Curiosity question

[The Modeling Hermit]

Is it my imagination, or is model building making a comeback? It seems like the offerings and introductions are as strong now as they were in the early years.

[Big Daddy]

well i would say so i was at my local hobby shop today getting supplies (182.00 later) i usually stick around and shoot the breeze with him and in the 1 1/2 hours i was there 6 guys passed through the door with 1400.00 going in the cash register,that doesn't include the guy that spent over 1000.00 last saturday (so i was told ) getting set up with train related stuff

[Jantrix]

I think we ARE seeing a bit of a modeling renaissance, and I think it's because Revell and the companies putting out AMT/MPC kits have realized that the 12-18 year olds aren't the target demographic anymore. It's the 40+ crowd they need to be impressing because unlike kids we will buy multiples and then come back for more when something new is released.

[espo]

I hope so. If the model companies that we use can't make a profit you can bet that they aren't going to be able to bring anything new into the market.

[martinfan5]

I have to agree to point, but at the same time, its not as strong as it once was for LHS. I do think its getting better

[Dr. Cranky]

That would be wonderful, as long as the kit manufacturers keep putting out good quality products, more people will keep building.

[Art Anderson]

My observation: The resurgence of model car building as a serious hobby in 1981-82 coincided with a deep recession--suddenly, Baby Boomers who were reaching their late 30's, having the time for a hobby but not a lot of money for really expensive hobbies, began coming back to something they'd enjoyed 15-20 years earlier, when they were in their teens. I saw it as very much the change from "wine, women and song" down the scale to "beer the old lady, and television" in scope--not literally, but figuratively.. This resurgence continued for perhaps 11-12 years, until the prosperity of the 1990's began to let people in general, modelers in particular, to branch out, take on more expensive pursuits. With this general economic upswing, model kit sales generally began to decline, also driven by rigid price points "forced" on the industry by major chain "big box" retailers. A good indicator of what was happening then (just as in the mid-late 70's--but for mostly non-economic causes) was the decline in the number of new kit releases announced at yearly trade shows.

9/11 is one event that again changed the landscape, for leisure goods of all sorts. Fear is a great motivator, but also a great "depressant" on many things, including the pleasure activities most all of us enjoy. Certainly the recent "Great Recession" stuck everyone to at least some degree, and it did drive model kits completely out of the "-Marts" pretty much for all time to come it appears. However, freed from artificial price points which did seriously limit new releases, and prevented many of the more esoteric subject matter we are starting to see hitting hobby shop shelves today, from even seeing the light of day. Freed from having to meet expectations of mass retailing corporate buyers, model companies are, and will continue to, introduce more and more model kits of cars that while they would never fit mass retail expectations, if the price required meets sufficient customers' approval and at the same time, the profitability needs of model kit manufacturers, I see this continuing.

The other big sea change over the past 30-35 years or so are the demographics of our hobby. Face it, model building in general is no longer the rage among the younger teenage set (or even older preteens) to anything like the extent that such happened 40-50 years ago. Times change, and have changed, and will continue to change. What lights the fires for kids today isn't necessarily the same thing that got kids' adrenaline pumping in the 1950's (If things were still as they were back then, Lionel would still be filling Christmas wish lists from grade school age boys, for example). I suspect that the true "entry age" for most modern-day model car builders is perhaps the early 20's; high school is past, college degrees in hand, careers started, and all that--and some of those young adults are now trying something which while new to them, they've seen adults doing over the years while they were growing up and are now deciding to try model car building on for size. At the other end of the age scale, more and more of us older modelers are in our 60's now, and 50 years ago, you'd have been hard-pressed to have seen anyone older than say 30, visibly buying and building model cars--frankly that just didn't happen in say, 1962.

So, I see it as a mix: Older, dedicated builders with the money and the time to pursue the hobby at some level, younger adult builders who've become impassioned by the thought of building models of cars they can only dream of owning, with a smattering of teenaged builders who can almost be considered "precocious" in today's model building world.

Just my thoughts (with no scientific data to back them up)

Art

[martinfan5]

Very well written Art, I think you hit the nail on the head with

[cobraman]

Doesn't model building pick up during the winter season and drop off some during the summer months ?

[martinfan5]

Yes and no, I know for me, I would rather be inside working on models during the summer time here in the valley then outside baking

[mikemodeler]

Art,

Very good points and I would only add that some of the decline has to do with the number of outlets where models could be found back in the day.

I live in Charlotte NC and there are few places to find models today- Hobby Lobby, Michaels, a couple of Hobbytown USAs and a couple of LHS that cater to R/C stuff in a 50 mile radius.

I have tried to get my kids involved in model building but there are too many other instant gratification sources to compete with and unless it is Facebook, my kids prefer to be involved in group activities.

I for one am glad to see some of the subjects that have recently hit the shelves and have been announced. I hope the kit companies are able to continue bringing us the new releases and refreshed old tools for years to come.

[Chuck Most]

Doesn't model building pick up during the winter season and drop off some during the summer months ?

Possibly for some- for me, it's the exact opposite.