Remember when Kits were $ 2.00 to $5.00 ?

[jaymichaelsdesigns]

This is to all the question was so post to be about the model car industry in the next 15 to 20 years not about how kids are into the hobby

[Harry P.]

If the question is where will the hobby be in the future... I think the answer is that we won't be buying kits as they exist today. Depending on how far into the future you want to look, 3-D printing will have either taken a large chunk of the traditional injection-molded kit's market, or taken it completely.

The future of the hobby is people buying and downloading a "kit" in digital form... just like downloading movies or music or books... and printing the kit out on their home 3-D printer, a product that will soon be as cheap to buy and common to have as today's "regular" inkjet printers. There will no longer be large buildings with injection molding machines and dozens of employees to operate them, no more "tooling" needing to be cut, no need to package, warehouse, and ship boxes of kits to retailers. The entire process of how a kit is designed, manufactured, shipped, and sold today will become obsolete as 3-D printing becomes common.

The hobby of building kits may not go away, but the way kits come to us will be completely different.

[Aaronw]

Let's face it, it's impossible to work on a hobby and watch TV (or play video games) at the same time.

these gaming companies are making millions for kids to play a game then go to school and shoot there classmates we need to get these kids back into it i remember when model building was a kids thing but it has taking a huge turn around . the reason why i know i run a hobby shop and i see the older folks bulding and buying not kids

That to me is a pretty obvious video game rant. Because kids are engaging in a hobby I don't approve of it is a waste of time. A pretty clear cut bad wrong fun argument.

Agree with you on needing to monitor who your children are engaging with online, no different than making sure you know who they are dealing with in real life. No different online than in person, still need to parent, just requires a different technique. We will get online and play with the kids, one its fun, and two it gives us a chance to get a feel for the people he is involved with. The response from the other kids is usually along the lines of "Wow, your mom / dad play games with you? That's cool".

It is ok, not to enjoy the new online world, but not so cool to condemn those who engage in different kind of hobby from yours.

Understand you may not be doing that, but there is a very tiring drum beat of video games are the cause of all that is bad in the world. 20 years ago it was understandable, today it is replacing get out of my yard you punk kids.

[jaymichaelsdesigns]

If the question is where will the hobby be in the future... I think the answer is that we won't be buying kits as they exist today. Depending on how far into the future you want to look, 3-D printing will have either taken a large chunk of the traditional injection-molded kit's market, or taken it completely.

The future of the hobby is people buying and downloading a "kit" in digital form... just like downloading movies or music or books... and printing the kit out on their home 3-D printer, a product that will soon be as cheap to buy and common to have as today's "regular" inkjet printers. There will no longer be large buildings with injection molding machines and dozens of employees to operate them, no more "tooling" needing to be cut, no need to package, warehouse, and ship boxes of kits to retailers. The entire process of how a kit is designed, manufactured, shipped, and sold today will become obsolete as 3-D printing becomes common.

The hobby of building kits may not go away, but the way kits come to us will be completely different.

Harry you do know i am a retailer right

[Harry P.]

Harry you do know i am a retailer right

How would I know that? And what difference does it make? I see model kits being made and sold very differently than the way they are today.

We used to have record stores. We used to have video rental stores. We used to have a lot more book stores than we have today. Entire book store chains have disappeared. Blockbuster Video is gone. How many record stores are there still left?

Times change, technologies change, and the way certain products are produced or received by the end user has changed. The TV and movie industry is changing. Movie theater revenue is down, people are downloading movies and watching them on their tablets or laptops. Netflix has become a player in the TV industry, challenging the traditional networks. We now have new, original, first-run programming online, not on TV via the traditional networks..

I see the model kit hobby undergoing change, too... big time–to a completely new business model. It's inevitable. It's not a question of if, it's a question of when.

[tubbs]

If the question is where will the hobby be in the future... I think the answer is that we won't be buying kits as they exist today. Depending on how far into the future you want to look, 3-D printing will have either taken a large chunk of the traditional injection-molded kit's market, or taken it completely.

The future of the hobby is people buying and downloading a "kit" in digital form... just like downloading movies or music or books... and printing the kit out on their home 3-D printer, a product that will soon be as cheap to buy and common to have as today's "regular" inkjet printers. There will no longer be large buildings with injection molding machines and dozens of employees to operate them, no more "tooling" needing to be cut, no need to package, warehouse, and ship boxes of kits to retailers. The entire process of how a kit is designed, manufactured, shipped, and sold today will become obsolete as 3-D printing becomes common.

