The BEST thing AMA could do.
 

Simple. Give away ARF model airplanes. Tons of them. Supplement the Delta Dart program with some sort of dead cheap ARF glider or rubber job. Stamp "AMA" and a phone number or website on the planes. Give them out whenever possible. To as many kids as possible.
Jim Walker was the pied piper, he gave out TONS of models, and he KNEW something, all the way back then, that some still do not "get". That if you want to get the kids hooked, get them FLYING. If the planes fly, and fly well, the kids will get into it. They can learn about building later.
Give out a million gliders...see how many modellers are made.
Those old North Pacific one piece styro gliders would have been great. I'm sure somethign could be stamped out in quantity for ten cents each, ya think?

RE: The BEST thing AMA could do.
 

Easy
Have you ever tried to give a kid a dime lately :eek: they look at you like you were nut! now add three 0 to it and you might get thier attention:D

RE: The BEST thing AMA could do.
 

Cobb County Radio Controllers, in Cobb County Georgia are doing just that.

Surf to [link=http://www.ccrc.info/index.php?option=com_zoom&Itemid=43&page=view&cati d=10&PageNo=1&key=0&hit=1]Walker School Day [/link]

RE: The BEST thing AMA could do.
 

No way. It's an airplane. If it flies, most of them will be pretty impressed.
I have given out hundreds of NOS sleek streeks and such, I would say 90% of them, the kids were very impressed. There will always be a percentage who says "can I have a nintendo instead" but that's tough luck.
I did not see what the Cobb County people were doing on their website, what kind of planes do they give away?

The guillows planes are close to what is needed, but they are too expensive, and they don't fly that well.
We need an alternative. Do you guys know what I am talking about, with the 29 cent North Pacific deltas?

RE: The BEST thing AMA could do.
 

I have 3 "kids". 2 flew CL & FF as youngsters. Each won NATs trophies. 1 flew some RC into college. I have 9 grandkids. 1 is solo qualified with a .40 sized trainer. 6 don't give a da_n about model airplanes. 2 are too young to have an opinion. As of now, none of the 12 except 1 has any concern for any kind of model airplane. One son is a recalled USAF Reservist (was a regular at one time) Lt. Col. driving C-5s all over the world (BS Aerospace Engineering and Masters in something else). The other son, business owner, CEO (BS Management Accounting) has a private but is no longer active. He gives small balsa gliders to kids over several states with his business name on the wings. I don't think any ask about AMA.
1 out of 12 may do some modeling later on yet all had much introduction into the hobby-sport.

1 million 10 cent items makes for $100,000.oo That would require some 1725 new Open members to pay the tab. Rather small number actually. Heck, it might be a decent gamble. Probably better than videos to the choir!;)

RE: The BEST thing AMA could do.
 

I could live with that ratio, 1 in 12. Cost only a few bucks.

I think one of the CRITICAL things is that the planes fly, and fly WELL. Jim Walker would give away his A-j74 gliders, they were foolproof. Most of the guillows ones(they do sell a lot as company promos, I bet your son's are those) they just don't fly that well.
Wish we had an alternative aircraft. Just a piece of foam, cleverly designed, that came already in trim with no adjustments needed, was really tough, safe, easy to throw, and could be stamped out for pennies.
I think, again, this is the BEST thing that could be done.
Get them flying. All else is moot.
Out of ten kids you get flying, if ONE of them pursues it further, we will be doing great. The other nine may not take up the hobby, but at least they had some exposure, and it was positive.

RE: The BEST thing AMA could do.
 

Careful there ET. Earthquakes and a falling sky just might happen: You and I may be in some kind of agreement there. BEST may be a bit far out yet the idea sounds plausible.

I would worry about the selection and distribution of where these million (not "tons") gliders would all go to, along with any follow up, which never happens with the Delta Dart program. How would the recipients be brought into the organized modeling world if the electric fliers cannot be brought in?

When I owned the H/S in Mt. Prospect, IL, I was always amazed at the numbers of kits we sold, yet less than 1% ever showed up at any flying field. I always wondered where they went. Look at all these foam gliders hanging in toy stores. What do they provide. I have flown a couple with .049 and 3 channel. Did fine. Yet I have never seen anyone else do it.

Good idea, sounds good, however the logistics and future results worry me lil' ol' mind, they do. [:-]

RE: The BEST thing AMA could do.
 

The gulf between sitting a kid down for an hour or more, giving them some intense hands-on instruction to build and fly a delta dart, and handing them a plane and letting them just throw it, well...it's immense. Nothign wrong with the delta dart program, but we are talking apples and oranges. You need the commitment of both the parent and the kid for several hours, and the kid needs to be six years old or so, and you need a place to build, and the tools, and glue and knives that might scare off certain parents, all that stuff.
Just hand them a plane and let them fly!
How to bring them into the fold afterwards? Don't know. But the seed will have been planted.
Distribution? Make it simple. Make it prolific. Understand there will be wastage, and don't make a big deal of it. If a club or member asks for some, just give it to them.
Those bigger foamie gliders, you are not alone, lots of guys have flown them with radio, if you scout around here and on ezone, you can see all sorts of conversions...

