Well I have not been on here in awhile , and I have not battled any in the last 2 years, got the itch to start again , well to make a long story short the local RC club was having a swap meet this last weekend. now there has been in the past a very good turn out for this. Always have been lots of vendors where you can get all the cut off wheels and anything else you want! The club also has a auction that different people put things up to auction off. I have met guys from all over that came to this, yes mostly airplanes but there has been boats, cars and even tanks. Upon arriving at the VFW hall where it has been held for the last 10 yrs. I noticed that the parking lot was not full, this was at 11:00 am. I went in side paid my dues and proceeded in to the main hall. It was a very worry some site, out of what I would say was 40 tables, only 12 were taken. Only one had a vendor that was selling hobby stuff, very disappointing, other were locals selling off some of their old planes and supplies. I walked around and checked some of the tables out before going for the vendors table. Being he had the only vendor table his prices might have been a little higher than I was hoping, I bought the little bit I wanted and started talking to some of the club members I knew. The news I got was not good. Seems the local RC club was really having a rough year, they had lost members that basically retired and had not had any new members in the past 2 yrs., and with the low turn out it looked even worse . They had hoped it would generate some much need funds and new people interested in the club, but they were looking at breaking even for the rent of the hall now. They had some that showed interest with their drones but when they found out some of the rules that was in place for the flying fields , insurance and such they balked and said they would fly out of their back yard . If I understand the rules on the drones up to a certain size people could do this but from there up the FAA said they had to be licensed and be owned by a person 18 yrs and up along with insurance. I guess these people did not like that and thought they could fly anywhere. I was getting filled in by the club trainers on this. From what different members told me most of the people that did come out wanted to do the plug and play and when they found out there was some building to do and maintence down the road they just walked away. I am lost on understanding this next generation, I still enjoy building and dreaming as to what my ship will look like and handle. I always thought that was part of the joy of doing it. In the past year I have talked to some people about the hobby and how much fun I have had, some were peaked at this and wanted a ready to run ship to battle. There goes that plug and play again, as soon as I explained that there was kits and ready to run and battle were few and far in between and cost some major bucks if you found one, that was it for them all interest was gone when they could not plug and play. Others as soon as I said you needed insurance that was it for them and they were gone. It makes me wonder what this great hobby will look like in say 5 yrs, 10 yrs? If my local RC club may not be here in 3 yrs as what the officers told me, what will warship combat look like? I have to say the local guys are inviting in any person interested in RC, planes, boats, cars, tanks, trucks etc just to have a club and fun. they are hanging on with their finger nails. I know this is long and some ramblings of a old battler but it makes me wonder. Fair winds and good hunting to all. Buddy Friend
Local club in Annapolis doing well still! Occasional new member each year. Workshop meetings on most Fridays. Local battles well attended. We have been a IRC club since the 80's!
Buddy, you're not far from the Maryland gang. They're still going strong. McSpuds (Terry Lee McKinzie) is in Louisville a bit WSW from you. He's trying to get things started in his area. All in all, I'd say you're in pretty good shape.
Buddy, you just need to travel more! MAG members have been to battles from Canada to Fla. and from the East Coast to TX and Mo. Come to Greenbriar this spring!
Clubs come and go, so while an individual RC airplane club may be on the decline, many are still going strong. Here's a picture of the Dayton Wingmasters annual swap meet today, about 20 minutes after they opened the doors. Every table was sold and there was a good crowd of buyers.
....damn, Johnny....cut back on the caffeine drinks, will ya? I know the way I was brought into the hobby was a fine Southern Gentleman by the name of Rick King invited me to come to his garage workshop and he'd help me build a boat. Every weekend for a couple of months he would take time away from working on HIS boats to help me with mine. It's not the battling, or the model making, that keeps me in the club. It's the people like Rick, Don Cole, Charley, Marty, etc. I greatly enjoy the battles I can attend, but I'm just as happy when (as frequently has happened) by boat is deadlined and I can observe & take pics rather than be on the water myself.
How and Why I choose to spend my time is my own business. Back to the original post, I don't know much about the local r/c scene. I know the scale boat guys seem to be doing well enough. Our local toy boat group has had a few rough years, several of us have had life interfering, and we've had some difficulties with pond accessibility. Things will smooth out in time and fortunes will improve.
