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Post by Brandon on May 21, 2013 11:02:43 GMT -6
Today my middle kid turned 11, and this week he, his 12-year-old brother, and I have been on a model building spree. They were running low on paint and glue, and I took them to Michaels and let them each pick out a kit... well, TRY and pick out a kit. Here are two potential regular customers, excited young kids, full of energy and creativity, and taking pride in establishing their own independence and making decisions for themselves, and in front of them is a wall of "boring" musclecars with stock wheels, factory hubcaps, and painted engine lumps under pie-pan air cleaners.
These kids want action. These kids want excitement. They don't care if it's a 440 six pack or a rat motor, they want options, chrome, and hood scoops. they want mag wheels and colorful decals that suggest the car is even faster. They want to decide to raise or lower the suspension, add a roll bar, headers, and slicks.
Gone. All of it.
In the fine print on the sides there is a mention of an optional build style, but the box screams mundane. Not even a secondary picture of the possibilites to inspire a purchase. Many of these kits I built as a kid myself, so I have to stand there and tell them:" This one has a tunnel ram, should still have the centerlines.. this one has a spoiler and a cool drag package." Most of the re-issued AMT stuff has the optional gear. We'd like to see it... A COPO nova in dog dishes isn't half as exciting to a 11-year-old as a Super Stock drag version with decals...
That's what hooked all of us as kids, and that's what's missing today... the "focus group" shouldn't be adult collectors who have lost their spark, it should be excited kids who want action. At $20 a kit, a secondary picture in the optional version should at least be on the side panel. 3-n-1 is what made the model car revolution, and the lack thereof is killing it.
Thank you.
*rant off*
LOL.
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Post by donculley on May 21, 2013 11:29:46 GMT -6
Totally agree with you Brandon ! On top of the boring looking stock cars pictured ,the builds themselves were downright awful- no painted trim, grilles all chrome with no black out, no white lettering painted on the tires, etc. Even the custom car box builds were dull. Look at some of the late AMT kits and you'd agree !
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Post by Brandon on May 21, 2013 11:49:37 GMT -6
All I know is that if model cars were my business, I'd hire somebody other than "underwear catalog graphic artists" who don't know anything about the car culture to handle my attention-getting box fronts... They are supposed to inspire a purchase, not glaze the eyeball over.
And the freakin' screw together diecasts! Since when is a chromed version of a Magnum 500 a hopped up option when the gray ones are right beside it?? Two sets of *identical stock wheels*, one chrome, one not. WTF??? Mags are what made muscle cars great. Wheels and tires are everything. I've bought kits just for the wheels.
Lame.
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Post by koffinbuilder64 on May 21, 2013 13:59:55 GMT -6
I totally agree with ya Brandon!!! The state of our hobby (as far as the mfgrs. are concerned) has gone way south the last few yrs. It seems that 'boring' is the new 'normal'. Sickining.
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Post by Starry Eyes on May 21, 2013 15:21:27 GMT -6
Diecast.. sorry folks but there's NOTHING creative about a PRE-PAINTED - SCREW /SNAP TOGETHER - "ONE SIZE FITS ALL" diecast.. I totally agree Brandon.. that's why I've bought OOP's for the last 20 years and YES I have let me grandkids build a few ... ,and YES they LOVE decals, and DIFFERENT WHEELS, AND MOTOR OPTIONS !!... What kind of "skill" is required to screw together a diecast that's already painted by a machine.. with instructions that TELL YOU how to build YOUR model ..( man what a great tropic ).. this is one more reason I jumped the fence and started scratch building what I can .. OPTIONS BABY!! recap : kids want options... : options to help develop decision making, following instruction, develop hand-eye coordination, painting skills, assembly and prep skills then watch their faces glow with pride when the model is finished in a fashion THEY like NOT finished the (only) way the manufacturer's want !! Brandon is 100% correct.. these companies need to retool their kit designing department and art department that shows included OPTIONAL parts.... (setting back in lurk mode) inserted photos are from a building session with each of my grandchildren.. I allowed them to pick out plastic kit they wanted to build.. the rest is history..   |
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Post by eshaver on May 21, 2013 17:02:11 GMT -6
Brandon, I'm with ya ALL DE WAY!!!!!!!!!!! I dunno what the model companies are thinking about these days cause it sure as hell aint customers !
