What happened to scale modeling on the internet?

[JTRACING]

I agree with the above post, the AF website will sometimes take 4 or 5 mins to open, I thought it was me maybe but it does it on any device and on my neighbors internet too

[joelwideqvist]

It's not just AF (although I agree with it beeing slow to load) but I've seen the tendencies elswhere too.

A question for you that uses Facebook or Instagram to share your work, can you recommend some groups or hashtags to follow?

[mike@af]

Originally Posted by CrateCruncher

Start with fixing this broken website that takes forever to update, drops posts, etc.

Can you (and anybody else experiencing issues) please PM me with more details of what you are experiencing? We have been working on better user experience updates, and your feedback would be valuable.

-----

Back to the thread topic now.

[joelwideqvist]

Originally Posted by CrateCruncher

I stopped posting WIPs on AF because there was just so much apathy toward me. It takes time and effort to take pics, upload to hosting sites, etc. Nobody even took 20 seconds to rate my last build thread. If you guys want the community back we need to start taking steps to encourage one.

Even if OT I feel that I want to comment on this as I feel that the thread rating system is a quite funny subject. Looking at rated threads you mostly see five star ratings. I can't say I'm a five star builder but I do have three of the fifteen most viewed and commented threads in the bike section. Two are not rated and one is rated four as I did that myself to see if I could. Do people rate their own threads or what

[mike@af]

Originally Posted by joelwideqvist

Even if OT I feel that I want to comment on this as I feel that the thread rating system is a quite funny subject. Looking at rated threads you mostly see five star ratings. I can't say I'm a five star builder but I do have three of the fifteen most viewed and commented threads in the bike section. Two are not rated and one is rated four as I did that myself to see if I could. Do people rate their own threads or what :-)

To be honest, I rarely look at ratings. I look at the subject and the builder. If I like one or the other, I open the thread.

On the note of motives behind posting - for me, I like to post to just share my work and converse with others who have a similar passion/hobby. I don't care if my thread is rated 1 or 5000. Sharing is some of my enjoyment in building.

[mrceej]

I've been modeling as far back as I can remember and am guilty of almost all that has been said. I've never stopped browsing and I'm glad that I stumbled upon this thread. I'm happy to see the guys (and gals?) I've admired over the years still here and putting their two cents in. I've been itching to just build something out of box and now you've all given me a little motivation to do so and post the results.

[gionc]

Originally Posted by MPWR

I think that I am not yet finished. What about you?

Not finished yet too here

Forums like the quite old SRC (was this the name?) and following the AF helped me much to develop relationships, friendships and as last techniques and motivation: I step by step discovered and have been in touch and become friend of "virtual peoples" like you Andy or Sasa or Steve or Geronimo and few others that late I met in person and as friends around the world (around the europe for now...). Before to join forums I never tought about the chance to meet people sharing the same passion (also becouse my ita-english limitations). Yep me also has been far from AF (and other domestic forums also) in the last few years, but I have to say that la last few years was the one where I got my best satisfations in therm of prizes/medals and stuff: simply it is energy that come and go and we all are part/responsible of that energy.

I'm not finished and times will come back

english translation here >

[firun]

Guys, yeah there is definitely mumbo-jumbo about lack of interest in our hobby, because there are a lot of timekillers like mobile games and all this stuff. I totally don't understand people killing their time on games – come-on, there is no value creation in casual gaming!

I can understand people playing genuine story games (like GTA), but killing time blowing up candies or what a hell are they doing in these 'Lines'-alike games... It's just beyond my understanding because I love creating things.

Value creation is the major point of our hobby. We create things. From scratch or from snap-kit – it doesn't matter, because we are not collectors per se, we are creators.

The problem which I've stumbled with lately apart from 10-12 working hours/day is that I simply spend all my time on casting resin parts It's time consuming and profitable hobby. But I hope that my Tesla model will be built sooner or later.

