What if model battleships were still a big deal?

How's that strange? Explosions are pretty.....

Yes, there is something in the method in which an explosion moves which is intriguing and can be considered artistic. This is obviously separate from the purpose of what an explosion's aim is to do.

The most famous explosion in human history, the day the world changed. (the only coloured image)

Trinity test.jpg
 

Redbeard

Banned
There is a very wide range of plastic battleship models in scale 1/700 and even 1/350 from companies like Tamiya, Hasegawa, ICM or Trumpeter. Most, but not all of much better detail than the ones from our childhood.

If you go into resin models you can get practically any ship in scale 1/700, but a kit will easily cost 100 $. Not exactly what you fill with fire crackers and film with 8mm like I did with the models of my childhood...
 
I just put the first google example up.

I actually prefer either Deans Marine, White Ensign and Fleetscale models. I totally want this kit. 2.75 meters long! :eek::eek::eek: x'Dx'Dx'Dx'Dx'D :love::love::love::love::love::love::love::love::love:

I like the disclaimer on that hull *Significant postage costs due to size.

giggle. I darn well hope so! haha I have seen one of these with the full-on photo etching and so on. Flipping AWESOME!!!!!

Yes, it is best to move away from explosions, especially that type, not good for humanity.

You need a truck (delivery), garage (construction site) and your own drydock to build that at 2.75m long. I would love to see a 10m x 10m scale of model with Yamato at the Kure Naval Arsenal dock in Hiroshima with navy seamen, officers, army soldiers, officers, cranes, tanks, trucks, seamen saying goodbye to their true love, loading the 40 cm bullets, food and water. I am sure there is stuff I have forgotten but that would be picturesque. That is called model engineering.
 
Hate to piss on everyone's parade, but I don't see physical models could survive in popular form past the internet era. Their costs (initial and annual) are closer to car ownership than that of toys/casual hobbies (yes I'm aware that there are expensive hobbies out there, those also tend to have high barriers of entry), making them hard to compete with highly historically accurate naval simulator games like World of Warships and Kantai Collection.

For something like model shipbuilding to be somewhat popular (in a USA context), it would need the following cultural/economic changes (made back in the 70s at least) to have occurred.

-lack of degree inflation: in the sense that the perceived minimum degree needed to get a decent job remains at the high school level rather than moving on to undergrad.
-continued existence of trade and shop classes in the education system, to instill hands on skills, and hopefully spark more interest in them.
-lack of PC/laptops: PC hits that sweet spot of convenience and ease of tinkering (in terms of software and hardware), smartphones leans far more on the convenience side while ham radios lean on the ease of tinkering side.
-rural communities not dying off: hard to find a decent body of water in urban and most suburban areas right?
-Not have the Gini coefficient get that high: no shit, hard to indulge an expensive hobby if you can't afford it.

Basically the same factors that led to the decline of physical toys also apply here.

tl,dr: basically what's needed are a large pool of people who are into hands on stuff (and have the skills), located in rural/suburban regions, with potential alternatives too complicated to take over the market.
 
Strongly disagree!!!
Hate to piss on everyone's parade, but I don't see physical models could survive in popular form past the internet era. Their costs (initial and annual) are closer to car ownership than that of toys/casual hobbies (yes I'm aware that there are expensive hobbies out there, those also tend to have high barriers of entry), making them hard to compete with highly historically accurate naval simulator games like World of Warships and Kantai Collection.

For something like model shipbuilding to be somewhat popular (in a USA context), it would need the following cultural/economic changes (made back in the 70s at least) to have occurred.
Oh, really?
-lack of degree inflation: in the sense that the perceived minimum degree needed to get a decent job remains at the high school level rather than moving on to undergrad.
Yes, cost has increased (As that kit shows), but this is an inital cost to build the thing. Storage is an ongoing issue, but it is not as expensive as a car, neither is running costs. My ships and tanks while expensive to buy and build don't cost much more than a few dollars each a year to maintain, often it is not even that.
-continued existence of trade and shop classes in the education system, to instill hands on skills, and hopefully spark more interest in them.
Contentious. I got into models at a young age (7 or 8) usually by helping Dad around the house and watching films and going 'I want a toy one!' and getting the kit for Christmas.
-lack of PC/laptops: PC hits that sweet spot of convenience and ease of tinkering (in terms of software and hardware), smartphones leans far more on the convenience side while ham radios lean on the ease of tinkering side.
Contentious. This give you greater access to historic plans of stuff, thus actually allowing people to build from scratch (As I do) rather than rely on existing kits/
-rural communities not dying off: hard to find a decent body of water in urban and most suburban areas right?
Parks and lakes in cities are where I run my tanks and boats.
-Not have the Gini coefficient get that high: no shit, hard to indulge an expensive hobby if you can't afford it.
Don't even know what that is and am not inclined to google it.
Basically the same factors that led to the decline of physical toys also apply here.

tl,dr: basically what's needed are a large pool of people who are into hands on stuff (and have the skills), located in rural/suburban regions, with potential alternatives too complicated to take over the market.
People in cities do this too. It is not just a rural thing.
 
