Other model car forums

[ColonelKrypton]

The great Model Cars Mag forum aside, what other model forums are there?

I occasionally stumble across other forums but they are seem to be stagnant with the last posts being many years ago or still active but with very little activity but I have to find another as active as this one.

Is the model car segment of the hobby slowly drying up and this is being reflected in the demise of many of these online forums? 

I spend a lot of time on Britmodeller for my interest in AFV's. It has a car subforum which I peruse from time to time. 

I don't use Facebook. I know many have gone that route but I just can't bring myself to use Facebook.

My interests are primarily within the late 50's and early to mid 60's drag racing and hot rods and customs. 

What other forums are there that I am just not seeing?

cheers, Graham

 

[Classicgas]

There are many. Pm me and I'll give you some links. It's kinda frowned on here to list other forums.

[Can-Con]

2 hours ago, ColonelKrypton said:

The great Model Cars Mag forum aside, what other model forums are there?

I occasionally stumble across other forums but they are seem to be stagnant with the last posts being many years ago or still active but with very little activity but I have to find another as active as this one.

Is the model car segment of the hobby slowly drying up and this is being reflected in the demise of many of these online forums? 

I spend a lot of time on Britmodeller for my interest in AFV's. It has a car subforum which I peruse from time to time. 

I don't use Facebook. I know many have gone that route but I just can't bring myself to use Facebook.

My interests are primarily within the late 50's and early to mid 60's drag racing and hot rods and customs. 

What other forums are there that I am just not seeing?

cheers, Graham

 

Sounds like you're a good candidate for the "Traditional Rods and Kustoms in Scale" site.

They are focused on rods customs and drag racing from the early days up to the late '60s with 1970 being the cutoff date for models.

Great bunch of excellent builders on there, don't know why they let me in but I've been a member for years. They have slowed down over the years but it's still active.

https://trakinscale.proboards.com/

Edited August 29, 2023 by Can-Con

[Fat Brian]

There are a few model car sub-Reddits I hang around. Hearing the perspective of the younger guys who will inherit the hobby one day is interesting. 

[StevenGuthmiller]

I belong to several "Pro-Boards" model car sites, but you're correct.

In most cases, the traffic is very limited, to nearly non-existent.

 

I told myself some time back that I likewise would avoid Facebook, but have since joined probably 30 different "Facebook Groups" and enjoy the extensive volume of activity there.

 

You're correct.

Individual boards and forums are slowly dying, and there's probably very little that can be done to reverse that.

Everything has moved into the social media realm, and unless something drastically changes, that's where it will continue to move towards.

 

 

 

 

Steve

[Zippi]

Youtube channels for modelers has been growing pretty fast over the past couple years.  

[Classicgas]

I'm not on faceshmook, no desire to, and don't have time for long YouTube videos. If forums go away I'm on my own.

[peteski]

I was building models long before any sort of social media or even Internet.  I read modeling magazines, and visited hobby shops. Both excellent sources of information. At some point I joined local modeling club and that was like an "in-person forum".  Opinions and modeling techniques are freely exchanged in real time between club members. Then I joined few online forums while still reading magazines and being a club member.  "Physical" (not  online) model contests are also excellent places for learning techniques and exchanging info with others face-to-face.

I have no desire or time to join FB or watch hours of YouTube videos. If the online forums disappear, I'll survive. If the model club breaks disbands,   I'll just go back to being a lone-wolf modeler (if I'm still alive).  It is not that complicated, or the end of the world.

Edited August 30, 2023 by peteski

[ColonelKrypton]

13 hours ago, Can-Con said:

Sounds like you're a good candidate for the "Traditional Rods and Kustoms in Scale" site.

Thanks Steve. That is one I have not yet stumbled across. I will have a look

cheers, Graham 

[ColonelKrypton]

7 hours ago, StevenGuthmiller said:

I told myself some time back that I likewise would avoid Facebook, but have since joined probably 30 different "Facebook Groups" and enjoy the extensive volume of activity there.

Steve,

I will have another look at Facebook. I know I am missing a lot by not looking there but I am not so sure the benefits out weigh the ills of Facebook.

cheers, Graham

[ColonelKrypton]

1 hour ago, Zippi said:

Youtube channels for modelers has been growing pretty fast over the past couple years.  

Indeed they have. In fact I subscribe to your channel and I find other members here on this forum have youtube channels as well. 

The model car segment of youtube posters strikes me as a very close knit group of enthusiasts, very friendly, supportive of each other, and with very diverse interests all with the desire to share and share alike. Kind of like a big virtual club. 

 

cheers, Graham

 

 

 

[CabDriver]

The thing is, with Facebook and Youtube - its not easy to search and find a useful piece of information like it is on a regular forum.

Good luck finding a useful reference post after a month on a Facebook group.  But this place - I'm constantly searching for info and finding results from maybe 15 years back that are still relevant and useful.

I hope this forum never goes away - even if Youtube / Facebook / TikTok / whatever are much more the mainstream place to meet online discuss things right now...but remember, so was Myspace at one point...

[ColonelKrypton]

10 hours ago, Fat Brian said:

Hearing the perspective of the younger guys who will inherit the hobby one day is interesting. 

It is. I do the same. 

I often hear the cry from older modellers that the hobby is dying.

This just isn't so. It is changing, quickly and in ways that years ago would have been hard to predict.  Gunpla ( literally GUNdam PLAstic ), warhammer, SciFi, ( etc ) has become BIG. And is not just for the young but for all ages with a large number of young women and families participating. Miniatures ( i.e. scale dollhouses ) is another area that has grown substantially as has the notion of "makers".

