Future of kit building?

[d_bader]

Airfix making is certainly dying out. I am 16, yet virtually no one who makes airfix kits in a school of 800 in England. The only other teens that do airfix were persuaded by ove rkeen parents who wanted to go back into their past. So unfortuantly, airfix is not getting any new families involved.

Airfix is unpopular due to:

Teens having lots of spare cash, but spending it on more expensive items such as games consoles. Teens spend because they can, not because it is sensible to spend £50 on a Nintendo DS game.

Most teens have very little patience to build airfix and even if they do, prefer to buy warhammer, readily available as it is a game too, rather than something that collects dust.

The only way that the future of airfix will be secured is by doing more cars as about 80% of boys love cars the most, not planes.......... Also, if airfix is turned more into a wargame or in some way a form of battle or game.

[Heinz]

I can related d_bader my school is about 1800kids in total and in my 6 years there I've only see one kit box in a school bag and that was a few months ago.

If some of the history styled war games came with a kit that could improve the numbers of people interested but I don't know. its very hard as you pointed out with a society that is so impatient with life.

The car idea is good but over in Australia the attitude would be why not just get a real car to work on.

Hopefully something resurges the interest.

[ccheese]

I really believe that the biggest problem with model kits is the price. But....
I also believe today's youngsters don't have time to sit for hours to put a
model together. They have too may other things to do.

You gotta remember...... when I was a youngster TV had not been invented
yet ! We didn't have TV til 1945. Oh, of course, we had radio....Bing Crosby,
Tommy Dorsey, Glenn Miller...... I remember it well. Now what have you got ?
The Lovin' Spoonful ? Three Dog Night ?

I guess times have changed....... no one has time for the "little" things anymore.

Charles

[MacArther]

Sadly, I am one of two people in my group of friends that actually does real model making anymore. I can confirm all these reports of money being spent elsewhere, and kids longing for easy builds. My last project took me somewhere in the order of 3 weeks on and off to complete, simply because the thing had an internal frame that was frustrating to put together, not to mention the actual exterior work.

[Njaco]

Cheese I tell my kids about B&W TV with 3 channels and rotary dial phones and they look at me real strange! We had dishwashers...that went to school from 8 to 3pm! Text messaging meant reading a letter from Grandma. And we could always get a microwave going with a few sticks and a match.

[Wayne Little]

Hey guys, the models of today are certainly far superior in quality and content and that comes with a higher price tag. Even though there are plenty of cheaper kits out there for quick builds it still takes time and patience to build up a good kit no matter what the quality. Todays kids (many of them) don't want to sit down and spend the time building kits, when there are other better instant distractions that will satisfy them, computer games! They will spend many hours in a trance like state staring at the TV screen with console in hand. Price is not necessarily the problem either as they will spend lots of $$ on games too. Sadly when given the choices of model kit building or computer games or other pursuits,I'm afraid it becomes obvious that the influx of new modellers is going to remain small, sadly.....and then there will be a new distraction....girlfriends!

[Maestro]

Originally Posted by Wayne Little

and then there will be a new distraction....girlfriends!

And that's the most expensive of all...

New dress - $250.00
Flowers - $25.00
Dinner for two persons in a good restaurant - $50.00
Movie tickets for two persons - $16.00
Do her all night long - PRICELESS

[Desert Fox]

I do enjoy making models, perhaps I'm the only kid at school that does, but sometimes I don't think I have the patience

[d_bader]

Another problem with airfix is the types of planes you can build. For me, WW2 appeals, a sI am quite keen in that era. However, many people in my year are far more interested in modern jet planes, which there seem to be fewer of.

Teens my age no longer find the past interesting and have to have the newest gadgets, phones, consoles, computers, so don't care for the older planes and justw ant a eurofighter typhoon.

I agree that the price is not necessarily the problem either, as teens do spend extortionate amounts of money on consoles and games. However this is unfortuantly because teens just want to impress each other, and having the latest gadget etc, has far more credibility than having the newest airfix kit as airfix is seen as "uncool".

[DOUGRD]

Originally Posted by Desert Fox

I do enjoy making models, perhaps I'm the only kid at school that does, but sometimes I don't think I have the patience

That D.F. is part of modelling, it teaches you patience along with dexterity, planning, forethought and perseverence and goal setting. I, for example, (and this is not some sort ego trip) am an aircraft mechanic by trade or as I like to think of it, I get to play with the 1:1 scale stuff. Anyway a lot of times during my career I've been asked to do some task that my bosses know is difficult or requires a craftmans touch (READ artsy-fartsy) is tedious and easily frustrates many of my co-workers. I just finished one of these matter of fact. Why did they pick me? Because they know I have the "Touch". What is "The Touch" The patience and craft skills I learned from modelling, that's all. So hang in there and enjoy the challenges and end results. That's what modelling is all about!

