IMO @JustinScott is pretty spot on. Consistent activity seems to be the major factor in driving growth. If you look at where the large pockets of battlers are in the country they are all centered around active "local" groups. Most of those are driven by one or two local individuals that really drive the hobby locally, something not everyone has the ability/skillset/personality/outgoingness/etc to do. While you may not be that person (I'm sure not) you can still contribute by doing whatever it is that you're good at which helps the growth. We also have a bit of a supply issue, while I personally don't think a RTR boat is the answer having some way for new people to get their hands on all the gear that's needed without it being a giant PITA is needed. Battlers and Swampy/Strike did that fairly well for a while but its a tough one. Hard to get people in if they cant get the parts they need to build but its hard to have a business if there aren't enough people to buy what you're selling. Having easy to access websites that you can buy stuff you need is a huge boon for the hobby. As good as some of the videos you guys make are, most (not all) are geared at people in the hobby who know what is going on in them. Just watching ships fighting is kinda cool but clip compilations of good sidemount gun runs aren't really an engaging video if you don't already know what's going on or why it matters, heck even if you do know what's going on doesn't mean they are all that engaging. I don't know how to do this (or I would ) but if there is a way to add some "story" or narrative to videos about a specific boat/captain/battle whatever maybe that might help some, most good videos have atleast some general story/narrative through them. Like a high quality VLog of a weekend battle with prep/combat/afteraction/etc showing the good and bad things you deal with at a battle and in the hotel room to patch/fix/etc might be an interesting thing to try. Also I don't think this is ever going to be a mainstream hobby, and there is nothing wrong with that. More people getting into the hobby and driving recruitment is a great thing but we're also dysfunctional enough at this size. ;-)
I'm going to take notes from my hobby mentor down in Statesboro and find some places to show up in person and shake some hands. Finding the intersection of like minded folks is interesting.
I agree and am guilty of this. Lol Future videos will be focusing on this more. My local group will be helping me make some much more engaging videos in the future so stay tuned!
Heh true. That's why it's so important to document construction of new ships, along with the battling action. The classic engineering-nerd youtuber video series starts off with an idea, follows through the build process, then shows the finished product in action. Simple story arc, but easy for people to understand.
At least with the few (poor) attempts at tutorial videos I've made, I am an awful videographer. I'd love to detail a ship build and then cut it and edit it into something actually entertaining. But I'd need to kidnap @Beaver and hold him against his will at my house for a week while I build a ship and he records. Plus there is the always present factor: money. I would love to buy a bunch of camera gear to record building, battling, etc....but I also want to build boats, go to events, maintain enough stock in filament and stuff to supply hulls...so "camera stuff" ends up so far down the list that it basically falls off the list. I am hoping that with a little income from the sale of hulls and such that I can start to reinvest a little and not just barely buy the next batch of hulls worth of plastic and material. But that is it's own problem, as I try to keep costs super lean to help the hobby out. We're all cheap bastards here, which is something I think many vendors (past and present) who have tried to supply us have failed to truly grasp.
This is an interesting point, Will. I think you should be charging a “little” more than what keeps the lights on. BECAUSE the hobby needs that money to be invested in advertising. Once NTXBG starts selling the Deutschland and the ships that follow, I’m expecting any profit to go directly toward club growth. I really think you should be doing the same. You have a good thing your bulding. Use it to create growth; even if it costs an extra bit per hull.
I appreciate the sentiment, and I know that any who've seen my work value my efforts and such. By keeping costs down, I am helping grow the club. I lower the point of entry for newcomers. I try to subsidize everything I can to help new people. We have a system at SJS with rookies where for your first few years I will 100% subsidize you if you build a ship out of my stockpile of hulls. I'll pay for the guts (if you build it my way, basically), I'll help you build it, you can room and ride with me going to events to save $, you can use my batteries and chargers (once again, if you build to my spec). Your second boat is on you, if you leave the hobby your first boat belongs to me. If you graduate into your own captain, obviously the boat goes with you. I can't help the club beyond what I'm doing already. When failed prints are involved, or machine failures/breakage occurs, none of that gets passed off onto people who would buy my stuff. If I raise prices to try and put $ towards video, advertising, whatever, I'm now making it harder for those new people to afford the hobby or potentially scare them off with the initial investment. My little "business" so far has been 100% a money-losing enterprise. I think I threw away 4 LST hulls that failed during printing before I figured out the unique angled shape of the LST bow was very difficult to print. I had a 20 hour print fail at 99% for the last piece of Wasp because the printer just barely didn't have enough plastic. I trashed two whole Von Der Tanns because I realized after the fact that I forgot to include the manufacturing tolerance into the design, and the laser cut wooden decks didn't fit. That's just part of the suck, in my opinion. If I could directly convert money into rookies that stuck around, I already would have (lord knows I've spent enough trying to help ones that didnt!) That being said, I have contemplated the idea of a small patreon-style page where people could donate to the monthly coffee and snacks fund to keep this whole fragile thing moving forward. "Members" could vote in polls to pick the next hull designed out of the options I provide, etc. I want to get some of the little action cams that the guys have been using to record more footage for @Beaver to use on his channel to help the hobby grow. I'd definitely be game for a "Birth of an RC Warship" mini-documentary if he wanted to take an extended weekend and come record that with me. We have some seriously exciting stuff in the works that need to be discussed @ Nationals this year in terms of publicity/advertisement. I am trying to put in the legwork in that department in addition to everything else. (Not even counting building and maintaining my own boats! )
That is a wonderful idea for new people. They can get into it with no real cost to them. My only concern would be people just ghosting the club and taking the boat with them. Have you had that happen? If there is anything we can do up here to help let us know.