RE: The BEST thing AMA could do.
 

About twenty years ago, I decided that someone could make a lot of money if they could re-produce the old AJ Interceptor, folding wing glider. I made a few to determine costs, and decided it to be a viable project. But, I couldn't do it myself, as I was busy with my Giant Scale engine/kit business.

So, I talked a flying buddy into producing them, and I would do the marketing. We started with direct sales to hobby shops, and the response was excellent. We priced these at $3.95, so they were affordable for kids.

Later on, I made a tour of the USA to set up distributorships, and was successful at some big names: Sig & Horizon Hobbies; to name a couple. At that point we stopped selling directly to hobby shops.

Along with the folding wing glider, we made a 12" hand launched glider kit that sold for $1.95.
It was neatly packaged, and simple to build. These were also sold through the distributors with the folding wing gliders.

Then one day I got a phone call: It was from a company in Buffalo, NY that supplied products to all of the schools in NY state for their hands on project type classes. The man wanted to know if the hand launched glider could be purchased in large quantities, for distribution in the NY state schools. Of course, that just meant one more distributor for us, so we took them on.

Over the next few years, they purchased both the folding wing glider, and the hand launched glider, in large quantities, and distributed them through out the NY state schools. I have no idea of how many modelers this may have actually created. There's no way to measure.

But, I tell you this, because your idea has merit, and this is one way your models might get distributed. Print AMA info. on the wings, and offer an "AMA paper membership" for the price of a stamp.

Kids love to belong to organizations: when I was a kid, I was a member of Dick Tracy's kids club, and if I look for it, the certification is still in my scrapbook.

All good things however, must come to an end. In this case, my main production guy died, and for a while his son took over, but that meant paying wages, so the price had to go up, and that was bad for sales. Hired help created production problems, and on top of that, I sold my business, so the whole program folded.

Anybody else out there have any ideas?

RE: The BEST thing AMA could do.
 

Would that be the Florio Flyer? Belive it or not, I flew one the other day!

Too expensive, though.

The Jim Walker stuff was not so expensive that he could not give them out when HE made an appearance(he gave out mostly "74" gliders, I think) but too expensive to give out on a national level!

What I am talking about is something that can be given out by the hundreds...by the thousands...a single piece of foam that flies great. I'm an old balsa basher myself, but I know that foam has it's place...

RE: The BEST thing AMA could do.
 

I think you're on to something there, although I'm not quite sure how it would be done.

Side note: Something I've noticed about AMA, no advertising. Yes, there's a short blip in a lot of kits and ARFs about it and it's in the R/c magazines - but that's already a captive audience. Needs to be more widely exposed to the public, maybe in other magazines geared specifically towards kids... radio... tv...
I had no idea AMA existed when I was a kid, and of course kinda "skipped over" all the BS in the instruction books(still do :D ). After about 16 years of flying, I finally joined up when I got back to the states after being stationed overseas, because I "had" to in order to fly at a field. :eek:

Somewhat more interested now. ;)


Edit to finish post - had to go do some work mid-rambling. :)

RE: The BEST thing AMA could do.
 

Yes ET - it was the Florio Flyer XP-1 Rocket Plane. I still have a few of them in boxes, along with two of the original AJ-Interceptors, still in their original boxes.

I tell this story only because of the manner by which gliders could be distributed through schools, which I never knew existed until the man called me. I presume he purchased a glider at a hobby shop, and got the idea - then called me to make it happen.

But I'm with you - we need a good flying glider made out of the same material as egg-crates, very strong and very light, and hopefully inexpensive. Are you planning any trips to China in the near future?

RE: The BEST thing AMA could do.
 

Work often gets in the way of things, dosen't it? I hate that.
Advertising, well, it ain't easy. And it ain't cheap. I have no solution for that.
But I know giving away planes is one way to get some attention. People don't GIVE away much nowadays, do they?
What concerns me more than AMA awareness, per se, is just the need to CREATE MODELLERS. Whether or not they join AMA. AMA has a greater purpose than self-preservation...the purpose of perpetuating the art/science/hobby of model airplanes.

RE: The BEST thing AMA could do.
 

