Michaelj2k

Back then, the US dollar was worth a heck of a lot more than it is today.

FlyerInOKC

My Feedback: (6)

I still buy the occasional magazine, my favorite is Flying Models out of the UK. I just wish the free plans were for something besides small Drake electrics. In Peter Drake's defense he does a great job on his plans.

GerKonig

You are right, besides I subscribe to MAN. I have no clue why the OP misses reading the magazines at night like I do. Maybe he has to subscribe again... and then enjoy them. Suscribing migh help.

Gerry

GerKonig

Well said! I also subscribed to RCM, but since I do not have Alzheimer, I still remember they were jam packed with ads:-) and I do not mind ads at all. Had nice covers, some people even were able to find airplane models in the covers. We want ads, after all, we are the suckers that buy that kind of products and services... All hobbies marg. have ads, my other hobby is photography and travel. Those mags are full of ads too.

While I am 62, I do not miss the old magazines. But I will keep buying paper magazines, and newspapers until they disappear. Fortunately MAN and the AMA magazine, and the AOPA and the photography magazines are still available in paper.

I might use a tablet to read them the day they manufacture a table that is really light like a magazine, or the section of a newspaper. Heck, many times I am reading at night and I fall asleep (that is the plan), and the magazine lands in my face. Would I want that to happen with a tablet? No, I pass... I prefer to keep my nose and teeth intact:-)

Gerry

Airplanes400

My Feedback: (349)

I considered the R/C magazines as reading material for the bathroom. That's where I always put them the minute they arrived. After reading them, I used them as cutting boards. I also used newspaper as cutting boards, or when I painted a plane. Can't do that with a tablet, laptop, or the computer!

oldbassard

For every negative there are positives. I really have never been a really good builder or a really good pilot. I used to buy the magazines to try to learn. I have had a lot of physical damage to my body and to prevent people from staring and asking questions I don't want to answer.

I fly and build alone. Seldom did I ever get any really good tips from magazines, especially when I needed the "how to" at the time. And as stated before, all the glowing reviews of foamies and arfs.. Which in truth I like them all, but, I really want to be a really good builder more than anything. I like to fly, but some of the models I have seen built here and elsewhere simply amazes me.

This online club provides me with expert knowledge that I can't get anywhere else. Some of the builds I have seen you guys post just floors me. And some of you post about the positives and negatives of certain arfs and foamies which does help me in selecting what ones I want to regain my flying skills with as I learn more about and hone my building skills.


I am in a very small RC airplane club that as a rule, I am the only one there when I go fly. When I need help with a how to or just advise, I can come here and usually get my questions answered within minutes. This club is big enough the manufactures pay attention to it. If a company sells crap for a kit or arf, people here tell each other about it.

Magazines do show some beautiful builds, but. There are no less impressive models here that was built by the members and what's better, I can ask the builder as a rule how they did this or that and usually their are most happy to share their knowledge.

As far as I am concerned, the magazine are a good thing for learning about new products and seeing professional builds, but this online club is better for me because of the knowledge base and one to one response when I need help. besides the fact, I can always use the subscription money for more airplane parts.

FlyerInOKC

My Feedback: (6)

oldbassard, from one Okie to another building is an art and you never, ever, quit learning. I have been at it since I was a kid in the 60s and I still hope to get good at it someday!

Trisquire

Once upon a time, RCM would tell it like it is.

FlyerInOKC

My Feedback: (6)

I like the line at the end where RCM asked them not to advertise the sailplane in the magazine. Now that is a good example of ethics!

Tarasdad

I wish I had the money to take rhem off your hands. I'd love the RCM just for the construction articles alone.

lkruse

My Feedback: (42)

Thanks for the support, Ralph. You are much appreciated. While I can't speak for "Flying Models" editorial policy, I can tell you that there is a concerted effort put forth every month to include all facets of the hobby and offer more than just reviews of the newest ARF.

Best regards,

Larry Kruse

Former "FF Sport" columnist
and feature writer

FlyerInOKC

My Feedback: (6)

I have noticed this effort in the issues I purchased.

jtotten

I refer to my stash of old RC mags (1964-present) often when people complain about the price of rc equipment.
Its easy to get prices for general items in any year, such as 1966

Item Price
New house $23,300.00
First class stamp .05
Gal of reg gas .32
Dozen eggs .60
Gallon Milk .99
New Car $3000.00 (Price of 1966 Chev Impala SS Hardtop with no trade in - Loved that car)

From the Mags - Feb 66 Model Airplane News (cover price 50 cent)
Bonner Digimite RC 8 ch digital proportional w 4 servos - $615 (21 oz flight pack)
Additional servos $34.95 (3 1/4 oz ea)
Fox 60 r/c engine $75.00
OS Max 58 RC w muffler $34.95
Kirklands Beach comber pattern ship - Kit $34.95
Goldberg Falcon 56 -Kit 11.95

dirtybird

My Feedback: (5)

I wrote an article for RCM once. I spent 6 months writing and revising. RCM paid me $100 for it. I never wrote another.
To Have a good magazine you need someone to write the articles. Writing a construction article is a lot of work. You have to do it for love. You wont get paid much.

jtotten

Some of the construction threads on RCU are really great labors of love - particularly in the scale forums - no mag could afford the space or authorship costs.

jafo150

Rcm was the "ad: magazine, R/C report was the truth, M.A.N. was the pictures the rest was hit or miss with model aviation at the bottom.
'I still prefer magazines!