[lovegt40]

ehh sometimes also I cant resist to some games.
better to say: I cant resist any realistic game with something I like racing ONLY at the ring,mostly rfactor cause assetto corsa e iracing still dont have it...
I am sorry...but yes, it happens..

[firun]

Paolo, I'm playing too, but only when silicon or resin is curing up

And when building kits I'm listening to audio-books.

[stryfe101]

wow..seeing some names in here I haven't seen a while...

good things said too...for me, well..I don't know... I really liked all the stuff that was being posted in the early 2000's so much great import stuff and it really challenged my building. Then I had a kid, and time got the better of me, I kept buying kits, and I'd start on one or 2 and get almost done then lose interest. My problem was too many kits, and each one had to be done a certain way, and then I felt like I needed to compete with people up here and elsewhere and, while it did push me to even better heights, I lost what was the thrill of building...plus, honestly, kit selection these days is crap..I got an email from tower the other day, "new revell t-bird" and I'm like what is this?, and it's the same old tired pro street kit I bought and parted out 20 years ago..

now? I went through a bad lego streak for the last 2 years, I also started building some scale tanks which are awesome, but I've sold about 60% of my model car kits and stuff and I plan on selling even more including all those awesome rare wheels I spent so damn much money on. I've got a few kits I really want to finish, but other than that...I'm done with it all, I still like coming to look at whats being built and stuff but, now i've got 2 little girls (one is 8 and the other is 8 months) and I just don't have that drive to build.

[360spider]

This thread is gold. Thanks for all the input - great read and excellent insight to what really happening in the hobby. Its definitely not dead, it is just going through another one of the stages...through late 2010's hobby was at its peak, fueled by new techniques, new kits, and new tools/materials. Now its on a decline a bit, replaced by video games and social media.

Myself, well, injury slowed me down to a crawl. Work also take a lot more time now. I also picked up diecast collecting, and some models - made by CMC, Exoto, and Autoart are quite impressive.

[joelwideqvist]

Originally Posted by stryfe101

I lost what was the thrill of building...

Stryfe, I like your entire post but this sentence made me sitting in the couch last night with a lot of existential thoughts. I've been rather stressed when it comes to modeling last couple of years. I wanted it so bad but I found no satisfaction, atleast not as I did earlier. BUT, back then, I didn't have kids, I worked night shifts leaving entire days to modeling work. Both factors also let me have a totally different cash flow in materials and kits. We had a large house where I could dedicate an entire room for my stuff.

Now the gear is packed in boxes and cupboards, I get an hour here and there to pick it out and it's mostly trouble. But I want to. And I do a lot taking into account the life changing turns I've been through.

Yesterday I just might have found a key, that I lost the thrill. I just looked on the differences, but things will bever be the same, the meditative and casual thing with building kits hasn't changed a bit for me. Even if I do it for an hour a week it still plays an important part. Can't get frustrated over changes in life, just adapt.

Thanks Dr Phil :-)

[tonioseven]

I'm in the process of getting rid of the kits that I've lost interest in and obtaining projects that I will definitely enjoy building. I'll build until my hands no longer work.

[countach79]

Very good thread
I'm in the same boat as some blokes here, heavily into modeling then you get married, house and kids
Still always looking at AF but not so much leaving comments

Posting wips or even completed projects obviously slows down if your not getting the time to build as much or for as long ( I used to be able to have full day modeling sessions before wife kids house came along now it's around 2-3hrs a week )

One little thing to maybe boost the interaction on here ( and its only a small thing ) I've been doing lately is, when browsing the forum I used to really only look at subjects that immediately took my attention ie: I love ferrari's and lamborghini's and would really only comment on these subjects
But I started to have a look at some wip's and completed projects that don't immediately take my interest and found this very enjoyable, finding some stunning builds aswel

I've also started leaving comments on these subjects and therefore being a little more interactive and also giving more to the builder and hopefully that helps to encourage them to continue with there wip

It's only a small thing, but it's something