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We need a '60 El Camino


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Are US model companies actually targeting "kids" anyway?

 

I don't know Bill, a lot of companies are turning out new snap kits. Revell has done 4 new tool snap kits for 2015 (Corvette, Mustang, Crown Vic and Raptor), how many new tools does Revell have planned for 2015? Although some are quite nice and even decently detailed I think it is unlikely that they are targeting the older established builders with these kits. 

Not US based but Zvesda has done several nice WW2 snap kit planes, as well as the more child friendly Pixar CARS and PLANES kits. Hobby Boss has been doing a series of EZ builds for several years now, and while not snap kits Airfix is still clearly targeting new (and presumably younger) builders as well with their starter kits which include glue and paint. 

 

Add in Lego is doing quite well, and one of the most popular computer games is Minecraft, pretty much virtual Lego. Kids love building stuff, they've always loved building stuff.

 

As to Greg's question, I'll take an El Camino and a wagon.

Edited by Aaronw
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I think if there was enough demand for a '60 El Camino, it would have been done in the last 40 years. I'm sure AMT and Revell considered it but got no bites from distributers or stores.

It also hurts that there are tons of reasonably good built (and sometimes unbuilt) original AMT '60 El Caminos for sale on eBay and other places. Then there are resin copies, and Do It Yourselfers that marry a '59 AMT with a Revell '60 Impala.

If somebody made one new, I would buy it. I think the chances are low.

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Add in Lego is doing quite well, and one of the most popular computer games is Minecraft, pretty much virtual Lego. Kids love building stuff, they've always loved building stuff.

 

Lego has Minecraft sets out now, so Minecraft is now both virtual and real life.

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Are US model companies actually targeting "kids" anyway?

I could be way off the mark here, but it seems to me that many kids have no money and it's doubtful the majority of them have the patience, eye-hand-coordination and fine-motor-skills (other than those acquired by scrolling through iPod screens and texting) required to build models. And people are horribly afraid of anything even remotely toxic today...paints, adhesives, etc.; doubtful mommy will let a lot of 'em have "bad chemicals" in a country that's become obsessed with safety and washing every few minutes with anti-microbial soap.

Add to that the idea that physical skill isn't the desirable thing it once was, and kids don't really figure into the demographic of the model-car target market.

I'm pretty sure American model companies are going after the last few years of disposable income they can squeeze out of us old farts with models of older vehicles, and hoping the enthusiasm we still have for old cars will trickle down to successive generations, bringing enough of them into the hobby to make it a viable business for the future.

There does seem to be a growing number of younger builders and enthusiasts in the full-scale hot-rod (I mean traditional rods, not rats or tuners) market, but they're not "kids". 

I'm happy to report that the Squires manor (think Cub Scouts for DeMolay,) I help advise and their parents missed this memo.

I did a build day with them last year- had a hoot, and we're doing another one with them this year, and this time, we're doing painting, foiling, and all the rest of the stuff. 

The boys are inhaling it- and I don't mean the glue fumes!

Charlie Larkin

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I'm happy to report that the Squires manor (think Cub Scouts for DeMolay,) I help advise and their parents missed this memo.

I did a build day with them last year- had a hoot, and we're doing another one with them this year, and this time, we're doing painting, foiling, and all the rest of the stuff. 

The boys are inhaling it- and I don't mean the glue fumes!

Charlie Larkin

Great to hear that. Model building is one of the fun things that can have a very positive influence on young people's understanding of how things work, help to foster an interest in engineering, science and mechanics, contribute to developing fine motor skills and increased attention spans, teach patience and perseverance, and contribute to improved reading comprehension and the ability to understand written and illustrated instructions. These are good things.

All that many kids need to become interested in things outside the tiny sphere of the peer-group-experience is exposure to alternatives, and adults who have the interest and who will take the time to show them things beyond their daily existence are helping to make a better future.

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I think it's all been said in this thread before I got here, but this is what I see:

The model companies have all agreed that their bread and butter for the next two decades will be the adult modeler.  As us Baby Boomers march into retirement, we will have more time for hobbies, and model building is an affordable hobby.  This should last the next 20-25 years.  Companies like Moebius and Revell have developed many new subjects that are geared to our market.  Round 2 has also been catering to our herd,  working off of their vast inventory of kits from our youth.  That is logical since they recently made major investments in buying all that tooling.

Revell has recognized the need to create a youth market and has been working towards that with new easy build kits. It bothers me when guys in our group criticize Revell for doing so, saying that they are wasting money that could be used to create another kit for our interests.  Revell has wisely invested in the future.

Right now, all of these companies are in the hands of enthusiastic auto modeling hobbyists. People who "get it". This hasn't been the case in the past where we had model companies owned by cereal and crayon companies, and lead management with "plastics" background such as working for Thermos.  

Kids?  I've raised a few.  There was an essay about kids being obstinate and lazy... it was written by Plato some two thousand years ago, so I think we say this about every generation.  Kids today are very skilled in computer technology and other things that interest them. They are also eager to work with their hands given the opportunity.Notice the current interest in Lego, which is probably at an all time high. We need to figure out how to apply that to model building.

My two girls both have always been involved in crafts and creating their own art.  When our clubs have held events involving kids with model cars, we have been met with enthusiasm. I think one of our major hurdles is that models have been pretty invisible today. The comments we get are that people didn't know they existed, or thought they ceased to exist years ago. Kits re no longer lining grocery and drug store shelves.  I see this as more of a hurdle than interesting the kids.

We also have the generation of teens through 30s, who are interested in model cars, but not the traditional '32 Fords etc that we build.  This generation is into modern subjects and tuner cars.  They are responding to the cars that they experience in real life, just as we did when we were younger.  The issue we have as a community is that there are members of our group that shun these folks instead of inviting them into our group.  We need to fix that very quickly!

1960 ElCamino?  Why not!  It makes sense as part of that family of kits, since most of the details could be copied from Revell's existing 1959-60 Chevy tools.  I'm not jonesing for one since I Have a few of the originals, as well as resins of the wagon.

 

 

Edited by Tom Geiger
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