Probably.
I started when I was 5 or 6 yrs old. My first kit was a snap kit of a dragster and was doing kits until 20 yrs old. I came back to the hobby late summer of 2013.
I started modelling when I was about 7. Built until I was around 21, when I met someone more interesting. Started again when my oldest was around 10. I’m 40 now.
There will always be people who want to tinker with their hands, and there will always be in a interest in machines and history. Therefore, there will always be an interest in modelling. It may wax and wane, but it will always be there.
Nothing involving a screen is as fulfilling for me as building something with my hands as being able to say " I built that". I think that’s a fairly common human trait, and I don’t think that today’s generation is bereft of the same sentiment.
The industry provides a wide variety of kits for a wide variety of budgets and skill sets.
As Bish said I’m glad that companies like Airfix and HobbyBoss are catering to the masses that can’t spend $70 or 80 on a kit. This will hopefully bring younger kids into the hobby. But since there are few stores that carry kits anymore everything is or will be internet based. John
I also started at age six. I am 75 now, and have always built models since- never gave up for more than a few months at any time.
To answer the main part of the question- NO! Although it would be nice to see more youth building, there are a few that get started today, and turn out to be great modelers. But the hobby does not depend on youth. Many builders get started as adults. The main argument to my argument that building as an art is not dying is visible when you attend contests. Go especially to a regional or national IPMS meet. The level of building is awesome. There is so much really neat aftermarket, and we have learned so many techniques that no one knew about in the old days.
I started on wood solid models, and remember the first plastic models. Basic models with only a pilot figure. If you were lucky the kit had a seat for the pilot. It took decades for much of an aftermarket industry. Resin and PE took decades to make the scene. We live in a golden age of modeling. If you don’t believe it, go to the Nats, and look at the winning models and at the vendors tables!
Modelling as a mainstream pastime for adolescent boys? Yes, very much going the way of the dodo it would seem. It’s like, so analog, man. Plus, I think a lot of parents don’t want their kids playing with toxic chemicals when there is so much else to do.
That’s a shame tho, it sucks when hobby stores close their doors.
But modelling as an art? Alive and well and constantly evolving, in my view.
Just look at all the talent in this very forum!
-Blake
John :
Didn’t anyone tell you that thinking is bad for your health ? L.O.L. Now that dig in , here’s my take on your question .I have seen many incredible models on the junior tables at contests around here .Is the hobby dying ? I don’t think so , But , the face of it has definitely changed . These kids that do model have allowances that I would’ve made me think I was rich ! Now look around you .
How much is the average model in your favorite scale ? Now , how much is all the aftermarket stuff you add to it ? Shoot , You’ve got resin cockpits and metal parts ,both P.E. and white metal or brass and there you have a good chunk of change . Then say you build ships .Well there’s resin conversion kits ( just like armor ) and brass barrels , stainless prop shafts and enough P.E. to sink it in a minute .
Now move over to cars .Braided hoses , in 1/25 ! Brake lines , shocks , wire wheels etc . Then there’s radiator detail brass and chassis parts .
Do you do all this ? Maybe you do and maybe not . Now , I have seen many junior builds with all sorts of detail parts and they will blow you away . I think the market is getting smaller yes . Do I think it’s dying out ? No . Why do I feel that way ? Well , there’s this .HOBBYTOWN U.S.A… These stores carry about all of it from R.C. gas and electric in boats , cars and planes .They carry very expensive model train stuff .They carry all the popular model car kits and the paints for them .the same for armor , planes and static ships .
Everytime I go in mine in San Antonio it’s always busy .This is usually normal .Now , my favorite L.H.S. has everything too .if he ain’t he’ll get it ! Personal service at it’s best . Personal friendly insults of a high quality aimed at the particular customer .How , much better can it get ? I have been putting things together and finding them in broom handles and shingles etc. Oh ! that was before plastic .Like Don Stauffer I am in my early seventies and you know what ? I ain’t gonna stop till the heart stops for good .
Dying? Not quite. When I was a kid, just about every boy I knew as well as their older brothers and sometimes their fathers built model kits. Most were out of box, usually unpainted or minimal amount of painting (black wheels, silver details, etc.). Rarely were gaps filled, seams sanded or glue hidden.
I hit 50 in about a week and have been building since I was about 5 or 6 years old. While in college in the 1980s, I attended my first show. There were plenty of nice builds on display, but nothing that reaches the overall quality of entries I see in the last decade or so. The quality of the engineering of the kits and the quality of the builders has increased.
Back then, other than a couple of great ones, most kits were about the same level. Today, the number of great builds has increased tremendously. Shows also seem larger, with more entries, although this may be fewer participants entering more kits per person. Back in the day, it seemed like a kit or two was the norm. Today it seems like a half dozen or more kits is usual.
So maybe fewer builders but the quality of the builders has increased greatly so that model building is truly a form of art.
I started with Strombecker solid wood aircraft models when I was about 7, in the late 1940’s. The first plastic models I remember were Revell’s “Highway Pioneers”, a set of antique cars. About the same time I got into building “stick model” airplanes. I’m 72 and still going strong in the hobby!
I don’t think kids today have a long enough attention span, nor any interest in the subject matter of most kits, historical military models. Plus, for most kids, it’s just too much work. I think the hobby will survive as long as adults are willing and able to participate.
Nah, I don’t think it’s dying, either. We just don’t see or know about the ones (kids) that are building because of geographical distances. When I was a kid, I was the only one in my neighborhood who built models that I knew of. When I grew up and found out about modeling clubs (by discovering modeling magazines), I realized that there were way many more modelers than I thought. And the ones that I met at these clubs and shows lived many miles from me. So, I can only assume that there are many, many kids out there building, but we just don’t know about them because we don’t live near them, and they don’t know about us because they don’t know about the clubs and contests. Once they get older and wiser, they’ll find us, or we’ll find them. I don’t think there’s anything to worry about.
