He guys,
Just a thought, is there something as modelling trends? You know, in that decade where planes more popular, then German armor, something like that. Mayby it's fun to see if that's true. And do the manufactures go with the trends? :-)
Modeling in General
General discussions about modeling topics.
General discussions about modeling topics.
Hosted by Jim Starkweather
Modelling trends
APbullet
Utrecht, Netherlands
Member Since: October 21, 2003
entire network: 236 Posts
KitMaker Network: 0 Posts
Member Since: October 21, 2003
entire network: 236 Posts
KitMaker Network: 0 Posts
Posted: Tuesday, December 09, 2003 - 05:49 AM UTC
KiwiDave
Wellington, New Zealand
Member Since: January 14, 2003
entire network: 248 Posts
KitMaker Network: 0 Posts
Member Since: January 14, 2003
entire network: 248 Posts
KitMaker Network: 0 Posts
Posted: Tuesday, December 09, 2003 - 06:46 AM UTC
I have a old magazine article - I think from memory its 1959 - where a plastic kit manuacturer states that the interest in aircraft is over and ships are the next thing!
It seems these days the kit makers control the trends. If you go to buy an armour kit you can have anything you like as long as it is Third Reich. Therefore the only armour that sells is TR, therefore the kit makers say thats what people want and release yet another obscure variant of something that was never made in the first place.
While some subjects seem to go through phases it seems that aircraft have always maintained their popularity, and WW2 has been the main source of subject matter for the fifty years that I have been modelling.
Regards Dave
It seems these days the kit makers control the trends. If you go to buy an armour kit you can have anything you like as long as it is Third Reich. Therefore the only armour that sells is TR, therefore the kit makers say thats what people want and release yet another obscure variant of something that was never made in the first place.
While some subjects seem to go through phases it seems that aircraft have always maintained their popularity, and WW2 has been the main source of subject matter for the fifty years that I have been modelling.
Regards Dave
thebear
Quebec, Canada
Member Since: November 15, 2002
entire network: 3,960 Posts
KitMaker Network: 331 Posts
Member Since: November 15, 2002
entire network: 3,960 Posts
KitMaker Network: 331 Posts
Posted: Tuesday, December 09, 2003 - 07:19 AM UTC
I'm not sure if you could say that there are trends of different types of models being bought ...(believe it or not I think that cars hold something like 75% of the market ) I think there are more trends in how we finish them ....If you are old enough to remember the 80's we all finished our models in the Verlinden way ...and then there were others who widened our views such as Steve Zaloga...Mirko...and Mig....I think things change but I know I still build my same armor kits as I did so many years ago and my friend still tries to get me to build planes like he has all these years...
Hey hows your Tiger going??
Rick
Hey hows your Tiger going??
Rick
Major_Goose
Kikladhes, Greece / Ελλάδα
Member Since: September 30, 2003
entire network: 6,871 Posts
KitMaker Network: 0 Posts
Member Since: September 30, 2003
entire network: 6,871 Posts
KitMaker Network: 0 Posts
Posted: Tuesday, December 09, 2003 - 05:52 PM UTC
Having started modelling back in 1980 i have done these in 3 different decades, so i can say a few things:
Back when i started all the hobby shops and possibly the companies promoted every new airplane model as to be the perfect one and a not to miss item.The armour back there was in the lower shelves , not serious variety , mostly old kits and not much to offer. In the 90's the things got better, the figures started to be a trend that was not in the 80's and the armor stuff got better and more easy to find, and in the end of the decade the AM products came out widely as the PE sets and all developing kits. In the early 2000's i belive that the armor is kind of takin over dut to over issuing som many planes all the previous years and finding out that people have much more interesting in armor and in rare themes. So i believe now is the more balanced season that you can find almost anything from every kind. I still believe that naval models are a lil back though but this has to be due to their small number in real life.
