I was thinking about this the other day. Are kids picking up this hobby the way that most of us did when we were younger. There are so many other distractions that can pull the young away… with this in mind my question to you is…How old are you and how old were you when you started building?
First answer by me . I’m 44 been modeling off and on since I was 8.
John
I think I was 5 or 6 when I started. I’m 46 now.
44 and 8 myself…Class of '88!
I’m 61 and started at about 8 years old as a Cub Scout project (first model was a Revell SBD Dauntless). But, it’s been off and on. I get passionate about it for a while and then get too busy with higher priority things.
Well of my 4 kids who all dabbled in building with dad, none have really stuck with it, aside from my son, who just turned 18. He is into anime, so he still likes building the occasional Gundam or similar type of kit. As for me, I started building before I turned 5 and will be 49 in a few months.
Well I started building kits and playing with trains in 1949, I was 7. Have been in HO-scale trains and building 62 yrs and still build Military diorama’s, my other passion. Been retired 13 yrs, I will be 72, this year.
Zstripe
Unfortunately, yes. I think it is a dying art.
Too many other things for kids to be entertained by. I think “craft” stuff is just not interesting to them. It’s a shame, because I honestly think modelling helps one to be able to think more critically about things. I do just about everything around my house that is mechanical. Things like that.
I started modelling when I was 4 or 5. I vaguely remember the first kit. I believe it was a 1/72 Bearcat.
My parents also bought a USS Missouri and we bullt it together. I had it for years, though we used oil paints from a paint by numbers kit on it!
I’m 43 now.
Heck yeah, Mississippivol…class of '88!
Class of 88. Just got the invitation to my 25th reunion. I know they are late
Its a dying art in the U.S. anyway. Too many other useless distraction for kids and teens. I’m 32 and started modeling when I was around 8 or 10. I am an aviation buff and when I was a kid, building aircraft models helped wet my appetite. I built a model car or truck back then, but only stuck with aircraft.
I’m 44 as well, i was 8 or 9 when i was first introduced to it.
I am not so sure it is dyeing out. When you look at the stuff that being released, and not just model kits and AM but books some of which might not be solely aimed at modellers, but do seem to have us in mind. And i was just looking through the latest Hannants e-mail tonight. Do you guys remember those WW2 forts Airfix had years ago. They are being re released in the run up to D-Day.
I remember playing with these when i was a kid with my little soldiers and tanks. Airfix must think there is enough of a market for them.
And in the last few years, there’s been a resurgence in vinyl records, and not just by older people. Yes, threes a lot of competition out that, most of it in the virtual world. But i think many people are realising they still need the feel of a physical object and the satisfaction of making something yourself.
I’m 45 and have been building since I was 7. First kit was the Lindberg 1/184 YF-12A (it’s mislabeled as an SR-71).
This question about the hobby dying comes up occasionally. While boys no longer flock to department/drug stores or the local hobby shop (now there’s an entity that is dying out) to buy a new kit with their weekly allowance- just as they no longer play sandlot baseball or stick baseball cards in their bicycle spokes (if they even have a bicycle…), there are some of the younger generation who are dabbling in the hobby as well as those who do come back to the hobby after college/marriage/settling into mid-life.
I don’t think we’d see the volume of new or re-released kits, and the prices of those kits, if model building was that close to being a dying art. This doesn’t specifically address the question of the younger generation getting into the hobby, but nonetheless I believe the hobby and it’s market are alive and well. As with most things over the course of time, dynamics within the hobby have simply shifted.
No I don’t think it’s dying,just becoming more costlier.
started very young,stopped,started up again at about 24 till about 34,another brief stop,and have been going since I was 40,about 15 years now
I am 57 last saturday, and started in 1965 at the age of 8
unlike many, I never left the hobby, I stayed at it the whole time
I introduced my two kids to the hobby, they were active in it for a while, but, he stopped the model of hte month club, and then let the hobby fade away, and she kept at it for a bit longer (10 years or so) and then she let it go too.
But, at least they both tried it before going on to other past times, so I am okay with their choice.
Rex
Bish I had that D-Day Coastal Defense Fortress. Along with a couple other similar sets that Airfix released… Boy those bring back some memories…
I think the hobby has evolved and changed and still has a few more decades of that ahead, but when the folks in our 30’s & 40’s now die off, I suspect that there will be no one to take our place. Those born in the past 20 years who take up and stay with this hobby seem to be rare indeed.
Most new kits and tools/books are geared towards adults/ experienced modeller’s, not beginners. Of course there are the snap tite/easy assembly stuff from Hobbyboss and other Manuf., but most stuff out there is for the serious modelers, which tend to be 20 years on up. I mean, just look at this thread, the average age will end up being around 45?? or older? I’d be interested to hear thoughts from across the pond and folks in eastern Europe that are on here.