Europe and Asia appear to be ground zero for much of this growth and activity but North America has followed. There still seems to be an underlying notion in North America that model building is for kids whereas in other parts of the world it was accepted and embraced as an activity for all. 

cheers, Graham

 

[ColonelKrypton]

2 minutes ago, CabDriver said:

The thing is, with Facebook and Youtube - its not easy to search and find a useful piece of information like it is on a regular forum.

Good luck finding a useful reference post after a month on a Facebook group.  But this place - I'm constantly searching for info and finding results from maybe 15 years back that are still relevant and useful.

Good points and spot on. I think that is one of the reasons I don't care for Facebook but have not been able to articulate well. Facebook is very ephemeral, short lived, it's there and before long it's gone. Perhaps that is it's niche.

I too search the forums and find much of interest in many old postings and am constantly thumbing through old magazines for the same reasons. Magazines and books are very tactile and I tend to retain much more in memory from having read something on paper whereas online I tend to skim and many things are quickly forgotten. Forums I think are somewhere between the printed word and the likes of Facebook.

cheers, Graham

[BlackSheep214]

16 hours ago, Classicgas said:

There are many. Pm me and I'll give you some links. It's kinda frowned on here to list other forums.

Well.... we do have Freedom of press and Freedom of speech to list them. The mods can't stop us otherwise, it's a violation of Freedom of press and speech. 

Other forums list them if a member is curious and wanted to know.

[BlackSheep214]

8 hours ago, StevenGuthmiller said:

I belong to several "Pro-Boards" model car sites, but you're correct.

In most cases, the traffic is very limited, to nearly non-existent.

 

I told myself some time back that I likewise would avoid Facebook, but have since joined probably 30 different "Facebook Groups" and enjoy the extensive volume of activity there.

 

You're correct.

Individual boards and forums are slowly dying, and there's probably very little that can be done to reverse that.

Everything has moved into the social media realm, and unless something drastically changes, that's where it will continue to move towards.

 

 

 

 

Steve

I disagree. I'm a regular member of another of another forum board and believe it not, it's going strong. Very active and engaging unlike "that other forum" called finescale.

[BlackSheep214]

1 hour ago, Classicgas said:

I'm not on faceshmook, no desire to, and don't have time for long YouTube videos. If forums go away I'm on my own.

Same here. Who has time to go on FB when time should be spent on the bench loading model kits. FB is a waste of time.

[Rob Hall]

6 minutes ago, BlackSheep214 said:

Well.... we do have Freedom of press and Freedom of speech to list them. The mods can't stop us otherwise, it's a violation of Freedom of press and speech. 

Other forums list them if a member is curious and wanted to know.

'Freedom of press and Freedom of speech' do not apply to private forums.   The mods can control what is posted on a private site like this. 

[ColonelKrypton]

55 minutes ago, peteski said:

I was building models long before any sort of social media or even Internet.

Me as well, over 60 years in fact.  I have many fond memories of Model Car and Science and Car Model, my first real introduction to what others with similar interests where doing.  These and other magazines ( Hot Rod, etc ) where the "social media" of the day. 

I would still be building even if there was no internet or online forums. I would be rather disappointed if Model Cars Magazine where to disappear however, it is the last remaining bastion of the hobbies traditional social media aspect. To be fair, there are other magazines which have this content but not exclusively and do occasionally have content of interest. 

cheers, Graham 

[Rob Hall]

I'm on a few Pro Boards modeling forums and a dozen or so FB modeling groups...lots of activity out there.   Way more online activity than 30+ years ago when I was on the Usenet forum rec.models.scale. 

[ColonelKrypton]

2 minutes ago, BlackSheep214 said:

Very active and engaging unlike "that other forum" called finescale.

Good point, I had forgotten about that one.  I will go have a look.

cheers, Graham

 

[Classicgas]

1 hour ago, peteski said:

I was building models long before any sort of social media or even Internet.  I read modeling magazines, and visited hobby shops. Both excellent sources of information. At some point I joined local modeling club and that was like an "in-person forum".  Opinions and modeling techniques are freely exchanged in real time between club members. Then I joined few online forums while still reading magazines and being a club member.  "Physical" (not  online) model contests are also excellent places for learning techniques and exchanging info with others face-to-face.

I have no desire or time to join FB or watch hours of YouTube videos. If the online forums disappear, I'll survive. If the model club breaks disbands,   I'll just go back to being a lone-wolf modeler (if I'm still alive).  It is not that complicated, or the end of the world.

Pretty much ditto.

[Vintage AMT]

I don't post much but when I do it's here......tried the others and for the most part, they are the same folks who are here!! 

[Mr. Metallic]

In my opinion I don't think the hobby, even our corner of it (automotive) is dying at all. However, the way it is shared and experienced is changing. Whether you like it or not, social media platforms are the "place to be" especially for younger participants. And that mostly has to do with the ease with which things can be shared there. I agree, as an archive for the hobby social media is pretty poor, but for a daily interaction with the hobby and the sheer volume of high quality content available  every time you log on it's hard to beat.

Internet forums on the whole have not done a good job of embracing the changes. This board has done a relatively good job of making their interface more user friendly, especially with the ability to host their own photos and not require someone to use a 3rd party host for images. They have done a good job of being smart phone/tablet friendly as well

Proboards forums on the other hand have done a very poor job. There used to be tons of highly active automotive focused forums over there which have essentially dried up as far as activity goes. And that has to do with not having a dedicated app and the requirement to still require a third party photo host. 

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