RE: Is modeling becoming too diverse?
We are much less diverse than we were 25 years ago. The core of the hobby now is sport planes, (what I call advanced trainers) and giant aerobats. The eccentric interest surrounding the core such as exotic configurations, extreme speed, scale, etc are no longer supported by the magazines or the clubs. I believe the phrase I used in another thread about this was, we are becoming a homogeneous monolithic herd.
Anyone that was in the hobby 25 or 30 years ago can tell you that the people then were much more diverse. I flew with people from all walks of life. And the various interests they had varied greatly. Everyone pursued their interest. We exchanged information, and collectively we learned a great deal together. It was great fun and very interesting. I don't see that happening now. I'm not certain that the change is because it is a different era, or because it is the location where I live now, or if it is the leadership of the AMA or my local clubs. But the subject does seem somewhat ethereal and difficult for me to convey and the topic seems to offend some people. Essentially I am saying "we are boring, now". Lets not surround ourself with ourself. A person doesn't learn and grow by socializing with people that think the exact same things. And we don't grow if we only fly models with people that fly the exact same models as us.
What do I need from my clubs to promote diversity ? Just a facility that can be utilized by everyone. Thats all.
What do I want from the AMA ? The return of technical articles that support the eccentric interest. ( ex: How to ballance a forward swept canard) . We are grown men and students for the most part in this hobby. We should be dealing with more advanced theory. We should be leading edge. This hobby was leading edge at one time.