Art & Inspiration Has it REALLY been that long since I bought a model car?

I still have all my models from when I was a kid thanks to Mom saving them for me, found them in the attic when we were getting the house ready to sell after her and Dad had passed away. Since I have retired I have been going thru them and cleaning,restoring and redoing them when its too cold to work on my real cars or I"m not in the mood or there is nothing on TV. It is relaxing as hell and it really takes me back in time, although I find 65 year old hands and eyes make it alot more difficult than it was back in the old days. I also have a shit load of unbuilt kits I have picked up over the years but I"ll be damed if I will pay the prices they want these days for a kit. I keep trying to get my grandsons interested in building models but like has been brought up here the cost makes it tuff on a kid with limited bucks to be able to buy the kits, plus all the video games that take so much of their time. My wife keeps telling me I live in the past, I tell her let the world and all the high tech bullshit go on around me, I like the old shit!

 

Used to be $1.49 when I was a kid. I guess I'm into bigger toys now, but I try not to pay $20 for anything that's plastic. That price is 1965 is about $11.22 today, so $30.00 is a big rip off. You cannot tell me that modern plastic forming techniques and computer design make it more expensive to make a model today.

 

When I saw the title of this thread, my first thought was I haven't done one since the seventies - it would be cool again. But I don't think I could stomach $30 for kits.

I really wish I'd had the forethought to keep my kits, and better yet the huge box of pieces and parts I'd amassed. I don't think I ever assembled one as intended. (Big surprise for a HAMB'r)

Used to buy in the $3-5.00 range from the long gone Gateway Hobby Shop in Ft Lauderdale. Even won their annual model car contest with a funky VW Beetle that I cut into a flat bed beer hauler. Wish I had that model, or even a photo.

 

I haven't built one since the 80's, but when I did I would scour hot rod magazines and Super Chevy and Hemmings friggin' phone books that passed as a magazine, for details which I would meticulously recreate. My cars would have the orange speedo needle painted on, with an eyebrow hair. I used to buy the really cool and off the wall stuff by JoHann at a place called War in Pieces in West Hartford , CT. Probably long gone...

I was really good at it, too bad I left it behind, it probably could have become a career. But my other hobbies of beer and pussy took precedent, oh well.

 

I started buying them in 1973 for $2.00 each. You could buy a new VW Beetle (the real car) for $1,999. Today a new beetle costs $19,795. So, a new model car kit should cost $20. right?

yeah, $30 for a model car kit is a ripoff.

 

I think the last models I bought were up at an outlet store in Dyersville Iowa. The boxes were a little damaged but I didn't care about that. They were cheap and there were quite a few of them that I liked so I bought a bunch of them. I still have some that I haven't even opened yet. I've been wanting to get back up there one of these days for another haul but I read that things are not the same up there now. My brother has come through for me though as he has bought me some cool ones for my birthday and Christmas and such.

 

One of my high school jobs was working at a toy / hobby store around 1964-65. Your basic 1/25th AMT 3n1 kits were $1.00 retail and the store discounted them to 88 cents. Testor's glue was 10 cents, bottle paint 10-15 cents (rarely used that enamel junk) and their spray cans were 39 cents. I also worked at a Burger King and a Whopper was the same, 39 cents. So... today's plastic is a total rip off. If you just want a model of a car, get a diecast. But if you want to build / bash / customize, plastic is great. I only do 1/8th scale these days, easier on the eyes and bashing is much more like working on 1:1 cars. Big trouble with 1/8th is that there aren't many body style to choose from. But if you like buckets and 32s, your in. Gary

 

I might be able to offer a few snipperts of info here..........I have been building models since about 1962 and model cars since about 1966..........I discovered they had rubber tyres and chrome bits.......yippee............lol.......and in 1996 I opened my own model shop, specialising in plastic car, trucks, bikes and planes, no R/C, dolls, trains games or toys called Scale Automobilia www.scaleautomobilia.com.au and unfortunately due to a general downturn in the economy closed the shop Saturday 13th March.
When you complain about the price of a model now compared to what it was 20, 30 or 50 yrs ago consider this.........50 yrs ago what was the price of fuel? as compared to a model kit?..........why?........because your model kit is essentiually just a solid form of fuel........and so the increase in fuel costs can be reflected in the increased cost of a model kit............what else should you consider..........try these facts..........
.......there are a lot less modellers around now, 50 yrs ago just about every kid had made or was making model kits, now most kids spend their time in front of a screen, TV or computer, they have taken the place of models to a large extent and consequently resulted in a much reduced market........very few NEW KITS released now would generate more than 10,000 in sales, yet 50 yrs ago it was quite common to see model car kit sales of over 50,000, even 100,000 per production run........this difference in production means that to cover the cost the price invariably will be higher.
........other costs that you may not be aware of include the fact that most 1/25th scale car kits up until the 70's and 80's were initially released as "Promo's" ............and the cost of these was mainly covered by the 1:1 scale car companies so that these promos could be given out at the new car release of Ford, GM's and Mopar's dealerships.....then the tooling was used to make the actual model kits with both the stock and "custom, drag and hop up parts included that were paid for by the 1:1 companies...............promos are no way near as popular or widespread as they used to be which will affect the cost of new kit tooling.
.......Years ago the model companies when approaching the 1:1 scale company to get details, sizes etc of the new car to make a model would have been thanked for offering this service..............now the 1st port of call is the the car companies Legal Department who then advise what the "Licence Agreement" will cost...........which has a huge impact on the cost of a model kit........don't believe me?.........ask yourself why some model companies no longer have model tyres with the correct sidewall lettering shown, in fact they have NO sidewall lettering in a lot of cases..........or those which do have this info are now a little bit dearer than they used to be.............that whitewall lettering has to be paid by someone?..........
Oh.......and why are there virtually no current race cars.............when the model companies have approached "Fred Nerks" and asked him if they could do a MODEL KIT of his current race car........guess what he said......"why sure...........I want 10.00 per item licencing fee, that's what the WhoFlungDung Diecast Model Company said they'll pay for the $100.00 diecrap model, so that's what you guys can pay..........oh.........your plastic model kit will have to retail at $50.00, well, gee that's too bad"
........I could go on, here in Oz when I opened the shop in Oct 1996 the standard AMT/Revell car kit I sold for $15-22.00...........the last lot of AMT/Revell kits I put on the shelf late last year were selling for $45-60.00........and my margins had not increased in 19yrs...........
..........oh and when was the last time you saw a model kit on sale in the large department stores?..........another market that's gone for the kit manufacturers...........

