point was if Company A doesn't make what I want to build, then I will spend my money with Company B, C, or D. I just don't get the jist of harping that American companies don't make new cars. There are Charger, Corvette & Camaro kits from AMT. Revell offers the Charger, Camaro, Mustang (in 2 recent generations), Magnum, Audi A8, and a slew of Ferraris. There are just certain subjects...like the Toyota 86/Scion - Subaru BRZ twins, Lexus cars, Nissan GTR and the like you're never going to see American kit makers cut molds for, and why should they, when the kits are already out there, and lets face it, they're probably better than anything we'd get simply because American builders are (of course not ALL, but most) not willing to step up their spending to get those kits. Nor are they willing to by and large to accept curbside kits...OUR KITS MUST INCLUDED ENGINES DANG IT!!!!

If you think back AMT/Ertl had a massive line of annual kits from the late 80's into the late 90's, which along with all the Camaros, Mustangs & Corvettes included such steller vehicles as the Ford Probe and Chevrolet Beretta. A good chunk of those kits were sales abominations, but were funded by the 1:1 manufacturers who wanted promotional models of those kits cut. That business model doesn't exist in 2012, and I'm not really sure where I see much of anything of current modern U.S. vehicles I would want to see made into a full detail model. So long as a I get more variations of the current generation Camaro & Mustang, and we see a new kit of the 2013 Viper, I'm good with it.

Again , you not are uderstanding what I am trying to say, and putting words there that I never said, I am not wanting cars from the last few years to be made, to be honest, there are not that many cars that I want to see as a kit, so please stop.

And if I was talking about 20-30 years from now, not today , if I made that unclear, my mistake. You like cars from the 50's, I dont , nothing wrong with that.

It doesn't matter what else I have to say, so never mind, its pointless.

I will buy the kits that I have an interest in the real cars of, and will be happy, and I will be happy to give my money to any model company for those kits, weather its a US company or not.

[niteowl7710]

What I don't understand is the "Buy American" mantra. Who cares? They're all made in China anyway, other than the Revell AG stuff that is made in Poland then packaged here.

I understand what you're saying, but trying to somehow link what kits are made now, to what kits will be made in 2032 is specious at best. Presuming we don't all have personal 3-D Printers that run off whatever kit we want instantaneously. But you have said multiple times that you aren't interested in this kit, and that kit, and the other kit and entire release schedules because they aren't what YOU personally want to see made. As as a correlation since they don't make what you want made RIGHT NOW, well then we're all doomed because if they just listened to you and a few other people who are on this kick then everyone would be making money faster than they could deposit into their bank.

When you complain that things aren't being made that appeal to people in your generation, you therefore presume to speak for everyone in your generation.

Do I expect Moebius to make a Tucker Torpedo in 2028? No, but I don't expect anyone to make a '76 Camaro either.

[Junkman]

I completely understand where you are coming from, Jonathan.

And I will not stop to say it loud and clear: 'They' keep ignoring an entire chapter of US automotive history, and coincidently, this happens to be exactly the chapter of automotive history my generation relates to. We are out here, we know who we are, and we want to see 'our' cars being made into model kits. Whether any other generation likes it, or not? We don't give a toss! Or better: The toss we give is about on the same level their's is towards us.

And regarding this tiring wallet issue: We are going to put our money where our mouth is, but currently, there is nothing there for us to buy.

Edited April 26, 2012 by Junkman

[Harry P.]

Generally the kitmakers produce what they believe has a reasonable chance of appealing to the widest audience based on their own research and other factors. They don't just blindly tool up a new kit unless they believe it will actually sell.

So if your own personal favorite has never been kitted, there's a reason for that. The kitmakers probably don't think there's a big enough market out there for it. Yes, you may want a 1977 Plushmobile kitted, everyone you know may want a 1977 Plushmobile kitted...but that doesn't necessarily mean that there are thousands of others clamoring for a kit of that particular car as well.

[Junkman]

Yes, but the fundamental problem is that I am right and they are wrong.

[Harry P.]

Yes, but the fundamental problem is that I am right and they are wrong.

Oh, I see...

[SuperStockAndy]

I myself don't know of any kids or young adults building models. They seem to prefer the video games to building.

I'm 13, and I haven't even been on my PS3 in over a month. This past month I've gotten more building done than I ever have.

[Junkman]

Oh, I see...

- '72 Cutlass - a surprise seller. Well, not surprising for me.

- '77 Monte Carlo - seems to be doing really well, judging by the countless reissues. Especially considering it is a dismal curbside lowrider.

- Gremlin - the announcement of it being reissued created such shockwaves, that I privily feared we are going to lose a few of our oldtimers.

- '75 Cutlass - same as above.

- '76 Caprice - keeps being reissued certainly not because it doesn't sell well.

- The 70s Vans have many people stepping over each other to get them.

These are just a few examples that come to mind this instant.

But they are clear evidence that kits of 70s cars not selling well is utter nonsense.

[Harry P.]

But they are clear evidence that kits of 70s cars not selling well is utter nonsense.

Sorry, I should have been clearer. I used a "1977 Plushmobile" as a totally random example. My point was that if a certain model hasn't been released, 70s-era or otherwise, that there's a reason why it hasn't been released. I was responding more to the "why don't they ever make" crowd, not in regards to any specific era model kit.

