What's going to be the next big thing in modelling?

Scale riggin material that takes paint, glues well, sags in scale yet isn't so fragile a gnat fart will break it.

a well designed USS Enterprise that won't have droopy nacelles or saucer so we won't have to buy a $90 piece of metal to hold things in place.

a return to simpler models would be nicer too. Dragon's WWII 4 figure set with over 200 pieces? Not goin' there

Craig

The biggest problem/shortcoming that I see is in the US model makers - AMT/ERTL and Revell/Monogram. If they continue to use the same old molds and reissuing the same models with the same faults that have been brought to their attention time after time, we can see them going bye bye. I think the last time I bought one of their models was about two years ago, and the quality was what I expected

- NONE. Will they bring the manufacturing of models back to the US - no - why pay an American worker $15 an hour when you can pay a Mexican or Chinese $15 a week, then sell the model for the same price.

What would surprise the heck out of me and I think would be the next big thing in modeling is that AMT/ERTL and Revell/Monogram would come out with new tooling for the same old crap they have been selling for the past 20 plus years. Take for example AMT's 1940 Ford Tudor, you can dress a pig however you want, but after all he is still a pig at heart.

My two cents.

Ray Austin, TX ===

Which also floats in space against a moving star background.

(kim)

The word or term is R.O.I. or Return on Investment. I agree with you on the same old stuff... However, if a company cannot make a resonable profit on its investment why do it. I am in the business to make enough money to live...as are they. They do pay a workforce, and once you cannot pay them you are in trouble. A company without people is not a company. Our hobby is ill, the market share is shrinking, ask any hobby store owner, plastics are way down. I was told by one owner plastics made up 30% of the revenue, now it might be 5% or less. The margins are gone as well. You have no cash cows with kits anymore. A popular plane or car that sold for less than $10 and wholesaled at under $5 are gone. Small shops can't afford to stock all the latest releases, especially if they retail over $79.99 Its harder to find sales staff that know anything about a hobby, and if you do they want way more than you can pay...McD's pays better and you work less hours. Manufacturers pull products as soon as they announce a release...if they haven't been able to presell them to distributors in a quanity that will justify the expense of production.

It is a shrinking planet economically...global economy...take the production facilities to those countries where people are willing to do nasty boring work. We have lost many of those high paying jobs here in my area, most are moving to other states luckily. Bottom line...they moved production to states which offered better tax incentives and the cost of labor is cheaper. What does that do for the workers who lost their jobs here...like me...a chance to start my own company or go to school to learn a new way to make money doing boring work for another company. Glad I chose to work for myself, then I have no one to blame but me.

My two cents, now thats four, uncle takes one, leaves us three cents...still a long way to go to even buy a jar of paint. Jerry Neenah, WI

with a built in transporter for when this planet sucks.

Dunno about that. As I've said before, my experience with aircraft is that they spend most of their time sat on the deck, canopy and panels open, with the groundcrew clustered round scratching their heads and muttering "Wot the bloody hell is wrong wiv it *now* ?" So that's how I build 'em...

Not that I disagree with you, because I don't, how the hell did AMT manage to make its run during the late 1950s and early 1960s? They came out each year with a whole new line-up of new cars (the specialty kits were a different issue and re-issue). Their new car line (most of the Ford and GM products) was updated each year with the previous year's issues never being seen again. The box-art was very simple, and IIRC, all identical, with the only indication of what was inside being a simple label pasted to the endpiece. The first few years were curbside; what was the first year that they started adding engines? I seem to recall it being about 1962, but am most likely wrong in that.

I use fly-fishing tippet line. .005 diam. 3 lb. test. CA glues it and acrylic or enamel paint sticks to it. If, after you rig a biplane, ship mast, etc., the lines are not quite taut enough, you can hold the wing, plane, ship, etc. over a heat source, like a halogen lamp, for a few seconds and it tightens right up. If you apply a little pressure on the line when you warm it up as above, it will sag in any direction you push. Hold the pressure after you remove it from the heat and it will stay sagged (unless you heat it up again).

Why would AMT/ERTL want to bring out a new tool '40 Ford to compete with Revell-Monogram's excellent (newish) kit?

Strombecker is back???

an update on the stretched sprew and cigarette trick.

They (and Jo-Han) had a guaranteed market for promotional models from the Big Three and American Motors. Kits were based on the promo tooling, the costs of which were already virtually amortized from the promotional run. The decline in availability of 'annual' kits coincided with the manufacturers' loss of interest in promotional models.

True for the most part since most 'annuals' were done by modifying the previous years' tooling. In cases where entirely new tools had to be made, though, older kits were often reissued and still are to this day. And in some cases multiple tools were used, again allowing the reissue of older kits.

1960, in the Corvette and Thunderbird kits. I _think_ the Ford and Chevy pickup kits had engines as well.

Oh I use tippett from 1X to 7X for rigging, I just don't like it. I also use .003", .005" and .007" stainless wire for short stays or long saggy antenna runs, I still don't like it. I've tried EZ Line and it looks funky.

Which is a terrible material for 1/350 ships.........

The electromagnetic hovering has been done by Revell. Their Fokker Dr.I hovers over a background, tethered to four corners with very fine monofiliment.

You are certainly correct about American manufacturers. Revell, however, has been catering to us 1/72 aircraft and AFV folks with lots of new kits, some replacing their 1960s efforts (Bf 109E, Me 262A, Hurricane), others brand new (Breguet Atlantic, He 177). Some of their armor kits are really state of the art, others are old Matchbox kits. One thing about new Revell stuff, though. It's all from Revell Germany.

Tom

Oh, one other thing:

Have you seen the Easy Model 1/72 aircraft? Built and painted, several variants and color schemes for each aircraft, very nicely done and affordable.

I have been watching two hobby shops who carry these and they are flying off the shelves. Customers are about 60% kids, 40% adults. With the kids it's great as it can get them started. The adults, on the other hand........

Tom (who has picked up eight of them so far and shall probably get every single one eventually).

Downloadable aftermarket decal sets that you print on your own printer. Similar to restricted use such as iTunes, you would only be able to print one set of decals (like limited use protection on songs) and be unable to share the file.

Aeromaster (or whoever) would make free downloads of a program to access the files so that when you download a decal sheet, it would be in the scale that you specify.

Could be a fraction of the cost of conventional aftermarket stuff, and it would *always* be available.

Sound groovy, or what?? Grins... the technology is here now.

--- Stephen

i only used it on ac rigging. the few ships i built had thread or thin wire.