RE: A trip to the hobby shop just isn't what it used to be!  
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RE: A trip to the hobby shop just isn't what it used t... - 7/9/2006 6:31:23 PM   
west6008


 

Posts: 148
Joined: 11/10/2005
From: Morell, PE, CANADA
Status: offline 		Strat2003..."And soon nobody will know how to build a model airplane. "

The RTF buyers that I bump into tend to have no hands-on skills.
I'm not laying blame here, but almost everything is either throw-
away of hands-off now.
Take the new hands-off cars for instance, back in the 70's, I could change
the alternator brushes or starter in my Dodge Aspirin (Aspen) with my eyes shut.
(I had to, to survive, thanks to Detroit's defect engineers)

The good side of this is that since I went Toyata, I have for time for my models!


(in reply to rainedave)
       Post #: 26

RE: A trip to the hobby shop just isn't what it used t... - 7/10/2006 3:20:27 PM   
Hueydriver


 

Posts: 137
Joined: 5/2/2005
From: Dartmouth, NS, CANADA
Status: offline 		I grew up in Fresno, Ca and had a great LHS (Bob's Village Hobby) that I hung out in every weekend. Balsa, very expensive proportional radios, free flight and ukies everywhere. This was a period of transition when R/C started to become affordable to more folks, but if still too expensive, you could drag a Ringmaster around the circle and have a ball, coming home smelling like glow fuel. I bought a Lil Tri Squire there with a Micro Avionics 4 ch radio that I learned to build and fly on.

I have only flown one ARF, and that is an F1A Nordic FF glider.....due to the lack of FF expertise here in Nova Scotia, I needed to see how circle tow and bunt work without augering in months of work. All subsequent gliders will be built, probably not nearly as well, by me.

The surge of ARFs is a result of diminishing time available to build and the instant gratification these generations of late need. It is not their fault, but they know not of what they miss. I had a knee-shaking maiden flight of Jeff Petroski's Taurus this weekend (cut short by a covering mistake that left some fabric hanging from a wing panel) that still gave me great joy. I cannot wait to get it trimmed.

Perhaps the best entry point into R/C (and FF or ukie, for that matter), is a rubber-powered sport ship made of balsa sticks and tissue. If that stirs someone's interest, they're hooked. Meine zwei phennig

(in reply to west6008)
       Post #: 27

RE: A trip to the hobby shop just isn't what it used t... - 7/10/2006 3:59:04 PM   
rainedave



Posts: 5578
Joined: 7/21/2005
From: Greensboro, NC, USA
Status: offline 		I know about the complexity of the contemporary FF technologies. Without a physical model to go by there's no way I would be able to successfully set up the auto rudder and bunt systems found on today's F1Js, for example. You have to actually study that stuff first hand to really understand how it all works.

P.S. There's talk of wanting to eliminate the penny from US currency. Just my nickle's worth

< Message edited by rainedav -- 7/10/2006 4:05:37 PM >

(in reply to Hueydriver)
       Post #: 28

RE: A trip to the hobby shop just isn't what it used ... - 7/10/2006 5:39:06 PM   
Jim Thomerson



Posts: 2889
Joined: 10/9/2002
From: Austin, TX, USA
Status: offline 		In the international class FF events, where there is no BOM, it is now mostly buy and fly. A large percentage of the competitors, even in such a talented and skilled bunch, cannot build an airplane as good as one they can buy. I know this has caused some to lose interest. I don't know if ready availability of competitive equipment has brought in many new competitors.

(in reply to rainedave)
       Post #: 29

RE: A trip to the hobby shop just isn't what it used ... - 7/10/2006 6:11:00 PM   
Hueydriver


 

Posts: 137
Joined: 5/2/2005
From: Dartmouth, NS, CANADA
Status: offline 		That's probably why there's a rising interest in "classic" and "vintage" FF events in North America and the UK. If I build a spruce, balsa and polyspan Dragmaster, I won't be competitive in FAI events, but as Lomabardi said, "On any given day....."

Which brings us back to this thread's subject. A LHS that stocks great wood and can order in the rare bits (such as a D/T timer) is worth its weight in gold and helps inspire imagination and experimentation with airfoils/scratchbuilds etc., regardless of the model category. I think someone said the Cellar Dwellar in Winnipeg is one, and, having been there a few times myself, couldn't agree more.

It would be interesting to see a poll on what is the best LHS, in a vintage sense, on both sides of the pond.

