[OLD PRAIRIE RED NECK]

Originally Posted by therunningman

All admit that i'm balsa guy... (builder and ARFs) electric and nitro, and that most of my birds are of the 60+" wingspan category. But going into my LHS this weekend (a rarity) and then just witnessing all the foam planes was a sad sad thing really. Trying to find a balsa plane of any type was a a lesson in futility. He had a grand total of ZERO. And this is a big hobby shop. Two years ago no glow, last year no fuel, and this year... no balsa.

Yep, It's a PNF, PNP, Foamy parkflier all in one box world now. Because even while balsa planes fly's better, and look better, he is not selling any.... and i think that is unfortunate.

Seems if you are new to the hobby, and never come across a MAAC club, you will likely stay in park flyer paradise forever !!!!

I share your frustration! I get the feeling that my LHS owner would like to tell me "Buy what I want you to buy or get out!" But he doesn't, just thinks it. I can tell by the look on his face when I ask for building materials.

Yes foam fluff has brought a lot of people into the hobby but at the cost of developing true craftsmanship!

You can always find people to play with ready made toys but my fear is that the skills lost may never be regained.

[williame3590]

There are plenty of balsa supplier's around besides your LHS. Also, there are plenty of RC websites with no shortage of kits that have yet to be built.
Foamies are fun, cool and convenient but I think most modellers still build every now and then.
Life just isn't worth living without glueing your finger's together and getting some balsa dust in your lungs every so often.
I guess the LHS owner's stock what sells quick, I sure would.

Check this young lady out!
http://www.frannybrodigan.com/Valkyrie.asp


Bill

[OLD PRAIRIE RED NECK]

Isn't she amazing?

I wonder... if... she's taken...

Ouch!! I mean the plane dear... Ouch Ow!!!

[Cougar429]

From my own standpoint of starting this hobby just before ARF's appeared, one of the appeals was the reward from taking a box of bits and bringing the end product to the field in flying condition. Pica kits are a perfect example.

If it came home that way even better! I have wiped some out on first flight or relatively soon, but learned from my mistakes and improved.

Even though I do go over to the "Dark Side" and partake in the ARF and foamie offerings, the original challenge is still there for me. In fact, I am hoarding kits for retirement to fill all the time I expect the wife will let me have.................



I agree simpler and cheaper RTF can get more into the hobby, but strongly feel this is a double edged sword, one that can come back to cut us deeply. Back when I started it took some effort, diligence and persistence to get over the inevitable starting hump. Outside help from more experienced flyers often made the difference and soon became an instructor to return that favor. Now that seems to have disappeared, and although stab and return systems make the hobby safer in some respects, there lacks much of the feedback you get from a successfully accomplished task. A skill that is harder to learn and master is also more rewarding. Learning to fly real helis is a perfect example of that. It should also be more persistent, like riding a bike, retained for life.

[mwavesdave]

I've never seen a builder come out to the field, with a fleet of months/years worth of labour, and crash them all, one after another, then go home, and come back the next weekend, and repeat. Yet I've seen it several times with foamies. I know it's not just cost, there's some really sweet high-end foamies out there, and they aren't cheap. It's the understanding of the labour of love that building is, the personal pride in taking a box of balsa, making it beautiful, and watching it fly. Over the years, due to different military postings, I've taken breaks from flying, but never building. If I'm not building for myself, I'm looking to build for others. It's an addiction to be sure. Gary, I concur with your comments as well. Almost all of our club instructors are builders. Not just wood kits, one is an outstanding designer/builder of amazingly detailed WW 1 aircraft, from dollar store foamboard, cardboard, months of work in each one, even though the materials probably don't top $10. It's an appreciation for the hobby, the skills, and the comradeship, that us "oldschool" types seem to have, that most younger buy/fly/crash all in one day types don't have. Fortunately, our club seems to attract builders. Guys who started with foamies, are now building kits, kitbuilders are building from plans, and our numbers seem to increase every year. No idea why, but I hope it's from the silly grins we all have from a successful maiden flight of a year-long build.

[mwavesdave]

PS, we get people into the hobby by having club-owned trainers, radios, all the gear. Your $50 yearly membership includes flight training, fuel, etc, up to the MAAC Wings Standard. A lot of our new members learn to fly, and learn to build, while they're learning to fly a club aircraft. Win-win.

[Flypaper]

When you boil it down, we're talking about two different hobbies, but both concerning the love for aviation.
Some guys in our club are just in it for the flying ,and hate the building, which is understandable, where you shouldn't have to build a full sized plane, just to be able to fly it.
Then again there are those ultralite guys who like to buy the kits and put their own together and fly them. Some guys in our club just like to build, mostly from the older generation, which we are slowly losing. Some club members will buy their planes to fly, and they'll take the money and buy material to build his next project.
One of the fliers in the clubs wife likes to build.!! Don't get much better than that.

[mwavesdave]

Mine builds, and her projects are generally the more expensive, detailed, and larger ones, but she's done a few smaller ones. I've also built two homebuilt aircraft, both Cessna sized, not ultralights, so you can love building and flying! lol

[OLD PRAIRIE RED NECK]

Life to me is about much more than just being another crass consumer. It's about aspiring to be a builder, a craftsman, an inventor, a virtuoso of my interest. I may never achieve the level I aspire to but there is a lot of reward in the journey!

The other thing that draws me to the building board is that I create something with the intention to make it last, to get some mileage out of it. The foamy life cycle of buy - fly - throw out - buy - fly - throw out ... just sticks in my craw! Garbage dumps out here are getting alarmingly large! The cancer of our countryside!

[Lake Flyer]

My take on this is in the old days most of the idiots eliminated themselves in the building process. Now that they don't have to build the idiot factor has gone way up. Not a good thing in this hobby!