The hobby of building kits may not go away, but the way kits come to us will be completely different.

great answer Harry, never took it that far. maybe the way to say it is never "thought" that far.

[Art Anderson]

Hello Members,

As a hobby store manager and as a model car builder this is the one question that i have for everyone for years.

Where is the Model car industry going where will it be in the next 15 to 20 years?

I see a lot of kids on those video games more than everything i started building at the age of 5 years old my son that is 2 1/2 years old is building a little bit he understands what a model kit is and so forth. so my question to all memeber's is where will it be in the next 15 to 20 years

At 70 years old, I've been around the hobby (and hobby shops, even been involved in the model kit industry a time or two) long enough to have seen LOTS of changes, both in product, and in those who buy the product.

As a boy, I was enamored not only with model car kits, but those early Aurora, Lindberg and Revell plastic model airplane kits--the latter to which my favorite uncle chided me for not building REAL model airplanes (balsa and tissue paper) so I could learn how airplanes were built and what made them fly.

In the 1950's (my growing up and coming of age years) THE iconic Christmas toy for boys was an electric train set (Lionel, American Flyer or Marx), but not many kids progressed into scale model railroading. And of course, model cars--while huge numbers of boys back then at least tried their hand and building them, only a percentage ever kept on with it.

I've seen the model car building fad (or "craze) of the early 1960's get whipsawed by slot car racing (which in many ways it was), the slow decline of model car kit sales (and the building thereof) in the 1970's as the later Boomers latched onto other activities, such as the rise of organized sports for kids.

I've also seen the introduction of those early video games that fascinated kids by the early 1980's, along with an even bigger attraction, model car wise--radio controlled cars--those were a craze even bigger than slot cars--perhaps the ultimate video game for kids who were car crazy--in 3D, live action, all of that--almost like the slot car craze of the 60's on steriods, even though that hobby went through almost a free-fall in the late 80's.

I've also seen (and experienced as a hobby shop owner) the amazing resurgence of model car building, beginning about 1980 or so, but not with 10-15 yr old kids (who drove the hobby to those legendary heights in the 1960's) but a lot of those kids, now all grown up, wanting to return to a hobby they'd been fascinated with just 20 or so years earlier.

In short, I've seen this hobby mature--no longer simply a boyhood pastime, but a truly passionate hobby for an awful lot of builders. Along the way, I've also seen this as a hobby having an "entry level" that has moved from say, 10yr olds to now guys (and a few females as well) in their early to mid-20's.

In short, this hobby, just like any other leisure time activity, has changed, "morphed" if you will, as times have changed.

Over the years, both in the business, and as strictly a hobbyist, I've also come to a realization that just because I see only a couple of hundred modelers at a contest or show, and perhaps a dozen or so fellow modelers who come to the monthly meetings of Lafayette Miniature Car Club--somebody (A LOT OF SOMEBODY's!) is buying up all the model kits that I see being turned over in our LHS, as well as at Hobby Lobby and Michael's. I've seen, with my own eyes, guys of all ages perusing, picking up and buying model car kits at these local stores here--faces I have never seen before, people that I don't know, and likely will never see again (regardless of whatever casual contact or conversation I might try to engage them in)--but they are buying--and I would assume building the model car kits they have been looking at.

In short, this hobby, this activity or pastime, has been in a constant state of flux, constantly changing with regard to manufacturers, subject matter, and the age group(s) involved. But the bottom line is, IMO, the hobby and it's supporting industries is quite viable, rather lively--and probably going to continue to be so for quite a few years yet.

One thing I cannot really imagine, however, is that somehow, all this modern technology seriously changing how model car kits get made or marketed. 3D printing, for sure is a change, and one that will get even better as time goes on--but really! Just how many modelers are going to spend the serious money on a 3D printer, along with the computer and software (never mind the learning curve necessary) to buy into that on a personal level? After all, aren't the topic areas in this very forum filled with worries about the high cost of such almost staples of model building, such as airbrushes, compressors and spray booths, just to name some examples? However, I do see current technology being an addition to what we enjoy, while not supplanting say, injection-molded plastic kits, etc. I also see online merchandising as being a real force, but will that every replace brick & mortar retail stores--more likely it will be what it is today, an added way of distributing merchandise--very much the same as the old Sears and Montgomery Ward catalogs which were in virtually every American home a century or so ago.

