Aeromodelling in the future?

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NeilMac
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Joined: 04 Feb 2019, 22:07
Location: Nth Somerset

Aeromodelling in the future?

Post by NeilMac »

I am pretty new back into the game of aeromodelling, but like many of us here I started with simple balsa kits, control line profiles in my case, then later chuck gliders. I then progressed to more complex balsa kits and finally building from plans. I acquired the necessary skills by following articles, making models, making mistakes, trail and error and with some help from my dad.

I am more than aware that our hobby is dramatically changing, I only have to look in the back of a 1975 copy of Aeromodeller magazine to see the huge reduction in the number of model shops out there.

However, reading a forum thread about a type of glider I am currently looking at, I was brought up short by just how much the influence of ready to fly foam models is damaging the construction side of our hobby, by a comment from a 'modeller' complaining that it was far too difficult to cut ailerons / flaps out of the foam veneered wings of this model. It was more the tone of the comment that shocked me, as the poster was almost indignant that the manufacturer had the bare faced cheek to send out a kit that required him (the builder) to do more than just shove the wings into place and go and fly.

I had already concluded that model flying is in a reasonable healthy state and that building was on the decline, but that whole thread was pretty disappointing.

Thank goodness for retro modellers!
"I'm your huckleberry, that's just my game"
Spike S
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Joined: 16 Feb 2018, 14:59
Location: Salisbury UK

Re: Aeromodelling in the future?

Post by Spike S »

It's not just flyers.
I understand that some University Engineering Departments are getting first year students to build model aircraft kits in order to rectify the absence of tool-handling skills of the 'button-pushing' generations :? . Not only does this nurture those skills but also produces a quantifiable product.
Spike S
(Tune for maximum smoke)
NeilMac
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Joined: 04 Feb 2019, 22:07
Location: Nth Somerset

Re: Aeromodelling in the future?

Post by NeilMac »

It's quite scary really. I have an Xacto set including a plane, little spoke shave, sanding block, three handles, blades etc, I was given it as a birthday or Christmas present by my parents when I was maybe 12 or 13 and still have it, and we have 18 year olds who cannot handle a spanner.

What took me back with the foam wings comment was just the attitude of a modeller who is a subscriber to a modelling forum. As a comment on youtube I could maybe understand it, but on a model forum?

I worry that I am starting to sound like a grumpy old man. :roll:
"I'm your huckleberry, that's just my game"
Spike S
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Joined: 16 Feb 2018, 14:59
Location: Salisbury UK

Re: Aeromodelling in the future?

Post by Spike S »

NeilMac wrote: 30 Mar 2019, 08:17 I worry that I am starting to sound like a grumpy old man. :roll:
Old age comes at a difficult time. Join the club !
While broken razor blades were a rite of passage beck then, my David plane must be well over 60 years old now and I still proudly retain the set of small BA spanners that were given in return for a "Reader's Letter" to Model Maker magazine back in the early '60s. :)
Spike S
(Tune for maximum smoke)
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PaulJ
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Joined: 16 Feb 2018, 19:01
Location: Ipswich, UK

Re: Aeromodelling in the future?

Post by PaulJ »

NeilMac wrote: 30 Mar 2019, 08:17 It's quite scary really.
Yes it is scary and I fear the hobby we grew up with is doomed to die out. Firstly because, as we die there will be fewer and fewer people building "proper" models and therefore fewer examples to enthuse and encourage the following generations. And as we become fewer, there will not be enough of us to support the trade. Model shops are closing throughout the land and materials are becoming harder and harder to find making it progressively more difficult to build such models. Of course nothing ever stays the same, technology and society "evolve"...... it won't be long till the internal combustion engine is but a distant memory! We just have to accept that many fine old "traditions" have already gone and many more will follow. It's a pity but let's just enjoy our models while we can! :P

Paul
Stew
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Re: Aeromodelling in the future?

Post by Stew »

Maybe the engine collectors should have pity on us and release their dust gathering trinkets to be used while we still can.
NeilMac
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Location: Nth Somerset

Re: Aeromodelling in the future?

Post by NeilMac »

And the kit collectors.

Having watched multiple ebay auctions, I am increasingly convinced that elderly gentlemen are listing dusty boxes containing plans and lengths of balsa wood that they have retrieved from long periods of storage in lofts, garages and sheds and are selling them to other elderly gentlemen who are going to take those same boxes and put them with many others they own, safely stored in their lofts, garages and sheds.
"I'm your huckleberry, that's just my game"
Martin
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Location: Warwickshire

Re: Aeromodelling in the future?

Post by Martin »

I've sold a few such kits on Ebay - on behalf of modellers who have died - and the money was donated to the model club.

The number of kits in storage does decrease over time - and it's mostly not because they get built. Sometimes when an old kit collector dies, the relatives who have to clear out the house have no idea of the value of the kits (and other modelling gear) left behind - and it all just gets thrown away. Often this is down to the deceased modeller buying various expensive things but lying to his wife about how much he spent on them - she thinks that an item he bought for "ten pounds" and never used is not worth keeping - the truth is that he really spent a hundred pounds on the item - and it's now worth more than that due to its increasing rarity.
Stew
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Location: Staindrop, Darlington.

Re: Aeromodelling in the future?

Post by Stew »

I always check my neighbours skips, but there's never a hoard of rare kits and diesels in there :|
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Wayne_H
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Re: Aeromodelling in the future?

Post by Wayne_H »

Martin wrote: 31 Mar 2019, 20:36 ... the relatives who have to clear out the house have no idea of the value of the kits (and other modelling gear) left behind - and it all just gets thrown away.....
I found a complete kit for an Aeroflyte Valiant .35 C/L stunter at the local rubbish tip many years ago. I nearly stepped on it as I was emptying rubbish from my trailer when I realised what it was - went home thinking I'd won the lottery :D :D
AF Valiant.jpg
True story!!
Cheers,

Wayne
Once a Retrobate, always a Retrobate............ ;)
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