ORIGINAL: on_your_six
WHY SUCH SLOW PROGRESS IN RC?
Let's see, 25 years ago, let's call it 1985.
There were NO computerized radios in 1985
There were NO turbine engine in 1985
Four stroke engines had just been introduced and really did only produce half the power of the same sized two stroke.
You could buy a kit fix pitch helicopter with a gyro that actually had a spinning mass gyro in it, and if you were really good you could get it to hover for all of a minute.
You had maybe 3 different sizes of servos to choose from
A .60 was just abut the biggest engine you could buy
There were NO chainsaw based gas engines
Cox Sanwa was the only company making foam & electric airplanes and they BROKE when they crashed. Heck I even had a cox Cessna that the firewall flew off in flight.
That electric plane had a HUGE cheap can brushed motor and enormus sub-C sized nicads and flew for a whole 4 minutes.
And the six channel "fancy" Kraft radio cost $250. If we allow for inflation you would now pay 499.75 for that same non computer radio.
Given the INCREDIBLY SMALL sales base of even world wide RC buyers I think the advances in the last 25 years, especially cost per unit have been amazing!