[Junkman]

Sorry, I should have been clearer. I used a "1977 Plushmobile" as a totally random example. My point was that if a certain model hasn't been released, 70s-era or otherwise, that there's a reason why it hasn't been released. I was responding more to the "why don't they ever make" crowd, not in regards to any specific era model kit.

"that there's a reason why it hasn't been released"

That's exactly what I flatly dispute. Or better, yes, I agree, there is a reason. The reason is that the kit industry is inept to recognize a market even if you dumped them into it. For this very reason, they are losing out to the diecasters on a massive scale, and they are digging their own grave simply by being backward and faint hearted.

Further, I am not talking about a specific make and/or model. An entire chapter in American automotive history keeps being ignored and I have no idea how much clearer I could make this point.

Edited April 26, 2012 by Junkman

[Art Anderson]

J,

You are correct ! It's all about us ! Lol ! However , as I stated in my earlier post , it's this generation that is literally footing the bill right now .

Think back , at eighteen , how many of your buddies were into modeling ? I can guarantee the number would be no where near how many of mine were at that time! This doesn't include the older guys either , by the way .

We never really left it , nor lost our love for those particular cars of that era . As far as I can see , model building will always be with us in one form or another . It's our time right now, believe me , your day will come !

Donn, well put! What today's younger crowd may well never grasp is: When we 60-somethings were 18, what cars did we build a lot of? Hmmm, I sure seem to recall a lot of Model T's, '32 and '40 Fords. Why, in the 60's, we built an awful lot of '57 and '58 Chevies too (all that in addition to the then-current new cars).

Model companies are going to produce kits of cars they see the broader market as wanting--and from the looks of things, they are hitting things pretty much right from their business perspective. Sure, the modern exotics seem all to come from Japanese or European manufacturers, but then consider that Japan hasn't got much in the way of any automotive heritage prior to the 1970's, and while europeans were buying some pretty neat daily driver stuff prior to the 60's, a lot of that heritage was lost forever in the horrible years 1939-45.

Another thing to consider is that model kits of the cool exotic cars just do not sell well in the US, outside of major metropolitan areas (that was my experience as a hobby shop owner in Lafayette IN 1984-1992). Most of the hinterlands of the USA are still Ford-GM and Chrysler country, believe it or not, at least as it comes to model cars.

Oh well, as you say, younger adult modelers will have their day, but right now, the excitement is in nostalgia for the 1950's and 1960's. But that will change soon enough I suspect.

Art

[Junkman]

I can only hope you are right, Art.

I also hope, we will still be into kits when it happens, because a lot of us are drifting off to diecasts at the moment.

[Harry P.]

An entire chapter in American automotive history keeps being ignored...

If the kitmakers thought the kits of this "ignored" chapter would sell, they'd be making them.

I highly doubt that a model manufacturer would NOT produce kits that they were convinced would sell well. It makes no sense, logically or business-wise. Kit manufacturers aren't idiots.

[Junkman]

If the kitmakers thought the kits of this "ignored" chapter would sell, they'd be making them.

No they wouldn't. Actually, they don't and that's the whole point. Because that backward bunch is inept to realize how well they would sell.

[Monty]

No they wouldn't. Actually, they don't and that's the whole point. Because that backward bunch is inept to realize how well they would sell.

Would you mind listing, say, four specific cars you think would be a "hit" if the model companies would just step up and take the risk? (I'm not trying to be provocative, I just want to see where you're going).

[Guest Johnny]

No they wouldn't. Actually, they don't and that's the whole point. Because that backward bunch is inept to realize how well they would sell.

Go, hurry! Right now and apply to these companies and turn them around then seeing you know soooo much more than their current R&D people do!

I'm sure they would gladly listen to a man with such vast knowledge and experience in the model car industry!!!

[Junkman]

Would you mind listing, say, four specific cars you think would be a "hit" if the model companies would just step up and take the risk? (I'm not trying to be provocative, I just want to see where you're going).

1971 Riviera

1977 - 90 fullsize Chevrolet

Fuselage Mopar

197x Ford Wagon

[Harry P.]

1971 Riviera

1977 - 90 fullsize Chevrolet

Fuselage Mopar

197x Ford Wagon

"Because that backward bunch is inept to realize how well they would sell."

So your opinion is that because some particular kits that you personally would like to see produced have not seen the light of day, the obvious conclusion is that the kit manufacturers are too stupid to realize what a smash hit these kits would be?

So I guess we might have heard a conversation similar to this taking place in Manufacturer X's conference room:

"So, guys, are there any subjects out there that haven't been produced yet, but have a HUGE pent-up demand? Are we hearing about any particular subjects that would be sure-fire sales winners?

Why yes... there's the 1971 Riviera, 1977-90 fullsize Chevrolet, any Fuselage Mopar, or a 197x Ford Wagon. Our best research and available information tells us that any of those kits would be a huge success!

Ok, gentlemen... let's make a note of those and remember to never produce any one of them. After all, the last thing we want is a sales success. We're too stupid and backward!"

[Rob Hall]

Bottom line--Round 2, Revell and Mobieus will continue focusing on subject matter that primarily appeals to the older generations as they are a majority of model buyers in the US. It's an unfortunate situation, but that's just the way it is. It will be interesting to see how the hobby looks in 10 years.

Edited April 26, 2012 by Rob Hall