No, because I keep everything here. When they graduate into being their own self sufficient captain you'll notice they start acquiring their own tools, they start taking the boat home to prep it vs only working on it at my shop, etc. When they start attending events without me, that's when I wouldn't worry so much about getting ghosted.
Dang! That is great. I think I'm going to try doing something like that up here. Worst that happens we get another loaner boat.
People like you and BK are very kind to share not only your knowledge but your space, time, and money as well. I hope I can "pay it forward" so to say as well one day.
Will, that is BRILLIANT. It's very important to get new club members actively participating as quickly as possible. But I 100% have lost ships to people dropping off the map. Cruisers, destroyers, even $1000+ battleships all gone because somebody lost interest after the first few months. And those were mostly passion projects with thousands of hours in the making. It's just too painful to let something like that go anymore. It's not about the money. It's about the loss of a club member, and the tools necessary to bring in another one. Fortunately, 3d printing means that high-effort one-off hulls are (mostly) a thing of the past. Now if a rookie wants a high-quality, reliable combat ship, I can just print them one. As long as the hull and parts stay at my place, the risk of loss is essentially non-existent. My only problem is that my current occupation makes hosting regular build sessions difficult. Alex, you've hosted a bunch of build sessions. would you object if I sent hulls, hardware, and cannons your way in support of this endeavor?
Also remember post NATs we will be talking about sending a hull your way for you/a loaner/a rookie build. You'll be swamped with hulls
Most of the development pains for prints are sadly unavoidable, but this one at least I can help with. Most 3d printers can now have a filament sensor added on that'll auto-pause if you run dry. That and/or a multiple wheel feeding system is extremely useful for this, as well as for using up all those short rolls that inevitably build up. Since I've gone fully down the Bambu path, I use the AMS system to solve this, but I've been seeing ads for a similar four-wheel drybox setup that should work for non-Bambu machines to auto-swap over. Creality, I think? Didn't keep track of the brand as I already had one, but hopefully it's of some help.
I use bulk spools that range from 5KG to 25KG. Filament sensors generally are more trouble than they're worth, and I don't trust restarted prints to actually fuse properly at the layer where the print was paused if it remains paused for any appreciable amount of time. Not to sound condescending, its hard to convey sarcasm/exasperation in text, but trust me...I've been there and tried that.
Eh, if it doesn't work, fair enough. Everybody's setup is a little bit different. I've had excellent luck with continuing paused prints so long as the chamber temperature doesn't vary. If it gets cold, layer adhesion is going to suck there, may as well just chuck the print at that point.
As you said, everyone’s setup is different. I’ve had really good luck with bambu/ams. My hulls have maintained good tear strength, and my guns have held up to high pressure.
Yeah that's the issue. If I catch it in the instant it would run out and pause, I would be OK reloading and continuing. Murphy dictates it's going to run out exactly 4 minutes after I fall asleep, or immediately after I leave for work, etc. I create a filament inventory based on the theoretical mm of filament on the spool, and then track mm of filament used in klipper. When we are getting close, I just pull the spool in use before the next print and swap in a new one. I save the mostly empty spools for really small prints, like an individual test pump or something like that. The filament sensors have caused jams and such for me in the past, to the point where I don't trust them. Bambu's AMS works well, the early units had issues with parts breaking and failures to feed. I need printers bigger than what Bambu currently offers. I can barely fit a Jean Bart midsection on my print bed. I am looking at even bigger printers, not smaller ones. I've had hulls in combat in IRCWCC (which battles a lot more than big gun) for 4~ years and have never had a hull failure.