Back when i started all the hobby shops and possibly the companies promoted every new airplane model as to be the perfect one and a not to miss item.The armour back there was in the lower shelves , not serious variety , mostly old kits and not much to offer. In the 90's the things got better, the figures started to be a trend that was not in the 80's and the armor stuff got better and more easy to find, and in the end of the decade the AM products came out widely as the PE sets and all developing kits. In the early 2000's i belive that the armor is kind of takin over dut to over issuing som many planes all the previous years and finding out that people have much more interesting in armor and in rare themes. So i believe now is the more balanced season that you can find almost anything from every kind. I still believe that naval models are a lil back though but this has to be due to their small number in real life.
Posted: Wednesday, December 10, 2003 - 02:44 AM UTC
There are some trends. But they tend to be more specific to the type of modelling we do then in general. Though having said that Tamiya for a while in the late 80's early 90's did very few aircraft and then have come back on to the scene with avengence. In figure modelling the trends are very fickle and tend to follow what they top painters are doing. Currently there is a decided shift towards Medieval subjects but the shift is starting to lean towards napoleonics agains. It just kinda goes incircles. Though if one figure that i off the wall is released and painted by all the top guys it tends to get painted. An example of this is Latorres RFC pilot. It has sold well but on the other hands Pegaso personalities, such as the Red Baron, have not really sold that well despite them being superb figures. I suppose like everything we follow what other people do.
95bravo
Kansas, United States
Member Since: November 18, 2003
entire network: 2,242 Posts
KitMaker Network: 488 Posts
Member Since: November 18, 2003
entire network: 2,242 Posts
KitMaker Network: 488 Posts
Posted: Wednesday, December 10, 2003 - 03:41 AM UTC
I can recall in the 70s when I began doing this, the subject matter was all over the board. Revell had a model of the month club (the Santa Maria was the intro kit as well as a Viking long boat...why can't they do something like that now...anyone.) The Godzilla, Planet of the Apes, and Chamber of Horrors...and of course the Ed Roth car kits were all the rage. By the very late 70s I recall a gradual shift toward military subjects, (Monogram, Testors, and Italeri seeming to have led the way....of course, the advent of Shep Paine's Monogram Dios were spurring it all on) but you need to remember that in the US at the time the Vietnam War was either going on or at least ending soon and anything that smacked of military was somewhat becoming taboo in the merchandizing world. As sad as it sounds, I would say that modeling subjects are not unlike fashion trends. The younger crowd have gravitated to what we wore in the 70s (which in my opinion was a decade best forgotten...Disco Sucks!) and now some even the 80s, the same I believe holds true for models. If you missed it the first time , wait awhile it'll come back around......nostalgia is a powerful force when it comes to things like that.
Best Wishes
Best Wishes
jimbrae
Provincia de Lugo, Spain / Espaņa
Member Since: April 23, 2003
entire network: 12,927 Posts
KitMaker Network: 2,060 Posts
Member Since: April 23, 2003
entire network: 12,927 Posts
KitMaker Network: 2,060 Posts
Posted: Wednesday, December 10, 2003 - 03:45 AM UTC
The trend I most vividly remember, is when all the manufacturers started with German (ho, hum, here we go... ) railway equipment. It didn't seem to be all that much of a success if I rember correctly...
I don't think there are many trends in this hobby, rather they are led by the manufacturers who decide where the next specialized area will be. This may of course change. Perhaps soon the manufacturers, the big boys at least, will start polling the opinion of modellers on sites such as this. Previously, any kind of market research was well-nigh impossible to conduct. With the advent of the internet, this has all changed, a simple e-mail costs a lot less than thousands of polling sheets.... Jim
I don't think there are many trends in this hobby, rather they are led by the manufacturers who decide where the next specialized area will be. This may of course change. Perhaps soon the manufacturers, the big boys at least, will start polling the opinion of modellers on sites such as this. Previously, any kind of market research was well-nigh impossible to conduct. With the advent of the internet, this has all changed, a simple e-mail costs a lot less than thousands of polling sheets.... Jim
95bravo
Kansas, United States
Member Since: November 18, 2003
entire network: 2,242 Posts
KitMaker Network: 488 Posts
Member Since: November 18, 2003
entire network: 2,242 Posts
KitMaker Network: 488 Posts
Posted: Wednesday, December 10, 2003 - 03:52 AM UTC
I think you are correct in regards to the polling. I've noted a more pronounced effort by some magazines such as FSM who send out polls regarding what builders would like to see and not to mention their web page is lousy with the same polls. Furthermore, I've noted that of the forums I visit, company reps haunt them as well and now and again a post regarding a particular subject will result in a reponse as if that kit is possible or that it may be in the works.
