I guess it was about time for this to come around on the play list again. It is not a new subject or problem. I can show you editorials and letters to the editor in the old magazines about getting kids involved and new blood into the hobby going all the way back to the late 1940s and early 50s. Also complaints about how the then new feature of a lot of kits having pre-shaped and machined balsa parts as not fitting into the Builder of the Model Rule!!. I have been down all the roads that you mention. I volunteered at the Kid Venture venue at Oshkosh for 17 years, and I have had thousands, yes literally thousands of kids on the handle of a 1/2A control line model there and also at our local flying field. Spent many, many hours talking to people and to kids of all ages. I helped design the trainer we used which we called the TuffBaby, which was built largely from hardware store materials Coreplast plastic ans strips of hardwood and powered by a Norvel .061. We went this route because one thing that people would ask us is where they could buy the airplane, and since it wasn't commercially produced, we would email out plans for it free of charge. It is more or less indestructible and of the 5 we built and took to KidVenture in 2010, at least 4 are still flying. I also keep a smaller trainer powered by a Cox .049 Black Widow made from Coreplast and yard stick fuselage that is based on SIG 1/2A Skyray outlines and it flies quite well, is fairly aerobatic and weighs less than a Cox PT-19 and is also indestructible. I take these with me frequently to the Buder Park flying field in case an interested party shows some interest and I can have them airborne with one in a matter of minutes . I have had hundreds of people, kids and adults, on the handle there also. The common thing amongst all of this is that rarely, almost never, has anyone come back or contacted me with any further interest.
At Oshkosh, people will line up and wait in line to fly a 1/2A trainer primarily because it's free. I have met many, many adults that flew C/L models as kids but their kids showed no interest. And this is at a venue that is the worlds largest airshow and aviation convention and is a week long!! People have to be interested in airplanes if they are there! It has to start with some one having that little "something" inside them that makes them stop and look up at any kind of airplane that might be flying over when they hear it. I can't explain why that is lacking in kids these days, or adults either for that matter. But if there is one thing I think I have figured out after a lifetime of building , flying and demonstrating models airplanes of all kinds, is that you CAN NOT make some one want to get involved in this hobby. They have to want to get involved, and have to have that little "something" or "spark" inside them.
I am also convinced at this point in life that the focus does not need to be on kids. Kids just have too many other easy things to do that distract them and are more instant gratification, also called cell phones and Ipads. We didn't have this when we were kids, and neither did the kids of the 70s, 80s, 90s and up until the computer age and electronic game came into full swing in the early 2000s. I firmly believe that the target for any new blood should be the 20 and 30 something adults with kids. If you get a Dad or Mom interested that might have had some exposure to the hobby in their younger days, and now they have the house, job, bank account and minivan/SUV that it will require, you will also get their kids!! If a kid sees what we do and gets interested, he can quickly get over ruled by the parents for any one of many reasons. Too expensive, not enough time, too much involvement in stick and ball sports already, etc., etc. I have been down that rabbit hole already We have given away airplanes, engines, kits and such and maybe a kid comes back out once or twice when the parents see fit to bring them, but then disappear never to be seen again. What happened to the airplanes, kits and engines?? Who knows, probably in the landfill by now. I have done countless Scout Blue and Gold banquets and gave talks and demonstrated indoor rubber powered models at these and had R/C, C/L and free flight models displayed at each one. People seemed impressed but there was never any follow up from any one attending. I did these at the same schools and churches for years because I didn't charge anything and all I ever got out of it was a chicken dinner. But if someone were to contact me today, I would still jump at the chance to do it, just in case i could get one family interested. But i haven't been contacted by any of these organizations in years. Do they even do these any more? Look at the state of Scouting these days, and you have to wonder if that is main cause.
So yep, everything you have mentioned, I have been down those avenues of endeavor. I live in the St. Louis area, and this area has always been hit hard by economic downturns going way back. When companies cut back or even close down, people leave the area and take their next generation with them. I saw many examples of this when I first hit the stunt contest circuit and ran into many people that used to live here but had to leave when their Dad or parents had to in order to find a new job. Some areas benefitted from that same situation. While the club I was a member of has been shrinking due to deaths, retirements with relocation, and simply ageing out of interest and ability to do it, others were growing a bit because the retirees were moving there. Lots of guys went to the Dallas, Texas area for one, but I think Father Time is starting to catch up with those also. One modern convenience that helps a bit is the computer and the internet with saving some data and information from being completely extinct and make for some kind of low level participation and ability to stay in contact with old friends.
I have even gone the Science Olympiad route in it's early days, and that of the Minds Eye STEM competitions. I worked at a local hobby shop for over 35 years, and who knows how many people I talked to and counseled in that amount of time and on all disciplines. The bridge builders were first. We would get huge bundles of 1/8" square balsa from SIG to sell to these kids. I coached one teacher who would listen intently when I talked to him into building structures well within the rules that simply would not fail under the weights used at the competitions. I feel I am responsible for about half the rules that they developed along the way as to what could and could not be done!! But it really was all basic model building skills that I taught them such as proper fit up of parts and tight glues joints, double gluing the ends of the parts, picking and choosing proper density wood for specific parts of the structure and so on. He really did go to several competitions and had structures that held over 200 pounds and had the official scratching their heads trying to figure out what was different and what they should outlaw next!! I thought this might lead into models but didn't. The Science Olympiad thing started about the same time and kids came in asking questions about what they needed and how to build and I told them all the same basic steps, and some of them did quite well at at it, but once it was over, that was it, they never came back to see what might be next, and yes I did mention other areas of the hobby and how this all would apply to them. They just simply never came back.
I still believe that there are people out there that may be interested, but after all this time I have no idea what it would take to reach them. I think it is kind of a regional thing, worse in some parts of the country and better in others I think some people aren't interested in or understand the time it takes to progress in the hobby from the raw beginner stages. The kids of 20 years ago are the adults and parents of kids today so what have you got to work with. People of today are just plain different, (no pun intended) and I don't know what you can do about that. I think people will still participate in the model airplane hobby in some way as long as they have access to materials and supplies. I have all I need, and my son Sean is still active in free flight and flies C/L whenever he comes home. He lives in the Colorado Springs area and there is no one in that area that flies C/L, but it is also home to the Magnificent Mountain Men free flight club and a very good outdoor free flight site. He has been down a lot of the same roads I have mentioned already also trying to get people interested, engaged, and involved. He parlayed his modeling experience into a career in the Army flying SUAVs as an extension of the hobby, and through that has made a wide network of friends across the country and I think I have enough stuff for him also!! As far as stunt is concerned, I think internationally, it will become like R/C pattern where everyone flies the same look alike airplane with the same powerplant. I think we will stand alone here in the US as the lone holdout of the Builder of the Model rule for the NATS. Local contests have all but dried up from lack of attendance and membership of the clubs to run them. If things are going to rebound, it will take along, long time and I think have to take place naturally and organically, like it grew and expanded originally, and look how long that took. As I said before, you can't hold a gun to someone's head and make them like and want to build a model airplane, and todays kids can be easily overruled by their parents if they won't commit to and support their interests.
Type at you later,
Dan McEntee
Who has been there and done all of that!
Topic: The Future of Stunt & Control Line in General (Read 6113 times)