so that my 2 cents worth.........Andy Douglas
..........

 

Way too expensive for explosive practice these days....
Some of my cars survived. All ships went to the bottom.

 

...............I appreciate your insight into the industry and I agree with almost everything you've said. I just don't think that "most" of the kits prior to the 70's and 80's started out as promos. Lots of them were for sure but, all of those dozens of '40 Fords and '32 Fords, all of the specialty kits like the Ala Kart/ '29 Roadster double, the Double Dragster kit, all of the show-car kits like the "Lil' Coffin", etc. that I built back then surely did not. Thanks.

 

Haha, you guys are old! Wait, so am I. Michaels arts and craft stores has a 50% off coupon.

 

Sure the show rods and hot rod models didn't start out as promos but using the Ala Kart as an example, the general scuttlebutt is that around 500,000 or more of this kit was produced as the Ala Kart and then there were the various modified reissues..........the new tooled version that came out in the late 90's, early 2000's would have been lucky to have had 20,000 produced due to the much reduced market and that kit also had its detractors due to the fact that AMT was sold to those wonderful purveyors of modelling, Racing Champions who sacked all the design and associated technical staff and proceeded to reissue AMT kits in possibly the worst box art ever................the Ala Kart being retooled with a dubious sized engine, incorrect decal colours and wrong shaped Model A cowl certainly didn't help recruit more modelling fans(HOW could they stuff up the shape of a Model A Ford cowl........right, there were only 5million odd Model A's made, musta been hard to find the right shape...lol).............when I mentioned the promo basis of the kits I was referring to the production based cars from the mid 50's onwards..........anyway give the model companys a little slack..........whilst there certainly have been some wonderful new releases over the past 10-15 yrs its been mainly as a response to the aging modellers request for models of cars that had not been done in the past and are usually of a fairly limited release...........the main thing is to support your model retailer however they present the kit to you..........andyd

 

Hay! one of the advantages of being old is that I brought lots of models when they were cheap. Down side I'll never get them all built. Sorry for double pics I'm also to old to see the little pics when I tried to post them lol

 

Ron.......the main thing is to open each box and glue the first two bits you see together...........then you are still a modeller, not just a collector........lol..........a tube of glue, a Stanley knife, a can of Humbrol paint and a 1/2" wide brush......no model is safe while I'm around.......lol..........andyd

 

And I hope you ride that dragster bike thru the house!............lol.......................andyd

 

All I can say, Ron, is that you better get busy.

 

Thanks for the insight Andy, sheds some light on the subject.

Ron, your gonna need more GLUE!!

Who else used a candle to soften the plastic to replicate damage on a dirt track stock car?

 

I have around 600 inbuilt kits. All makes all models and all for sale.

Sent from my SM-N910V using H.A.M.B. mobile app

 

Get you BIG model finished, Fred.

 

Gee Ron,everytime I get on here I see one of your posts I have not seen before and I have enjoyed them all,keep them coming.

 

............You win!

 

Andy - very well said . Thanks !
It certainly is not a cheap hobby anymore , but what one is ? The winters are long & cold here in NY , and the 2 or 3 kits that I build per winter help me get through it . I have been building models since 1963 , so I guess it is probably an addiction for me , like the 1:1 vehicles .
Like others , I find it fun and very relaxing .

 

TFF, here ya go!
http://www.hobbylobby.com/find-savings/weekly-ad

 

yeah, 3wlarry, but $5/hour was beaucoup money back then!

 

"I remember when I we had to cut down a tree and whittle it into a stage coach ( with big'n'littles)"

 

I appreciate the responses outlining why costs are now roughly 30 times what they were when I was a kid. I now also make about 30 times what I did when I was building models as a kid, but I am not going to spend $30 on a box of plastic bits-guess I'll look for sales and auctions.

 

I thought I was the only one that did the candle thing. And yes model glue is my drug of choice. here's a couple that I used a candle on Ron...

 

Outstanding work Ron, your displays are really fun to check out. Closer you look, the more details you find!
(Looks like that shoebox took a pretty good lick!)

 

Here's another funny STORY. The 49 Ford in the photo, is one that I did in grade school. One day when I came home from school it was missing. I ask my mom if she new what happen to it. She was pretty mad at me, and she said, that she had threw it in the trash. What I had done was put a little rubber man in it with his head threw the windshield . Then I cut my finger and put blood on him and down the door. At the time my parents burnt their trash in a 55 gallon drum in our back yard. I went out and dug threw it, until I found it. I took the little man out, said I was sorry. And she let me keep it. But that I shouldn't do any more like that. I've taught my grandson how to melt models now. ha. ha. Ron...

 

Great story, Ron.