Don't even know what that is and am not inclined to google it.
Gini coefficient is a measurement of wealth inequality/wealth concentration, also sort of an indirect measurement of the size of the middle class. Hobbies such as model ship are (or perceived to be, same difference) relatively expensive (not just monetary costs, but also the amount of time & effort spent), so presumably something within the spending capabilities of the middle class or above.

I'm not trying to trick people with shock sites for anything (not on this site anyways, moddb is another story)
 
I do not know anything about the history of modelling because I sadly did not do it but taking the discussion forum logically.

You don't do something if you are not interested in it, therefore, the act to model derives from either two sources. Either you grew up being around someone who did it and they have passed it on you because you were around them or you are so interested in the subject you want to model. I am the second. When I get money in the bank, (I am still at university) I will buy and build navy, aircraft and ground military models because I have grown up reading all three. Therefore the act of inheriting the hobby from someone is constrained because not every parent build models. (I am sure they may have some concern as well, introducing their son to a battleship. Son: "What does it do?" Mother: "It shots bullets at people", insinuating violence) However, if you like learning history to an extent in which you are willing to go out, buy, build and paint models, therefore, learning history, which is not a fixed constant (because it can be learnt) should be able to influence an individual to model.

In conclusion, in order to prevent the decline in modelling, the best method would be to get people interested in history. However that will have a threshold, people can like history but they will not model because they are not interested enough to model.
 
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Gini coefficient is a measurement of wealth inequality/wealth concentration, also sort of an indirect measurement of the size of the middle class. Hobbies such as model ship are (or perceived to be, same difference) relatively expensive (not just monetary costs, but also the amount of time & effort spent), so presumably something within the spending capabilities of the middle class or above.

I'm not trying to trick people with shock sites for anything (not on this site anyways, moddb is another story)
Really? They are not expensive. My tanks cost $2,000+ each but I buy top end kits and you can pick up cheaper ones for $40, and same for boats. I actually custom build which costs more as there is more material wastage, whereas a kit will contain everything and work out cheaper (Slightly).

Land / Sea are actually cheap for R/C or models. It is air R/C that costs more due to skill and repair costs (If crashing). Heck kids round my way have R/C cars purchased from pocket money..... Honestly, I don't see how R/C is expensive unless you go air...

I would say that the cost involved is in time and skill..... A basic ship can be put together in a day, a good ship in a week. A great ship? I have known them to take years, but it is a labour of love for most so they don't worry about doing 20-30 mins an evening until they are completed. Heck I Have had a tank under construction for over a year like that! lol
 
I would say that the cost involved is in time and skill..... A basic ship can be put together in a day, a good ship in a week. A great ship? I have known them to take years, but it is a labour of love for most so they don't worry about doing 20-30 mins an evening until they are completed. Heck I Have had a tank under construction for over a year like that! lol
And that's the problem, leisure time & effort are something of a luxury for the middle class and above, given that the poor are often too busy juggling a few part time jobs and all the soul sucking that comes from that (and a bunch of other general things that comes with not being in the middle class, usually things that reduce stability). This is before assuming other variables that might prevent those below the middle class from getting into model building, things like level of education (not the implication that lack of education itself is a barrier, but the lack of interest when the shitty education system fail to foster interest in either hands on working or history).
 
If a hobby declines in popularity, it also can become more expensive to pursue, as economies of scale hurt--which makes it more expensive, which makes it less appealing. One thing that surprised me then and now: No inexpensive Revell models of Texas and New York. Both are high population states, leading to a natural base of kids that would grab them preferentially, as well as having Texas as a memorial. (They would be one kit with different labels; back then, the USS Pennsylvania and USS Arizona kits were the same, with different decals and boxes. Occasionally, one different sprue of parts would be included for the minor variations, but sometimes, both would be exactly the same, even if the ships were different.)

Back when I was a kid, parents remembered the battleships.

Modern first line warships don't have as many neat guns bristling every which way--they don't have that aura of menace that older ships did. Also, some of the less costly models are available--but not in the local Rich's, Woolworth's, Anne & Hope, or Zayers--you need to go into a specialty hobby store or online. Thus, impulse purchases, where the kid is looking for toy cars and sees the battleship, are less common. (Or just dragged into the store when Mom or Dad is looking for not-fun things, and gets loose in the toy department!)

As for the anti-war, I was a kid in the 70's, and battleship and other war models were very available.
 
No inexpensive Revell models of Texas and New York. Both are high population states, leading to a natural base of kids that would grab them preferentially, as well as having Texas as a memorial.

Given the odd choices they and Lindberg did, it always surprised me on the lack of Standard BBs
 
Arizona and Pennsylvania were out there in many scales, all in Arizona's December 7, 1941 configuration. The other Standards didn't have the name recognition, or, mostly, come from states with a large population. The post treaty ships, one set of molds could do an entire class. Each Standard had a bunch of configurations--less bang for the buck for the manufacturers. They also didn't get teh wartime publicity of the fast battleships. Additionally, cage masts in kid-grade styrene would be almost unworkable.

When I was a kid, I would have loved a model of a Colorado class--one of my earlier attempts at fiction (4th or 5th grade) featured Tirpitz running for home, and Colorado in the way, so the German couldn't avoid the fight.
 
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