I believe that model building is more popular than we might think

[cobraman]

Harry I think you are right but I remember a name "Block City" but since that was over 50 years in my case. My dad worked in Chicago at a place called " Buckleys" and brought them from there I thought but not sure. He brought me an " Irish Mail" from there that they made I believe.

[Tom Geiger]

I had Lego when I was a kid. Maybe not mainstream here in the USA, but a relative who visited Germany brought me a set as a present maybe 1964 or so.

Now what was the building toy where we had red plastic girders that we could assemble as a steel frame building, then add thin plastic panels to make the outer walls? Pretty much how a real building goes up with beams and curtain wall. I used to build large garages for my Matchbox cars back then! I'm thinking 1966 era.

[cobraman]

Tom, I had that kit too. It was Kenner girder and panel kits. There was also a roadway you could build with it that was about Hotwheel size.

[cobraman]

I think the roadway sets were called Kenner turnpike and bridge kits

[Harry P.]

Yes, those "girder and panel" building sets were made by Kenner. They also has a set or sets that you could build homes with... I remember they had styrofoam "trees" so you could landscape the yard! I had several of those Kenner sets... also the plastic bricks, Lincoln Logs, and Tinkertoys. I was a building maniac!

[Harry P.]

Speaking of old toys, anyone remember the "Big Red Hot Rd" by Marx? I had one...

[keyser]

I've made tons of posts about Lego. Company was nearly dead 10y ago. Same skill set.

Wrote about parallel marketing, not teaming up with game manufacturer, but picking various cars in huge games like Forza, etc. Good players spend a huge amount of time tuning cars, designing liveries, photographing them. Just like modeling, similar skill sets.

Vid games are 3D, but not tangible. Lots more potential builders out there than manufacturers believe. End result of my posting has been the "flat-earth" manufacturers/society doesn't want to risk it. Myopic.

Happy there's some young modelers here, some with 1:1's too.

[mikemodeler]

Had one of those Harry, along with many other trucks and cars!

[fumi]

Modeling participation numbers in Japan are off the charts compared to the US, thanks to the genius of Bandai's Gundam series (50%+ of the Japanese market) - Gundam doesn't even try to hide that's it's a big model kit commercial, the current series is actually about kids building Gundam models!

The brilliant thing about Gundam is its appeal across so many generations in such longevity. Fathers growing up watching and building Gundams in the 70's and 80's are watching and building Gundams with their kids today, and both the fathers and the kids are enjoying it at the same time.

I don't think there is a parallel in the Western world, as far as modelling goes.

I want to add something about the Asian comparison. Japanese in particular are a very detail oriented people. Their culture is such that it's not GEEKY to build models. A well built model is met with praise and encouragement.

It is considered geeky to build models. You probably wouldn't want to let it be known that you are an avid modeller during your teenage years, lest the girls think you are weird. But unlike anime, there is no negative connotation for adult who build models (unless you build anime figures with skimpy outfits).

One outgrowth of the supposed geeky-ness of the car modelling hobby is "Ita-sha", a genre invented by Aoshima and Fujimi that combined model cars with anime. It became successful enough that it crossed over to the real car world. Some actual race cars in the Super GT and the drift series sported anime graphics in recent years to grow their market in the anime geek segment.

There is one more thing that helps car modelling in this part of the world. Real car is generally not a necessity and the upkeep of a car is very expensive, especially for those who live in the city. Unlike their counterparts in the US or Canada, most young people who want a WRX or a Evo or that black and white Hachiroku just like Fujiwara's will have to get it from Aoshima, Fujimi or Tamiya.

[Helix]

I'm 50 this year and have been building since I was a kid like most of us

A 20 year Military career got in my way, but it didn't stop me from building something!

One thing I have noticed is the popularity of R/C cars, planes etc, the two LHS I visit, do big business from repairs and sales, model kits are just secondary.

'Lego' is also a big part of my life as my daughter loves the stuff!

the spare room in my house is shared between us !

[Jade043]

Man this is a massive thread. Well here's my two cents worth. I've grown up with video games played them most of my life and if it wasn't for an article in a hot rod mag on model building ( for all you kiwis and Aussies it was street machine ) I would never have given it ago. I agree with a lot of what you guys are saying and there needs to be more advertising and a lot more variety of kits. From my own experience I've managed to get a few of my friends into building simply by showing them what I'm doing and I reckon if they advertise it abit more you'll start getting more people into it. Someone mentioned about getting the cars off gta and making them into kits that's a great idea cause I play that game all the time and would love to build those cars as I'm sure a lot of other people would to.

Edited July 14, 2014 by Jade043

[Rob Hall]

Maybe video games never eclipsed diecast collecting or modeling for me because I got into it later..maybe 4 years after I started building models when I got my first Atari, then my first computer (Commodore 64). I've dabbled in games for over 30 years, but never been a huge gamer like many of my peers were (and many still are). But I grew up in a family of car enthusiasts--- so cars, car culture and diecast then modeling dominated my interests at an early age.