49 replies to this topic

[simonr]

Wow my friend, could tell us more about the 2 formulas you have here in this post...The renault and tyrrel...both impressive works...

 

Simón P. Rivera Torres

 

Czech Republic and Slovakia (former Czechoslovakia) are very strong modeling countries. it has roots in old times when it was very wideky supported and popular hobby. its more about airplanes, AFV lately, but also great car modelers are here. people here are known that thay wont give you appreciation or like of your model unless its really good. it pushes you to put more into a build if you want to present it. we also have a lot of contests considering number of inhabitants and countries sizes. i give you only small appetizer...

[crazyrichard]

when i look on one of hollands biggest second hand sites i always find cool hotrod kits , musscle cars , garage kits ...all for cheap prices..
there is so much you can buy here in holland hotrod and custom related , all my kits and parts are bought in holland and not ordered from ......

and we have a big online site where the guy buys and sells vintage usa kits ...and there is more like that but ...i will put it to rest now

the new generation isnt big on modelbuilding thats true  sadly..
on the other hand the few times i go into a big modelstore in rotterdam i do see kids buying kits ....
si its not all dead on their side , just not that polulair in the general young population

its sad people think they cant have a hobby due to economy
i also dont have a lot of money to spend on like styrene or all the expensive paints or aftermarket p/e and stuff
i also own a house with hudge mortgage , pay a hudge deal of healthcare for me and my wife , not to mention fuell prices and increasing taxes ...but if you want you can do modelbuilding cheap , i always shop online and bought all of my kits second hand..
i even enjoy the search ...
i even got loads of parts from people on forums who loved my work and said can you use this ?? thats also something i love about this hobby people are way more enthousiastic amoung eitch other then on other hobby's

Edited by crazyrichard, 28 February 2013 - 10:19 PM.

[Tompidom]

I have to agree with richard on the dutch part. I have one of the biggest hobby shops in the netherlands in the city i live in. I do rareley see some young modelers in their.

 

But on the internet it is very hard to see how old people are.

 

With that said, I Think in holland their is a Really big modeling comunity and think it is growing. Sadly not to more fisical shops but more online shops) On the positive side that does make it a lot cheaper for the modeller)

[Tom Geiger]

Per Richard's post,  I see all hobbies as an aging thing.  The guys who collect stamps and coins are complaining that kids aren't getting into their hobbies either. As kids we were model builders and avidly collected stamps, coins and other things. Today's kids have less free leisure time due to more organized sports and activities and they are also very digital, preferring modern media and video games.  

 

There are still kids that like to work with their hands. Both of my daughters, now in their 20s, always did crafts and still will make gifts and personalized items to this day.  I think a lot of kids not building, is that they just aren't aware of models.  When we were kids, model kits were sold everywhere... toy stores, grocery stores, hardware stores and the corner drug store.  Today, they pretty much just are sold in hobby shops, so we've lost that exposure and the impulse sales. I would always go grocery shopping with my mother because model kits were lined up across the top of the low freezer cases.  I'd usually be successful in begging enough to get one.  When my club has done events with youth groups, the kids are enthusiastic and express surprise that models exist. Revell has been working on that with their great "Make It, Take It" program and now their new contest series. I wish them luck and hope they succeed in creating a new generation of model builders.

 

As far as the hobby suffering due to the economy, that may be true to some extent, but at the same time at NNL East our numbers have actually been up. In questioning folks, it seems that they are sacrificing big ticket items like expensive vacations and new cars, and are spending more time close to home. So they are actually spending more time and money on hobbies like model building. 

Edited by Tom Geiger, 01 March 2013 - 08:31 AM.

[Kostas Parchas]

Hello everybody,

 

I woud like to talk about the hobby in my country, Greece.

 

As far as I know from convertations in hobby shops, here in Greece there are many people that are building cars and very few like me who are building big rigs. Most of the guys building cars, they like to build exotic cars like F_____s, Lamborginis, Porches and rally cars. Actualy a few of these guys are building big rigs, but nothing special, they do it just because of couriosity and the end result is the model of the box art.