Buddy we have battled each other many times. You have many people in your area that battle. We are hostimg NATS WE have gone from 3 battles to 8 in two years YOU OWE ME. come up and battle. kas
Well I have had no success in promoting the hobby here. Several reasons. First is the population is scattered here and very small. Second the cost of living here is very high . Were on an Island so getting goods shipped here takes a while and is very expensive. Third our weather here is very unpredictable and severe most of the year. Even on a sunny day it is windy and I mean blustery. 4. Finding a site suitable for RC combat let alone for running RC only is difficult. Most ponds are inaccessible . Main problem is for us here the cost of the hobby and the length of time and commitment to it is just too much for most people here. In my own case I have had not had the spare time to promote and grow the hobby here as I was able to do in Nova Scotia . There are smaller groups here and they consist of the RC flyers, the RC power boaters and the RC race vehicles. The Plastics Modelers are a small group and they have been struggling for years to keep the numbers up. The miniatures gamers such as the Sci Fi and Fantasy to the wargamers are growing here . Then you have a small community here of online gamers . Personally for me I am working work 12 hour shifts with aging Inlaws and relatives who need my support more than ever along with the aging pets. The property upkeep and house upgrades and well basically Life and everything else that it entails has basically wiped out my ability to battle the models . I still have my fleet of combat ships but I doubt they will see battle anymore. But you never know what the future will bring. This fall I hope to setup my fleet display and show the DVD battles and demo the cannon firing . I am still trying to get Montana finished but the winter so far has been very harsh and going into the freezer box called the shed is not an option when it is this cold. I have no room in the house for my ships so that is where they reside in the shed. These are changing times but getting the hobby to social media is a big help along with internet and YouTube and the like. We still need venues to promote and events or just gatherings to operate or build the ships to help promote the hobby. Keep the videos going online and promote promote.
My two cents.....I think a lot of the problem for the younger folks is that the mere idea of building anything seems to be beyond their skill level. Basically, because they've never built anything....ever. Back in my day we had wood shop, metal shop, auto shop classes in both junior high and high school. Today those classes are for the most part gone. Replaced with computer labs. Dad let me and my brother loose in the garage/shop to build whatever we wanted; forts, go carts, scooters, rabbit hutches, whatever. As kids we built plastic models, used power tools, straightened bent nails, etc., etc., etc. I actually was building something once, bent the nail, pulled it out and straightened it and then hammered it back in. The young gent helping me had never seen anyone do that. He was totally amazed!! Today as a kid you can't buy spray paint, model glue, all the fun stuff. Everything requires a safety briefing, warning tags, etc., etc. Soldering, oh no! That could burn you or electrocute you or something! A good thing coming out today is the Maker Movement. So perhaps all is not lost.
Ontario, Can. is not much better than NFLD. OAF has decreased in size due to members having family and other commitments. I too, am in this category. I have my fleet of ships, and try to build one ship a year, even if it's not a battle ready ship but a surface runner is fine with me. I have a lot of ships in the garage, but just not enough time to battle them let alone sail them in public, to draw interest in them. My retirement is less than 5 years away, so I am hoping to have more time to attend Regionals or Nats, when my son is off to university. My son is starting to get interested in ships, but not to the building stage. I dragged him to the pond from a toddler onwards, and I think I turned him off of the hobby. He is a sports kid for anything with a ball or puck. Tools are not his specialty. There are other model boat clubs in southern Ontario, and most are aging with not many new members joining them. If there is anyone in Southern Ont. Canada, interested in battling, just drop me a line. I have ships to battle, and passion to share my knowledge with building them. Mark Ontario Attack Force 8 battle ready ships 2 combat surface runners
The IRCWCC NATS will be in Saranac, MI on July 2017 We are about 7 hours away Our battle schedule is listed under the G.L.A.S. site. love to battle with you kas
The weather is downright nasty there. After three winters in Newfoundland in the late 1970s I moved back to the mainland. I really didn't like it when winter lasted 6-7 months and it snowed in early June! The provincial fencing team would fly to a May tournament in Ottawa wearing parkas, find blooming tulips and warm weather, then fly back to St. John's and find our cars encased in ice at the airport.
The NABS club in Nova Scotia has been defunct for 8 years Buddy. Although there are several members left in the area with battle ready ships, attempts to organize club meetings and battles a few years ago were a complete failure. To my knowledge only Ralph Coles and I are building new models for RC combat and we're making rather slow progress.
Tom Cromwell and I tried to get things going her but his life commitments has increased steadily and my free time has nearly disappeared . Plus the fact with aging inlaws and Parents and siblings on both sides it has taken up most of my time. Then now I have things on hold indefinetly due to my recent Shoulder Surgery which involved repairing multiple tears in and around my rotator cuff so I am currently off for several months. Physio has been painstakingly slow. I am still trying to finish up Montana but with one arm workable that is definitely crawling. The weather is still crap here and I have no space inside the house to build models.
Here in No. California we are going strong.! After a few year hiatus, we have come back even bigger than we were before. We have taken a slightly different approach to combat and it appears to be working very well for us.
Your a hop, skip, and jump from me here in Louisville. We are building up here and also we battle at Charlies just south of me. Give me a call sometime, 502.472.4257
