You havnt' been here long then

Brilliant post.

As far as I am concerned, if you have not
grown your balsa tree,
laminated your own ply,
converted tree sap into glue
created your own covering
and then designed your won airplane with all the mathematics to prove its an original and not a copy of a larger aircraft
and then put all your cultivated balsa, home made ply and glue and covered it yourself,

you're just an assembler of bits and pieces purchased from a supplier no matter how much the OP tries to portray themselves in some sort of elevated status.

This is a stupid thread and should not be entained.
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So why did you read it and then post in it

It's like smelling the spoiled milk in the frig - we just can't help it.

I had the good luck of being in the same club when Dave Keats built a scratch built heli called the polecat that was featured in RCM in the early 70's and currently resides in the AMA museum.

Wouldn't a true jet "modeler" have a scratch built jet of his own deign, with his own scratch built retracts with a scratch built turbine with a scratch built tx etc?

Instead of belittleing arf builders to inflate your own ego why not have just call this thread "what do you prefer arfs or scratch/kit builds" or better yet start a thread to help out arf modelers/builders to make their jets better where needed.

Keyman/Former Futaba employee

Frank

Isecond that!

I prefer wood glue over CA.

I Agree with you , I have been flying jets and helis for newly 15 years , yet I have not built an airplane fron scratch, most were arfs or built by someone for me , yet I am flying and having fun . I seen really good builders but very poor flyers , You see after spending so many hours building they are afraid of something happening

Just like the others I do not see the point in this discussion

I'm both I guess... Cause while I'm taking my time building my plans built, or kit airplane, I might be flying an ARF... I'm a builder at heart but ARFs are ok with me... I do subscribe to the thought that an ARF is assembled not built... I do realize sometimes a lot of extra work goes into some of them... Bottom line who cares... do what you want and have a LARGE time doing it....

Ding, Fries are done..........................

when I see the trash can is full I throw the contents out. I don't recycle it in my garage...

But it seems, like poorly trained dogs, some like to drag the trash back into the house from time to time.


Someone said it earlier, if the scratch built got beat by an ARF then perhaps the modeller isn't a modeller but an assembler. A modeller is someone who can manufacture and assemble to a level of detail thats higher than a mass producer can acheive because;
they have the time
they have the passion
they have the ability


If ARF beats Scratch built, then perhaps its time to admit that you're not any good as a modeller or the person who created the ARF is one heck of a modeller.


But every once in a while some self righteous needle needs to start up a thread bashing others choices on how they practice their hobby

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FLY'er and I don't care who,how,when,or why it was built,assembled,or whatever as long as it FLYS.

I must be a modeler, there's a hint of balsa dust and CA permeating through the house. My wife came in the shop last night and said the new cub looks about done. Boy was she wrong, it's just framed up, all the hard stuff is still ahead

can´t agree more. Who cares and have a great time too!



Enrique

I thought that we were all modeler's, regardless of what kind of planes we buy...........

I am a builder, it's what I love to do. But I also started in the hobby when there wasn't any ARF's on the market.... Today is a different hobby for folks just starting out, there just isn't the selection of kits any more. I remember looking through a Towercatalog that was 3 times as thick as they are now and full of kits...
I also buy Arf's, little foamies and anything else that suits my wallet and I like, so what does that make me? Am I a modeler, arf'er, foamer? Makes no never mind to me, I just enjoy the hobby.....

I think a lot of you have read this thread wrong. I have flown with Ron for a few years now and I think I know what he is trying to say. Here in the NorthEast, at a lot of Jet Rally's, the same people take all the hardware. Like most of you, I fly for the fun in it. I have built a lot of kits and have built a few ARF's. I have even scratch built some very good flying planes. At a well known Jet Rally here last year, the JPO trophy was given to a well known builder for a plane he has been flying for about five years now. We all said "It's about time someone else got this for building his own plane instead of an ARF". I think that is what Ron was trying to say. Also when you open the box and all the parts, fuse, wings, stabs, ailerons and elevators are done for you, even to the paint, how can you call yourself a modeler? I'm sure Ron would be very willing to help someone out with a problem with a plane, even an ARF, if the person was willing to sit down with Ron and have Ron show him how to correct the problem, instead of saying, "You fix it for me". I look at the ARF's on the field I fly at, and I think some of them are OK, and some are better then others. With the ARF's out there, we are going to loose the modelers. When that happens, you won't be able to get balsa, plywood or spruce at a hobby shop because there won't be any need for it. Just call the company that sells the ARF and they can supply you with a new wing, stab, fuse. In the meantime, sit back and wait for your replacement parts to arrive. A modeler would take that damaged part and repair it and get back to flying much faster.......


Larry

At least I have Chicken

Reading the thread 99% seem to agree with Steve Moore, VKGT and others. Therefore this thread is going no-where. Someone please close it, its like watching a wounded animal slowly die.

Spend more time flying, is that not the point of the hobby, or are we taking about the 5000+ forum posting scale scratch building GODs, who it turns out can't really fly!

can't really build either cos they get their rear handed to them by ARF's!

Thank you Larry, my point entirely but it didn't come off that way and once the people who have never met me started with the negitive attacks I stopped posting until now. The guy didn't want me to teach him anything; he just wanted to drop off his poorly assembled plane, at my second job and have us fix what he screwed up for free and using his words not mine" I just want to fly, you modelers can waste your time building". Please close this thread; as Bob Frantz said I had enough that day and I'm sorry I started it. I hope all of you enjoy what ever part of the hobby you chose.

Key,

I assume you are not talking to me with your post quoted. I'm a full on ARF guy!

Beave [&:]

I used to be a modeler, then I took an arrow in the knee.

anyone get that video game reference? no? i guess everyone is building and not playing VGs in the off season

i started with modeling by using a coping saw to cut out parts from ply for model ships and planes back when i was 9-10 or so, building them from plans or scratch. Nowadays, i "assemble" helis (can't be buying an expensive CNC machine just to "build" them [X(]) and fly foamies to my heart's content. How many of those who build ever forgo the convenience of laser-cut parts when they don't have to? I certainly would too, but it would be nice to get all nostalgic and get out a coping saw again. I just don't feel like piling up saw dust from cutting and sanding all over my 700 sq ft apartment. Airbrushing my plastic model kits is already bad enough. Besides, have you guys seen all the new video games? The virtual worlds are just amazing. It's tough not to get sucked in and lose track of time.

Ron, it sounds like the person you ran into is just a comple poo-hole to begin with. I bet you a silver dollar (which is worth way more than an actual $1 these days) that he's the same way in other aspects of life. We see these sorts of people every day. In your place, i'd be very hard pressed to not tell him to go and make sweet love to himself. It boggles my mind that he'd expect you to just sit there on your own time and fix his **** because he has no idea what he's doing (not surprisingly, with that attitude!).

look at where your radio and engine comes from. Probably china

see that's the bad thing about a post making the front page of RCU, everyone comes in and comments without looking what forum the thread is actually posted in.........i think if you look you'll find vast majority of the radios come from Japan, and the engines from Germany/UK/Mexico/Taiwan and only a very few from China...........