They don't sell model cars/trucks at Walmart. Bad sign for future truck builders

[Mister-B]

I'm restoring the emblems on my '69. Someone here on the forum, said to go get some black model car paint and small brush to paint the black areas like they came from the factory. Guess what? They don't have ANY model cars or trucks at Walmart. I ended up finding paint and brushes in another area, but I couldn't help but wonder if the next generation of kids will be lacking in mechanical skills because they don't start at a young age working on building things like we did.

Your thoughts?

Our trucks may become even more unusual as time goes on, and this disposable culture- non mechanically inclined generation comes about, and can't work on anything.
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[richards72chevy]

I noticed it about ten years ago when i visited my high school auto teacher.No of the students had anything going on but hooking up some speakers in a cavelier.All the shop tools where covered in dust.But the price of gas i think is one reson killing the old car hobby for the younger people.

[special-K]

Screw Walmart. Their only interest is in selling what sells the most. They are all about volume and only volume...that and only selling what they can buy the cheapest. That's why you will go there one time and they will no longer have a product you relied on them for. Or,there may be a product with 7 varieties and they will only offer the top 3 sellers,which may change from one month to the next. They don't sell products because they feel they are the best. They sell what they can buy a train load for the cheapest. One time they carry this line and the next they have another. Al the big boxes do this. Do yourself a favor and give a hobby shop a chance to survive.

[Boog]

You are exactly right Tim. I've not built a model in quite a few years and haven't noticed Walmart no longer had them. Years ago every dime store and many drug stores carried them. Being from a small town we never had a hobbyshop. AMT 3n1 kits were my favorite then MPC.
Today's kids, it seems, aren't interested in working on cars. It's video games and whatever else they do.
I'll bet there are some online model car sites and catalogs out there.

[bobs409]

Look what the kids have to look at on the streets today. I mean if I were a kid today and all I saw were SUV's, mini vans and these weird space aged George Jetson junk out there today, I bet I wouldn't be interested in cars either! Speaking of kids on the street, don't any actually play outside anymore? When I was growing up I was always out riding my bike, taking long hikes and what not. I think the kids all stay indoors playing video games anymore. (ok, getting off topic now)

It's sickening what has happened to "style" with the auto industry. They all look alike and by that I mean FUGLY! Just when you think they couldn't get any worse, now they come out with this electric car/hybrid/cube looking things so it's back to the squared off boxy things again. Remember the 80's for the boxy look? Well now it's the rounded off boxy look. This is just looks but even beyond that, you can't work on them! (not that I would want to anyway) Do you enjoy paying $300 dollars for a mass air sensor or some other ridiculously priced gadget these new cars have? Not me, none of my cars/trucks use 'em.

The thing that got me severely hooked on old Chevy's was seeing them everywhere. When I was a kid, if 10 cars drove by, 7 of them were Impalas!!! And our trucks? They were all over the place too! I didn't stand a chance, it was mean't to be for me.

Ok, guess I better stop now. Think I'll go hug my old Chevy's now.

[midniteblues]

around here hey havent sold them in years. but we do have three hobby shops in the nearest city one of them is a hobby town witch is kinda new but they do have a cool selection.

when I was a kid we used too build model cars and use rubber rc airplane wheels with tubing and axles and race them down the gullys in the alleys. I still have a bunch of cars i built(I went through hundreds of them)most of them were nascars(the plastic was thicker so the cars lasted longer if they crashed) but I allways had a few chevys.I built a truck that I still have 20 yrs ago that looks alot like my avatar pic) we built our cars too be more durable than shelf show cars most times we would add fishing sinkers too add weight too make'm faster and the bottoms were usually covered in hot glue some guys used to build nice cars and some would just build bombers,in the teenage years we had a group of guys that would meet up every sunday morning to race and all the lil' kids would watch and get intrested some times we would have 100-200 cars and would have too run heats.

we had been interveiwd by the local newspaper for doing this and one summer they put us in the paper and wrote a article up I'll chuck up some pic's later

[k_n_browning]

walmart is selling model cars again.Your store has not gotten them yet

[brad_man_72]

Check out the "our trucks in scale" section of the board.
And I totally agree with the give a hobby store some buisness, lots of neat stuff in there that walmart never even thought of.
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[ETsC10]

Like Tim suggests, spend your money at the local Mom & Pop
who really needs and appreciates you.
Dollar-type stores are also good sources for models and supplies.

