ram3500-RCU
Posts: 8040
Score: 145
Joined: 8/17/2002
Last Login: 6/19/2013
From: n. canton,
OH, USA
Status: online
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I love to build. I see it as a way to express my creativity, mechanical skills, engineering ability, and gives a personality or individuality to my airplanes.
I am a carpenter by trade, and have a passion for trim carpentry, thus, I work with my hands all the time. Funny, I was building models when only 12, long before I became a carpenter. Thinking about it, carpentry might just be a result of the satisfaction I got from building models, instead of the other way around.
Anyway, there were no ARFs when I got started. You built, or you didn't fly, unless you had some one build it for you. Today, the hobby is very different, and I attribute that to the hobbyist. ARFs would not exist if the market was not supporting them. They have an appeal that is undeniable. I don't see this as being bad for the hobby. Many are participating that would not otherwise. What is wrong with that?
One negative impact is not so much to the hobby in general, but to the builder directly. As a result of the explosion of ARFs, your local hobby shop has likely scaled back on the building materials it once HAD to carry. Mine is no exception. Paint, glass, and other materials is getting harder and harder to find locally. I used to be able to walk into the local hobby shop and get any building supply I needed. Paint, resin, glass, wood, styrene, metals, adhesives, hardware, scale parts, gear supplies, and more were always in good supply with choices even. Now, much of that is only found on line. It is a good thing we have the internet. I see the hobby shops continuing to stock things used to repair and maintain ARFs, and much of this is the same stuff we build with. Good for that at least.
As a result of all this, building has become more time consuming and costly. However, I believe that the percentage of builders in the hobby has decreased only because the overall number in the hobby has increased, and most all of the newcomers buy the ARFs and don't build. Most all of the guys I know, who have always built, still build, at least the ones who have not passed away. As this attrition continues, a larger and larger percentage of modelers will be non-builders. Heaven help them when these skills are all but gone in another 20 years. They will still have all the 'build threads' to look back on and learn from, I hope. 
_____________________________
Cheers,
Gary P. / use Steel Powder for ballast not lead. PM me for more information.
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RE: Why don't many people build RC airplane kits anymore? - 
