I’ll preface this with the admission that I am full in on this, as looking at my shelves and closet demonstrated to me, and have been for as long as I can recall when I think back over all the years of building. It seems that scale models revolve around the weapons of war, the participants of war, the scenes of war. Every cover of FSM features some type of war machine. The “how to” articles are all about how to paint, accessorize, or weather war machines. The site here shows the power of the war interest in the views for the various categories, with war oriented rooms dwarfing all others by a massive factor, and then there’s the offerings from the manufacturers, heavily skewed towards war machines and virtually nothing but war in the figures offerings.
World War 2 seems to dominate the arena, but war generally seems to hold some incredible sway in the world of scale model building. Why is that? For my own part, I see it as an availability issue, you buy and build what is out there. I am a motorcycle enthusiast, have been all my life. I’ve built many a motorcycle kit but frankly, they are not available in near the variety that the manufacturers seem to be willing to devote to the subject of war.
This subject has the potential to get out of hand quickly, so please temper any responses and don’t jump too deep into either a justification for or denouncement of wars.
I’m with you. I am more interested in civil aircraft- they are the kind I see at the airport, and I like to model what I see around me. I do occasionally do some (Allied) military stuff but like the civil stuff later. As someone who lived through WW2, I find it hard to build Nazi aircraft.
Also prefer commercial ships. I do build warships, but again my preference is on commercial ships, especially Great Lakes stuff.
Seen in the broader context of modeling and hobbies like modeling, war plays a smaller part. For instance, it’s a tiny subset of model railroading, a non-existent subset of R/C cars.
One reason might be that plastic modeling came onto the scene in the late 50’s-early 60’s.
Having grown up in the US during that time, the nation’s consciousness was all about WW2. We played it, we read about it and watched TV shows based on it, we modeled it.
Unfortunately, I believe a lot of it has to do with interest. I greatly enjoy building civil aircraft, cars, motorcycles, space, but the selection isn’t out there because the interest isn’t there IMHO.
Personal, I don’t have a whole lot of interest in war machines past say the early 60’s, not really sure why, they just don’r do anything for me.
Don , I believe you had a similar post a few months back regarding aircraft.
If ya want to look at fast aircraft, military is pretty much where it’s at these days.
There was a time between the world wars when civilian aircraft were “cutting edge” fast and air racing was popular.
But that was before the jet engine appeared and safety concerns ended closed course racing at the Cleveland Air Races.
Wind powered ships are no longer the largest or fastest.
Fast ships no longer depend upon wind but a turbine powered by some form of fuel.
There’s also a practical limit to the physical size of a wind powered ship.
Trains are still pretty popular and, aside from the American Civil War, haven’t been exclusively military.
Automobiles are still popular and aren’t military but technological costs keep the fastest out of the hands of most of us.
So far as I know, the only individuals these days who can afford machines with "cutting edge " technology are the likes of Oprah, Bill Gates and Warren Buffet.[^o)]
As for the title of this thread:
I thought initially it was about the movie Gone With the Wind.
I believe the character Scarlet said something similar early in the film.[whstl]
Going with the “technology costs” line of thought, it would seem that opens up a great market for scale model manufacturers. As most of us will never be able to afford an automotive collection the like of Jay Leno, or a motorcycle collection on the scale of George Barber, imagine the sales potential to be tapped there. Of course, that has to be reconciled with the sales numbers generated by the industry versus the tooling costs of developing these products. As has been stated many times, it’s not like this hobby is a major growth industry.
Simple answer, war sells. Why? I have no idea. From a personal view the current trends suits me perfectly. My main interest is WW2 German equipment. Ye, I know, not another one, but there it is.
I have been interested in all things military from as far back as I can remember. Why?. Again, I have no idea. But it was my interest in military history that got me into modelling was so strong that all I wanted to do was join up.
But I do feel sorry for those who would like to build other subjects. But we have to face it. The companies that make models are there to make money. They will produce what will sell.
If you go into most “general” hobby shops nowadays, the auto selection equals to all the military models: aircraft, armor, & ships combined. At least around here. Then of course you have your sci fi stuff, which may or may not be sci fi military related. Only at the scale model hobby shops locally do military models dominate, and at those the autos, both pre built die cast and kits, and sci fi stuff are making bigger and bigger inroads. I suppose the changing demographics of the customers has something to do with it. The younger modelers around here seem to be more into their cars and sci fi kits more than the military. Perhaps that goes with the general population overall. As mentioned above, the older guys here grew up in a military draft era, and were immersed in a living memory of WWII. Many served themselves in the post war, Cold War, Korean War, Vietnam war era, or had friends or family who did. Nowadays, reportedly only 1% of the nation’s population serves or has served in the volunteer military. The same interest seems to be taking hold in the hobby.
