Hand building, kit building, etc. is just about dead. What kit makers still exist? What hobby shops still exist? If you want something you have to google for it and hope you don't get ripped off in the process. The signs of this part of the hobby dying is when SIG closed, and Tower Hobbies went bankrupt. When flying fields close and no new ones open, when people who used to show up every weekend pass away and no one takes their places, when swap meets that were a winter staple fade away, when the Toledo show went away, those are all signs of the RC flying we grew up with is dying.

Today its the ready made society, why build when a piece of foam does just as well? Where is the pride in flying something you built? That day you place your shiny new hand built airplane on the ground, start it up and take off, fly it around and land, is the best day flying. Those are rare today. Some one has already done 90% of the work today. Take a tiny foam plane today and fly it anywhere there is open space, no AMA license required, if it crashes, oops, go buy another one. Today anyone can buy a multi rotor "drone" press a button and have it fly off and do things all on its own, no experience needed. Hey look I'm flying! Nope, Sorry, someone else flew that for you. They don't care where they fly it, which is what got all of us who put time money and care into the airplanes we build, not assembled, built, into the same careless category. FAA Leaves us scale MODEL pilots alone.

My flying field no longer exists, now the nearest field is nearly an hour away, run by snob nosed uppity old men. I miss the guys I flew with, some moved to Florida, others passed away. Sig is supposedly building back up, but their inventory is nearly non existent. Their buildings in Iowa are all sold now. No more SIG fuel, or dope, and about the only thing I believe will be "SIG" will be ARF as they no longer have the saw mill for making kits. Top Flite has only ARF if there are even those left, no more Gold Star kits. No more Byron Fuels, so good bye Wildcat. The only hobby store that sold Airplanes no longer stocks fuel. I priced out getting methanol and Nitro blends, $600 to deliver it.

Is the hobby dying was the question asked. From my perspective, the part of the hobby that made it the hobby is already dead.