I was around 6 years old when I started. My dad bought me a 1/72nd Hasegawa RA-5C Vigilante (well, I think it was a Hasegawa kit - did they make a Vigilante kit way back in 1970?) and helped me build it (I have no idea why I can remember that…). I’ll be 50 this coming April 10th, so I’ve been building almost constantly for 44 years.
I started building when I was…younger than 10. Now I’m 28.
The local “dying” trend of the hobby was observed in the past 10 years at our IPMS Vancouver group (increasing average age, decreasing attendance in meetings and decreasing entries at shows) and they have been trying to bring kids into the hobby.
However, in our VanPla club (building mecha-related models) we have a regular attendance of about 15, with the average age being about 25 (15-40, didnt do the proper math) and we’re seeing growth. IPMS Vancouver has involved VanPla in the shows and the numbers have been increasing. With a few of the VanPla members being in the IPMS group perhaps we can influence some of the kids to get into other subjects of modelling.
Interesting, FocusOne.
The real truth is that if anything, the hobby is making a big comeback!
I am born in 1980. As a kid in the 90’s, I saw models disappear from the shelves of toy stores. I lived in small town. At a certain point, there just wasn’t anywhere I could get model stuff. So I stopped, for 15 years.
Now…wow. Anything I want or could imagine is a click away…and that is AWESOME
Blake
Exactly, Blake. Exactly.
IMO, us older guys (I’m 58 and started building on and off since around 11) were raised in different times without computers, video games and other electronic gadgets so model building was our escape. I do see an increase of the quality of the builds as I attend model shows and see that most of the great work is done by guys 30 and older. I have seen several younger modelers at these competitions and some of their work is impressive.
Im 55 my first was when i was about 8 or 9 was a tractor trailer i do believe. i dont remeber the size.
Interesting thought. Dying? No, just a different age group “dominating” the hobby. Just like any hobby today, it’s the cost of the hobby that seems to dictate who it caters to. I used to be in to sports cards. Got out of it a ways back. Too expensive. Kids can’t afford $5 + for a pack of cards that most of the time are worthless in quality and character. With the rise of AM stuff, the hobby is catering to the “older” ones of us who can afford it (well, so of us can! [:$]). Yes, some manufactures are doing the snap-tite, etc stuff to bring in the younger groups, which is great, but it is not like when most of us were growing up. I’ll be 47 in August and started modeling around 9-10. My first was an old Cessna kit I did with my dad. He grew up doing models and I latched on to the hobby fast. It was great times with my dad. I stopped building while in the Air Force, but kept on buying them…for my retirement of course! [;)] The model show I went to last year had one youth entry (now remember…I’m in no where Vermont, so factor that in to this equation!)! I was shocked, since this was my first model show. I remembered as a kid how big the hobby was. TG&Y (a 5 and dime in the south) was the place to run up and grab some Testors paint or glue in a pinch and they always had plastic kits on the shelves! Local Hobby Shops were plentiful and carried ANYTHING you needed.
Is the hobby dying? No, I don’t think so, just changing with the times. Are there less youth in the hobby. Yes, that is obvious, but what if WE had had computers, iPads, video games, cell phones, and over 200 channels of HD television to watch? Would we have run to the store to grab that Mono P-51?
Eagle90
I think, for the most part, it already died for the majority of folks. That’s why I have been wanting to come up with ways to try resurrecting it with the kiddies.
I work for a major retailer (which will remain un-named for the moment) that does carry models but they’re shelved in an out-of-the-way aisle and get very little notice. My idea, which is, of course, a little self-serving as well as good for the hobby and for mankind, is to have the models moved to a more in-your-face location in the stores and have samples built and displayed above and around the shelving with some clever signage touting the benifits of the hobby, the bonding of families, learning, discipline and blah blah blah.
Somebody would have to build these display models. Hmmmm now who might that be? [*-)] [whstl] . We all have often wondered how we could make a living building models, right? Well maybe this is the way . . . . . . . .
I think it is instructive to look at the situation in Model Railroading. It has never been a kid’s hobby. I did try it for awhile when I was junior high age (though schools in that day did not have a junior high). I had a number of friends who were model builders, but I was the only one building model railroad stuff. All the other model railroaders I knew were adults.
It is the same today- it is mostly an adult hobby. Yet the hobby is still doing very well. On the other hand, flying model airplanes and static scale did have a large youth contingent when I was a kid, but is now primarily adults. But it is NOT dying. One reason for youth participation in my youth was government support, and support from the aviation industry. This has long dried up. We won WW2, and there is no longer a fear that we will suffer from a lack of aero engineers.
When was the last time you saw an ad from an aero engineering school in a model mag? Sixty years ago the mags were full of ads from the aero schools.
Heaven no…While we older modelers, who frequent the model contest and model shops, often ignore, or because of self imposed blinders, do not see this younger group…Too, there is the new modeler (regardless of age) just starting out and needs to know the ropes (as it were)…Just when we hear the brick and mortar model shop were just about kaput…A new Hobby Town has opened or is about to open in our town…No it’s not dead!!!
I’m 26 started when I was 7 and my dad got me a monogram B-17 for Christmas. We worked on it for weeks and when it was finally done I was hooked in fact its still hanging from the ceiling from my old bedroom. The one thing would have to be the price of kits I never got anything fancy most places sold monogram kits, there wasn’t a hobby shop around and hobby lobby didn’t open up until I turned 18 but. But now there is a nice hobby shop in town, I have a good job and the Internet where I can buy any kit I want and can afford it now unlike when I first started