ARTF-The future of our hobby ?

[wonwinglo]

Today I saw an ad for a North American Harvard ARTF,beautifully finished and fitted as standard with retracts,engine bolted into place with radio as optional extra,the total price was less than the price I recently paid for a fourstroke engine,really made me think,what is the future of our hobby ? will we all be buying ready made models in the future not being able to purchase conventional kits any more ?

Not so many years ago you bought a kit of parts,took them home and 18 months later had finished the model ready to learn to fly,these days you can be flying virtually overnight with a hopefully straight trainer to learn on,how things have changed ?

The effect with these expendable and relatively cheap models is that materials are fewer and more difficult to find in the shops,the scratch builder is becoming a dinosaur,original models on the flying field are becoming rare,just take a look next time that you go flying.

My point is that whilst they probably get someone flying quickly they are at the same time killing the joy of building and flying your own creation.

Quite honestly I dont know how they can produce these models so cheaply,must be a bowl of rice job as wages ? :noidea:

[Guest]

i can see your point on this wonwinglo, the same has pretty much happened in the r/c car area. more and more ( if not all) i.c engined cars are coming ready built with rc installed. altho this does bring more and more people to the fold of modelling it does appear to introduce a cut price in ready assembled modelling. from soem of the recent cars i have seen ( tho` there are exceptions) the driving and handling is sacrificed to the ease of build.

as you say, some take to it better with rtr models, some prefer ready built.

not much you can do about this as it aqppears it`s what customers want .

i do agree that building a model , can be very daunting and some people do take it head on and lose confidence ( hence why so many unfinnished projects on ebay ) .

in the short and long of it m8, the virtue of `patience` appears to be slipping from people`s minds. with get out and fly/drive it NOW over taking.

[Guest]

I agree...ARTF'S have their place within the hobby for those who absolutely wanna go now or even those with no building skills...or for those of us who do have the skills but just want something quick to put together and go.

I have been building since I was 13 yrs old, (1976...!!) and am a very proficient Plan Drawer too, being able to quite accurately scale up most 3 views into working model plans. I have designed a few successful models too. I still say you can't beat being able to have an original model of whatever type and having the satisfaction of seeing it go, knowing you built it all yourself.

I used to build shed loads of models years ago and never used them myself apart from testing till I realised I was missing out on something.

I still do the odd model for other people, but these days they are mostly for my own use. My 15 yr old nephew has started in the hobby too with his car (also posted on this site) and he has taken in a lot of what I have taught him. Much to the envy of his mates who also have cars.

just my penny's worth but I think it is valid.

Regards.......Mark

[Guest]

In short to the post above...I am still very much a Traditional builder....I have never even used a foam wing yet...!!!

Mark.

[Guest]

Yes, it's all true. I'm currently looking around for a suitable kit to build in the Pitts, Christen Eagle genre but can find nothing - except that is for completed ARTF models! There is one "kit" actually from Phil Ramsey for the Pitts, but it almost entirely moulded fibreglass and foam and more expensive than an .90 powered ARTF version from Jamara! It's so annoying when you can't get a kit. I have the Doug McFarland plans for a 1/4 scale Pitts and so may build that eventually. Of course, faced with all the trouble of collecting wood, covering, essential bits and bobs, and to say nothing of trying to find a fibreglass cowl and spats, I may as well buy the Jamara ARTF Pitts and have done with it! See, it's insideous, isn't it?

As Wonwinglo knows, I build from kits, plans, my own plans, sketch on the back of a fag packet, whatever, but even I now own two ARTF's. Tomorrow I'll be flying both of them; a Hanger 9 Funtana and Ripmax Rapier delta...

[Guest]

As Wonwinglo knows, I build from kits, plans, my own plans, sketch on the back of a fag packet, whatever, but even I now own two ARTF's. Tomorrow I'll be flying both of them; a Hanger 9 Funtana and Ripmax Rapier delta...

Nice to see some old ideas still alive, this is exactly the same method I use for my homebuilts before turning them into full working plans.

Regards......Mark

[Guest]

:strong:Ugg! I know what you meen mate, Once upon a time there was a model shop in every town and half of em had rc/scratch builders in mind... now your lucky to Keep a model shop in buisness for longer then 7 months unless its hv subsidised or run alongside an internet buis.

I guess its a sign of the times, We used to have 5 VERY good stockists within a half hours drive... now there is only the little model shop in lancaster, 40 miles away! Now i guess we all get most of our bits over the net...I know I do. Perhaps Once or twice a year I might take myself down South to raid Deans or A little place i Use near Southhampton.

Ho Hum... Guess we are all going to have to pool our resources and join a Forum for Dino-mod's ... oh, guess we did that allready

Anyway, and on a possitive note, The out of the box stuff has a charm of its own... You can allways customise em! I got a standard mk 5 Spitfire a while back for somthing silly like £70... two months later it had clipped wings, a centerline tank and a Cwing gun arrangement (The one with a 20mm hispano with a 50cal alongside in place of the 303's). Lets face it, while building is fun the early days can be a bit tiresome when you have done a million and one Cut, Frame and Glue nights on countless other projects.

:music_too

[Guest]

Hi Barry et al,

I started my modeling career about 55 years ago making my first galena radio and lead soldiers. From then on, I have been involved in all sorts of similar activities and have noticed that all the magazines (both US and British) have changed their contents from the how to make into the what to buy direction (all kinds of models, IC engines, steam engines, radios and the rest). I am still a scratch builder and enjoy the work rather than the result, however, the market does not offer the goods (raw matl) as in the past and I have to import practically everything from whatever leftover stocks or model steam engine train specialists I can get at quite a premium.

However, I am happy with what I do and try to overstock since the future is not promising.

Have found a good source of materials in disassembling old or dead printers (springs, shafts, screws, motors and such) and developed the technique of mould making and casting my own metal small parts easily.

Thats the way the market leads us to...

Finishing my obituary, I wish you all the best,

George from Greece

[wonwinglo]

Any collector of old model magazines,will tell you that anything past say 1979 declined to a lack of proper model building articles,a sad state of affairs brought on by the declining market in proper kits and plans.

The peak period must have been 1945 through to the fifties and early sixties,a proper well stocked model shop would have a huge balsa rack near the counter,together with dowel,wire and plenty of hardwood material for bearers etc,at the back of the counter right in front of your eyes would be rows of colour dope,clear shrinking dope,cement,tissue paste and a complete rack of coloured tissue with rolls of good quality nylon,sadly the biggest suppliers Messrs Humbrol ( Humber Oil Company Ltd ) went under long ago,even the balsa importers have become specialised businesses to meet the demands of the now rare scratch builder.

It has made life very difficult for such people who mourn the passing of the old type of traditional mode shop.

My old shop which was based on the traditions of the English model shop ceased trading when the writing was on the wall after 14 years of trading,obtaining materials was becoming increasingly difficult,it took a monthly round trip to Cambridge from Coventry to get a car load of balsawood to meet the demands and even that supplier called it a day,even getting proper piano wire was difficult a lot was no more than mild steel.

The fact is that there is no longer any money to be made stocking materials,when the ARTF kit brings in good profit margins,and above all most model shops now sell too many lines and concentrate on nothing,sad but true,it is biting hard now and I doubt whether the older traditional mostly family run business will return ?