Again, times change, interests change, and business (the economy) changes as well.

Art

[Harry P.]

very much the same as the old Sears and Montgomery Ward catalogs which were in virtually every American home a century or so ago.

And today are nothing but a memory.

Mail order used to be the "future" of retailing. It was a completely new way of doing business back in the day when it first came along. Nobody had done retail that way before. Now it's dead.

Now we buy online. The "catalogs" are websites. For now that's the way we shop... more and more every year, until the next new way of doing things come along.

Times change. Technologies change. Ways of doing business change.

We download music now. And TV/movies. And books. Fifty years ago, who would have thought that we would one day be getting our music not on vinyl discs, but through the air on something called the "internet." And we wouldn't play our music on a record player, but on a gizmo called an "ipod'" We would have been told we were crazy!

We'll be downloading e-kits soon. No "learning curve" necessary, any more than a "learning curve" to download mp3 files. There is no learning curve, because you're not creating the e-kit. The manufacturer has created it... all you're doing is downloading it and outputting the pieces. Download to your desktop. Click on the icon. Hit "Print" and out come the pieces. Open the included PDF instruction sheet file and start building.

[jbwelda]

I think that actual physical material is largely outdated. the future is on the screen and in the mind. 30 years max and we will have full holography available in every home, with entertainment that is made up on the spot, and different everytime it is viewed. we will have "models" that exist in that environment only, or at least otherwise would be a true niche collectors market (like music on vinyl right now). 3D printing is only a stopgap; the real revolution will come when we free ourselves from physical material and transfer to a more virtual reality, where increasingly scarce resources aren't further drained to produce consumer goods for the rapidly expanding population in an increasingly bleak, post post-industrial world.

jb

[gtx6970]

A major portion of my stash was purchased for less then $10 ea,,,,with many less then $5 ea. ,,,,

My local Johnnys Toys you could buy most of the current ( at that time ) 1/25th scale kits for $4.99 and thats just in the last 20 years.

Yes,,I'm old enough to remember buying model kits in the mid-late 60's time frame . Build them in a day them crash them the next or sometimes the same day.

Then take my allowance the next weekend and do it all over again.

[B-Train]

Like most "video game rants" it is just plain wrong. Video games are a hobby like any other and they provide a creative outlet, they are not all first person shooters, many include problem solving, and critical thinking. Don't just look at Grand Theft Auto, have a look at Minecraft (basically virtual interactive Legos), or the Kerbal Space Program (build your own rockets and launch them, solving the problems of weight vs structural strength vs thrust, and trajectory). Look at most modern automotive games, they allow a great deal of customization of the cars, not just color and stripes, but suspension set up, gear ratios, engine mods etc. Even the shooters require a fair bit of teamwork for success.

The online community opens up a whole new world. When I was a kid I had a few local friends, the only person I knew from outside the US was because I had a friend who moved to another country. My son talks with kids all over the planet on a daily basis. Yes they are playing games, but the conversations they have are not really about the game, they talk about school and other stuff going on with them just like kids do when they are sitting in the same room playing with Legos or building models.

Anybody who just goes on a rant about video games and computers really needs to just accept the fact that the world has moved on and left you behind. Those who will not embrace the computer age are going to go the way of the wagon builders who refused to be retrained to build automobiles.

Nailed it!!

[Chuck Most]

[Ace-Garageguy]

Get the kids back into building plastic models? NO way. This isn't the 60's anymore and times are changin' a whole lot. Hobby shops are shutting down all over the country. 15 or 20 years from now some of us old guys that are still left will still be buildin' models if we can still see and arthritis doesn't effect us. Even the model companies are at risk right now, as tooling and production cost have gone up as well.

Blah blah blah blah..same old, same old. The past is gone, get over it and move on....

The past may be gone, but just because something is hip-happening-invented-yesterday doesn't necessarily make it BETTER. There's room for old stuff AND new stuff.

Fella I work with, for whom I have a lot of respect, is 40 and has 3 young sons. He's a car builder by trade, completely connected to the modern world as well, and is also a very involved, engaged parent. He builds models...and other stuff...occasionally with his kids, and one of them is developing a real interest in the car thing. Maybe he'll turn out to be a mechanic or an engineer as a result, or maybe his understanding of how things WORK IN THE PHYSICAL WORLD will take him into a career in science where he just might make a planet-saving difference.