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Post by badroadahead on May 21, 2013 17:48:15 GMT -6
I cannot agree more Brandon!
I remember buying a kit because the artwork was really cool. I knew that I couldn't make it look like the artwork but tried my best to.
Pictures of the different ways the model could be built sounds like good advertising sense to me.
I think they have to put these mundane pictures on the boxes because if they hired an artist someone might sue them for misadvertising what the kit will look like. This way their attorneys are happy.
I say bring back the artists!!!!
Dave
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Post by Brandon on May 21, 2013 18:36:38 GMT -6
Crap, just build another car in the alternate versions and photograph it...
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Post by Paul B. Canney on May 22, 2013 7:21:48 GMT -6
I believe the problem is those advising Revell these days. They keep going back to Ed Sexton who Nascar'd the hell out of the hobby and the likes of that guy who runs Hobby Hell (who stapled me publicly saying the Meyers Manx would be a total waste of time)
Luckily we have an ally in round 2 who isn't afraid to speak up and take chances.
The AMT retro boxes are super sweet. "THEY" get it.
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Post by ShowRodFreak Don V. on May 22, 2013 7:51:09 GMT -6
Hobby Lobby is picking up their slack. Their shelves are looking awesome. It was like walking into a Candy Store.
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Post by eshaver on May 22, 2013 11:19:21 GMT -6
I believe the problem is those advising Revell these days. They keep going back to Ed Sexton who Nascar'd the hell out of the hobby and the likes of that guy who runs Hobby Hell (who stapled me publicly saying the Meyers Manx would be a total waste of time) Luckily we have an ally in round 2 who isn't afraid to speak up and take chances. The AMT retro boxes are super sweet. "THEY" get it. Are you aware that on a certain "Magazine forum, the umtinth KOMANDMENT states than No one of us shall say anything negative about Ed Sexton ............. Hey, I sez what I want . I am at this point disliked on both magazine forums and further told one of them I didn't care if my stuff got published or not . I've been published before , so what is the deal ? |
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Post by donculley on May 22, 2013 12:27:58 GMT -6
Brandon, another way to see how right you are is to look at all the old 3 in 1 builds on Ebay. It seems like all the old annual kits got the custom treatment ; no matter how glued up, garish and butt ugly some looked with all the extras , kids put them on anyway and were proud of their work. Just think, a kid looking at the box art and thinking - stock , custom or drag ? No contest "stock" loses everytime !
As for the great box art of the past ? Well for me, the first two kits I got to build on my own as a kid was the Moon Mixer and Rommels Rod .And I can tell you it was all because of the cool box art !
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Post by Brandon on May 22, 2013 12:40:57 GMT -6
The Round 2 crew is doing the right thing... and I'm not even complaining about lackluster box art... just tell my kid what's in the dang box so he'll get excited enough to buy something. I understand the whole artwork/photograph deal that happened with the mis-representation of the contents, and all that... no big deal. Just for the love of Pete build a second and/or third version and put it on the side of the box.
If the guy building the "photo cars" is a nerd who only likes bone-stock cars, he's in the wrong job and shame on him and everyone else who has sucked the spark out of the hobby. You forget what it was built upon. Grab any old model magazine and look at the contest coverages. Nobody built anything in stock form in large numbers. Cars were exciting, the era was exciting, and kids wanted options and choices... not a sleep inducing promo model... my kids sure don't want any stock models, and the ones they have gotten as gifts have all had wheel swaps and seat upgrades and engine hop ups from the parts stash...
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Post by eshaver on May 22, 2013 13:39:40 GMT -6
When I was coming along, it was A M T "s Styline series kits that grabbed my attention. Yeah, the putty sucked as did the "Cheesey " self stick upholstery. Still, it looked way better than ole Corduroy. I still have my 1961 Ranchero !
