Although I have been in the Hobby for over 20 years, I am not sure if age 35 is an old timer, but I think we would have to look at it in a percentage base, out of 50 New Modelers that go the ARF way, I am going to guess that maybe 5% continue on after the first year or go onto more advance models. Of Those that invested the time to build and learn the craft, I would guess at least 50% would continue , but you probably would not find 50 people per year in one area to devote the time to build their first model at any generation. There are some that do both and learn to build and learn to fly on an ARF at the same time. Back when I was getting started and really not all that long ago there were probably just as many people interested in giving it a try , but because you had to build your own and devote some time not to mention the cost the number of people that actually try is lower, but the ones that did usually had a greater desirer for the hobby before even getting the TX in their hands. This is not to say there are not passionate hobbyist that don't build, there are many. I don't believe anyone is try to intentionally disrespect the new generation of the hobby, its just hard to describe the difference without making it look that way. As I have stated I am very grateful for the new generation, it has actually brought the price of things down from just 10 years ago, and brought forth a much better variety. It exposes the hobby to a greater number of people . But many of us would sure like to see more of them continue on .