I Hanen't met so far a guy interested to big rigs the way I do.

 

At the other hand, there is a huge (really HUGE) amount of modellers who are building war themes (if this is correct) like war airplanes, war ships, tanks and battle field dioramas.

 

In the past I have seen some Greek forums on the net but these are dedicated to the war zone and not to the civil zone of our great hobby. I wish the hobby to be more popular to the new generation, but my bad luck, with this financial crisis we getting through nowadays, I think that the new generation will have no interest to the hobby. I am waiting the day that my now 3 years old daughter will grow enough to build a big rig model with her and show her the magic of our great hobby.

 

How many of you guys are affected by the hobby to your busines. For example working with tiny bits for many years, has helped me many times in my carrier as a consumer electronics technician, to handle any hand tool and work on mother boards, chips, tranzistors, soldering irons etc.

 

Kostas.

[Dr. Cranky]

Thank you for chiming in, Kostas.  Delighted to hear from you.

[carsntrucks4you]

when i look on one of hollands biggest second hand sites i always find cool hotrod kits , musscle cars , garage kits ...all for cheap prices..
there is so much you can buy here in holland hotrod and custom related , all my kits and parts are bought in holland and not ordered from ......

and we have a big online site where the guy buys and sells vintage usa kits ...and there is more like that but ...i will put it to rest now

the new generation isnt big on modelbuilding thats true  sadly..
on the other hand the few times i go into a big modelstore in rotterdam i do see kids buying kits ....
si its not all dead on their side , just not that polulair in the general young population

its sad people think they cant have a hobby due to economy
i also dont have a lot of money to spend on like styrene or all the expensive paints or aftermarket p/e and stuff
i also own a house with hudge mortgage , pay a hudge deal of healthcare for me and my wife , not to mention fuell prices and increasing taxes ...but if you want you can do modelbuilding cheap , i always shop online and bought all of my kits second hand..
i even enjoy the search ...
i even got loads of parts from people on forums who loved my work and said can you use this ?? thats also something i love about this hobby people are way more enthousiastic amoung eitch other then on other hobby's

This is not only a problem in the Netherlands. In Germany most of the modelers are in the age of 30 -60

[Hayabusa]

Building scale models is quite popular in Sweden. Military objects like WWII tanks, airplanes etc. are the ones that are most popular, I guess, but you also see a lot of car models.

The pics in this link were taken at last years annual show i Stocholm; http://modellbygge.i...b462141045ffb-2

The cars in the pics were built by modelers from different countries, not only Sweden.

 

In general, the interest for US cars is quite large i Sweden. In fact, the number of US vintage cars imported in to Sweden is the largest in the world. As an example, we have around 700 1957 Chevys in Sweden. Considering that the population is 9,5 million people, thats´s not all too bad  

If you´re looking for a car show (real ones, not models), check this out: http://www.bigmeet.com/visitorinfo.php Please note, the opening day is on 4th of July.

 

All of this has, of course, an influence on the swedish modelbuilding scene. We like US muscle cars, Hot Rods, customs etc.For sure 

Edited by Hayabusa, 03 March 2013 - 03:55 AM.

[matador88]

Wow my friend, could tell us more about the 2 formulas you have here in this post...The renault and tyrrel...both impressive works...

 

Simón P. Rivera Torres

 

 

those are from portfolio of czech modeler Michal Falta with online nickname Aress. he is building formula 1 replicas in 1/20 scale. most of them are heavily modified and full of scratchbuilt parts as you can see...

Edited by matador88, 03 March 2013 - 03:55 AM.

[simonr]

Wow, that Michal does serius work, could you get a link to see his portfolio, in case he has one?

 

 

Simón P. Rivera Torres

 

 

 

those are from portfolio of czech modeler Michal Falta with online nickname Aress. he is building formula 1 replicas in 1/20 scale. most of them are heavily modified and full of scratchbuilt parts as you can see...