I agree that it’s a sad day for kids and the lack of traditional,
creative toys; especially mechanical, skill building toys like model kits.

The void caused by todays advertising and marketing pressures with a
hyper-electronics consumer is more than obvious.

I was at Riteaid last year and they didn't carry a single rubber band
but there were six entire double isles devoted to wines, cards and
candies. I found a 100’ wall of cereal and thousands of bottles
of water at my local grocery store but not a single can of mackerel.

Sad.



.

[Mister-B]

Guys, I understand that models can still be purchased at a hobby store, but my point is that Walmart is perhaps the largest retailer in the country, and for them to not carry something means that it isn't something that sells very well to today's kids. So, it's indicative of a pattern.
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[leddzepp]

It is called change, and most people have a hard time with it. Nothing lasts forever.

[factorystock]

Originally Posted by bobs409

Look what the kids have to look at on the streets today. I mean if I were a kid today and all I saw were SUV's, mini vans and these weird space aged George Jetson junk out there today, I bet I wouldn't be interested in cars either! Speaking of kids on the street, don't any actually play outside anymore? When I was growing up I was always out riding my bike, taking long hikes and what not. I think the kids all stay indoors playing video games anymore. (ok, getting off topic now)

It's sickening what has happened to "style" with the auto industry. They all look alike and by that I mean FUGLY! Just when you think they couldn't get any worse, now they come out with this electric car/hybrid/cube looking things so it's back to the squared off boxy things again. Remember the 80's for the boxy look? Well now it's the rounded off boxy look. This is just looks but even beyond that, you can't work on them! (not that I would want to anyway) Do you enjoy paying $300 dollars for a mass air sensor or some other ridiculously priced gadget these new cars have? Not me, none of my cars/trucks use 'em.

The thing that got me severely hooked on old Chevy's was seeing them everywhere. When I was a kid, if 10 cars drove by, 7 of them were Impalas!!! And our trucks? They were all over the place too! I didn't stand a chance, it was mean't to be for me.

Ok, guess I better stop now. Think I'll go hug my old Chevy's now.

Well said! Not much to look at on the streets today for inspiration. Everything designed over the last 30 years used wind tunnel test, efficiency over character. Who is attracted to the reverse tear drop look? No wonder most model cars and trucks are vehicles designed over 30 years ago.

[cableguy0]

The least of kids worries is the lack of models in wal mart. There are so many other things that are more profitable to fill the shelves of the toy aisle with now its easy to understand why a big chain would axe the model cars. Im 28 but remember as a kid in wal mart,Kmart and other stores there was just about a full aisle of model cars and paints etc for assmebling them. The issue is most modern toys are electronic and dont require mechanical ability to play with. I built a bunch of model cars but did it while i was too young to do a good job. After that I sort of lost interest in the model cars and wanted the better toys. Electronics progressed a ton through my youth. Keep in mind me there have always been cd players and cd's also I had a computer by the time I was in third or fourth grade. My dad always liked the newest gadgets and electronics etc. I benefited from it. I quickly moved on to real vehicles though by the time I was 14 or so. I guess the point is that kids interested in vehicles will find another way to be involved in the hobby and hopefully they have someone willing to guide them a bit along the way.Internet forums have sort of filled the void with the lack of info that was an issue previously.

[k_n_browning]

Lets look at it way I 50 years old And I started out building model cars at a young age.
Then got older and move to the real thing.Now out of the 8 kids that I have.Only 1 showed any intrest in the hobby.The others seem to be more of the video game and have the phone and texting problems.And so it goes most kids just dont care.They want new and dont have to work on it.But thats the way I see it going.

[GM-power]

When I was a kid I was never into models, but I was really into hotwheel/matchbox cars etc.. just loved anything with wheels. Its funny when I walk down a toy aisle at a store; I think to myself, how is this fun? No making things up and using your imagination. Automotive mechanics isn't phased out, but as more kids grow up with public trans and such the familiarity of being around and liking cars is just going to drop. On the bright side out of 50 states and who knows how many kids; there are and will be aspiring gearheads. Its our job to get them into it.
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[biggestjohn]

If parents would stop buying all of the electronic garbage, maybe then their children would have a chance to use their imaginations. Instead, they buy all of this crap so that they don't have to deal with them. Unfortunately, they don't seem to realize, or maybe they just don't care, that a parents main responsibility is to teach their children.

