The unthinkable is about to happen!!!

Better engineering? It's not as bad as the old days of Airfix, when the sprue was the size of a sapling, but those HobbyBoss one piece fuselage kits--is that slide molding?--may be the way to go. Nearly all of that sprue goes in the trash anyway.

Reply to
tomcervo
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"The hobby is about to die"? Again? How many times over the last twenty years have we heard that?Back in 1985 when we produced the first Encyclopedia of 1/72 Scale Models we published the first list of the subject. In the first sixty years the industry had produced over

5,900 kits and models just in this scale. Today the ESM 72 database for aircraft alone stands at 16,275. There are many, many times more kits and models on the market than ever before. Of course after market kits have not been around all that long, but there are hundreds and hundreds of these. Figures now number in the thousands, decals and all other catagories have all born huge crops in the last twenty-three years.What has essentially come close to expiring is the American manufacturer's nich in the market. The few companies still in the market produce very little every year. Even the Asian producers pale when compared to the real powerhouse in kit manufacturing:Eastern Europe. Their resin kits alone come out in the dozens every year and their injection molded kits are state of the art. So, unless you buy only American and Japanese made kits things are going great. The prices go up and up, but then they always have. I have articles from magazines in the 1960's complaining of the huge price increases and even more angry and worried comments from the 1970's. Even then we had the slogan "TGFTS", Thank God For The Stash".Of course "stash" meant something quite different then. If you think that the price of kits has increased too much, look at the price of that other "stash".Tom=A0On Aug 15, 7:42=A0am, tomcervo wrote:> On Aug 15, 6:30 am, The Old Man wrote:> > > > > > > On Aug 14, 10:23 pm, Bill Shuey wrote:> > > > On 11 Jul, 19:53, tomcervo wrote:> > > > > From MM:> > > >

"Hasegawa has announced a 30% price increase on all products after 1>

so far> > > > unknown. This is from the manufacturer and not the importer or> > > > distributors."> > > > > The unthinkable is about to happen. I'm going to have to start> > > > building the stuff in my stash.> > > > I figure it's simply a case of Tamigawa seeing the outrageous prices> > > being asked by Trumpeter and figuring "if they can do it so can we"! I> > > doubt the price of oil has effected the cost of the kit, the cost of> > > shipping, maybe.> > > > Bill Shuey>

morning> > after my monthly retirement breakfast and found his shelves to be> > nearly bare of kits. The model railroad stuff, the RCs, the model> > rockets and the collectables are all fully stocked, but not the> > plastic. I asked one of the clerks and he told me that his boss (one> > of the owners) is trying to find more affordable suppliers.- Hide quoted text -> > > - Show quoted text -> > Better engineering?>

It's not as bad as the old days of Airfix, when the sprue was the size> of a sapling, but those HobbyBoss one piece fuselage kits--is that> slide molding?--may be the way to go. Nearly all of that sprue goes in> the trash anyway.- Hide quoted text -> > - Show quoted text -

Reply to
maiesm72

There is one negative aspect that I do agree with. Kids.

IPMS Santa Rosa has, over the past two or three years, introduced hundreds of kids to the "Make & Take" program. This year we are not doing the gig at the Wings Over Wine Country air show. The reason: Not one single new member, kids or adults, resulted from the the program.

I picked up inexpensive kits at the club auction or kits that I won in the raffles and gave them to a few of the kids in our neighborhood. They would love to go to a meeting, but Petaluma, where our meetings are held, is just too far away for their parents. At least two of the "kids" asked for kits and supplies to be sent to them when they enlisted in the USMC last year and they are still building now that they are home for awhile (and their garage band has gotten really good!).

I think that many of us are trying to get more younger members, but the competition has become even more tight with the internet, etc.

Tom

tomcervo wrote:> > > > > From MM:> > > >

That may be so, but I visited my brick 'n' mortar yesterday

Reply to
maiesm72

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