I think this thread’s in danger of losing the distinction between (a) 100% self-made parts (whether old-school materials or (self-) 3D printed (b) majority self-made parts (c) minority self-made parts. Somewhere much earlier in the above correspondence this was debated.
I don’t believe it’s possible to gather sufficient evidence to say whether 100% scratch-building is more or less prevalent than (say) in the 1950’s, ‘60s etc. right through to the current decade. Most stuff built before c.1995 never got onto the ‘net for starters. Any opinion on whether s/building is dying depends largely on what’s posted on the ‘net, and how much of it you go looking for.
In other words the premise is entirely subjective and impossible to prove one way or the other. But if you believe there is a declining trend in s/building and that depresses you, you know what you can do…
Scratch building isn’t dead, it’s changing all the time.
I build, usually, I see a photo & think I want to build that!
I scratch-build to achieve the end I want, weather that is using a computer to produce my own decals, (Checkerboard jeep) or to produce cutting files for laser cut parts, (Ladder frame trailer) or creating filed to 3d resin print.(working on that).
I also buy aftermarket decals, or resin/plastic (rarely photo-etch) parts/figures, even paper/card kits, depending on what is available, and/or BETTER than I can do myself.
I have even been buying complete 3D resin kits as well as 3D files to print my own, my point being I can now buy files, kits, parts, or even design/make them myself depending on time/skill/availability.
The PC, laser cutters, 3D/FDM resin printers, even just your paper documents printer, are just as much tools as a sharp edge & ruler and a decent library.
Our hobby evolves, just look how much World of Tanks has brought model making to the fore, or even Gundam, & we need encourage our juniors as much as possible to keep our respective hobbies alive.
Our of curiosity, I looked for a free place for a club to meet in in my home town. Nada. There are three or 4 community centers, a Vet Hall, a museum, and some other facilities but they all charge for the space. There is nothing to help a small social club get going. I did not find anything on using school spaces.
Advertising is another issue. With no local hobby shop, finding people with the same interest is rather difficult. There are numerous social websites but those require significant know how to manage and depend on people using them. I could not think of a single relevant place to post a flyer in town. I guess the shot gun method would be necessary.
WikiHow has a decent article on starting a club but does not go into detail on anything. Most of the ,“How to start a hobby club”, articles I read were dumb.
What I learned was: turning model building into a social event requires significant effort.
I have a hypothesis that the original poster perceives the hobby as dying because, as contests become more competitive and local hobby shops close, meeting other model builders becomes harder. That led me to explore the difficulties facing a person wanting to form a local model club. My conclusion after one day of poking around is that forming a club requires significant effort.
In my own case, there are 5 IPMS chapters located within a one hour drive of my home. Once upon a time, I belonged to one of those clubs and have visited all of them. There are 4 or 5 decent hobby shops at the same distance. From my perspective, they are all significantly too far away. If most people are in a similar situation and feel like I do, a club needs to exist within 20 or 30 miles of the members. I am also seeing a trend to charge for meetings. In my opinion, that is a T E R R I B L E idea.
Therefore, circling back to one of my earlier posts, clubs and contests and build days and such are great but probably out of reach for most people.
You never know for sure until you make some connections with other interested people, someone may have a multiple car garage that could be set up as a meeting space or even just a living room or kitchen . With that number of IPMS clubs relatively close I don’t think it’s a stretch to imagine some of those guys being interested in an armor only club. You don’t need presidents , secretaries or any of that , just some individuals to talk plastic, share stories, and maybe build a thing or two. As it’s said, where there’s a will there’s a way.
Sometimes a religious center of worship is accommodating to a plastic model club.
The club some friends and I started back in 1989, had a free stable meeting city recreation center location for ~20+ years. Eventually the city decided to charge $50 per meeting. The club had two meetings a month and was quite stable.
The club ended up meeting for free in the fellowship hall of a local Church from 2013 to 2024
A rift within that church over gay marriage resulted in the club members finding a new church. This church was willing to accommodate but insisted the custodian had to be present to ensure the building was properly secured after the meeting. The club had the option to pay $35 for precisely 2 hour meeting spot. The fee would be waved if the meeting included an outreach ministry or involved Biblical teaching.
This soon resulted in the club meeting temporarily at at members home until new accommodation can be found.
It’s definitely doable and when settled can be secure for years but a lot of legwork and flexibility is needed.
A club meets at a church in Benbrook, TX.
There were some Colorado Springs guys meeting several years ago. I don’t remember where.
I was part of a group about thirty years ago that met in a coffee shop. They knew they’d get at least six or seven cutomers’ worth of business, which I’m guessing is good in the evening when not many people need caffeine.
Strip clubs are too dark, although there are plenty of free paint brush racks available.
@Seanmcandrews I once belonged to a no rules car model club that worked pretty much as you describe. For many years, I did the garage meeting thing with some gamers.
I get it. Lots of good suggestions thrown out. Our IPMS club meets at a draft house. We have used the classroom at the local community college as a professor was a member. We used to meet at Apple Bees for our dinner meeting. As Sean said “ where there’s a will there’s a way.”
Constructing risqué depictions of some of the Old Testament’s hotter babes doing their naughty thing until the requirement was dropped? Numerous options available. Nowadays 3D printing facilitates this sort of thing; here is a text-only (SFW) review: Plastic Soldier Review - Linear-A Bacchanalia in Ancient Rome (Set 1)
“What this set actually contains is a group of poses of people engaging in various sexual acts…some of the pieces can be joined together to form pairs and triples of poses, but we won’t be elaborating on that description of the poses any further…we found one or two of the figures had been malformed, but generally they are faultless, with no flash or excess plastic, despite the very challenging nature of the subject material.