Indeed, but i wonder how many like Rex’s children are out there who may well come back in 10 or 20 years. I only had a short break from the hobby, 5 years, starting in my mid 30’s, and that was not exactly by choice. But look at how many new members we have had lately who have come back after 10, 20 or more years away. They usually stopped for various reasons, other interest, family, work etc, but years later something sparked and they have come back to it.
I don’t expect it will be the same numbers we are seeing now, but hopefully it will be enough to keep it going.
But the onus is all on the model companies really. The likes of Airfix are trying to cater for both the kids we need to attract into the hobby and the more experienced ones, at least they are trying to look long term. But companies like Dragon only sem to produce high end kits aimed at the more experienced builder, which seems very short sited to me.
I started building at age six , and am 47 now.
It’s a good question, and I can only answer it through the younger people that I’m related to. I’ve three nephews, the youngest two were interested in models while young, but now in their teens, iphones and laptops are the choice for amusement. The eldest never was interested, but is very much into ice hockey and is planning to study physiotherapy.
My sister is a grade school teacher, so has direct experience with the younger generation. Hoping this is just the odd case and not a forecast of things to come, but recently recounted an experience with a grade one student that has been raised on video games. During lunch break one day, she noticed this particular student was eating his sandwich while sitting in front of the class room computer. Now even though it wasn’t turned on, he kept nudging his chair forward so his face could be closer to the screen. The same student, on another occasion ‘disappeared’ from class, only to be found hiding underneath the computer desk.
regards,
Jack
I don’t think the hobby is dying, but it is changing and I think modelling is a hobby that is picked up at a later age these days rather than being a childhood hobby.
There is a lot more competition from other forms of entertainment these days and a lot of it is electronic which is a lot more appealing to the younger ones. They offer hours of entertainment, no chemicals, no drying time hence no wait, no mess and therefore no cleanup. Most of all, you can actually play with them rather than just imagining them doing what they’re supposed to do and making the odd engine noise. In terms of gratification, they just offer much quicker gratification than model building does.
However I think as a person gets older, then model building becomes more appealing, not because of the desire to build models, but because we are drawn in by the subject matter which matches our interests. I’m pretty sure that most car modellers are, surprise surprise, car lovers. Likewise for plane and armour modellers. However you’re not always able to have access to those interests because some of them just aren’t things you see every day. That’s where books, and internet searches come in, and before you know it, “I want to build a replica of that tank I’m going to drive over my boss one day!” Or that plane you’re going to zoom through the skies. Or that Ferrari that you’ll buy… In another four life times.
I’m sure we’ve also noticed that the cost of models are rising and the average kid just can’t buy a model with their pocket money anymore, nor do models have the commercial appeal of other cheap plastic toys that they see in action on the tv.
I think we are seeing the evolution of the hobby, from something we did as a child when all you used was some glue and some paints that you brushed on without a care in the world about a full cockpit or fully detailed wheel wells or any of the other multitude of tiny minute details that simply has to be there these days, otherwise it will be unacceptable. This is evidenced in the kits that are being released nowadays.
I think that we’ve hit a point where we realised that the inevitable has actually happened to us, and while we’ve grown, we weren’t expecting our childhood hobby to grow into us. Or it could just be a case of we just don’t want to admit what we’ve become, which is dare I say it… Middle aged, and still want to believe that we still do things that young people do these days.
By the way, I’m turning 36 this year. Been modelling since I was a kid because I was a military buff but chose not to go into the military for my career so this hobby is my outlet. I’m hoping what I said is true because if I’m wrong and the hobby does die then I’ll have to look for something else to do in my spare time. Once I’ve gotten through the stash…
I’m a B-52!
I believe that modeling is definitely on the decline among the pre teen group. One reason is competition for their $$$. Things I didn’t have like action figures, remote control toys, computers, game systems, etc.
Also many model subjects are available as already complete toys that are pretty darn impressive. Like die cast vehicles, figures from companies like Toybiz, Sideshow, MacFarlane, etc. With these they get something that looks way better than anything they can build and they don’t break when you play with them.
A second reason is competition for their time. I had three TV stations with kids programming only early in the morning and late afternoon. Now kids programming is available 24/7 even if you don’t include DVD’s! I had football in the fall/winter, baseball in the spring/summer and basketball in between those. About 8 weeks of each. Now sports are available 12 months a year with indoor facilities! Its not just football/baseball/basketball anymore. In addition we now have soccer, fencing, swimming, tennis, table tennis, gymnastics, golf, BMX racing, ice/field hockey, figure skating etc. My ten year old nephew is currently on two basketball teams and one football team! Between school and practice/games that’s at least a full time job.
I started building models at age 6, a Monogram F3F-3 biplane, that was almost forty-four years ago - i’ll be fifty in April.