[pgf_666]

Originally Posted by DOUGRD

That D.F. is part of modelling, it teaches you patience along with dexterity, planning, forethought and perseverence and goal setting. I, for example, (and this is not some sort ego trip) am an aircraft mechanic by trade or as I like to think of it, I get to play with the 1:1 scale stuff. Anyway a lot of times during my career I've been asked to do some task that my bosses know is difficult or requires a craftmans touch (READ artsy-fartsy) is tedious and easily frustrates many of my co-workers. I just finished one of these matter of fact. Why did they pick me? Because they know I have the "Touch". What is "The Touch" The patience and craft skills I learned from modelling, that's all. So hang in there and enjoy the challenges and end results. That's what modelling is all about!

I don't think money is really the problem--you people are forgetting to account for a factor which would otherwise go under 'politics'--the (always) government-created inflation. When I was young, and airfix was introducing their line of 1/72 plane kits her in the colonies, I could get a bottle of Coca-cola for the exchange of 1/10 of an ounce of silver, or 1/320 oz. of gold--troy wt., of course. If you average the two together, today, you get about $1, for which you can buy 1 can of Coke at most stores. About a buck. The Revel Lancaster 'dam buster' cost $2 in those days, the Hasegawa in the same scale is about $45 today, but it's way more than twice the kit. The very same Hawk SNJ kit I paid $.49 for as a kid, with better decals--and choice of color schemes--I recently picked up at a major retailer for $4.50--In real money, a slight reduction. Real problem? I don't know--heck, judging from the proliferation of Chinese kit manufacturers, I'm not sure there actually is one!--but I'd offer a few sugestions:

Availability--I used to be able to go into any supermarket and find one or two good kits. That might not sound like much, but there were a lot of supermarkets.

Expectations--If a kid goes up to an adult who actually models, he's likely as not to be subject to the kind of scrutiny that used to be reserved for IPMS Nationals. (And much I've seen is often at least partly wrong; i.g.: one case where a kid was faulted for using the kit decals on a Sabre because they had the "USAF" in insignia blue, instead of black. It happens that I've seen the plane in question, and it was painted in insignia blue!

And number one on my hit list:
Fun--With so much nit-picking, and factioning--why should someone else care if I model a B-49 E as it appeared during the successful "Linebacker III" campaign in 1976, causing thre Viet Minh to surrender to the Republic of Viet Nam (hey, it's my fantasy, which is the point, really), or a kit-bashed P-51 E (bubble canopy, Allison engine, cranked wing, 4x20mm + 4 bombs, mainly for the RAF) or even a canard configuration pusher Mustang? News flash for some: Unless you actually work for a museum--or a modeling magazine!-- or Hollywood--IT'S A HOBBY! I mean, if working on the interior of a model for 3 years getting every last detail floats your boat, fine, I'm happy for you. But if it doesn't work for you--DON'T DO IT!

Relax. Enjoy. Have fun....

pgf

[Njaco]

Relax. Enjoy. Have fun....

Thats it, thats it, thats it!!!!!!

Fun is the word that must be printed at the top of all instructions! Last week I had my kids for a time. One night got my 8yr son and 11yr daughter to sit down and we grabbed some models from my extensive collection. He chose a 1/48 Mustang and she a 1/48 Seafire. Well, the glue changed the aerodynamics of the planes, the paint looked like Tammy Faye (God rest her soul) and the decals portrayed the Nippon-Aussie-Dutch Air Force! But it was FUN! I cringed here and there but got over it and thought they gotta have fun first and nit-picking later.

Just another thought: With oil and such, is plastic availability being felt in the industry?

[Heinz]

Plastic being a by product thats something I though about too Njcao but I sorta doubt its gunna make an impact at all.


AS for pgf_666 you sir have summed up all to well what my thoughts were.
I was part of club but found between party polictics and general nit picking I didn't have the enerygy or interest. I saw other young people come and go because of it..

[SoD Stitch]

Originally Posted by Njaco

Thats it, thats it, thats it!!!!!!

Fun is the word that must be printed at the top of all instructions! Last week I had my kids for a time. One night got my 8yr son and 11yr daughter to sit down and we grabbed some models from my extensive collection. He chose a 1/48 Mustang and she a 1/48 Seafire. Well, the glue changed the aerodynamics of the planes, the paint looked like Tammy Faye (God rest her soul) and the decals portrayed the Nippon-Aussie-Dutch Air Force! But it was FUN! I cringed here and there but got over it and thought they gotta have fun first and nit-picking later.

I totally agree with you, but I think it depends on the kid. I've got three boys (yeah, there's a lot of testosterone in my house; even my two dogs are males!), and my oldest one has zero interest in building models. However, my middle son can't stay out of my room, and can't stop bugging me about building (another) model (he's already built one I gave him, but he keeps wanting to paint it differently). He's in there every day pulling models down off the shelf and opening the boxes and trying to figure out how they go together, so that's encouraging. Now I just need some time!

[Soundbreaker Welch?]

The most I spent on a single model was...........35 bucks?