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Deleted Member
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Post by Deleted on May 23, 2013 7:54:00 GMT -6
I think we do a decent job. This is the new Model King kit due July. Sean S. is our artist and I did the decals.  |
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Post by Brandon on May 23, 2013 12:45:38 GMT -6
Well sub-contract yourself to Revell and handle the rest of their stuff...  |
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Post by Alan Alexis (stavanzer) on May 23, 2013 13:36:52 GMT -6
Yeah, I can see your point, Brandon.
However some of the recent Revell stuff doesn't HAVE any building options in the box.
One COPO car is all you get. So, you need to buy another kit just to get options.
I have noticed however that some of the Higher priced kits with two options will have a smaller image of the alternate build in the upper left corner.
(see the Hemi Dart, for example)
But, more options would sell more kits I think.
The 3'n'1 kit was AMT's greatest inovation ever, in my opinion.
Sold more of there kits too, and forced the other model companies to play catch up.
I am really waiting for that '57 Ford, Dave. Mine either gets the Dual Carbs from the kit, or the Paxton Blower from the AMT kit.
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Post by Brandon on May 23, 2013 13:45:14 GMT -6
 Alright, here's what I'm talking about, and there was a wall of these... The above is the box art facing my 11 year-old, and the version that he is building, with parts in the box. There is a small engine shot only on the side, but no mention of the Centerlines, and more still, no other cool parts like bigger rear tires. I had to tell him this would be a neat one to build.... Now... This is what he's looking at initially:  This one is a little better:  and this one I grew up with and bought more than one:  Stock is boring. You are 11 years old and reading car magazines... you have a hundred hot wheels cars.... you've seen all the The Fast & the Furious movies... Look at the above box faces and tell me which one you'd choose? I'd buy them a model every week if they were excited about them.. |
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Post by Brandon on May 23, 2013 13:50:21 GMT -6
Yeah, I can see your point, Brandon. However some of the recent Revell stuff doesn't HAVE any building options in the box. Well they should... there are maybe 200 guys who want to build a bone stock COPO Nova and thousands who would want to add rims, slicks, decals, and hop up the engine even more. Or at least have the option.... LOL. I dunno. I'm done yammering about it. ;D Model King, and Round Two, thank you guys for trying. I hope it rubs off on the rest... |
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Post by darquewanderer on May 24, 2013 1:16:04 GMT -6
Stock is boring. You are 11 years old and reading car magazines... you have a hundred hot wheels cars.... you've seen all the The Fast & the Furious movies... Look at the above box faces and tell me which one you'd choose? I'd buy them a model every week if they were excited about them.. Obviously this one, but it still has boring box art. |
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Post by SgtDRecon on May 26, 2013 17:21:50 GMT -6
As I was reading through the threads, one thing jumped out at me. Some of the modelers on here and the nameless millions out there don't like the pre-decorated kits. I can see the both sides if the coin. When you have a pre-decorated kit you can use them as a quick and easy way to build something without having to think about the details of Kustom projects we all have. it can give you a change of pace.
You could also use the Pre-Decorated kit to a child wanting to try the hobby. It can give them a sense of accomplishment. and maybe allow them to try more and more. If not, then they have something they can call their own.
You could also build a pre-decorated kit to bring you back into the hobby if you have been away from the hobby for quite a while (marriage, children, college, joining the armed forces to defend our families and country(thank you for all that you have done for us, this is what Memorial Day represents in the United States)). I do know for a fact that the building of one does get your juices going.
OK now I say that I understand where the negativity can come from. Allot of you have at one time or another have entered a contest. How is it fair to an audlt, or child win against those. sometimes they can't. This is deterring to both kids and adults starting out in the hobby. I just gives an unfair advantage for the beginning modeler. It also shows lack of creativity, and ingenuity on those contestants.
Another reason that they are just a pain is the fact not all of the pre-decorated kits are accurate. I have one I have finished up, the 69 Oldsmobile Hurst-Olds for example, the Engine hood have the center nose stripe from the front to the back of the hood, and the rear wing for the kit is semi gloss back. I was looking up details on line for same smaller detailing i want to do on it and saw way to many pictures proving that the manufacturer didn't do there home work. That, to me, means the model companies are only looking to pad their pockets and not care if they got it correct.
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