We recently did a comprehensive restock at the hobby shop. HobbyTown USA has what they call "Core Inventory", stuff that you expect to see at any hobby shop all the time. Of course, this includes paints, glues, basic building tools and supplies, and a stock of "staple" kits (think P-51, P-47, Ford Mustang, etc.). This restock contained quite a large number of car and truck kits, which, if you pay attention to the hobby, shouldn't surprise you.
For the average hobby shop customer who buys models, car kits are by far the best seller. Why? I think it has to do with a few factors–one, most people start building models with a car kit. Two, cars are everywhere. Three, you can pretty much do what you want when it comes to colors and customizing, and nobody really will get hot and bothered about it "not being accurate". Try painting a Patton tank four shades of purple–it might look cool, but it would look better–and not so out-of-place–on a 1957 Chevy. There also tend to be fewer parts to deal with, and a lot of the painting can be done beforehand with a spray can. Early model kits of all genres were, by nature, simple, but as their popularity grew and people wanted more fidelity to the original subject, the parts counts grew, and grew, and grew. A funny thing happened with car kits, though–originally, bodies were multiple piece affairs since the molding technology of the day was limited in what it could do. With the development of better detailed and more complex parts came slide-mold technology, where parts of the mold actually can be slid into and out of the mold cavity. What this does is allow undercut and concave parts to be molded in one piece and still come out of the mold. Car bodies were some of the first items to benefit–what used to be a four or five part assembly now came in one piece, ready to go. Car kits, as the detail improved, really didn't gain a whole lot in the parts count. Sure, the count did increase as more and more manufacturers started to mold separate exhausts and suspension parts, but that may have added four or five parts to the total, whereas a ship model added fifteen in order to get proper gun houses and turrets with separate gun barrels, or tank kits added six or seven parts by molding separate pioneer tools and periscopes, or airplane kits added detailed cockpits and landing gear wells by adding eight to twelve parts.
Some of the hard-core modeling guys on the forums (forii?) are disappointed in the stock levels of higher quality (and also higher-priced) kits, especially at the chain shops (HobbyTown USA, Hobby Lobby, Michaels, etc.). Something they fail to realize is that the serious modeler, bent on building one of those mythical totally accurate model with all the bells and whistles comprise less than 1% of any hobby shop's clientele. The real meat and potatoes of the sales go to the guy who builds one, maybe two, models a week, not one or two per year. So, shops have to balance what they carry in order to serve the people who are more frequent buyers.
The brick-and-mortar Mom and Pop shops can be a little more variable in what they order, true. And I know this from working at one of those shops. Unfortunately, many of those old shops are dying or have gone the way of the dodo. I don't believe it was any one thing–some went bust because they ran out of money, some went under because the demographics of the area changed. The big reason, though, is because both the hobby and the hobbyist have undergone (and continue to undergo) some fundamental changes.
Let's start with the kits. Since I build airplanes primarily, I'll go with what I know. We'll limit the discussion to static, display only models, since flying models have another set of issues–but there, too, the hobby of flying models has changed greatly, and it follows closely to what I'm about to lay out for you.
In the beginning, there wasn't any such animal. A model was built by finding (or drawing) plans, transferring them to wood, and carving the model. When true kits were made available, they usually contained the plans and blocks of wood. As the kit developed, more and more of the steps were already done–the blocks were roughly shaped, the bulkheads for stick and tissue models were now die-cut, and the strips were already cut, too. Then, along comes plastic. Ask any old-timer, and he'll say that the plastic kit killed the hobby. Apparently not, though, since the plastic kits went from simple shapes to the well-detailed kits we have today. And there lies the rub…
Now, let's take a look at the modeler. To the wood carver, any details he wanted to incorporate into his kits was done by his own hand. If he wanted a detailed cockpit, he built the details using whatever materials he had at hand. The stick-and-tissue builder did the same thing–I've knwn stick and tissue guys who sheeted their models with 1/32 balsa sheet to get the smooth skin seen on metal airplanes. When the first plastic kits appeared, they were simple affairs, so again, any additional details were done by the modeler. Clear canopies? Sure, if you were adept enough to form the (usually) acetate sheet that came in the kit or were able to get some acetate, carve a master, and form said acetate.
