TheCalgarian

Time with family and friends is important, but equally important is time spent alone puttering around. Time to think, create, listen to some music or have a TV show playing in the background,........."Me time". I think we all need some, in balance with the other demands we face.

Certainly if faced with a dire prognosis I wouldn't likely head for the modeling bench, but there are a lot of things I would change too. Probably stop going to work, among others.

I just think we live in a world where fast results are important and becoming the norm, and model planes are no exception. Ultimately it comes down to what aspect(s) of the hobby are more important to any given individual.

vertical grimmace

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Also, just because we acquire our planes by building them, does not mean that all of our time is spent in construction. Knock on wood, I rarely crash, so anything I build, I have for many many years. My problem is more having the room for all of my past builds, and then the space to accept the next ones.

Again one of the benefits of building. The quality is such, that you do not have to replace them every couple of years. Done right, and kept out of the dirt, they will last a lifetime.

willig10

The builders are still around. I still build as well. Here is the bottom line. The kit manufacturers quit keeping up with the times. ARF's on the other hand have. Case in point. Try and find a kit of an SBACH. There are tons of SBACH ARF's. Of course the market goes the way of the dollar. So for the most part, people want a ready to fly plane. They don't want to take weeks, months or years to build then fly. I prefer both building and ARF's. Wish the kit manufacturers would produce some modern variants and something more than just trainers and warbirds. Be nice to see some kits of some giant scale 30cc-50cc Cessnas (152) Piper warriors, RV-4,6,8 etc.

Just my 2 cents

Glenn

vertical grimmace

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Aeroworks used to only sell kits in the beginning. Maybe if there were demand, they would sell some of their new offerings as kits? They have to manufacture the kit anyway. It would just not get built in China, and packaged differently.

[email protected]

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i used to build all the time but now iam in a mobile home not much room i dont like arfs so now i go to the swapmeets and buy a used built up and fly it and iam 83 and fly good nothing like haveing a built up plane

Gray Beard

My Feedback: (-1)

I nag my wife a bunch about her computer games, she gets up in the evenings, {she works grave} and goes out for a smoke then comes in and picks up her Kindle Fire and doesn't put it down until it's time to get ready for work. That isn't what bothers me though, it's her having the TV on with a football game going while she is gaming with her friends. I'm a reader so the TV doesn't bother me much, it's just that I don't like sports on TV. If it's going to be on I would like to watch something else.
When I was still competing in trap and skeet I was in my den loading shells until prime time then I would come out and join her when the game was over. We both enjoy different things so my building doesn't bother her at all. There really are a lot of different things I could be doing here in Vegas!!

WacoNut

I think everything is life has to be a balance.
Too much work and no joy will kill you in no time. Also there is the old adage too much togetherness. Also all play and no business won't get you far in this world either. Personally I spend a good amount of MY spare time on my hobby. I am married (have been for 25 yrs) raised a family and all the things to go along with it. Once the family was raised I started spending more time on the hobby and getting into more elaborate scale builds. I still make time for the misses. She fully supports my hobby and takes interest in my projects. She even helps out with sewing up interior stuff when I need it. The household never suffers for the hobby. Financially or otherwise.
If I had to sit and watch TV every night just so I could spend so called quality time with the wife I would go nuts. Too each his own. I am not going to worry about how much time I have left and if I am spending it wisely. You will drive yourself nuts with that kind of a mentality if you ask me. I have not regretted much that I have done in my life it is the things I haven't done that I have regretted. I am pretty sure not building the planes I want would be a regret. My biggest regret is not getting my pilots license years ago and flying full scale. This was a sacrifice made for the wife at her request. Guess what she gets to live with the little planes. It is all about compromises.

Now I also always post my builds, it is usually the same group of guys that follow along and there will be a few newcomers that follow due to a shared fondness of the airframe. I tend to learn something from the guys that are following the build and hopefully I pass along something to those who are following. I build for my own satisfaction and if someone else likes and appreciates what I have put into the build then that is a bonus. I have learned more from watching other build threads than I could have learned on my own. I always try to use different techniques and try something new on each build. Sometimes they work great sometimes you have to redo a few things. All part of the hobby.

