Current HO Model Railroad Hobby Versus Other Building Hobby

[Great-Northern-Willmar Div]

Besides trains, I enjoy plastic model kits too, especially classic Chevrolet's.

Here is an AMT/Ertl 1964 Chevrolet Impala SS. They can be bought for about $10 to $15.

The basic kit is now getting old but is still not too bad. Especially when you consider the price.












Nice detail on the firewall and engine. Exhaust is molded on as is the suspension. As far as being correct, the dash is wrong. This is a 409 with four on the floor or a four speed manual transmission. That said, the dash should have a tachometer just above the steering wheel. The seats are a good representation of a 64 SS bucket. Door panels are correct. Body is correct. The one piece headlight/grille/bumper is clunky.

Here are some of the detail parts currently available to dress up this or any other car model.

Flock for your carpet or upholstery.



Muffler clamps and hardware




Engine detail etchings like oil caps and thermostat necks



Radiator hose. I'm sure they make heater hose too.



Ignition wires.




Actual aluminum billet wheels for your muscle car!




Products to insure a real mirror like finish to your paint.










A product to have perfect chrome.




Etchings specifically for the AMT Impala SS. Etched grille, hub cap centers, console plate, rear speaker, and a pile more.





All told you can invest a lot of money building that $15 kit.

We constantly hash over that younger people are not taking up model railroading. Some say it is too expensive. Well a $15 kit plus the paint isn't a great investment. Yet, when you go on the model car forums, the people building these cars are about the same age as model railroaders. Guess what? They also lament that young people are not building car, boat, armor, trucking, etc. kits. So even though HO has become nearly 100% RTR and has $300 locomotives and $97 freight and passenger cars, even a low entry point like plastic car kits is not attracting many young newbies either. The days of a kid taking his allowance and buying a kit at the local store isn't happening very much anymore. I'll bet kids spend the allowance on phone apps and games, long before they'd hunker down for hours painting and assembling even a $15 car kit.

[calzephyr]

Jim
Looks like a nice kit and with all of the additional details, a lot of work. It should be very nice.
Are you considering adding lights by using LED's?

I use the Bare Metal foil for a lot of different items and it is really good for chrome on cars.

Larry

[onequiknova]

I've got a couple half built car kits here. A Lindberg 1966 Chevelle, and an AMT 72 Nova, which incidentally, I have the 1 to 1 of each out in the garage. (well my Nova is a 74, but no one is going to make a model of that) The model car aftermarket is huge, as you've shown. I've got resin aftermarket wheels, cowl hood and various engine parts to try to replicate my Nova as close as I can. I used a kit to put a vinyl top on the Chevelle, which basically consisted of some black painted masking tape. (got duped on that one) Those etched detail kits that are made for the specific model you're working on are a must.

[atsfan]

The detail marketplace for plastic models is amazing.
I have a small stash of armor kits I,work on.
Lots of fun assembling them.

[Great-Northern-Willmar Div]

Wow, small world, where others that are model railroaders are also car, armor, etc. kits fans. I'll bet there are kit and custom builders that are also interested in trains.

I don't want to sound like the old curmudgeon yelling at the kids to "get off the grass", but models and model building must be a generational thing. When I was young, up until about high school, building model kits was done by most every boy. We also played baseball, football, basketball, street hockey and ice hockey. We didn't have computers, video games(they were just starting like Atari) and cell phones which are now nothing more than hand held computers that can also place a phone call.

I frequent a site which is 100% Chevrolet, the real cars and trucks, and at nearly the double nickle in age, I'm a youngster! I know cars are expensive, I used to own a small fleet of 1960's full-size Chevy's. But, there are very few young people interested in restoring a 1965 Impala Super Sport, 69 Chevelle SS or Chevy pick-up.

So maybe the answer to why model railroading isn't drawing in a good flow of young new blood, is because it is a generational issue.  

[onequiknova]

Well, I'm not exactly a young buck anymore at 37, at least in your context, but all my gear head friends and I grew up loving 60/70s's muscle. We still do.

[alcoc430]

In the photos there is detail master. "Micro-mesh" is that a good scale for model railroading purposes such as screening for Loco grills etc?

[cf7]

I also build them for a change of pace and I have a decent stash of them just waiting on me. In fact, I have dismantled my layout in my garage room so I can build a smaller layout to make room for some car models.

FWIW, my first car was a '68 Camaro SS that I kept for 21 years. After doing everything I wanted to do to it several times, it just began to collect dust in the garage. So, I sold it. I do plan on another project car if I can decide what it is I want to build.

Oh...I also have a few armor kits and around 90, 1/72 airplane kits. Anyone want buy any airplanes?

[tdspeedracer]

I used to build them when I was younger. The last two I built was a model of my dads s-10 pick-up, and Dale Sr's Monte Carlo. I know I used some stainless grills on the race car that I picked up from Palatine Hobby. I'm guessing that would have been 1997?

When I was little the 4h booth at the fair had 100+ models. Last I bothered to look there were probably 15 entries. Most were legos, and couple were even open the box die cast.

Trevor

[Deleted]

It would not take much for me to drop trains and go back to WWII AFV's. With all the finely detailed parts available for AFV's, it is very attractive to me. But all my friends are into model trains, it makes it easy to stay. I've had to fight off the urge to buy armor kits. Especially with the new ones out with all the incredibly fine detail casted into them.

Brian

[mlehman]

Interesting topic, Jim.

I dabble in aircraft, because I like flying them above the layout. I tend to stick to scales smaller than HO, as that helps keep things in perspective, but do wander all the way up to 1:48 from time to time.

Our LHS carries a lot of scratch and dent stuff they get from Horizon and I peek in to see what issues may be present. I thought this C-124 looked complete, but it turned out the vertical stabilizer was missing, so I had to make my own. I also added some radio antennas and "spinning" props. They were sure homely, but still made quite an impression when I got to stroll through them a few times on Armed Forces Day down at dad's "office."