Future of kit building?

[DOUGRD]

Now here's a good question for anyone: How much oil does it take to make a model kit, say 1/32 single engine? Any idea?????

[Trebor]

I honestly have no idea.

My stepfather often says that he and his friends often bought large scale tanks and airplanes, put 'em together, paint 'em, .....and blow 'em up. LOL

but seriously, I can't even find a decent scaled model tank or vehicle. I just finished a 1:72 scale Kubelwagen with a BMW motorbike with a sidecar. I spent 6.95 on that sucker in the hobbystore.

but I guess that nowadays we can do more with models. I mean that as in todays computers, they can take every small detail of a P-51D mustang and scale it down. I heard that injected plastic is more detailed, is it?

[109ROAMING]

Well myself being 16 and jobless limits my model buying capability,and my model collection to somewhere round 80-100kits with a few built

what I love seeing is peoples models collections either built or a whole heap of boxes.What i see in the boxes is a whole lot of fun ahead

when I see alot of built up kits of a certain type of plane or a whole lot of single seat RAF fighters(or what ever just as long as they're similar) it doesn't matter if they're airfix or what they look COOL as a whole

When It comes to things like this its like the Russians not quality but quantity (no offence to you russians,you guys have made some of the coolest planes in history!!

[otftch]

I just picked up a 1/72 Revell(advent) B-57 for ten dolars.Not the greatest kit but I think I'kk put a note on it ,that it cost $10.00/2008 and keep it as a prize.I think it cost about a dollar when new but what a price today.
Ed

[Blue Yonder]

I have noticed that at some stores, such as walmart, they no longer sell the kits that they used to. Now they sell the pre-painted, just snap together kits. I was speaking with a Walmart associate the last time I went and he said that it was a shame, he enjoyed building the models and he wished that the store had thought about it before they had gotten rid of their revell and monogram model kits. Now the only place I can get the same kits I like to build is near Rochester, an hour away at Dans Crafts and Things. Its more expensive then the other shops that used to surround the area, but what else are we to do? I just finished a P-47D Thunderbolt in 1/32 scale that I received for Christmas and it cost at least 30-35 dollars. The only people that I see purchasing the older kits are middle aged, not many people are interested in putting together something that takes a long time to do if you want to do it right. Many of my friends would rather buy the kits already done and then display them. But where is the sense of fulfillment? The accomplishment? It is hard to say whether our hobby will become extinct in the next several years. I would hope that it will remain strong, but who am I to predict such a change in our society? I'm a modeler and shall remain a modeler until my dying day. I enjoy putting them together and as my dad says (slightly modified) "Dam the prices and full speed ahead!"

[Blue Yonder]

The injected plastic kits I find are detailed, but the smaller details, like rivets and plating, tend to be flimsy and prone to braking. As to finding some good kits, I would suggest Ebay, or (as in my case) there is a store 40-45 miles from where I live that sells everything to do with models, even if the prices are high.

[Adolf Galland Fighter ace]

1st sorry been ill and not at any pc, and well I'm also very new.

I can say about the hobby here it is strong, the local IMPS is growing and younger faces are joining. The largest hobby shop I know the owners and it is doing well.
I think with all the new kits especially high end 32nd and 24th and after market resin and etch it must be selling. Yes not cheap but then my allowance was 10 a month some of these kids spend 100 on their cell phone each month.
I build 48th up and most of the youth start with 72nd as I did and mix in some 48th, the reference material has never been better or accessible so I think the hobby has hope, as long as these kits don't take out of the working class man or lady and only like many things allow only the rich to afford it, keep it grassroots my GF always said and things seldom go wrong.

This is MHO!

[Heinz]

A good observation Adolf. Sorry to hear you haven't been well.

In relative turns to other 'expenditures' these days the hobby isn't that bad. Still I think its the whole psychology ' i want it now' and yet people see us modellers paying for an un assembled model.

[Adolf Galland Fighter ace]

In relative turns to other 'expenditures' these days the hobby isn't that bad. Still I think its the whole psychology ' i want it now' and yet people see us modellers paying for an un assembled model

Certianly agree there! Heinz, I guess it leaves us on a mission! get a young person envolved, if we each did that there would be no worry, I know when I'm hit for donations I give a model, a nice kit but not something a beginner would simply get frustrated with.
I guess the future does lie with us! And it's sites like this that are a sivler bullet so to speak.

[wm3456]

Originally Posted by DOUGRD

Well wm3456 you have some good points but you also brought to light another nail in the coffin of our favorite hobby. As you said "Now, I want the detail and the correct markings just for historical accuracy." I think I built my first model, a DR-1, manufacturer forgotten, back in 1958 when I was 8 years old. My dad was the primary builder of course, I was quality control and test pilot. From then until the mid '80's when I last built a SB2C the quality and detail slowly improved, Hasagawa and Heller being perhaps the best. Point is, if you wanted more detail than the kit provided then you added it. A lot of model contests were won because of the added detail a modeller included and it was understood that the detail usually came from a lot of research. Having it handed to you kind of takes the fun out of it for me.

Doug, yes and no. As my good eye seems to have forced me into 1/48 scale and my talent is such that I will never build contest winners, it is still for me an enjoyable hobby. I'm not a rivet counter and don't really care if my interior green is a shade or two off. I do however like to finish up with a kit that is reasonably accurate.
If I think it needs a little fine tuning here or a little scratchbuilding there or a resin cockpit to jazz it up a little bit, I do it.
If you look at a scale modeling as an art form(which In my humble opinion it is) there is lots of room for personal interpretation. This is why we do it.
The research to me is half the fun. The other half is gathering the the materials needed to to the job to my satisafaction. The whole point of any hobby is to get satisfaction out of doing it the way you want to do it.
The majority of people who paint for example don't do it with the idea of it ending up in a museum somewhere and I don't think most modellers expect their work to end up taking first prize at the IPMS Nationals. We do it for the fun of bulding the kits.
This is primarily a solitary hobby. Sure, it's great to go find like minded people to talk about it and compare techniques and review kits and tools, but in the end it's usually one person sitting in a room with plastic, putty, a paint brush and a little bit imagination bringing satisfaction to their life.
As far as getting younger people invloved I'm all for it.
Several years ago I took about 100 1/72 scale kits that will I would never build and dropped them off at the local Boy's Club. Not only were the adults who work there happy to have them, but I even got a few thank you letters from the kids. A few even sent pictues. No,they were not accuarate or anything near contest winners, but these kids sure were proud of their work!
If even on or two of those kids end up becoming modellers then I feel like I've done something worthwhile for our hobby.
Like all hobbies, the real pleasure comes from what you get out of and not neccesarilly what you put into it.

[DOUGRD]

wm3456, You sound like you're in the same frame of mind as I am. I never really built any model with the intention of displaying it outside my own home. I did have one or two on display at different times but only because my best friend at the time asked me to display them along with his. But as you said, the fun is in the building and modifying a kit to suit your own preferences. Another thing I really didn't like doing was building for someone else. I've done a couple of those too but I didn't like having deadlines.
I like the scratch building part too. Having been in aircraft maintenance for many years I've been able to use some parts off real aircraft to build my models such as canon plug pins as guns or antennas. (Canon plugs are the electrical connectors used in large aircraft.)