TheCalgarian

I've wondered that myself sometimes, if they'd sell the ARF to a guy unassembled. My guess is the main thing keeping them from doing that is that they don't have detailed enough instructions to supply to hobbyists who want to build their own. I would think whomever they have in the factory building them learn once and then just do tons of them and don't have any instructions specific and detailed enough to allow for someone to pick them up and get it done themselves.

It'd be nice if they could do that, though. I'd certainly be interested.

willig10

Then you would have people cloning the clones. Lol

sierratango

This topic has been a most interesting one.

At 48 I see the wisdom in others who have come before me. Life is so interesting when given the chances most of us on this forum have.

This is so interesting and helps me not only figure out more about myself and why I do what I do, but also where I might be going.

I got out of modeling after my last big scratch built project because I invested too much time and didn't feel the self satisfaction was enough without the recognition of others. Others didn't understand the level of creativity, dedication and design and imagination. I wanted something more concrete and something I could use so I spent seven years buiding a real airplane using many of the skills I developed while building my fiberglass RC planes.

Now I am back having done another revolution around the aviation scene and am using what I learned by building the real plane and making my new RC project even better.

I LOVE ALL THIS STUFF. I love seeing other crazy builders spending huge amounts of time in the pursuit of excellence. Hats off to you all.

Leroy Gardner

Hey vertical what would you do if someone didn't come up with a new format for you to exploit with your opinions and a lot of nothing to do about the subject of the thread. I have noticed you are good at that pretty much all over the place. Surely you have other things to do, most others do. Pretty hard to get any building done when one spends so much time off the boards enlightening the rest of us, just saying ?

vertical grimmace

My Feedback: (1)

Not sure what you are talking about. This is an honest idea that may benefit someone that would like to build one of the Aeroworks designs. They offer very good IMAC, 3D type aircraft, and with the rise in ARF prices, offering some of the designs in kit form, might make some happy. Sorry if I am not explaining myself clearly. That was not a sarcastic post.

Skycat80

I'm new to the hobby and I have to say that, in my opinion, RTFs, ARFs, foamies and kits certainly all have their place in this hobby. I don't think I would have gotten into this hobby if I would have had to build a kit just to get out and fly for the first time. The first plane I bought was a Tower hobbies RTF glow trainer. I fell in love with the hobby and grabbed a few foamies to practice with close to home rather than only being able to fly at the club 40 miles away. From there, I discovered I wanted another glow plane, so I bought an ARF. I put the ARF together and established that I'd like to try building a kit. Fortunately, a member of my club is a lifelong builder and owns a fantastic hobby shop geared toward builders. He set me up with my first kit and was willing to answer my phone calls and answer my rookie builder questions. I've found that being younger than most of the builders in my club actually helps me because they are happy to see younger modelers getting into building, and they are more than willing to help out by returning a text or answering a phone call. I completed my first kit in right at a month. It is a Midwest Sweet and Low stick. My second build was given to me about 50% complete. I just had to finish it. That is the Carl Goldberg Super chipmunk. Most of the fuse was complete, I just had to finish the fuse, build the wing and a few other things, put it all together, get the guts for it and cover it. I believe I will be a builder for a long time. I also believe I will continue to buy ARFs, foamies and used planes as I continue to grow in the hobby. I totally agree with a few of the other guy's statements in the thread that as long as we continue to get people involved in the hobby in any capacity, we are headed in the right direction.

Love To build

My Feedback: (30)

I've been on a 8 year hiatus since divorce. Will have my new home in two years then back to building planes. Got a few Zirloi,, Hostettler ,Bates, Balsa USA and Pepino kits ready to go. I'm working on RC tanks for now due to little room for building.

prop

My Feedback: (1)

My version of Skytwin designed by Clark Salisbury took over a year to make with all the electic motor replacements as well as the ESC and design changes using counter-rotating props and retractable landing gear. Here are some of the build photos.

