20 most worthless pieces of junk: #16 -- Hobby kits

Werd.

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I must be old, even though I still have children as young as rising middle schooler's. I cannot imagine these kits going away. Well, it's just not in my realm of thinking because of the countless hours my husband and I spent with our three children talking, laughing, designing, building, and making different things. It is not the end product that counts, i.e., how long it lasts or even what it looks like. What counts is the process, the fun, the learning experience for all involved. It is the journey, silly! Stop looking at the forest, try looking at the individual tree, if you understand the analogy.

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Broaden your thinking, kits aren't just for kids! On the contrary, kits are a great way to find out if you would like to pursue a particular hobby or make only one of an item without buying a bunch of supplies and having a lot of leftover stuff. Besides kid kits, which are great for keeping them occupied, many, many kits are targeted for adults-needlcraft, beading, quilting, model cars, woodcrafts. And these are for serious hobbiers! True some kits could be iffy to buy, but Hobby Lobby, Jo Ann's, and Michael's craft stores are certainly making a profit from them.

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It all depends on what hobbies you are doing. I myself buy hobby kits and build and paint them. Most of my kits are the old monster models (Dracula, Frankenstein, Phantom on the Opera, etc) Also I do model ships (Titanic, S.S. France, QE 1 & 2, etc) And I also have HO scale Trains. So not all hobbies are junk. Like I said, it all depends on what kind of hobby it is that you enjoy.

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Have you ever built a model car eith 3000 parts. When you do, and it takes a long time, you look at it and love this hobby.

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Was this put on the list as a joke? How stupid. There are hobby kits out there for every interest. Naturally, a bad match makes for a less than satisfactory result. But the same can be said for a date, a dress, a car... and get the picture? Geez.....

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One of the troubles these days, is that we live in an "out of the box" world. Making models, well, you have to think, kids have to think, and goodness sometimes you even have to use your imagination. Excuse me the microwave just went off. "It's supper time.

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Thats the problem here.
Americans have confused quantity over quality in many aspects of our lives. If we could get back to appreciating fewer things, life might be more meaningful

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Thanks for the post.....

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I have been building scale model kits for 60 years. Unfortunately, many hobby stores have closed due to a smaller customer base. Maybe you get get the kids off the computer long enough to pursue other hobbies where they can use their hands for other than pushing keys.

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Some kits may be useless, but an origami kit (for instance) can be great fun assuming that you're not all thumbs.

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As with anything, what is junk to one person may be another person's treasure. For many years now I've enjoyed putting together plastic model kits of vintage aircraft and ships. It's fun to build something you can call your own, and if you're interested in the subject anyway then you can learn more about it. I have many of my models on display in a local museum and it is rewarding to see children and adults alike come through and stop in front of them to either tell stories, ask questions, or otherwise just capture their attention. Sadly, though, my wife is an elementary school teacher, and on the last day of class one year the whole grade level went to the park and she had kids come up and say, "There's nothing to do here, what are we supposed to do?" Imagination and creativity have unfortunately seemed to diminish with the rise in electronic gadgets.

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Are you kidding? Please tell me you're kidding. Sure, poorly made balloon animal hobby kits are crap. But what about well-made model rocket kits? I've always liked my model rockets, and it's something I look forward to every summer. Also, electronic circuit kits (for the winter, of course). The problem is not that hobby kits are crap, the problem is that some hobby kits are made in China and, admittedly, based on some rather silly hobbies.

And, as much of a packrat as I am, even I would throw out the broken air pump. It's BROKEN get RID OF IT.

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The people who thought up this list never had the chance to pursue a educating or relaxing hobby such as Model building. I've been an avid modeler for close to 40 years both Plastic and Radio controlled and the thrill of completeing somthing unique has never left me yet. Its educational and so diverse. A few of my models sit in show cases in an airport terminal and a museum in which people along with children enjoy viewing. With out a hobby kit how can you even try find a creative yet relaxing way to express yourself?

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Maybe some hobby kits could be considered junk, but some of them are priceless and timeless. Model Car Kits, especially those plastic ones by Revell, Monogram and AMT have been made for over 60 years. Car enthusiasts love putting together their dream cars and collecting them on their shelves, then dusting them off and showing them to their friends and relatives every few years. Model Car Kits is a hobby enjoyed by millions of people, so I doubt we can consider that worthless, can we?

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