The future

[John1955]

Back in the day, model kit manufacturers knew how to get young boys interested in building plastic kits, AMT especially excelled in this, beginning in the 1950's and all the way into the early 1970's. I still have some of the ones I built when I was very young, the AMT Craftsman series were the best. My two older brothers guided me through the instructions. 

In the mid 1960's, MILLIONS of plastic kits were sold each year, so many that the prices were very low due to high volume manufacturing, and AMT, Revell, Monogram, Jo-Han (later MPC) kept the quality high always. When video games arrived and sales of plastic kits declined, the model companies responded with snap kits and sales soared back up. 

Today, we have kids who are used to digital devices where everything is quick and done for them, no patience or skill needed. The sales of plastic kits is so low now that only us old folks buy them and due to low volume, the prices are ridiculously high. Recently, I was able to get my grandsons interested in building plastic kits and they even stopped using their electronic devices while building kits. But, I had to do it using old, vintage kits (snap kits) I'd found on E Bay and I couldn't afford to do that too much. 

The model manufacturers are totally failing to even try to attract younger modelers by releasing the same old more complicated kits over and over again, and Moebius apparently doesn't want any younger kit builders either, as their kits are far too complex and inferior in quality to build for most young people. Several others I know in social media and in person have done what I did, got young kids interested by using older and more basic kits, so it does work and they will build them and use the digital stuff less if model manufacturers would just face that. 

Instead, our beloved hobby is dying. Spending weeks and months building a single kit is all very well for us older people, but it hardly makes big profits for kit manufacturers and we, their customers, are getting older and older. I'm very sad about there being no future for such a great hobby. 
 

[Jantrix]

Yes. It is possible that automotive modeling will fade away when we do. But modeling itself will continue. Of the many still open and successful hobby shops I know, THIS has been dominating the shelves. My local Hobbytown USA has severely altered their shelves to accomodate 15-18 feet of shelf space to this one interest. They cost 3 to 5 times as much as a model car. I do not think cost is a factor in scale modeling, because kids still seem to afford $60 video games with no problem.

The model companies KNOW that we oldsters are the target demographic for scale autos now. Their attempts to bring in the young crowd over the last 25 years have not been successful. They get that now, and that is why we've seen more and more old hot rod type kits, and fewer moderm vehicles. 

Don't sweat this because the future will take care of itself. We don't get to decide what happens.

A wise man once wrote,

Come mothers and fathers, throughout the land
And don't criticize what you can't understand
Your sons and your daughters are beyond your command
Your old road is rapidly agin'.
Please get out of the new one if you can't lend your hand
For the times they are a-changin'.

[Justin Porter]

Speaking as a hobby shop owner, and one in their 30's no less. You're wrong. Dead, dead, dead wrong. 

Young people DO want to build models. They want to build them as adults who've developed unique tastes and disposable income and free time. No. Kids don't want to build models. They have free time that's structured within an inch of their lives between school and extracurricular and when they do engage in creative play it's with virtual toys that allow total freedom of creation like Minecraft or Lego rather than model kits. 

But young adults? Young adults LOVE model building. Look at the popularity of Gundam. Look at the rise of armor and aircraft building tied in closely with the popularity of games like War Thunder or World of Tanks (the latter of which has pushed companies like Amusing Hobby and Takom to release more and more "Paper Panzer" i.e. tanks from the drawing board that never saw combat) or even the effect Gran Turismo has had on the popularity of subject matter in automotive building. 

No. Young people don't want AMT's unassembled dealership promo toys from 60 years ago. Why would they? They come into my shop and for nearly the same price as those Round 2 reissues they can walk out with Tamiya's Ferrari F40 or Nissan R32GTR? 

The hobby as a whole has changed. Better tools. Better paints. Better kits. No doom here. Just progress. 

[MrObsessive]

Justin, I have to agree with you on the subject matter of what young folks want to build. I've talked models with young guys I work with and yup.........the subject ultimately turns to the Gundam kits as was mentioned. So young people ARE building, they just don't get passionate about the cars we can remember as kids.

I've said this a number of times and time will bear this out to be true...........there WILL come a point where there will be very few of us left that will remember '57 Chevy's and '69 Camaros. That's a definite reality we will face someday. Time marches on and there's always something down the pike to supplant what once was.

[Daddyfink]

So, was this supposed to be a Car Kit News or Review? 

Or just another doom and gloom prediction to throw on the pile of Doom and Gloom postings? 

Sorry for the cynical post, but after hearing this same story for years, I just don't care. If we go and the hobby goes with us, who cares! We are gone! 

Just enjoy the hobby and go build something! 

[Justin Porter]

10 minutes ago, Daddyfink said:

So, was this supposed to be a Car Kit News or Review? 

Or just another doom and gloom prediction to throw on the pile of Doom and Gloom postings? 