And just why do children NEED cell phones?!

[special-K]

Originally Posted by Mister-B

Guys, I understand that models can still be purchased at a hobby store, but my point is that Walmart is perhaps the largest retailer in the country, and for them to not carry something means that it isn't something that sells very well to today's kids. So, it's indicative of a pattern.
Posted via Mobile Device

I disagree. There are a lot of things Walmart doesn't sell...or ever did...that will always be around. It's more like the models weren't profitable enough to take up shelf space. I heard Toys R Us stopped or cut back because of kit bashing (stealing parts) and that was most likely the same with Walmart. It's common problem in large stores. Buying online hurts about all retail stores,also. Walmart sells the things that they feel people will buy most locally and now,not order and wait. They are a mass marketing company more than they are a store.
I don't believe what people are saying about young people not being interested in working on vehicles. I'm surprised at how many youngins are messing with older vehicles and trucks,especially. We have a lot here and my area has a whole lot. I see them at swap meets and many friend's have sons who are into it. I have young guys talk to me about my trucks all the time. If anything,it's how expensive it has gotten. That has put a hurtin' on me and I have always had cool old stuff all my life.

[90\87Formula]

Of the two local Walmarts, one of them still sells models. The cheapest car/truck models are $19.95. Haven't seen any 67-72s though.
The last time I found a 67-72 model, it was at Hobby Lobby; probably 5 years ago.
No mom/pop hobby stores here, that I know of.

Kmart sells models also, but they stock the same ones as Walmart.

[midniteblues]

I was like what? where did the thread go

this is what we did with models, these are just the last few I've had left out of hunderds of differnt cars.
I used to even built sportsman modifieds from scraps but they allways broke too easy racing them.
I did build shelf cars and still have a few of them but some of them turned into racers and its been a long time since I built any models at all.

I built these too race down the alleys (it kept us busy and outa trouble)and too be durable.
there were rules we followd like the cars couldnt weigh more than 9oz. and you couldnt have more than 5 cars in each heat.
I was so in depth that I even started casting my own tires from silicone of molds of tires we could no longer buy(pic #4) I would make'm and sell them too everybody else.
our local small neighborhood hobby shop got alot of businuess from us kids. and as you can see my love for chevys even went into this hobby. I was the only fellow too run trucks (they all thought I was nuts) at times when I would come across very cheap kits I would buy 2 or 3 of them and build them slightly differnt.
when i was young I used too think alot of guys would do this sorta thing till I got older and realized no they dont.
the last pic is from the newspaper artical they did on us and yes that was me up front I think I was 13 or 14 at the time

[C-10 simplex]

Their shoe selection also seems to be diminishing.

[Liz]

WalMarts entire everything simply sucks compared to years ago.

Anyway.. If you have a hobby lobby nearby, they sell models and paint etc, so does Ben Franklin and many tractor supply type stores. Just cause wally does not carry it, does not mean it is not readily available.

[midniteblues]

I had a guy at work who told me
"if walmart dont have it then you dont need it"
the crazy part is the topic of converstion was hunting equipment
and he said this

[special-K]

^ People come from miles around to The Gun Shack on Main St. In Mt. Airy,where you have to park up the street or in the public lot and walk,since way before Walmart came to town and still do. We also have a model train shop that gets people from miles around,but not good for cars...unfortunately. Mt. Airy began as a whistle stop,so the whole train thing is big there.

[nate_g_2003]

I haven't seen any models in a Wal-Mart or Target in a good number of years. The best place I know of is Hobby Lobby. Whenever I have to go there with the wife, I head straight back to the model aisles haha.

[Slow Build]

Our Wallyworld hasn't had models for a couple of years now. That doesn't bother me as much as the fact that all the small hobby shops in my area have gone out of business. The only place locally I can get model cars is a big chain craft store (Michael’s) and a small Baseball Card/Hobby/Head Shop that has about 10 models. I have to drive at least 25 miles to find an actual hobby shop.

I think most people want instant gratification now and aren't interested in investing time into creating/building anything.