Sabot
Member Since: December 18, 2001
entire network: 12,596 Posts
KitMaker Network: 2,557 Posts
entire network: 12,596 Posts
KitMaker Network: 2,557 Posts
Posted: Wednesday, December 10, 2003 - 04:30 AM UTC
I think all genres are still going strong (#1 cars, #2 aircraft, #3 armor, #4 ships, #5 figures, #6 sci-fi, #7 et al). Just guessing as to the order after #2, I know cars are #1 and aircraft are #2.
All areas are shifting towards super accuracy though. This is good and bad.
The good part is we are getting superb kits that model companies research the actual prototype vehicles.
The bad part is if they use a highly modified museum piece, a "one of" test type, a pre-production vehicle, or take some liberties with interior detailing, etc. then the modeling community pans the kit in reviews and sales suffer.
Once the long awaited kit is given bad reviews by the experts (off 5 scale inches on the Hunnicutt book drawings, fittings don't match up to any photos of the vehicle they've ever seen), the kits sit on the shelf.
Then come the aftermarket manufacturers. Lets produce a $20+ PE set, $30+ resin update set, $10 aluminum barrel and $25 metal tracks to correct the $35 kit into something we can all build and display proudly on our shelves.
Then you hear, "You bought the Czech company's PE? Don't you know the Polish company's PE is superior?" (Replace with various other AM company names and products)
Right now, German air and armor are the hot sellers, but they've always been good sellers even when I was a kid. They seemed more exciting than the US/Allied stuff. If I was a manufacturer, I'd make and sell the stuff that people are buying.
All areas are shifting towards super accuracy though. This is good and bad.
The good part is we are getting superb kits that model companies research the actual prototype vehicles.
The bad part is if they use a highly modified museum piece, a "one of" test type, a pre-production vehicle, or take some liberties with interior detailing, etc. then the modeling community pans the kit in reviews and sales suffer.
Once the long awaited kit is given bad reviews by the experts (off 5 scale inches on the Hunnicutt book drawings, fittings don't match up to any photos of the vehicle they've ever seen), the kits sit on the shelf.
Then come the aftermarket manufacturers. Lets produce a $20+ PE set, $30+ resin update set, $10 aluminum barrel and $25 metal tracks to correct the $35 kit into something we can all build and display proudly on our shelves.
Then you hear, "You bought the Czech company's PE? Don't you know the Polish company's PE is superior?" (Replace with various other AM company names and products)
Right now, German air and armor are the hot sellers, but they've always been good sellers even when I was a kid. They seemed more exciting than the US/Allied stuff. If I was a manufacturer, I'd make and sell the stuff that people are buying.
blaster76
Texas, United States
Member Since: September 15, 2002
entire network: 8,985 Posts
KitMaker Network: 2,270 Posts
Member Since: September 15, 2002
entire network: 8,985 Posts
KitMaker Network: 2,270 Posts
Posted: Wednesday, December 10, 2003 - 07:57 PM UTC
Cars without a doubt are #1. Go to a Hobby shop and look at the quantity they carry. Go to the discount stores like Wal-Mart it's about the only model kits they carry. Planes are definitly #2. Armor is 3 followed by ships and figures. Most of the online hobby shops seem to carry more planes than tanks...not so much in cars though...shows the combat vehicles are big for us computer nerds