LDM

My Feedback: (15)

I use to love the mags for the "whats new" but the net seems to move faster and trendier in what is in the news .
When I mean faster is that they are more on top of trends vs the mags .

kochj

fast forward to now, That is why we have these Furums!.... ... To get "THE REST OF THE STORY"

FlyerInOKC

My Feedback: (6)

Face it now days magazines have an uphill battle to stay afloat. The cover price and subscriptions cover the printing and shipping costs if they are lucky; Ads pay for everything else. I can see why the mags do what they do but even then they may not survive. I enjoy buying & reading an occasional magazine and the link to the articles never go obsolete. Still forums like this one do provide information you won't find elsewhere and if you are in an area with no clubs or LHS it can be a lifeline to the builder/flier. I visited New Orleans last year on business and was shocked that I couldn't find 1 hobby shop! I live in Oklahoma City, OK and we have two excellent shops for R/C airplanes both very competitive with mail order! Am I lucky or what?

H5487

"...if you are in an area with no clubs or LHS..."

OKC Flyer,

Clovis, NM was like that when I was stationed there in the early 1970s. The closest hobby shops were either 100 miles east in Lubbock or Amarillo or 225 miles west in Albuquerque. Obviously, we didn't have the benefit of an internet back then but I can fully understand how someone in a small town nowadays has to rely on forums like this to learn what the magazines don't fully explain. I also know what it's like to have to teach yourself how to fly because 100 miles is a long way to go to be an ignored new club member.

"I visited New Orleans last year on business and was shocked that I couldn't find 1 hobby shop!"
Well, with all of the great food, plentiful booze, and wild women, who has the time, money, or energy left for model airplanes?

Oops, I forgot that this is a family-oriented forum so for those readers under 18, that was just a joke. Such stuff NEVER goes on in New Orleans! Especially during Mardi Gras!! Or football season!!!

Harvey

FlyerInOKC

My Feedback: (6)

I passed on the booze and the broads but I got my fair share of good food there. I went as part of a group to an Italian place in the French Quarter and found the pesterians to be very entertaining to see at times!

Jim Thomerson

I still have a subscription to Flying Models, and think it the best of the USA magazines. I also have a subscription to Aeromodeller, and am very pleased with it. Unfortunately a six issue subscription costs more than a year AMA membership. But, Hey, I am worth it. I don't think the internet is completely to blame. The ascendency of ARF and RTF airplanes has changed the hobby to where the old time magazines would have a relatively small fan base. The loss of hobby shops started back in the 1960's with the rise of discount mail order place (Other than AHC). Some years back there were at least three hobby shops in New Orleans. I know one was completely washed away in Katrina.

GerKonig

Quite frankly, i find much more helpful to follow a build thread on line than what we got in the past in the magazines. No comparison. Particularly for models like Balsa USA (my favorite).

If you go to some sites (which I will not mention) you can see interesting threads of models being built with much more information and better pictures, and scale detailing than you could ever find in a magazine.

And if you buiild from plans or use a kit cutter to build a design from Ziroli, or Wendell H, well, you find all the information you want on line. Magazines = 0

Gerry

cordell staker

I have building and flying something since 1958. I have a college degree and an MBA. Have not purchased a model airplane magazine (except my Model Aviation from AMA) since the mid 80's. Everything I need is on line. There is no close to me hobby store in Austin. It's a 45 min. drive one way, so don't go but twice a year. Mail order everything but fuel. I long for the days of my childhood where the hobby store I went to, was almost a carbon copy of the little hobby shop in the AMA museum at Muncie. They sold fishing boats and bicycles too, and I always equate the smell of racks of bicycle tires with model airplanes. I have sons that learned to fly from me but their interest in this hobby is gone. I am starting on the grandkids...but starting electric. They would never have the patience to hand flip a Wen-Mac, or Cox .049. Many times I would be at the school yard alone, flipping away, hoping that if it started another kid would come by and give me a running launch. I guess when I'm dead only the 3d hucksters and the Chinese will be left.

Jim Thomerson

Hey Cordell, were you in the Capitol Aeroneers club? I think we stared it while I was flying in Austin. I left in 1957, but the club persisted for some years. I have a dozen or so of the club decals, still in usable shape. I remember when we decided on having the decals made.