I-fly-any-and-all

My Feedback: (1)

im here! collect, duplicate and build royal kits!

JRAC19K

My Feedback: (4)

Building has become a lost art and not everyone has the time. I think you can get the same thrill if you watch someone build then actually doing it. This site is great for that!

http://www.b1modelproject.com

jimbrock2

84 yrs old and still learning. Right now finishing repair of Fun Scale PT 19 w/G23 (dorked a couple of months ago) and building PT 17 w/radial 5 cyl (never run yet; coming up). Learned how to make close fit with N struts; experimenting with construction of wind screens. Struggling to get wings aligned with proper incidence.
JimB

vertical grimmace

My Feedback: (1)

Several of the guys that I fly with have figured out that the ARF is just not as good as a plane that you build. This mainly as it pertains to Warbirds. So they are building their new planes as their ARF warbirds just do not look as good and are not wearing well.

Building takes more time and effort, but you end up with a much better product in the end (if built properly). I am actually seeing many ARF's going away, and kits, and building on a slight upsurge.

I have always consider an ARF a throw away plane, while my builds last me a very long time, so long as I keep them out of the ground!

My current project, 1/5th TA 152. No ARF will have a fiberglassed, painted finish to compete with this.

vertical grimmace

My Feedback: (1)

Also, I find it amazing that we would have less time today, then we did say 30 years ago. I do not buy it. With all of our ne technologies. Cell phones and such. You either make the time or you do not.

I here the excuse of family. Well, family never stopped my dad from building. I was right there with him. Then we would go fishing, build model railroads, model rockets, go camping, all of those things. I just don't understand, as my child hood must have been different.

I think what has changed is there is a lack of patience, and today is an instant gratification society.

Gray Beard

My Feedback: (-1)

Not a new question, I have seen it asked several times along with where have all the kits gone. 2014 was the first year I can remember not doing some sort of build thread other then in the Up-Roar thread started by Rick Stubbs. The Up-Roar is one of the few cheap kits still around other then Sig kits. There were a lot of lookers in the Roar thread but no posters. I didn't buy the kit, I just built from the plans but there still wasn't any activity on the thread.
In the next week or so I will be making templates and cutting a couple kits for the Bridi Dirty Birdy, I even cut my wood from planks. The plane was ARFed a couple years back so even if I did a build thread I doubt anyone would bother following it.
The kit is also available from Blue Jay but I know sales have been way down and I wonder how long Blue Jay will keep cutting them. There kits follow the original Bridi kits and are priced really well.
There are still a couple of builders left in my club but very few of us. I no longer design my own but buy plans. I find building a lot more fun then just flying. Of course I have been doing it sense 1956 so it's second nature to me. I was teaching building but students would build one plane then go right to the ARF because it's simpler.

bakerbaker112

My Feedback: (10)

I'm still building people just don't talk about kit building any more its more a conversation of what's new from horizon and what new arf their buying next.I still like scratch building and kit building because each plane is unique and has a part of you in each build.

stealth fly by

Builder here:
I consider myself a die hard modeler. Iam proud of it. Yep all of the same time. Does that catagorize me as a builder? LOL.
This what I am working on now:

Topflite Gold Series P-39 Airacobra

Bridi std. Kaos .60( from plans)

Hanno Prettner`s, Curare ( from plans)

Strikemaster ( Midwest ) from the original plans

Royal B-25 Mitchel ( I bought it incomplete so it is more like a semi-kit)

RCM Heinkel HE-51 1.20

Nothing like seeing a buch of sticks taking the shape of an airplane and then make those sticks fly...

Radical Departure

My Feedback: (13)

From what I've seen, it runs the whole length, guys in 30's with families to older retired types. The common thread was a love of scale, and pretty darned good at achieving it.

oliveDrab

I am here.

DavidAgar

My Feedback: (108)

I have been building for over 40 years and I am still at it. I just get a lot of satisfaction when I complete a kit and fly it. I do have quite a few stock piled for my retirement as they are getting hard to find. Good Luck, Dave

cubcrasher

My Feedback: (6)

There's plenty of builders left, trouble is they are all in China. If they started doing build threads on all
those ARF's they're pumping out this website would be overloaded.

WacoNut

I think you have 3 different segments of people in the hobby. You have flyers that just want to fly and have no interest in building, they buy ARF's and fly them till there wore out or crashed and throw them away without a 2nd thought of repairing them. When it comes down to it ARF's are cheaper and faster than building like it or not.

Another segment enjoys building and flying equally and they will build a lot of kits and enjoy showing up at the field with their latest creation and tearing up the skies with pride. Usually this is the younger to middle aged class with some spare time on their hands.

The last class would be your scale builder, may build from kits but there are very few scale worthy kits. Most build from plans or have a kit laser cut for a particular plan they want to build from. This will mostly be middle aged to retired modelers who really enjoy the challenge and satisfaction from completing a fine sale subject and this usually ranks higher than flying. As someone already stated a scale build is usually a long term commitment.

ARF's have their place and are not to blame for the demise of the kits, it is the current culture that is killing kits. Most people now days want it now. No patience and or pride. Now I do have to admit I have an ARF in my trailer, it is my fun-fly plane that I will rip around and do things I would not dare try with one of my scale builds. I have nothing but $$$ invested in it to risk.

