A dying hobby

My post on the "Growing up in the 60s/70s" thread started me wondering...

.. do any of the SG members build model kits? Plastic, resin, vinyl.... hell, even the paper ones!

Consensus on the hobby-related boards that I frequent is that it's a dying hobby... that "kids these days" lack the desire and/or attention span to build one.

Now, from some of the artwork I've seen by various members... the talent and the patience level IS there... but I wonder why the hobby seems so off-putting to most?

Can't be a lack of subject matter... that runs the spectrum from the traditional cars/airplanes/ships to sci-fi, fantasy, horror... if you look around the web long enough, you'll find that people have made kits of damn near EVERYTHING.

So... what's the deal with the seeming aversion to the hobby?.

I have taken a close look at that hobby.

I "kitbash" the 12" action figures. We use a lot of paint and tricks model builders use.

Sometimes, to find something for the 1/6 scale world, we look in the modeler hobby.

these kids and their video games nowadays

Actually I sell models... and yeah I sell a lot lol. Its not dead, nor dying. Maybe sick but nothing like the bubonic plague. But yep, kids still luv 'em.

I helped my friend build some model train cars last year. It was fun and relaxing. We'd put on some music and spend the afternoon gluing and painting. I wish I'd built some as a kid (I grew up during the 80s). I just always saw them as a "boy thing" because most of the models I saw were planes, trains, and cars. I didn't really have an interest in that. Had I seen castles, I'd have BEGGED my parents for some.

The kids I know prefer Lego to models, but I think it's because models require a bit more precision and patience. The same kids tell me models are "harder than Legos" and that they don't like dealing with the paint/stickers.

[Edited on Nov 12, 2004 by Sorcha]

Man, I loved building models when I was a kid. Cars, planes, ships (both battle and tall), Star-Wars crap ... I did that all the time. I even painted the individual engine parts, all the knobs and dials on the dashboard (with a pin), and took great care to keep the glue off the "chrome" )

It does take a bit of patience but really is rather relaxing. Wow, I hadn't thought about that in years.

Buy some model kits next time you're stuck for a b-day gift for a kid.

[Edited on Nov 12, 2004 by crispy]

Glad to see some life out there...

Back when I was a kid, they were the "big thing".. stuff like



Aurora had it all... cars, planes, ships... but most of all, MONSTERS & DINOSAURS! Kinda cool that 90% of the old monster kits have been reissued in recent years by both Revell/Monogram and Polar Lights... gives me a chance to build em right.. plus to get a few that had been out of production by the time I was old enough to build kits.

Polar Lights also reissued the Addams Family house in the standard model railroad HO scale... as well as created a new kit of the Bates Mansion from Psycho in the same scale. Add the resin Munsters house that I saw on the web... you got one FREAKY model railroad layout!

[Edited on Nov 11, 2004 by DarthSmurf]

Have I told you how big a crush I have on you lately?

You're right that most of the modelling industry is focused on boy stuff---cars, military equipment, spaceships, and (increasingly) Japanese robots---but I've seen a fair number of medieval-themed kits. Castles, siege machinery, armored knights, and so on.

I love building models when I have time (which isn't all that often these days). I build mostly plastic car kits with a lot of custom touches, but I also have made some architectural models from scratch out of paper, cardboard, and foamcore. But I'm older than most people here---I started doing it as a kid in the '70s, before I got a home computer.

Hmmph. I wish the stores had carried those. My dad looked and looked for stuff that wasn't car/military/plane-related. He couldn't find any, and we didn't have the internet back then, so he bought the next best thing -- CASTLE LEGO!!!

Most model kits I know don't allow the castles to be built with secret chambers that open to reveal a sleek laser gun equipped spaceship that is flown by a snarky trash talking ace. Models don't meet my imagination requirements.

Except for rockets - those suckers go up up up.

Bada BOOOOOOM!!!

i build and refurbish radios in my spare time. and i'm working on a design for one. does that count?

Sorcha.. you might want to look HERE, HERE and HERE for your castle fix.

(OK, they're a bit pricey in a couple of spots... but that was just the first 3 I saw in the search engine.)

[Edited on Nov 11, 2004 by DarthSmurf]

I used to put together model cars of all skill levels when I was younger. My brother and I spent all of our freetime doing so for years. We got pretty damn good at it too. I sorta quit when he moved away after high school.. reminded me of him too much

Yeah, I liked to build warships from WWII to modern era. Build em, paint 'em, enter them in contests, blow 'em up with firecrackers.

Car models... that's another thing.. I've never been much into the standard cars... or the various racers.. but the weird customs or movie/TC tie-ins.. that's my thing.

What a weird assortment I have... a ton of models of George Barris-built customs:

"Mannix" Roadster, "The Good Guys" taxi, "Beverly Hillbillies" truck, "ZZR" spy hotrod, "Monkees" MonkeeMobile, "Raiders Coach" built for Paul Revere & the Raiders, both the "Munsters Koach" and "Drag-U-La" from the Munsters, "Fireball 500" Plymouth..

Also a model of a Sunbeam Tiger. For those that remember the show "Get Smart", that's the little red car that Don Adams drives up to the CONTROL HQ in during the show's opening credits.

Plus many others... don't get me started on the list of old Aurora models & reissues of same that I have...

See that, I kept mine on a shelf and dusted them regularly.
I wonder why we treated our creations so differently.

The firecracker route seems to be the way a lot of the old Aurora kits met their end.

Wonder how many near-suicides resulted from people finding out what the Aurora kit they blew up will bring on the collector market today?

Nothing is permanent.

I know a lot of sci-fi kit builders are waiting for this baby here to come out:



(Yeah, I know, it's cut off... the full pic is in my pic folder on my profile.)

1/350 scale Enterprise... 3 feet long, with full shuttle bay, several types of shuttle, and miniature set pieces to go behind the large windows in the lower hull & the "Bump" on top of the saucer. Everything that was lit on the filming miniature is molded in clear plastic on this baby, and it's been designed to be easy to run wires, fiber optics etc. through for lighting.

Latest word is a February release date.

[Edited on Nov 12, 2004 by DarthSmurf]

I make model soldiers, I like Wargames and Display Miniatures.

I used to build lots of models. As I got older I had difficulty with detail work. I'm actually hoping to get back into it soon, but for now I spend time building the mini Legos kits. The damn Star Wars kits are addicting!

Erica... funny you should mention that. I was attempting to use a set of resin aftermarket parts to convert a reissue of the old Revell "Lincoln Futura" show car into the 1966 TV series Batmobile. Might still finish it... although I just saw another kit that only needs the wheels & tires from the "Fireball 500" Plymouth kit... decisions, decisions....