MRH staff notes - 8
You can access the MRH TOC index at:
And finally, you can go to our website and click the MRH
Search (Google) link at the top right of any website page and
get a custom Google search against just the MRH website
for a topic.
Is the hobby shrinking?
Every so often, we run into people in the hobby who insist
that it has to be shrinking. The view is held by some rather
influential people in the hobby as well.
MRH doesn’t share this view. We’ve done a lot of empirical stud-
ies and built some predictive models. These models say that
since 2005 the hobby population should be on the upswing. If
we check the number of Google searches for things like RC air-
planes, model ships, RC cars, military models and model trains –
almost always model trains has the largest number of searches,
so says Google.
The HMA, Hobby Manufacturers Association, keeps statistics on
annual industry sales, and for several years running now, they’ve
reported the industry revenue for model trains is growing, while
the revenue for things like RC models is down.
All-in-all, empirical hobby data that we can measure fits our
predictive model that the hobby is currently growing.
In this issue
MRH forum regular Gary Christensen gives you a step-by-step
demonstration of how to do modern railcar “rustbucket weather-
ing” on a Soo Line outside braced box car. As you follow along, you
will see how what initially doesn’t look like it’s going to work turns
into one very realistically weathered car.
MRH-Aug 2014