As the kits gained in popularity, two things also gained in popularity–accuracy and detail, and these two usually go hand-in-hand. I remember the first Monogram 1/48 scale F4U-4 Corsair I built–while the overall shape of the model wasn't bad for its day, the instrument panel was cut from the decal sheet (another item that follows this same curve, by the way–they've gone from simple national insignia to the full blown sheets we have today) and glued on to a ledge inside the fuselage. The rest of the cockpit consisted of a pilot figure with a pin growing out of his hip. You glued the pin into a socket inside the fuselage. That was it. No seat, no stick, nada. If you wanted the cockpit to have those things, you did it yourself. The Monogram kit dates from the late 1950's, if memory serves–fast forward to the 1970's when Mania produced their own 1/48 scale F4U-4 kit (now in Hasegawa boxes). The shape was good averall, and (gasp!) there was a cockpit. A simple cockpit, to be sure, but there was something to start from. You could add all the little details you wanted to that base. And now, look at the 1990's Corsair kits from Tamiya–earlier variants, to be sure, but the cockpits in those kits are models unto themselves, and the kits themselves have better details than anyone in the 1960s could have imagined. And even with that, some modelers are still not impressed. They want more. With more comes a higher price. And with that higher price comes a reduction in the number of modelers who want or who can afford that level of detail. They'll be content with the older generation of kits.
Another point–kids are not exposed to the hobby the way they once were. I'd wager that the core model building population in this country consists of men in their early to mid 50's with rather large disposable incomes. I'm in my late 40's, and feel like I'm part of the last generation of modelers who remembers kits that didn't fit, weren't well detailed, weren't the variant that you really wanted, but were the only thing you had to work from. While you don't see them often, people (male and female) in their 20's do take up the hobby, but there aren't many of them. (Model railroading has seen a similar demographics shift, and I believe that RC airplanes have, too. Of course, young people flock to the latest generations of RC cars–and once again, we're talking about cars. It is a universal thing–the car is something that everyone can relate to…)
Back to plastics. One trend I'm seeing that I like has been the resurgence of the older kits. Revell have released a bunch of their older kits, along with the Monogram and Matchbox kits they have the rights to. Round 2 Models has brought back a good number of the AMT and MPC kits–and they've even tried to improve some of the older kits by using parts from more recent kits (I refer you to the MPC 1970 Coronet Super Bee as an example–it uses the chassis, interior, and engine from the AMT late 1960's GTX and Road Runner). Lindberg and Hawk models have made a comeback, too.
Perhaps those Hawk "Wierd-Ohs" will do what they once did for the hobby–get kids interested in doing something with their hands. Perhaps dad or grandpa will find those kits, and buy one to build with their kids or grand kids. If not, the older generation will have those kits they remember from their childhood to build again. And maybe they'll even stick them together, paint them, then play with them in the same afternoon–just like they did the first time around.
I saw something this past Friday at the shop that did my heart good–a gentleman and a youngster were looking at car kits. They both picked a subject–the older man had a 1955 Chevy, the youngster had a Hummer–and started asking me about paints and some build tips. I don't know what the relationship was between the two, but is was apparent that they were going to build those models together. I hope their builds were fun. And I hope to see them again. Even of the youn man doesn't pick up the hobby, he was exposed to it–which is all that matters. Hopefully, sometime in the future he'll remember how much fun he had building that Hummer H2, and maybe he'll build a model with his kids…
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An update on the new feline unit–Smokey's still confined to the Master Bathroom, but we spend and hour or so with him every couple of hours. He's quite affectionate, but I feel like he's getting cabin fever. Even so, he's adjusted well so far. Speaking of adjusted, Junior, too, has adjusted to the scent of a new critter. Of course, having some Tiger Treats handy doesn't hurt, either–he'll do anything as long as he can mooch some food. I think by the middle of the week, we should be able to let Smokey explore the master bedroom and see what that's all about, and then maybe the following week we can let the two cats chack each other out under the closed door. I'd also like to grant Junior access to the Master Bedroom, since that's where he greets me every morning. We'll play it by ear, but things are going better than expected.
Thanks for reading. Be good to one another. I bid you Peace.