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Been a lot of reflection on the "End of Revell and Monogram" since Saturday.

 

But if you only had a staff of 15 folks, hasn't kit creation in the US been gone a long time?

 

Japan has Hasagawa and Tamyia.  China Trumpter/Hobbyboss.  UK has Arfix for now.  

 

Plus a bunch of others (Dragon, Kinetic, KittyHawk ect)

 

US Based has been gone a long time.

 

15, really?

 

 

"1. All Revell US operations ceased on Friday, April 13. The Illinois offices were closed and 15 people lost their jobs."

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Working in a modelkit factory or marketing department must be great. Loosing your job there is a loss.

So, do the vintage US Revell kits get more attention in the future?

Edited by cag_200
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I cut my modeling teeth on Revell and Monogram USA kits back in the 70's. Great kits and I still have many in my stash. Time moves on but I'll still miss having a U.S. presence (no matter how small it was) in Revell.

Related image

 

:worship:

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I think the problem with the US kit companies is that they decided to build for the low budget modeler and producing less than great kits.  Less than great is a huge understatement.   Look at Hasegawa, Tamiya, Hobby Boss and many others who build very detailed good fitting kits. Yeah they are a little more pricey but you get what you pay for.  The last Revell aircraft kit I bought still had raised panel lines and almost no detail, and took a half a tube of putty to build.  Revell hasn't come out with a really new kit in decades.  Other than nostalgia, I won't miss them.

Edited by Roberto123
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6 hours ago, DrGlueblob said:

I guess it all comes down to what you like vs. what you can afford/are willing to pay.

I myself don't mind extra work.. If I didn't like modeling, I'd buy a premade diecast.

Don't get me wrong, I enjoy modeling but I do like a model to look somewhat like the real thing when I'm done and I really don't want to spend a year building one.  I enjoy driving but I don't really want to be stuck driving a model T.

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On 4/19/2018 at 5:21 PM, Roberto123 said:

I think the problem with the US kit companies is that they decided to build for the low budget modeler and producing less than great kits.  Less than great is a huge understatement.   Look at Hasegawa, Tamiya, Hobby Boss and many others who build very detailed good fitting kits. Yeah they are a little more pricey but you get what you pay for.  The last Revell aircraft kit I bought still had raised panel lines and almost no detail, and took a half a tube of putty to build.  Revell hasn't come out with a really new kit in decades.  Other than nostalgia, I won't miss them.

 

Actually, Revell USA was still quite active in the model car scene before its demise. Revell USA didn't have any capital to invest in development and innovation for things other than car models IMO, and new tools from them were few and far between in that market as well. As we all know, their parent company wasn't doing any better. Revell USA was crippled from a lack of funding and had little space to grow.

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I think there is a more basic reason why the companies are having trouble.  I belong to two model clubs here and the members are mostly older guys.  It seems that fewer young folks are getting into modeling these days, too interested in other things I guess. It's hard to build a kit while you're busy texting..   The model kit building base is shrinking to the point that there may be no interest in the hobby in a few years. 

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Bingo, you hit the nail on the head! My generation, baby boomers, were introduced

to modeling from people fresh out of WWII and Korea. There was no computers,

cell phones, video games just your hands and imagination. That's all dead and gone.

I have 3 boys ages 27 to 43 and NONE build models, they have the talent but NOT the

interest. As far as I am concerned, except for a very small crowd, plastic scale modeling

as a hobby will die with my generation.---John

Edited by john53
grammar
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John53,  

I come from the same idea, my father encouraged me to model during the space race days, and I have had the bug ever since.  Always circling back to the hobby.

 

I don't think it is just necessarily computers.  I feel that as time has gone by, less and less folks are doing ANYTHING with their hands, like automotive work, wood work and our favorite hobby.  This also reminds me of a quote from one of my college professors (ironically, electrical engineeing wise, his initals were jwL):

 

"when I (the professor speaking) went to college, there were 10 engineering students to every law student, now (back in the mid '80s) there are 10 law students to every engineer".

 

It was intended to be motivational, but also in hindsight, a bit of a warning.  

 

So, I feel that your comments about the hobby are just a touch off.  I hate to say it, but I feel that the hobby will die IN THE USA as the baby boomers die out.  As such,  I think it is natural that Revell Monogram USA has been dying the slow death it has been over the past 30 or so years.   

 

However, we get to experience the hobby at it's quality pinnacle, as it seems that other countries have taken the baton and truly run with it!  

 

Truly it is a golden age.

 

 

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The desire to build and makes things is still there among people of all ages but its just evolved. Its not just plastic modeling that isn't as popular but even other building mediums like Lego are feeling the pinch (add to that knitting, painting and other pastimes). Many people now build virtual things with their brains,  especially the younger folks. Hobbies morph and change. Wooden modeling like ships and balsa aren't what they used to be, with plastic overtaking them back in the 50's and 60's (yet some still build in wood). Plastic has been slowly overtaken by whatever the latest virtual program/game is (yet decades from now some will still build in plastic). And the cycle will continue. Sad yes, but time moves on. Heck, one of the hottest games right now is Fortnite where players have to harvest wood, bricks/rocks/concrete, and steel from the landscape to make things out of using blueprints of walls, floors, stairs/inclines and pyramids to help them survive and win the game. Its bloody hard! I can build and complete a 1/35 Tamiya Tiger I in a couple of weeks but I can't make a virtual wall in a couple of seconds to save my virtual life LOL!

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If this dying modeling trend continues I just hope that it goes that it goes down the same path as the vinyl record. Remember when CD's came out and everyone said that they were the best thing ever? I haven't been able to find a CD in a store in five years and vinyl record stores are popping up everywhere. Unfortunately I'm not too confident that this will happen. Fingers crossed. 

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CF18, I don't necessarily think modeling is dying, I think it is fading here in North America.  Where are the kits produced?  Where is the aftermarket produced?

 

It would be intriguing to see kit demographics on the eastern side of the asian rim.  It seems to me that gundam has kept a bigger portion of younger folks in japan interested in the hobby. 

 

Nothing like that on the same scale seems to be promoted/popular here in the USA. 

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I think you are right, I keep hearing it's big in Asia and Eastern Europe. Maybe

that's why Tamiya caters to it's home crowd, not a big customer demand here.

Also you're right about building anything, I was a steel worker for many years

in the 70s, that went out fast, the steel plants are closed, even if they re open

their technology is way behind. A service country? Servicing what? Oh well

all I can do is hang on for the ride and try to enjoy retirement.---John

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I agree that scale modelling (all subjects) is pretty much dead or fading in the USA.

 

Although people who like toys often point to video games for any crisis in the toy industry, there has never been any concrete proof of this AFAIK.

Others blame toymakers' poor marketing on and off social media for decreasing sales; the same could be said for model kit companies.

 

I believe the daunting task of putting together a model kit and the fact that good kits (not Revell USA) are expensive and not accessible puts off a lot of would-be modelers. Gundam makes cash in Asia because the kits are good, easy to build, cheap, and available in every major toy store but even people in that market lament losing younger modelers.

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 I have 3 nephews-one pushing 30 and the youngest will graduate high school next year. Two got into scale modeling, the third got into R/C in a big way. The youngest confided in my sister a few years ago that he wished the kits I was buying him for Christmas were more "detailed" (harder to build)... I was sorely tempted to get him a Hasegawa Tomcat but OTOH I wanted him to still talk to me.

 

 Show of hands-how many of you left the hobby for a time to pursue girls or an education or military service or career or family, only to pick it back up again after life settled down?

 

 I don't buy "the hobby is dying" for a minute.

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