ORIGINAL: Scar
ORIGINAL: abufletcher
ORIGINAL: Clay Walters
...without having to shape the parts, jury rig and finagle at every turn...
Dave and Clay,
Where's the fun in that! I've never met a kit I couldn't bash and don't expect I ever will. But to be honest, it's come to the point that I bash so extensively that I'm really just scratch-building with kit-provided balsa.
A friendly question: Your contribution to this thread will be read by novices and more experienced people; what do you expect the effect would be on the novice?
My opinion is, new/inexperienced builders look for encouragement to buy and build kits in this forum, and they are entitled to see posts that provide that encouragement.
Best wishes,
Dave Olson
Clay and Dave,
I just wonder how many would spend the time that we had to in cutting all the blue lines on the stamped balsa sheets to be able to build a simple rubber powered Comet kit? Or how many today would be willing to cut out the parts templates, and copy them onto a balsa sheet as we had to do with many other brands of kit?
I know, you will tell me that kids today don't have the time that I had way back when, but did they change the rule that there was only 24 hours in the day? If you are motivated, and really want to, then you will, by patience, and discipline finish the model, and move on to a more complex model.
Today, I cut my own kits from plans, and build them, or scratch build my own. I'm not a better model builder than anyone else, but I have learned to have the patience and discipline that this hobby requires. I don't expect everyone to want to build their own model airplane. That didn't happen in the late 40's and 50's either. I was a member of a small minority of kids who built and flew model planes. In my town, there were less than 1000 residents. Only 3 or 4 of us were into model planes.
It's never been an easy hobby, but it has been a rewarding one. Not every boy who built model planes became an engineer, but most engineers built model planes. It teaches you things that nothing else does.
I don't like ARF's (big surprise). I personally feel that the rise of the ARF has been responsible for the demise of the kit industry, and that this lack of buildable kits has helped to ruin the hobby. There is a great call for instant gratification today, and it is getting worse. Perhaps the downturn of the economy will slow down the availability of these ARFs and some of the guys will begin to build their own from scratch or from plans again. The price of the ARF models has been increasing at a high rate in recent months, and I don't think that it's a bad thing.
Those who really want to have flying models will find a way to do so, and those who are only in it for the short term will probably move along to some other interest.
How many people do you know that have only done ARF's, have been in the hobby for more than 5 years? How many do you know who will be in the hobby for that amount of time. The hobby/sport has changed, and the membership is very flexible at the present time. It looks like fun, and lots of people get into the sport of flying, and lose interest quickly and move on. Look at how many nice and nearly new pieces of radio equipment are currently for sale cheap. These are the guys who will be doing something else next summer.
It's always been an expensive hobby, and a small one. The big distributors have been trying to generate a demand, rather than filling a need. They are hurting too. The companies that will survive are probably the ones who will be able to fill a demand rather than creating one.
That's just my opinion, and is probably worth exactly what it cost you. I'll still be cutting and building after the importers of ARF's are long gone.
Bill, AMA 4720
WACO Brotherhood #1