Prop

sensei

I mostly scratch build anymore although I do have 2 kits in waiting to build. A Midwest Cap 232, and a Sig Astro Hog bipe. Although I would like to see Aeroworks produce builder kits again I really don't see it happening. Here is pictures my 40% Aeroworks Edge 540 I built from a kit back in 1997 if memory serves me, I covered it with Stits and painted it in DuPont base coat clear coat. The weight was 37 lb. powered by a 3W TOC 140cc and flew very nice.



Bob

BalsaBob

My Feedback: (24)

I think many of us became 'builders' because we had to. When many of us started, you HAD to build something .... if you wanted to fly something. When I built my first RC plane (A Sig Kadet) there were no ARF's out there so, I had 2 choices ..... spend many hours with all those balsa pieces and tubes of Ambroid glue ..... or be a spectator and watch others fly the planes they had built .....

Bob

Billy J

My Feedback: (4)

Grandpa started me in 1984 and now is 72 years young and stands beside my youngest son of nine showing us through the years the basics ! Our pro builders still have 50k of planes hanging in there hangers and caint walk to the shop! I knew at a young age I had to watch painting /glassing . scratching process cause these guys would eventually bail out on us! guys in the club wander why I have 9 building projects going at once/ they will figure it out later ! there is so much out there to learn on construction / painting welding etc . Most of old timer builders are in Rc scale builders for Giant warbirds construction ! Good Luck on your builds / support local hobby shops!

TheCalgarian

That's interesting about the hobby shop that's geared toward builders. Can youy share the name of the shop? Sounds like a store worth putting in the ol' contacts list.

Muttdog

I think this is a great point. Why not just divert the parts to a box instead of an assembly line and offer it both ways.

joebahl

My Feedback: (2)

Someone in the begining of this thread was bashing electrict planes and placed it in with ARFs . Scale electrict planes are a up and comming deal with more advancement in batterys and motors. For a twin or any multi motor plane its the only wayto go if you have ever had a nitro motor die on a P-38 you know what i mean . They also said they were all small or cheap foam planes and i did not get mad and reply ,getting more mellow in my old age i guess. My 100 inch wing span balsa built Short Solent seaplane to the none electrict believer .lo Nice Skytwin Prop ! My family enjoys my hobby and go with me alot to fly and get out on weekends to get fresh air . If they have other things planned thats great too but they know iam flying and they dont mind. joe

sierratango

Joe,

Love your seaplane. Love the fact that you have four blade propellers making the plane look more realistic. I presume that there are more propeller options with electrics???

I am a glider guy more than a power builder, but I have for years been toying with the idea of building a from scratch P-3 Orion and I have the necessary documentation. I even scaled the drawing up to the size plane I would want to build, but I don't have time right now to start, too much involved in a current project. I even own the necessary spider foam to sculpting the shapes.

Being that the plane is a four engine turboprop and the engine cowls are narrow make one more reason electrics would be the only way to go.

What would be a necessary thing for me and this plane is to make sure I can find four bladed flat plank type props like the real plane. One other thing I've thought about but have never read about is whether anyone has designed a sound system which can be programmed to allow a model like this to make the sound those four engines make when one hears the real thing. I presume the market is too small, but to go scale, sight, sound and how it flys through the air are all important.

I am surprised no one has done such a sound system for planes like the P-51 or Spitfire.

mike1974

My Feedback: (1)

Perfectly said! Rep to you!

joebahl

My Feedback: (2)

There are alot of sound systems out there but to me they need to be smaller and lighter some day soon. My props are APC 4 bladed ones but many companys are making electrict 3 and 4 bladed props now trying to keep a head of the fasy growning electrict plane market . My APC props were badly out of balance and took about 3 hours to get them good. They were so bad i sent a e-mail to APC and complained that for their price they should have been closer and they need to look into quality control soon . lol joe

VincentJ

Beautifull work there Bob. I have a soft spot for Edges, you did a great job! Here is a photo of my 27.4% 540 Edge that I built from plans... It has fully sheeted wings and was painted with KlassKote epoxy, it's powered with a DA-50 engine.