I would say its evolving.

When I was a kid (70's/80's) the sky was falling and the end was near because there were nearly a half dozen ARF R/C planes available and the control line circles populated with a legion of kids with crew cuts were a decade in the past.

Today 40 years later, I can't find a balsa kit at a hobby shop but for less than $500 I can buy a jet the size of one of the Byron originals jets we drooled over in Model Airplane News that will leap off the ground, retract the gear, and climb straight up while reporting back it's altitude/speed/battery status etc. to my touch screen transmitter.

I don't think it is going down the tubes, it just changes And if there is one thing I have learned it is that all of these "kits" have a limited production time, always have, so if you like one buy a few and not one. I have bought hundreds of classic kits from various sources and other than the R/C cars the prices don't really get insane so if you want to keep buying and building from a given decade ebay is your hobby shop. For me the best part is that the tech is now available to really make the old stuff work even better. An entire flight system now weighs less than a single component in the old RC systems and the power plant options are worlds apart from the good old days. You can take a design that looked better than it flew in the late 70's and throw in a modern power plant and flight pack to slash the weight and have excellent power. You will have something that flies as good as it looks with performance that wasn't possible when it was on the market.

If you have kids or grand kids open your wallet and buy them a Horizon Carbon-Z Cub they can hang in their bedroom and teach them how to fly it this summer. If the local official AMA field is populated by a bunch of humorless bores more concerned with club bylaws and rules than they are flying find another place to fly and keep the hobby fun.