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Re: Age thing

A 39 years old/young gentleman. Graphic designer and musician. Started my journey with a box of ESCI French Imperial Guard and Prussian/Austrian Infantry at the age of 6. Since then, miniatures, wargaming and military history are my constant companions. While I'm not solely into 1/72 (have lots of 28mm miniatures), it's still my 'first love'.

They are so much cheaper

Dear Roger,

As with most consumer goods, the figures are actually far cheaper in today's terms.

Your ten quid in 1980 is equivalent to 40-odd in today's terms. You can calculate by hand or 'cheat' and use an online calculator that applies annual rates of the consumer price index. Here's the link to the Bank of England one:
https://www.bankofengland.co.uk/monetary-policy/inflation/inflation-calculator

Electronic goods have become ridiculously cheap, consider how TVs are the same price as they were in the 1970s. That is why 'every' kid has a mobile phone that is a pocket computer. Compare them to my first hand calculator, a Sharp Elsi-mate, that was twice the size, performed basic maths functions only and had no memory!

At the same time wages have doubled, trebled or more (although stagnating in the past ten or so, for most people)...

Regards, James

Re: Age thing

Like many here I'm in my mid 50s, played with small soldiers as a kid, then dropped it, and came back to the hobby in my 30s. Dont know how many figures I have but they fill half a bedroom, so quite a lot probably. Loving the range available today. I think some of the success of fantasy in the last 10-20 years has been down to the success of films like Lord of the Rings and Game of Thromes. If someone would remake Waterloo or some other film and do it well, that might inspire many a potential new collector and gamer. Works for me. Italeri big sets are also very appealing, and might encourage new customers. But online presence and communities like this forum do a lot to promote the hobby. Thanks Strelets!

Re: Age thing

Hi
My wife and I some years ago bought taught pipes and drums to young girls between 12 and 17. We hard a very hard time bringing girls into the because there is so much to do now on the internet. Kids spend more time on there phones and tablets then doing something constructive with there hands and minds.
Stay safe and keep painting.
Cheers
David

Re: Age thing

Some clarification is needed here, are you asking for physical age or mental age?

My physical age is 61.

I'm sure I recall Airfix sets being 1s6d, but memory is not my greatest asset.

For our generation having soldiers and tanks and planes to play with when we were young was just normal. But for the generations of kids that came after us their parents were the sixties hippies and war toys were taboo. The moratorium on war toys was supposed to create a world of peace, love, and harmony. Which would have been nice if it worked, but...

The youngsters today do seem to be returning to a version of the hobby but it's Sci Fi and it's Fantasy and it's Pseudo History rather than anything real.

Re: Age thing

Graeme
Some clarification is needed here, are you asking for physical age or mental age?

My physical age is 61.

I'm sure I recall Airfix sets being 1s6d, but memory is not my greatest asset.

For our generation having soldiers and tanks and planes to play with when we were young was just normal. But for the generations of kids that came after us their parents were the sixties hippies and war toys were taboo. The moratorium on war toys was supposed to create a world of peace, love, and harmony. Which would have been nice if it worked, but...

The youngsters today do seem to be returning to a version of the hobby but it's Sci Fi and it's Fantasy and it's Pseudo History rather than anything real.
Yes, I remember them being 1/6d too, way back when dinosaurs roamed the earth:blush: One of the important factors then was the packaging - the wonderful vivid box art that promised so much (and the early 'window' boxes so yo could see what you were getting along with a list of poses on the back which was how we managed in the days before PSR!). What you had was instant gratification that you could take home and play with right away, and that's important both for kids and well meaning relatives buying gifts. A visit to grandma's house was always made even better for me by a trip to the newsagent at the end of her road (two of them in fact) that sold the Airfix range.

If you wanted metal figures you had to send off for a poorly typewritten price list, wait a week or more for a reply, go buy a postal order and send that back and then (as the small print said) "allow 28 days for delivery". For a 12 year old kid, that was never going to happen, especially when a cavalry figure could cost as much as a whole box of Airfix.

These days, the 'instant gratification' is from social media and computer games; I've seen younger people playing a cell phone game while waiting their turn to roll dice on the table top! Our hobby is being squeezed out by the Evil Empire with stores that sell only a certain brand of fantasy and related products: I disagree that producing 1/72 plastic figures to compete with them and entice new players is the way to go, as those stores will never stock something that takes away from their bottom line. And they flat out refuse to sell anything historical other than a certain 15mm WWII game and nothing whatsoever in 1/72

Re: Age thing

I am 65 and have been collecting for over 60 years. I have well in excess of 2000 sets of figures and thats only the 1/72 scale ones. Looking forward to another 60 years of collecting.
Bob

Re: Age thing

I am another 69 year old who started buying figures and 15mm afvs once I retired after a break of 50+ years. I do not buy excessive amounts but it does mount up!

Basically there are more things to do when you are young! Going abroad to Switzerland with the school was a BIG thing when I was young - now going abroad several times a year is accepted as norm by so many - especially us pensioners. Throw in such organisations as the U3A and modelling has become one of many activities.

