ATHENS, Oct. 28 (Xinhua) -- Greek plastic modellers survived the debt crisis with more young blood taking up the hobby, as demonstrated at an expo here this weekend.
A total of 772 models were put on display in the 38th national modelling expo and competition running from Oct. 25-27, attracting thousands of spectators.
Despite the decade-long economic crisis, the number of hobbyists in Greece has not dwindled, said Giorgos Giannopoulos, chairman of the Greek branch of the International Plastic Modellers' Society, noting that more "young blood" is taking up the hobby in recent years.
"Interest is on the rise," Giannopoulos said. The number of participants in the junior category aged 6-12 years is increasing in recent years. More than 100 models were submitted by elementary school pupils, he said.
The hobby is not expensive. It offers opportunities for children to study history and make friends, while adults can enjoy it to relieve stress.
Panagiotis Zarkadis, president of an association of modellers from the western port city of Patras and one of the participants this year, took up the hobby as a kid, forgot about it as a university student and started building models again with his son.
Instead of spending money on psychiatrists, he finds inner peace designing and painting plastic model aircrafts, he said.
Zarkadis has studied aeronautical engineering and enjoys reading historical books to discover the details of old aircrafts.
"Lately I am reading about Chinese technology and I appreciate it a lot. Since I like aircrafts, I studied history to find out how advanced Chinese are and I decided that I wanted to create a modern Chinese aircraft," he said.