How many video-game and facebook e-device addicted kids will get options like the model-building sons will have as a result of spending time with an old-school dad, MAKING THINGS?

Edited November 5, 2014 by Ace-Garageguy

[Ace-Garageguy]

I think that actual physical material is largely outdated. the future is on the screen and in the mind. 30 years max and we will have full holography available in every home, with entertainment that is made up on the spot, and different everytime it is viewed. we will have "models" that exist in that environment only, or at least otherwise would be a true niche collectors market (like music on vinyl right now). 3D printing is only a stopgap; the real revolution will come when we free ourselves from physical material and transfer to a more virtual reality, where increasingly scarce resources aren't further drained to produce consumer goods for the rapidly expanding population in an increasingly bleak, post post-industrial world.

jb

I'm so glad I'll be gone before that pretend reality becomes reality.

[DynoMight]

these gaming companies are making millions for kids to play a game then go to school and shoot there classmates

....

*sigh*

Just because you play a "Violent" video game, doesn't automatically turn you into a school shooter. Video games aren't "ruining" the world, sure, they're not really helping the world either, but still; they are not ruining the world. The reason why you see all these shootings and murders is because the person behind the crime is missing a lot of screws up in his cranium. A sane person doesn't kill people. A sane person also doesn't kill someone after playing a video game.

Yes, I'm sure a few kids out there who were missing more than one or two screws up there played a game and then said, "Yeah! I can do that!" but video games doesn't turn a normal person into a blood thirsty killer.

That's like saying building a model kit will turn you into a top of the line mechanic. No. It doesn't work that way. Same thing with video games.

As far as getting kids back into the hobby. I don't think modeling will have a surge in children in this hobby. Sure, I bet there will be some new people, but not like the 60s or the 80s. Every plant, animal and bacteria on this Earth has a phone nowadays (not literally of course ) Also, the interest in cars by young teens is also at a low. If you don't know a guy who knows a guy who models, it's really, really hard to get into this hobby. Sure, that sounds ridiculous to some of you guys from the 60s and 70s but if you look around a HS today, the prices are really high for a mid to low class family. $22 for a kit, $10 in paints, $15 in tools, and everything you want and need. That stuff really adds up.

Yes, I think video games hurt modeling.

No, it does not turn you into a cold blooded killer.

No, modeling will never have another surge like the 60s and 80s.

Yes, some kids are into the hobby, and that's only because their buddies dad is in it or their dad.

[Mike_G]

When I was a kid I could get a model kit for washing 6 cars

[jbwelda]

>I'm so glad I'll be gone before that pretend reality becomes reality.

that horse is already out of the barn and you are a seemingly willing participant. its just a matter of degree. the frog never realizes the water is getting hot until it is too late.

jb

[Ace-Garageguy]

>I'm so glad I'll be gone before that pretend reality becomes reality.

that horse is already out of the barn and you are a seemingly willing participant. its just a matter of degree. the frog never realizes the water is getting hot until it is too late.

jb

You wrote: "I think that actual physical material is largely outdated. the future is on the screen and in the mind. 30 years max and we will have full holography available in every home, with entertainment that is made up on the spot, and different everytime it is viewed. we will have "models" that exist in that environment only, or at least otherwise would be a true niche collectors market (like music on vinyl right now). 3D printing is only a stopgap; the real revolution will come when we free ourselves from physical material and transfer to a more virtual reality, where increasingly scarce resources aren't further drained to produce consumer goods for the rapidly expanding population in an increasingly bleak, post post-industrial world."

------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

I'm hardly a "willing participant". I embrace "technology" (and I use quotes around it because the computer dweebs seem to think they invented "technology", whereas "technology" actually began with the invention of the club so we could bash animals...and each other...more effectively) as an ADJUNCT to the physical world, NOT A REPLACEMENT for it.

CAD and engineering programs like CFD vastly improve the ability of engineers and designers to develop solutions to increasingly complex problems about THINGS, like shape-shifting aircraft wings that reduce drag AND improve lift at all speeds...complex problems that couldn't be solved without massive computing power. BUT these programs are based on empirical evidence arrived at by rigorous testing and recording of data, including failure modes...OF MATERIAL OBJECTS...for many years. Being able to design and test in a "virtual" environment has, as its end, the manufacturing of an object in PHYSICAL REALITY.