Is it becoming an older activity? Probably but it is not all doom and gloom as I suspect it is another activity to do. However as several people have commented on plastic models have gone up market with very complicated products (never understood why people want very detailed cockpits that you cannot see when the hood goes on) and price.

The other comment is the image of modellers (and hobbies such as train/aircraft/bird spotters) as a bunch of 'sad lads' that is churned out in the media. Unfortunately, some modelling clubs do attract such characters which certainly put me off!

Re: Age thing

Hello Friends,
I turned 58 on the last 30th of June.
I wish younger lads could join the hobby for it to carry on in time.
But painting figures is much more difficult than Playstation...
Regards
Patrice

Re: Age thing

my mother in law says I am 12 and should grow up ?

I can't and won't but I am a bit older🤣😂🤣

Re: Age thing


Despite being 57 years old, when it comes to toy soldiers I feel the same pleasure as when I was 12 years old. My father once said that I would no longer play with toy soldiers when I became an adult. I think he was wrong!

Re: Age thing

Collector and painter of 28 here. I started collecting at the age of 14 or thereabout. I must admit that I discovered the hobby by accident. I have been interested in (military) history for as long as I remember but never really encountered this hobby as a child. At home we did have a collection of antique William Britain soldiers which once belonged to my great grandfather. These little colourful soldiers had always fascinated me. This resulted in me collecting statuettes of knights and soldiers of the kind you might find in souvenir shops at historic sightseeing places. Yet I remained oblivious of the fact that there were actually figures available at shops that you could paint yourself.

One day I happened to be in a model shop with my father, who's into collecting model railway stuff, when I noticed an Italeri box with some nice box artwork (Highlanders and British infantry). I have been painting and collecting figures ever since (admittedly with interruptions), mostly 1 72 Napoleonics, though I do occasionally dabble into other scales and periods as well.

I think that my story shows that much could be won with better marketing. In my case all the "ingredients" for a painter and collector to be were already there in early childhood, yet I had to accidently stumble upon the hobby in order to learn about its existence.

Some things could be easily improved. I recently introduced my younger brother into the hobby and taught him most of the little tricks that I picked up over the years. He did, however, rightfully remark that it is strange that manufacturers don't include some of these basic tips on modelling on the box. Why is there no information on how to prepare your model for painting on the box (washing in detergent, removing mould lines etc.)? I had to find out all of this stuff the hard way and with a lot of frustration which almost put me off the hobby after just starting it.

Visibility of the hobby is another thing, as my story shows. Had I not wandered into that model shop by accident, there would have been no other way for me to find out about the hobby. Would outreach programmes at schools be an idea? Perhaps there should also be more starter sets; a few sprues of soldiers, some paint and brushes and a set of simple wargame rules and painting instructions, all in attractive packaging and not too expensive.

Re: Age thing

Interesting what CW says, most of us older ones were drawn in by seeing shop displays but that doesn't really exist nowadays and we need to find news ways of creating awareness.

Re: Age thing

48, and on occasion my teenage sons will play a wargame with me.

Re: Age thing

Strelets-R
Gentlemen,

may we ask you a question, if there\\\\\\\'s anyone here, who is below 14 years of age?

Same question for people, who are below 40 years of age.

We\\\\\\\'ve got a feeling that overwhelming majority of our customers are people of senior age. Is that the case?

Best regards,

Strelets
Hi Strelets,

I did a quick paper and pen count and came up with:

40's and younger - 19

50's and 60's - 57

70's - 2

It looks like you are correct. Have you come up with any conclusions or strategic ideas coming out of this thread? Just curious.

Cheers - GC

Re: Age thing

i'm 46 but my majority of armies except colonials are composed of vintage converted plastic minis such as Airfix and ESCI even subjects from golden age like original tarzan tribesmen set used as Egyptian rabble and trumpeters from Airfix Quenn's Guards enrolled in ACW units..so i should be rated an old man as i like, not only if we talk about minis, everything which is vintage

Re: Age thing

GC
Strelets-R
Gentlemen,

may we ask you a question, if there\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\'s anyone here, who is below 14 years of age?

Same question for people, who are below 40 years of age.

We\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\'ve got a feeling that overwhelming majority of our customers are people of senior age. Is that the case?

Best regards,

Strelets
Hi Strelets,

I did a quick paper and pen count and came up with:

40's and younger - 19

50's and 60's - 57

70's - 2

It looks like you are correct. Have you come up with any conclusions or strategic ideas coming out of this thread? Just curious.

Cheers - GC
the problem , according to my humble opinion, related to a decreasing interest from young generations as concern this hobby is:
- nobody care about researching history as a necessary basis to collect and game with toy soldiers..history and above all military history enjoy scarse appeal
- painting minis is a real burden for the majority

solution:
- make military fashionable even trough vulgarisation on media ecc
- somebody must transform totally this dove industry and find the way to mass produce already painted minis