Well, I was planning on ORDERING Chinese tonight, but not going there!...Too right, though, it would be a good idea to make these in China, it has NEVER been this cheap to do this kind of thing.
I have the Florio, a couple of different versions of the originals, all sorts of Walker stuff...the Florio one flies as good as an original. A guy named Frank Macy owns the rights to the AJ line now, and makes lovingly crafted reproductions, beautiful T-shirts(I have the Interceptor one ON as we speak!), God bless him. I don't think 74 gliders, if he could ever make them cheap enough, would do the trick. I think a one-piece foamie is the ticket. Maybe with a little hook so you could catapult it with a rubber band and a pen. But don't give away rubber bands, someone could lose an eye! Just a nice, safe, unwarlike-looking(make it look like the Shuttle!) piece of white foam that is pre-balanced and flies like crazy. A delta. Wings and tails sticking out will break too much.

RE: The BEST thing AMA could do.
 

Schools already have access to the Delta Dart project. I think the cost of a kit is just a buck or two. It's a great beginner project. Especially if it can be done within a school environment, where kids can sit down with some sort of organized participation and be guided. There is also the Science Olympiad stuff, both great programs for schools.
But what about a booth at the mall, or when "civillians" spectators show up at a model airplane meet or club field...
Give a kid a plane and get him flying. Now!

RE: The BEST thing AMA could do.
 

Guillows now makes the old North Pacific one:
http://www.guillow.com/GuillowDetail...=13&FamilyId=2

RE: The BEST thing AMA could do.
 

Hey ET: This is a bit off the subject, but since you brought it up, it has to do with one of the old AJ Interceptors that I own. I know about Frank Macy, and have been in touch with him. I have one model that was made during WW-II, and it has a red plastic fuselage. Frank said that they never made them that way, but when I sent him a photo of mine, he changed his mind. He said that they had no recollection of doing so - and there are none in the museum, so it is quite possible that I have the only one left in the whole world. The bidding starts at $10,000.00.

Here is a photo of both models:

RE: The BEST thing AMA could do.
 

I've done several Delta Dart sessions. If the kids are adequately supervised and directed they can do it. However, building a Delta Dart is a a challenge for most 8-10 year olds. There is also the problem that some parents do not want their child to use a cutting tool like a single-edge razorblade or an Exacto knife. Having learned from experience, the last one I did, the kids had airplanes which flew and had a very good experience. There were several articles on this in Aeromodeller a while back. The guy ended up having the kids build Delta Darts out of parts already cut out from 1/16 foam.

There have been a couple of articles in Model Aviation, one on making a glider, the other on a rubber powered model made out of eggcarton foam. The session where we did this, another fellow got the eggcartons from a supplier. I happened to buy some eggs at a different place and realized they came in a wrong kind of carton. Yes, the ones my friend had were the wrong kind. Fortunately we found out in time and were able to deal with it. The AMA education guy, Jack Frost, suggested we have a contest where the kids flew their gliders through a Hula Hoop. It worked very well.

RE: The BEST thing AMA could do.
 

I _knew_ you were going to ask that . . . .

I'll go find out.

RE: The BEST thing AMA could do.
 

The whole delta dart thing is a lightyear away from just giving a kid a model that FLIES, and seeing the instant gratification. Getting them hooked. I'm not saying to replace the delta darts, I am talking about something else.
And I am talking ARF.

RE: The BEST thing AMA could do.
 

[quote]ORIGINAL: Jim Messer

Hey ET: This is a bit off the subject, but since you brought it up, it has to do with one of the old AJ Interceptors that I own. I know about Frank Macy, and have been in touch with him. I have one model that was made during WW-II, and it has a red plastic fuselage. Frank said that they never made them that way, but when I sent him a photo of mine, he changed his mind. He said that they had no recollection of doing so - and there are none in the museum, so it is quite possible that I have the only one left in the whole world. The bidding starts at $10,000.00.

Here is a photo of both models:
[/quote
I had one exactly the same as yours, so frank may be disremembering! Let me put it dis way, don't spend the ten grand just yet! I do beleive the plastic fuse is MUCH later, late fifties...don't quote me.
Turns out north pacific...and comet...are owned by guillows now...

RE: The BEST thing AMA could do.
 

What good is any of that going to do when they go to the growing number of club fields that are just running people off. I know there are some really good clubs out there, but unfortunately there aren't as many good as bad anymore. I think we here in Northern Nevada must have the worst. If your not "one of them" dont bother.

RE: The BEST thing AMA could do.
 

The best thing AMA could do-Would be to shut down Muncie flying site and open smaller regional flying area's and have them involved in the community instead of being self-serving as a most part, to themselves-let those kids catch the fever

RE: The BEST thing AMA could do.
 

It is interesting we do what AMA wants:eek: We are the AMA and they should do what we want. What we have to offer to the public is our personal right and privilage. What is presented to the young people is what we as a group will present, but not all will except:eek:

RE: The BEST thing AMA could do.
 

Well, join the "good" club and don't worry about the bad one.
Now, back to giving away airplanes, please...