Something has been niggling away at me for sometime.
Models are getting just too damn expensive!!
Ok, so you can go on Ebay and get the odd bargain. But as a whole new prices are much the same as your local shop when postage is accounted for.
I am in my fourties now and can clearly remember buying the Airfix 1/48 Lancaster out of my pocket money as a 10 year old kid.
I remember it being huge and awesome (it didnt get painted, but i had fun with it all the same. I also remember filling it with bangers the following bonfire night and blowing it to smithereens
As a whole we complain that kids arent getting into modelling as in the heydays of the 60's and 70's. I feel it partly the manufacturers fault.
Airfix are about to launch the biggest release of the last 30 years. The all new Mosquito 1/24 scale. It's big, it's been designed usung the latest technology and will apparently be comparable in quality to its asian counterparts.
However, it is £130.
I am using this as an example of industry ignorance of what the next generation of potential modellers want and can afford.
In the face of a massive economic downturn and therefore less disposable income for the majority of us, i find it odd that a company with an incredibly rocky history over the last 20 years, can release a new model aimed at the modelling elite.
I have kids that i am trying to get into modelling. My son has a choice with his pocket money. Taking the Mozzie as the example. He can save for 14 weeks to buy the mozzie, or in half that time buy three full price Xbox 360 games which cost 50 times the development and production costs of the mozzie.
Modelling used to be a comparatively cheap hobby. As kids we would build and play with the models we had built. It didnt matter if we broke or blew them up on bonfire night, it was affordable and fun.
I realise i have picked on an extreme example with the mozzie. So consider this, on average a basic 1/72 model of of decent size and "playabillity" for kids is around the £10-£15 mark plus paints and glue. This is still twice the average weekly pocket money for kids.
I feel kits are way, way overpriced. Development can cost a lot of money for each new release, i understand this. It is also unwise, in a crowded marketplace, uncertain economic future, and declining, ageing customer base to continue to release new models at inflated prices. The plastic and paperwork cost pennies not pounds at cost.
Models were also stocking fillers back in the day. My first ever mdoel was a stocking filler. It was put to one side on christmas day, i'd much rather play with my action man tank! but on one bored afternoon a few weeks later i picked it up and built it.
Thats how it starts, OPPORTUNITY.
Models are getting just too damn expensive!!
Ok, so you can go on Ebay and get the odd bargain. But as a whole new prices are much the same as your local shop when postage is accounted for.
I am in my fourties now and can clearly remember buying the Airfix 1/48 Lancaster out of my pocket money as a 10 year old kid.
I remember it being huge and awesome (it didnt get painted, but i had fun with it all the same. I also remember filling it with bangers the following bonfire night and blowing it to smithereens
As a whole we complain that kids arent getting into modelling as in the heydays of the 60's and 70's. I feel it partly the manufacturers fault.
Airfix are about to launch the biggest release of the last 30 years. The all new Mosquito 1/24 scale. It's big, it's been designed usung the latest technology and will apparently be comparable in quality to its asian counterparts.
However, it is £130.
I am using this as an example of industry ignorance of what the next generation of potential modellers want and can afford.
In the face of a massive economic downturn and therefore less disposable income for the majority of us, i find it odd that a company with an incredibly rocky history over the last 20 years, can release a new model aimed at the modelling elite.
I have kids that i am trying to get into modelling. My son has a choice with his pocket money. Taking the Mozzie as the example. He can save for 14 weeks to buy the mozzie, or in half that time buy three full price Xbox 360 games which cost 50 times the development and production costs of the mozzie.
Modelling used to be a comparatively cheap hobby. As kids we would build and play with the models we had built. It didnt matter if we broke or blew them up on bonfire night, it was affordable and fun.
I realise i have picked on an extreme example with the mozzie. So consider this, on average a basic 1/72 model of of decent size and "playabillity" for kids is around the £10-£15 mark plus paints and glue. This is still twice the average weekly pocket money for kids.
I feel kits are way, way overpriced. Development can cost a lot of money for each new release, i understand this. It is also unwise, in a crowded marketplace, uncertain economic future, and declining, ageing customer base to continue to release new models at inflated prices. The plastic and paperwork cost pennies not pounds at cost.
Models were also stocking fillers back in the day. My first ever mdoel was a stocking filler. It was put to one side on christmas day, i'd much rather play with my action man tank! but on one bored afternoon a few weeks later i picked it up and built it.
Thats how it starts, OPPORTUNITY.
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