Model companies do produce those civil subjects in various categories- ships, aircraft, figures, etc., from time to time. But those subjects tend to languish on the shelves I have noticed and are often later sold on clearance. Not exactly the best way to generate a profit. Just like Hollywood keeps churning out movies of a particular type, so do the model companies keep producing kits of a particular genre. Why? That is what keeps them in business.
I have no interest in some civil subjects, others a marginal interest, yet for some reason military models are a passion for me. Personally I have put comparatively equal amounts of my blood, sweat, toil, and tears in both certain items of military equipment and law enforcement equipment. Have I ever said, Oh I gotta have that Ford Crown Victoria or Chevy Caprice Classic patrol car kit? No. but when a M901 ITV kit came out, I HAD to buy that ASAP. I still dearly want the new Tamiya Gamma Goat and when I squirrel away enough spare change I will buy one. I can not explain why, but maybe it’s like GM said above, I like things that go BOOM.
I hear you about figures. I recently tried to locate some 1/87 figures representing Marines or Seabees for a train loaded with construction equipment diorama. Nobody produces anything close to a modern Seabee and as for Marines, nothing in a fatigue hat and each and every one looks like they’re invading Fallujah. I finally found some German Bundeswehr figures walking and standing at ease that could serve as stand-ins with some minor surgery, and of course they’re out of stock everywhere.
I’m kind of in agreement with Stick, tojo, and BlackSheep. I build for nostalgia and for the engineering and historical aspects of the subjects that I model. I would also love to see more commercial and civilian subjects available. I love to build the kits that jump out at me and “speak” to me. There are tons of historical photos our there that pertain to non military events that I think would make an awesome dio or an individual build. Two that come to mind right away is this photo of a unique ferry on the Seattle water front and the worlds fair which gave use the Space Needle. But like others have said, it’s a tooling issue and a profit issue. I’m sure some of the folks that work for the manufacturing companies that would love to see kits of other subject made, but it comes down to cost versus profit. I just saw an Ad in the latest issue of FSM about a new model company, so there is hope that maybe some of these new companies may begin producing new kits that are geared toward non military genre.
I must admit, I have been attracted to WWII German vehicles and uniforms.
After giving it some thought, I realized it was the camouflage that made those Bf 109s, Fw-190s , SS smocks and German armour attractive.
Now that I know much more about the technology and design philosophy used to produce Allied equipment, I find that the German stuff has lost much of it’s luster.[;)]
I suppose if the Dodge Charger SRT Hellcat were decked out in a German WWII style factory "ambush " paint scheme, I’d like that car for more than just it’s sheer horsepower…[whstl]
It’s a curious paradox for those of us who have been to war. After Iraq, I hated pretty much everything military and war-related, though I willingly signed up for another overseas tour. When I first got bit by the modeling bug, I thought I was only going to build cars and trucks (civilian type) because I still had a bad taste in my mouth from my service
I couldn’t shake, however, that I deeply admired the works of the military modelers - many here at this site. I, like Stikpusher and others, have always loved the aesthetic and power of war weapons. I don’t know why, I just do. It’s not just that they are engineering marvels, lots of things are, but they just look cool to me in a way that civilian stuff doesn’t
I also enjoy the history, and feel like I’m paying tribute to good and noble people
Strictly from a personal standpoint, the old addage that familiarity breeds contempt holds water. In fourty odd years of this hobby, I can count the number of cars I have built on one hand. There has never been much novelty in building cars for me because it was just as easy as heading out to the garage to work on one. After having lived in South Dakota and survived too many Sturgis rallies, I have had my fill of bikes for one lifetime. I grew up as a hangar rat because my family was very much into civil aviation, so there was no real novelty to building a Cessna or an airliner. However, building military subjects holds a level of appeal because it brings back memories of my days in service or those of other friends and family members. Where my kids are pretty familiar with Harley-Davidsons tearing down the interstate, they’ve only seen some of these machines of war in films, on television, or behind a rope at a museum, so it naturally invites questions from them about what I am building at the time. My wife never quite understood it until the first time she heard a P-51 Mustang fire up a Rolls-Royce built Merlin and got goosebumps. Different strokes, right?
Speaking of that conjures up a question in my mind about the Batman movies.
In some ways, the the Batman gadgets would seem to fit into a military classification as those expensive devices are certainly out of reach for the average Gothamite.[:O][:P][whstl]
My fiance was the same way until a couple of years ago when we went to an air show at Nellis, and she got to hear first hand the all of the birds starting their engines and coming to life and seeing them straining against their break as they want to climb into the sky.