RE: LETS SAVE SIG BEFORE THEY GET SWALLOWED BY THE BIG TWO!!!
I see your point Chris. Good info all around. We try our best to still listen to the customer and provide them with the best serrvice we can, both from a repair position as well as future products. We have countless people in the field talking to customers at events, trade shows, flyin's etc.
I also still love to build and always will. The gratification as you say is something we cannot get anywhere else. The local clubs are filled with these guys across the country as well. The problem is this is the minority of the business now a days. I really wish it wasn't, but it is.
As for my son, I really wish he would have finished it as well. He loved all of his ARF's that he came up through. He can rig flight controls, set up retacts, and gear up a model. To him that is where he prefers to deliver his "building" as he calls it. Not the same as mine and he is amazed when he watches what I create at times. What he loves is the flying part of it. He flies nearly every day regardless of weather. I have watched him fly in the rain while standing in the garage so the transmitter doesn't get wet. Crazy watching a T-28 come in on final into the driveway and into the garage.
@ blw: I understand that you had a class where students signed up for and paid to build. My question would be would all students in the university want to do that? I sincerelt doubt it. The .5% yes, but the 99.5% no. Hard to acccept the position of one classroom where one had to pay to be a part of as a generalization of what most would like to do. I have a good idea of what our numbers are in the industry and believe me, the kit deal is a thing of the past. When I pay for something I tend to approach it with enthusiasm as well.
I will continue to build until I die. Another unique note is what the new age of modelers calls a kit today. The ARF as we know it is the kit of today. A box of balsa is called scratch building where as in 1980 most who weren't in the hobby would call it a kit. People built stuff then, they do not build today. It is funny, I had a few moderles tell me a few years back that out RTF models were not ready to fly because you had to attach the wing and charge the battery. They felt that was an ARF. New perspective maybe?