Ilikebipes: I'm not sure what magazines you were looking at when you say the hobby is more affordable now than it was 20 years ago, 1986 futaba 8 channel pcm $500.00, 2006 futaba 9zap
$900.00 without any servos, 1986 y.s. .60 $148.16, 2006 y.s. 1.6 dz $680.00, 1986 j.r. 4031 servo $60.00, 2006 j.r. 8611 $100.00. Just a few examples, not including exhaust systems, airplane kits or anything else required. As I stated earlier, I believe the day that the rules changed and essentially every pattern airplane / engine in the country became obsolete, was the day pattern started to die. I'd be flying pattern today if I thought my Jekyll with a hanno special (which won 14 or 15 contests between 1991 and 1993) would be competitive.