Sorry for the cynical post, but after hearing this same story for years, I just don't care. If we go and the hobby goes with us, who cares! We are gone! 

Just enjoy the hobby and go build something! 

Ohh just more Doom and Gloom from someone who isn't actually paying attention. Globally we're seeing MORE car kits from MORE new companies, not less. We've seen fresh 1/24th scale passenger and racing car tooling in the past decade from Meng, ICM, Ebbro, Nunu, Belkits, and even new domestic manufacturers in Salvino JR and Moebius. Funny thing too is that I can say that it's not generally older builders in my shop who take home kits like Aoshima's Pagani Huarya or Fujimi's Mclaren F1.  

[espo]

I'll be sad to see the passing of the model car era if I live that long. I have been fortunate enough to live during a time when you could find a kit or resin conversion that you could create just about anything automotive you could think of. Your only limit has been your ability to imagine what it is you wanted to build. Now I'm just an old fart, can I say that without getting in trouble?, sitting in the corner of the basement with more models than I could ever hope to build in my life time. I win.  

[SfanGoch]

Jesse, Lunch is on me. I hope you don't mind take out.

[Plowboy]

Whenever this subject comes up, it still baffles me as to how anyone our age expects young people to be interested in the same things we are. Young people don't look at an automobile the same as we do. To them, they're just something to get them from point A to point B. Their main concern is, "does it have voice command, bluetooth or wifi?" They don't care about cars from the '60's because they don't relate to them no more than I can relate to automobiles from the early 1900s. That's just the way it is! The '60's were over sixty years ago! Times change! 

My son built when he was a kid. But, he built what he liked to build. Not what I liked. My wife and I bought him anything he wanted and he built every one! He liked the Halo Mega Bloks kits. Those things can literally have books for instructions! Thousands of pieces! I helped him with his first one and he took it from there. He probably has more finished builds than I do! He's now 16 and hasn't built for quite a while. Sound familiar? He may go back to it someday. He may not. Right now, it's video games, Jr. ROTC, planning his future for the military and college. I'm more proud of him for what he's doing and has planned to do than I ever could be if he were building models. So, I'm fine with him having more important things to do right now. 

[larman]

 Does the future of the hobby really matter? Most of have stashes that we can not build in our lifetime. If you don't, there is no shortage of available kits and supplies now or in the foreseeable future. If younger people and kids don't build why is that important? I am 50. I am guessing I have 20 to 25+ more years to build, if all goes well. If I build 10 models a year (which I don't), that's 200 to 250 projects. I have way more than that sitting here, lol! I am guessing most people on here are in a similar situation or have more than I do. Young people do or don't build.....so what? They listen to diffent music, like things I have no understanding of or care about. That's OK....they are supposed to. 

[Tom Geiger]

It seems that original poster John has 12 posts and joined the board on Saturday, so give him some slack.

John, there are many threads on the board that will inform you about the different model companies, their sizes and what their current market strategies are. The current managers of these companies are quite astute to market conditions, what to offer and how to navigate in this tiny little market.

 

 

[Daddyfink]

2 hours ago, SfanGoch said:

Jesse, Lunch is on me. I hope you don't mind take out.

We can eat in front of a Closed Hobby Shop, lots of parking! 

[1930fordpickup]

All hobbies have their peak and then they all have there highs and lows as time goes by. Yes some fad away some just get smaller.

If we look at some of what most of us call woman's hobbies there is a resurgence in knitting and sewing.  Young ladies are taking it up not their parents the ones much younger than the most of us. 40 and younger. 

[Dave Van]

Change is the only constant. 

Nothing I did or had in 1962 is the exact same today.  The manufactures are doing, in my opinion, a great job in a market that is gone from common place to an extreme niche product.  In 1962 my buddy and I could walk 4 blocks to where a cluster of stores were. The first step was the local owned drug store. They always had maybe 45 kits  on hand along with some glue and paints. Next stop was the grocery store and while not as many kits as the drug store they still had 20 kits or so. Our next stop the hardware store. Again maybe 25 kits, paint and glue. If we had not spent our $2 yet we'd walk a bit more to the auto parts store who always had 15=20 kits on hand.  In our area within 2 miles there were maybe 10 more places that sold model......discount stores, May company and Jack's Hobby. 

Today I drive 2.5 hours to the only place that sells models, paint and glues etc. Do the math. In the entire region I can count on one hand....really one finger that retails model kits. So the fact we can still buy kits is a pretty good deal. Even as recent as the Dukes of Hazzard kit sold in the millions......today 8K of a new kit is a hit! And R2 tooled a NEW DoH kit to have it's legs cut out by the PC Police. 

So I side with the manufactures. I'd be great to get kids into the hobby.....but $1000 iPhones, Drones and video games....it ain't gonna happen on a large scale. My grandkids will build a few.....but getting them will not boost the masses. 

