Who will continue when we die?

[Luis Ayala]

I have been in this hobby full time for about four years and I really enjoy it. I have very good friends and every day I learn something new.

I have seen posts regarding who will or will not go out of business producing kits, resins, aftermarket parts, etc., but what really worries me is that posts regarding youngsters involved in the hobby are very few.

I am 40; I have a 10 year old kid an an 8 year old daughter wich both are involved in model building, among other activities of their age. My wife has also a couple of builds and we enjoy building together. I guess I am a very fortunate man and believe me, I will encourage them to keep building even if it just a snap kit a year.

I try to promote our hobbie everywhere I go but people seem to be more interested in "just looking", rather than buying a kit and building, regardless of the kit's skill level.

I have met lots of youngsters out there that really enjoy what they see, but they see that this is so time consumming, so expensive, so overwhelming in detail that they rather go play a videogame or hang out at the mall, than spent hours sitting on a desk with a piece of plastic.

This is only a thought that's been in my mind for quite a while and just wanted to get some feedback on you guys. Just think about it for while and you will see that the junior class on the contests is the one with less entries every year.

Here are a couple of pics of my kids at one of this years event, The 'MC Tonigh" where both got awards. My kid got pic one of the Top 15 and my daughter got a special award because she decided to enter a small 1/32 snap she put togheter with the rest of the crowd. She knew she had no chance on winning, but she just wanted to put her build on the table for daddy to take a pic of it near the rest of the builds, and just for that she got awarded, for not being afraid of showing her work.

[Ariel]

I have two basic rules :

1) Never loose your calm, a bad thought can ruin your life forever...

2) If you ever feel you are loosing it, step back get a cup of coffe and a 15 minute break; eventually the answers will follow...

I have the same rules the only thing instead of coffee I have a cervez :mrgreen: a

[j_nigrelli]

we're dead; who cares...?

[Mike]

Someone posted something very similar on another forum quite a while back. My philosophy is that there will always be someone to do something with the hobby. Just like there's always some flunky to clean sewer grates in the world, there will always be a kid interested in cars and building a model. Video games have become very redundant, and there's nothing "new" really on the market other than another game to run around, wreck cars, shoot people with chainsaws, and blow up buildings. The kids are going to get bored fast and look for something new at some point.

[SpreadAxle]

I never thought about it in terms of who shall carry the legacy after we are gone. I do agree with the fact that kids will look at a kit and say that it's too much work. Then again, while I know you're not losing sleep over it, don't let it get to you so strongly. I think it's cool that both the wife and kids build with you. Cherish that. There is nothing wrong with being passionate about the hobby, but don't stress. It will carry on, even with smaller numbers.

[Barbo]

Hi ..my friend Papin67....sometimes I feel sad about it , but as long as we promote the hobby as a friendship not a competition between us, kids as yours and youngsters as mine will do something about, they will remember that there is something in the hobby world that is not found in any other place....fun and happiness. I know your kids , they are very special, always thank God for them.................Barbo.

[flatheadgary]

you know this topic applies to just about everything us baby boomers do today. i drag race home built altereds and i don't see to many young people into this either. model building is just another one of those things we got into when we were young but it is a new day now. it may have to do with cost and time and whatever. that is evolution. some things will stop being done on a large scale and be replaced by something else.

[RyanSilva]

Well I know majority of the members here are over 30, but im 22, have been building kits since i was 6 years old. My father wasnt a big builder, but he did build when he was a kid, and he did build when i was 2 or 3....then id try riding the model and it ended up smashing.. he was cool with it.. hehe.

anyways, i will be building the rest of my life, or as far as the hobby is alive, i wouldnt worry about the slack, everyone here has 50 years+ left in them... i wouldnt worry about it. lol

[bobss396]

I'm 52 and in good shape, hack.. cough. I got back into the hobby at age 40. I'm not that concerned about who will pick up where I leave off. My kids know the value of my stash so hopefully they can make a few bucks off them.

The biggest laugh I have is, what will someone think when they dig us up in 5000 years and find all these plastic model kits. Will they even have an inkling what a car is by then? Will it be like us digging up the old Egyptians and basically saying WTF until they get a handle on what we were all about?

Bob

[Mad Slammer]

we're dead; who cares...?

You are? :shock:

Already? :?

Man, that explains the strong aroma around this place. . . :twisted:

[Mad Slammer]

Seriously, I've been thinking about this for some time now. . .

My kids are 3 1/2 and 2 1/2 and already my baby boy(he's the youngest) is crazy about cars. I don't really know why. . . :wink:

My father never built models, even now he thinks it's a waste of time. I guess he'll never get it, but I think that's what drove me deeper into this hobby and any other thing related to cars. Anyways, I can only hope that my kids learn to enjoy and respect this hobby, as much as I have over the years.

[Chas SCR]

I have three daughters 13,5,4 and the oldest one is building now and wants to do renders of real cars for the big three so she is on her way on what she wants to do by building models that started it for her. The other two I can see my youngest one not really wanting to do as to the middle one, Carolann already comes down to the room and looks at the stuff and plays with some of the toy cars I have so she is really getting big into it, as for the youngest all she wants to do is play with a horse name flicka.. So two out of three is not bad if they like it and keep it up and they are happy that is all I ever want them to be on what ever they want to do... Just be Happy and have Fun.

[SpreadAxle]

and he did build when i was 2 or 3....then id try riding the model and it ended up smashing.. he was cool with it..hehe

He sounds like my father. My father built a model of the mid 70's camaro he owned in the mid 80's when I was about 4 or 5. It sat in the rear windsheild of the car, and as he drove the real thing, I "drove" the model, and he always smiled about that. He would've been about 24 at the time.

It wasn't an exact replica. The real thing was a brown, stripped down, grocery getter Camaro, while the model was bright orange, and was more of a performance version. He said it was to be an inspiration for what he wanted the real car to turn out to be. Of course, those dreams never came to be, but those were good memories.

[mikelo]

I remember my dad helping me when I was too little, then, when he didn't have as much time to work on them with me (he had to work 2 and some times 3 jobs), I decided to start building them myself. While I have older children (or step-children) that are not into building, they have built a couple. Now, my daughter, who is seven, has not only built a few, but now takes her own photographs. It was funny I saw this post as I just put them on my computer. Not saying she wouldn't pass up a car for a Barbie, and all her cars have names and talk to one another, but she does like the time we spend together doing this. Take a look at her pics, I don't think they came out all that bad. So not only did she build these, but she set them up & took the pictures. I was surprised when I saw them on the computer. Not bad for a seven year old.

[gasman]

I'm also 22, so where your all writing your wills, remember, only modelers deserve your old kits. :twisted:

[Smart-Resins]

I fear not. I am only one in my family who liked models and ended up sooner or later sticking with it. From me, I have three surviving children. Right now my 7 year old daughter is already building and enjoying it. My 5 year old son wants to, but not quite old enough yet, though here soon he will get his first for his birthday. My youngest son,4 has no interest in models yet, but he is the only one who has interestsi n real cars, almost worst then me so I know it is inevidable for him! If one looks at raw statistics, you will see that the hobby is growing.Perhaps the percentage of hobbyists is decreasing, but the number of poeple on the planet is constantly increasing,thus still allowing the hobby to grow. I think by the time that it really is ready to die, we wont have to worry about it!! Either the glue will cause too much toxins so the hobby will be outlawed, or we will have killed everyone.