(in reply to Jim Thomerson)
       Post #: 30

RE: A trip to the hobby shop just isn't what it used t... - 7/17/2006 4:29:28 AM   
E-Challenged



Posts: 246
Joined: 9/3/2002
From: Garden Grove, CA, USA
Status: offline 		If you are truly self-motivated and want to build from plans and will take the time to find out what materials and accessories are available and where to get them, you can do like the rest of us old school types who never quit, i.e. stock up on screws, blind nuts, music wire, balsa and ply covering materials etc get some plans and have at it. It may cost you a little more money and lots more effort than assembling and ARF but you will have the same old excitement when maidening your favorite model.

(in reply to rainedave)
       Post #: 31

RE: A trip to the hobby shop just isn't what it used ... - 7/17/2006 6:05:13 AM   
patterndreamer


 

Posts: 429
Joined: 1/5/2004
From: Northridge, CA, USA
Status: offline 		I'm going to try and defend the younger generation you guys are gripping about here. I find myself in a hobby dominated by people many times older than me, but those are sometimes the people I end up helping. Also, I will be the first to say that I like some arfs, but you can't beat whats availible in kit form, plans, or even not on a piece of paper but in your mind. So, the builder is not yet lost to the new batch of flyers. There will always be a builder group in the generation, the people who see a plane and say, "its nice but I bet I can build a better one."

Patternd

(in reply to E-Challenged)
       Post #: 32

RE: A trip to the hobby shop just isn't what it used t... - 7/17/2006 10:52:38 PM   
Jim_Purcha



Posts: 1094
Joined: 9/18/2003
From: La Salle, MB, CANADA
Status: offline 		How did you manage to get from Fresno, CA to Nova Scotia Canada?

(in reply to Hueydriver)
       Post #: 33

RE: A trip to the hobby shop just isn't what it used t... - 7/17/2006 11:56:29 PM   
8178



Posts: 3128
Joined: 5/25/2004
From: _ , USA
Status: offline 		Anyone have a guess on how many hobby shops have closed in the US? It is hard to believe that the few mail order companies left (many have closed) could replace the volume of stuff sold though all the old closed shops. Seems like it must be a net loss in R/C sales and a loss to our hobby.

(in reply to west6008)
       Post #: 34

RE: A trip to the hobby shop just isn't what it used t... - 7/18/2006 1:19:49 AM   
Hueydriver


 

Posts: 137
Joined: 5/2/2005
From: Dartmouth, NS, CANADA
Status: offline 		"How did you manage to get from Fresno, CA to Nova Scotia Canada? "

Moved to Fresno as a Cdn citizen when I was 6 (great place for model aviation), came back to Canada to join the Air Force after university and am flying H-3 helicopters in Nova Scotia. We have two good LHSs in the local Halifax area......thank goodness for them when you need the extra roll of Monokote or a straighter C grain stock for the trailing edge of a free flight glider.

(in reply to 8178)
       Post #: 35

RE: A trip to the hobby shop just isn't what it used t... - 7/20/2006 9:36:14 PM   
Lou Melancon


 

Posts: 289
Joined: 10/13/2002
From: Alpharetta, GA, USA
Status: offline 		To me this is a very interesting thread. From my home in a northern suburb of Atlanta it is at least a half hour drive to the closest hobby shop. Although well stocked for electrics it is unlikely that I can find fuel, glow plugs, or props there. At $3 a gallon for gas shopping on the internet is actually more effective.

If you were going to open a hobby shop what would you stock? Would you stock it with what you would like to buy or what the people who come in the front door want to buy. I started building in the late 50s' and still love it, but if ARFs had been available then would I have ever learned to build? Probably not, because I wouldn't have had too. For a hobby shop owner to stay in business he has to keep control of his inventory and sell what people will buy. Today, with the opportunity to walk out of the store with a complete Ready to Fly plane for under $400 the economics dictate that he stock ARFs and not so much of what "builders" need. He makes his money on the fuel, starting battery, props, fuel pump, and flite box. The margin is such on those items that he can almost afford to give away for the cost the RTF plane.

The walk in customer doesn't ask if he has #11 blades in bulk or where he keeps his Esaki silk, or whether he has T-Pins. The average walk in customer doesn't ask to buy a new muffler or piston and sleeve for his engine, or a new set of bearings. Today's customer only knows two glues - CA and Epoxy and cannot fathom what sandpaper is used for.

I agree with the person who said there will always be "builders" in every generation of modelers and for those who love airplanes those builders and their creations will continue to fuel our passions. Several years ago one of the model magazine editors told me the most read articles in their magazine issues were those dealing with Scale airplanes, and those articles are loaded with examples of what builders can create.