People can find the time to build if they want to build. A guy in my club says he never has time to build and I know him well he spends several hours every evening watching TV. It is all about priorities and choices. Flyers will fly and builders will build. It is what ever floats your boat or flips your prop. I personally think every modeler should at least attempt to build one model to get the full experience from the hobby. You never know what your missing until you try it.

Now to answer the question of where have the builders gone, I think the 1st group has about 70% of the modelers based off of what I see show up at our Club's Fly-Ins.
Later!!
Anthony

futura127

My Feedback: (57)

One word, "Lazy"

Gray Beard

My Feedback: (-1)

I never buy the lack of time or room but most of the people I fly with don't have the talent or desire to build. Others I fly with were builders and now just want to fly so the ARF is just fine with them. Makes no difference to me as long as everyone is having fun and doing what they like.
Without young people in the hobby we are all older and do as we please. When I started you either built or didn't fly.
One club I was in started a racing class for the Sig Kavalier trying to get the guys back into building, I ended up building a ton of these planes for club members. All that extra money kept me building for myself so I didn't have a problem with it. I did find out who the cheating dogs were in my club though. I was asked to do a lot of secret mods that you didn't notice.

Leroy Gardner

"Wow", like I said in the beginning everyone has an opinion, with 40 posts in 1/2 a day it raises another question. Why can't a build thread get the same response as a opinionated question thread, see, most people like to take charge and get folks to agree with them on a subject matter outside of the usual plane build which garners little active interest that ends up causing the collapse of the threads, careful what you say because they are all over the place. That's pretty sad giving the history of RCU and includes RCG and requires member support in order to thrive, the helpful mentality that was once the norm is a thing of the past almost. Your just as likely to get torn down as you are to get built up. I could go on but I'll let you guys do it. By the way, welcome all you new guys, come right in and see how we play make an airplane.

rc lifer

Hello builders, I do build, not as much as I used to. Back about 50 years ago, if you wanted to fly an rc/cl/ff airplane you had to build it yourself. If you look at the guys flying in higher levels of IMACC competition, most of them do not build their own planes, in fact a lot of them have a builder/mechanic. Not in the scale arena, those are the builders, though they do have team scale. They have dropped the builder of the model rule in most all competitive events. It comes down to ability and inclination, to be a good builder, you will have to have had developed many different skills over the years. One LHS has a full time mechanic/tech who works on cars, airplanes, helicopters and he is never with out a stack of projects . I was at that particular shop a while back and a customer was being show an ARF from a major supplier and when the box was opened to show it to him his comment was "You mean I have to build it." This LHS has less than a hand full of real kits, the owner is just not interested in carrying them.
How many people would play golf if they had to build there own clubs.

Viper1GJ

My Feedback: (20)

I find your comments to be true. I am currently posting an extensive scratch build thread in the Jet Forum for my Sabre XLT project. It is a large turbine powered scratch built flying wing. So far there have been only 4 or 5 comments. However, they all have been very positive and encouraging.

Gary

vertical grimmace

My Feedback: (1)

Maybe most do not enjoy following build threads? They do not have enough drama to them like some of the other ones. I am only interested in build threads of aircraft I am interested in honestly. So while build threads are part of this site, they are only that. I generally am in here seeking answers to questions I have, or maybe learn something new.

HAving been a member of RCU for quite a while, I have noticed a significant drop in activity as well. So build threads as a percentage of the rest of the site are probably down relative to other topics.

WacoNut

I believe most of the inactivity on RCU is due to the server issues they have been having. People are only going to put up with so much frustration with logging in issues and posting and viewing images. Every since the server change it has been hit and miss. The initial swap out of the server was very painful to say the least. It is a shame they haven't resolved all the issues yet.

vertical grimmace

My Feedback: (1)

Posting images for sure is a big part of build threads. I do remember some that gave up on their thread just because of problems posting pictures. That may be a big part of it. I have to admit, I have not had any problems on my end with uploading images, and very few with the site in general otherwise.

porcia83

My Feedback: (8)

The hobby is always evolving. There are a ton of reasons why people can't, or won't build. Calling them lazy is presumptuous though. It's a matter of personal preference, and I won't second guess someone elses decision on if they want to built or not, it's irrelevant. If they enjoy the hobby (in any way), that's all that matters. I am in clubs with guys that love to build but rarely fly. I chose not to build. Could I force myself to sit down and build from a kit, sure. But I don't enjoy any aspect of it, so why should I? Does that make me any less of a hobbyist? Someday I might want to do it, but not anytime soon. I'd rather pay a guy in my club for his craftsmanship, he enjoys the build, I enjoy the fly. Just like I pay someone to change my oil, it's a win win.

As for the build threads, I love them. I enjoy seeing something come together, I'm in awe of what some people can do both technically, and from a time perspective. Can't remember his name offhand, it's Dag something or other on RCG, he had a few builds that were simply amazing.

I-fly-any-and-all

My Feedback: (1)

forum dedicated to royal kits: http://www.rcuniverse.com/forum/rc-s...oyal-kits.html

thepamster

I still enjoy building. I built a Phaeton II last year and I am currently scratch building a Stearman.
Even though builders seem fewer now, we are still around, but mostly only known by other builders. Lol.

vertical grimmace

My Feedback: (1)

Why does this not surprise me?