The internet is a research and communication and entertainment TOOL of capability and value that was unimaginable when I was young (I read lotsa science fiction then, and the powers attributed to computers "of the future" were laughably puny compared to today's reality), but the net is only another ADJUNCT to reality...for me, anyway. I research THINGS, I buy THINGS, I communicate about THINGS on the net...but I don't spend time in a pretend world where actions have no physical consequences, where actual laws of physics are conveniently suspended, and where knowledge of physical cause-and-effect is unknown. Spare me the rambling about how "car setup" etc. is done so convincingly in video games. Is there a game scenario where your car slams head on into a wall because you idiotically stripped a bolt in a critical part of your steering linkage (because you were distracted by constant texting your friends about trivial BS)? I doubt it...and even if there were, the consequences don't involve death or dismemberment or blood...just "game over".

You think that "physical material is outdated"? What kind of material would you use then, to make clothes to cover your body, to make heaters and AC units, to build walls and roofs, and to supply nourishment? NONE of these necessities for continued human existence can be supplied by any sort of "virtuality".

Yes, "technology" will allow for more and more "virtual" experiences that are less and less distinguishable from physical reality...and probably a VAST number of people will prefer an effort-free virtual existence. But I won't be one of them, and I'm working hard to point out the fallacy of thinking that it's a good thing. When EVERYBODY is living in virtuality, who will be around to keep the lights and heat on, and to grow food, eh?

Advanced technology will shortly be routinely implantable, and so integrated into the human machine that the line between tech and human will gradually blur, and an advanced species of augmented humans will emerge...capable of more, in every way...physically AND mentally...than we can even dream of now. The ones who prefer to live second-hand virtual lives will be left behind to wallow in their pretend nothingness, while the best and brightest, still engaged in LIFE, will move out to the next great human adventure, the quest to learn what lies beyond our own planet.

Will they be building model cars as they head out past the edge of the Solar System? Doubtful, but you just never know...and I'd bet anything that some of them will enjoy building models of SOMETHING. Model building dates vary far back in human history, and seems to have pretty deep roots.

Edited November 5, 2014 by Ace-Garageguy

[johnbuzzed]

Perhaps, we will be using the "technology" to design our own 3D models and print them, as a hobby. Well, maybe not "we" meaning us, here and now, but some humans, at some point in the future. I imagine that would happen when the devices and software required are much less expensive then they are now, and more readily available to the "general public".

[johnbuzzed]

My exact point sir you nailed it right on the head the same old molding the same old way of production is going to china with cheaper styrene the cost will just keep on going up .

At one time, buggy whips were a profitable industry. The world is a dynamic place and it doesn't help anything or anyone to lament the passage of old ways and ideas. In 30 or 40 years from now, the parents might just be wondering: "Whatever happened to computer games? My kids just don't seem to be interested..." All things must pass.

[johnbuzzed]

all well and good, but I really don't like the way the future looks, so I will stay right here. don't need to move on. I bet you have a few "old" kits in your stash your hanging onto, Rob. and this by no means is a post "looking to stir things up", but the past is all around us and lots of people would like to preserve it. as I mentioned, old kits in our stash, muscle cars, record albums, old tube TV's and stereo equipment. historical building. can't get away from it. it was a much better time than now.

"These are the good, old days". C. Simon. Our parents said the same thing- "Remember when things were so much better?" We say it now, our kids, their kids, their kids, etc, will continue to say it.

[pharoah]

You've probably figured it out by now that nothing stays the same.

It's not just the model industry. The toy industry is suffering,too. Sales of Barbie dolls were down 15%.

Electronics and social media have taken over. Yes, a hobby would do a lot of kids good.But you can't force it on them.

I don't know what the solution is. I wish I did.

[martinfan5]

I do not remember when kits $2.00-$5.00

[High octane]

Then you won't remember when they were a $1.39 & $1.49 either, back in the early 60's. What a great time it was to be a model builder back then. I really anticipated the release of the annuals back then, and today I really don't care when another new kit is released or an old favorite is re-issued.

[Rob Hall]

I can remember them about as low as $5, probably sale prices, in the early 80s at K-Mart and similar stores.

I do not remember when kits $2.00-$5.00