I was reading in a modelling mag that we are now living in a modelling golden age.The choice the range everything,has never been so wide.It was a quite evening.I was looking through my stash and saw my unbuilt Voyager probe kit and remembered that its next encounter with a star is in the year 40.272.(the red dwarf star…AC+793888) Then I wondered what modelling would be like then??? Just speak to your replicator like Star-trek if you want a Tiger or Sherman! Or maybe you go to your local Hobby shop on Triton and are the shelves are stocked with boxes of basic molecules or nano-bots programmed to be either plastic,p/e,decals,etc[:I][:I]
As i said it was a quite evening but where do you think the hobby will be in say 50 years?
i forgot to add that It occured to me by the year 40,000, we should be advanced enough to actually go out there and catch up with Voyager.To see what those strange people in 2000 where really like.
A part of modeling is building, so I don’t think nanobots and replicators wil be used. That would half the fun!
In 50 years modelling wil be different: different materials, oil based paints and plastic are to expensive (maybe even prohibitited). lots of choise (they don’t throw molds aways!), thanks to the omniweb (super internet) references are abundant and, last but not least, modelling will once more be one of the most popular hobbies for boys (due to the energy crisis of 2036 TV’s, PC’s and gamecomputers are prohibited. Therefore reading and modelling made a big comeback in 2037)
It’s gonna take 38,000 years to get to another star? What’s the point? We will have forgotten it existed long before then.
At the risk of sounding like a Trekkie nerd, stardate 40.727 is actually around the year 2,400 AD. 400 years in the future.
At the risk?
If you know how stardates work (how do they work?) you probably are a Trekkie. [^]
Voyager was never intended to be an interstellar probe. It was designed to visit the planets in our solar system only, but it’s course of necessity takes it out into interstellar space, and by the looks of things that’s when it’ll come within range of another star. Of course it’s batteries will be long gone & even if they weren’t, it’d take another 38,000 years to send back any pictures, so we’d definitely have forgotten about it by the time 76,000 years have gone by! That’s assuming it doesn’t fall victim to some other cataclysm before then, getting hit by asteroids or whatever… Lonely journey, either way!
No probably about it![;)]
Ok, back to the original topic
Well, if the Republic of California doesn’t outlaw glue and resin because terrorists can use it to make bombs, and these materials would be found to cause cancer in Spotted Owls, and that all the instructions are written in only Spanish and Chinese, I think the hobby will be about the same for us as we sit in our rockers glueing and sanding to our hearts content. We will be listening to young modelers argue about what colors were accurate on a Gulf War M1 and will be reading about the decomissioning of the USS Ronald Reagan and about the scrapping of the Nimitz after it was sold to India.
And in 300 years, Veeger will be returned with a message from another life form of a distant planet.[:D]
Ah, my mistake. I didn’t realize we were speaking in Stardate.
As for the original question:
Raised panel Lines will be rendered illegal by the IPMS Treaty of 2021.
Revell will have debuted a line of kits that actually do only require shaking the box to assemble.
Trumpeter will Debut it’s 1/32 scale B-3 Stealthier Bomber for $15,799.99. (PE and resin extra)
Testors will have created a flat white paint that will cover black plastic with only one coat.
And finally, at the ripe old age of 82, overkillphil will finish his Black Bunny F-14
I especially like the white paint one.
Amen to the White paint Idea. What about an intelligent airbrush? Just programme the paint, finish required,line width etc.The brush then adjusts itself,2 lines then mix the correct amount of thinner and paint and pump direct to nozzle. Wouldn’t that be a kicker.Absolutely Idiot proof airbrushing.Oh,and the brush casing is made of a special material that rejects paint so cleaning is not needed.I would be first in the line.
It will never reach that star…some alien or future human starship captain will use it for target practice (remember that Klingon commander in ST movie 5?)
cheers
Mike
No I don’t remember that because there was no fifth Star Trek movie. I refuse to acknowledge it’s existence. I don’t understand why they skipped directly form 4 to six. it’s just some weird aberration I guess.[;)][;)][:-^]
could not agree more, but that Klingon and his female first officer were about the only memorable bits of the movie!
LOL!!! another thread cracking me up again [(-D]
I don’t know about 40, 272 but in the next 50 home CNC machines could be as commonplace as dremels are today. You be able to programe and machine anything you can design or get ahold of designs for. Imagine machined stowage clips THAT WORK in 1/144 scale.
In 50 years there will be an air brus helmet,where what you think is what the airbrush does!
not to be picky; but the transmission back would only be a few years at best; because itd transmit at the speed of light; vs the snails pace its traveling at currently.
of course; the rest is correct and makes this a mute point. no batteries; no signal. no nothing.
OK, that’s it!
I’m issueing a general “trekkie” alert!!! [:D]
actually NASA puts it to sleep for a lot of the time. They have woken it up recently as both Voyagers are crossing the Interstellar threshold when they will leave behind the foreward shock wave of the solar wind and enter true interstellar space.Some arguments where the fields edge is and whether or not they have passed it and recorded the effect. I know it is only a machine but man, you have to feel a sense of wonder when you think how far away it is and how far it will go. Barring accidents and space is a big place it will still be out there rattling along when we are a note in the history books.