Enjoy it while we have it. It will outlive most of us. 

[Casey]

51 minutes ago, Daddyfink said:

We can eat in front of a Closed Hobby Shop, lots of parking! 

Don't forget nickels for the parking meter.  Can you believe they don't accept pennies any more?!! ??

[Daddyfink]

49 minutes ago, Casey said:

Don't forget nickels for the parking meter.  Can you believe they don't accept pennies any more?!! ??

Going the way of the Penny Slots! 

[Erik Smith]

I don’t worry about the hobby dying. If it does, it does. I’ll die someday too. Enjoy today. 

[SfanGoch]

We'll be out of business before the industry is.

[Roadrunner]

9 hours ago, Daddyfink said:

So, was this supposed to be a Car Kit News or Review? 

Or just another doom and gloom prediction to throw on the pile of Doom and Gloom postings? 

Sorry for the cynical post, but after hearing this same story for years, I just don't care. If we go and the hobby goes with us, who cares! We are gone! 

Just enjoy the hobby and go build something! 

I have to agree. What do I care what folks do after I'm dead. For me, the biggest and saddest extinction of a pastime, was the closing down of Drive-In movies. Not there aren't a few left in America, but mostly gone for sure.

[Ace-Garageguy]

7 minutes ago, Roadrunner said:

I have to agree. What do I care what folks do after I'm dead. For me, the biggest and saddest extinction of a pastime, was the closing down of Drive-In movies. Not there aren't a few left in America, but mostly gone for sure.

Hey man, who needs drive-in movies when you can just call Uber to take you anywhere you can afford and watch a movie on your tiny little smart-screen while somebody else is responsible for controlling the vehicle? 

Hell...the fully-evolved self-driving cars will probably have big-screen entertainment and bean-bag seating, so you don't need to grope with that pesky steering wheel and gearshift in the way, or climb into the back seat for more comfortable maneuvering.

Edited March 18, 2020 by Ace-Garageguy

[SfanGoch]

You know, we're reacting to this question the wrong way. We should leave it to the professional market analysts to determine the future viability of "The Hobby".

[Dave Van]

Think of that guy in 25 years that is into model cars........the collections yr'll have!!!

[tbill]

I dunno, we have three ‘local’ shows around me , they always draw a big crowd of vendors and contest entries, and then you go to NNL East and it’s 10 times the local draw. Dead/dying hobby? I think not, in a lot of ways, I think it’s flourishing, lots of great aftermarket products, lots of new subject matter, and places like this and face book are getting like minded people together. And let’s face it, there are also a lot of people out there that build, but don’t go to shows or partake of online forums and face book. It’s alive and kicking......

[Richard Bartrop]

2 hours ago, Ace-Garageguy said:

Hey man, who needs drive-in movies when you can just call Uber to take you anywhere you can afford and watch a movie on your tiny little smart-screen while somebody else is responsible for controlling the vehicle? 

Hell...the fully-evolved self-driving cars will probably have big-screen entertainment and bean-bag seating, so you don't need to grope with that pesky steering wheel and gearshift in the way, or climb into the back seat for more comfortable maneuvering.

I guess people have forgotten about taxis?  We've been able to have someone drive you around now for quite a while now, yet some people still bought their own cars.

And surely I'm not the only one who's seen a cineplex?  They're all over here.  Movie sound that doesn't come out of a tinny little speaker.  A dozen theatres, just about any kind of restaurant you could want, and some of them even have bar service.  I'll take that over watching a movie in a car any day of the week. 

People still go out to eat and watch movies, it's just that the novelty of doing it from a car wore off.  I think you'll see the same thing happen with a lot of these online retailers when people realize that some things are better done in person.  Not that there isn't a lot to be said for being to chat with modelers from all over the globe.

As far as modelling goes, the tools and materials have never been better, and we're seeing kits come out that we'd never dreamed  were possible, and the quality is a million times better than what we saw in the "good old days".  And if it was only about building monuments to your vanished youth, then nobody would build a model of a biplane, or a sailing ship , or a giant robot.   Sometimes the whole point is that it's not part of your everyday experience.

If there's a golden age of modeling, we're in it right now.

 

 

 

[peteski]

4 minutes ago, Richard Bartrop said:

And surely I'm not the only one who's seen a cineplex?  They're all over here.  Movie sound that doesn't come out of a tinny little speaker.  A dozen theatres, just about any kind of restaurant you could want, and some of them even have bar service.  I'll take that over watching a movie in a car any day of the week.

I'm convinced that many of those smart-phone movie watchers don't care.  They prefer the convenience of watching (on a tiny screen) any place or time over the large screen, and full sound experience.  Probably the same people who will just as happily will eat a hamburger instead of a juicy steak.