My one worry about ARFs is that they make it too easy to get into modeling. There is little if any "sweat equity" required, only a wallet with cash. My experience with things that are easy to get into are that they are just as easy to quit. Maybe that is a convoluted perspective but it seems to be true when I watch how many folks join our club, fly for a year, then disappear. It might be good that we had them for that year, and wouldn't have it ARFs weren't available. But, for me, and some others one of the beauties of our great hobby is the ability to create something that is mine, is unique, and represents the best expression my building talents can give it. That produces a satisfaction that those who do not build will not experience. That satisfaction and my desire to create my next model are what keeps me interested.

There is still one perfect hobby shop. It is the only one left on planet Earth. It has Megow rubber kits, yellow box Comet kits with the Piper Skycyle, young builder and bottle of soda shown on the box cover. It has Berkely and Sterling kits, Jetex Motors along side Dynajets, a rack full of Aerogloss dope and tubes of Ambroid and Duco Cement. There are Foxes, McCoy .35s, K&Bs, Doolings, and a new motor called an OS MAX. It has a smell that combines dope, castor, and wood into an aroma that takes you back in time. There are Bonner and Orbit radio systems with the latest escapements. Scientific Models carved wood kits have an area all their own. A Ramrod 600 hangs from the ceiling and the cash register is the old mechanical kind that doesn't tell you the change to give. It exists and it is timeless and everyone of us put in money to create it. You can find this shrine to our sport in Muncie, Indiana, in the AMA Museum. It is the most perfect Hobby Shop in the world and going there is an experience that everyone should have at least once in their lifetime.

_____________________________

Waco Brotherhood Member #110

(in reply to Hueydriver)
       Post #: 36

RE: A trip to the hobby shop just isn't what it used ... - 7/21/2006 2:20:51 AM   
Gonnacrash



Posts: 220
Joined: 12/18/2001
From: Basehor, KS, USA
Status: offline 		Little hobby shop "intown" from where we lived was about 8 miles or so. Every time Mom would
go shopping in downtown Kansas City Kansas, I could prowl around in the Dime Store with the
wooden floors and cable operated tube to the cashier upstairs... but any way the "Charlies Hobby" would
ALWAYS come up.. Mom ... please... Oh what fun that was ! Stand on my tip toes to look into the
show case and if you were to move in the right direction to avoid the crack in the glass you could always
see the COX GO KART sitting there.. never moved. Ole Charlie would be so kind and talk for ever
to the kids. Charlie had everything from A=Z...All the things Lou mentioned !! McCoy .09, then OK Cub .29 and a Ringmaster from there
all history.......
The year was 1947-1951 or so........................

< Message edited by Gonnacrash -- 7/21/2006 2:22:42 AM >

(in reply to Lou Melancon)
       Post #: 37

RE: A trip to the hobby shop just isn't what it used ... - 7/23/2006 2:03:41 PM   
s. wallace


 

Posts: 653
Joined: 2/11/2002
From: Endicott, NY, USA
Status: offline 		I recall the neatest "old school" hobby shop I have ever seen was the one in Dallas, Tx owned by former AMA president Johnny Clemons (sp). Just jammed with memorabilia and tons of cool goodies for FF, CL and RC. I was in the Air Force stationed a few hours away in Wichita Falls and would make the trip every few months to stock up, you could spend hours in the place. This was in the early 80's, I know Mr Clemons has passed away many years ago, doubt the place is still open.

(in reply to Gonnacrash)
       Post #: 38

RE: A trip to the hobby shop just isn't what it used ... - 7/23/2006 3:49:11 PM   
Allie33


 

Posts: 160
Joined: 12/24/2001
From: Palm Bay, FL, USA
Status: offline 		Lotus72D,

George Brooks did a pretty good job in your area. One Saturday Granham Bowes and I went to Hobbycraft for stuff (a nose wheel steering link for me). Due to availability and Georges ability we each left with a Southern RC Atlas, a Kraft .61 and Southern retracts. Try doing that today.

We used to make the 50 mile trip every month or so, more often when necessary.

I now live 80 miles from Graves Hobbies in Orlando but with the $3.00 gas and a 12 MPG pickup
......... not often traveled! He has a good mailorder department. It cost me 8 bucks to have a YS63S shipped and it took only a couple of days to get to me.

(in reply to s. wallace)
       Post #: 39

RE: A trip to the hobby shop just isn't what it used ... - 7/23/2006 4:10:12 PM