How lucky are we ?

[GrumpyGnome]

As I came back from a nice day's flying, I pondered on just how lucky we are regarding the equipment we now use and probably take for granted .................

My DX7S is considered a 'starter' radio now - I probably use 10% of it' capabilities; it was under £200............ I remember my excitement at getting my first four channel radio (Skyleader) which I think cost around £100 many moon ago

My EFlite Viking is, apart from being unable to use the spinner!, just superb, gyrates like a one-winged butterfly but is rock solid and lands at walking pace

In my P3, I have a madly aerobatic biplane under a foot in wingspan and weighing just a few ounces

My HK T28 looks and flies like the heavy warbird trainer it is - just £110 all in

My HK Spit 24 look, and flies, like the thoroughbred it is

My MCPx is a collective, aerobatic, palm sized heli !

I have 2 quads that fit in my hand.

Every single plane I now own seems to fly orders of magnitude better than a decade ago.

Arrived home smug

GG

[leccyflyer]

Good post.

It;s a constant source of amazement to me, at almost any flying day, just how much better the gear is nowadays and how the chances of success are dramatically improved, compared to my first attempts at the hobby. Contrary to the misty-eyed nostalgia of those bygone days there are parts of the hobby now that couldn't have been deemed imaginable even 20 years ago, and much better flying models about than a decade ago, as you say.

For example - headed off for this afternoon's indoor flying where tiny, inexpensive, ready to fly, electric powered scale biplanes and sports monoplanes will be cavorting around a small gym, giving way to tiny highly stabilised electric helicopters and quadcopters for a session. Both things inconceivable twenty years ago and an expensive struggle with the available technology, only open to the dedicated enthusiast ten years ago.

At the flying field a couple of weeks ago i flew my tiny PZ UMX Spitfire - a full, four channel Spitfire IX with onboard stabilisation, straight out of the box, and a number of folks commented that such things were not dreamt of years ago. As it happens, my boy flew a similarly sized P-51 about 10 years ago, but it was a conversion of a free flight rubber powered model, had no stabilisation and was a thee channel job and far from mainstream.

That's where the big difference is, IMHO, it;s the ready availability of this technology, rather than being confined to the specialist, it;s completely mainstream and even Plug and Play. The days of spending three months building a heavy trainer only to have it dashed to pieces in the first ten seconds of flight, or having to spend months learning to fly are pretty much gone - the hobby is accessible from so many different angles now, that can only be a good thing.

[GrumpyGnome]

Oh, forgot the UMX F-16 - an EDF ducted fan that weighs nothing but flies like an arrow ....... amazing looks and performance straight from the box !

Edited By GrumpyGnome on 18/10/2015 10:15:20

[Martin Harris - Moderator]

On the other hand, does this easy accessibility discourage the dedication to the hobby that has resulted in so many long term modellers being at the heart of the hobby?

Those of us brought up in the times you describe (my first RC model didn't even survive for a quarter of your quoted 10 seconds!) are undoubtedly benefiting greatly from modern advances. Things dreamt of in earlier days (telemetry being something I idly visualised back in the 70s) lack of frequency clashes, reliable radio, electronic retracts, practical EP, multiple sets of airborne gear (servos used to cost a king's ransom) etc. etc. have transformed the hobby.

Since my return around the turn of the century, I've witnessed the greater part of the ARTF/Electric revolution and I'm fairly sure that we're seeing a much greater turn-round of modellers (even this term is becoming less relevant) from beginners to "done that going to try something new" leavers. The majority of regular flyers at our field are either long term members from before I joined or returned modellers (like myself) from earlier years.

[Former Member]

[This posting has been removed]

[leccyflyer]

That's the thing Martin - those returned modellers from earlier years are actually a large part of the lifeblood of the hobby, because they have the leisure time available to pursue it. The difference is that their chances of success are dramatically improved over even ten years ago, with the technology available now, and certainly compared to when they had their first go at the bobby, maybe 20 or 30 years ago.

[Cuban8]

Agree with you leccy, my club hasn't had a bona fide tyro for years now but we regularly welcome back lapsed flyers often with thirty years or so since their original involvement with the hobby. We've had four this year. Rightly or wrongly we don't bother to seek juniors anymore after so much time and effort was wasted helping several young people only to find them to move on to something else within a short space of time. We would naturally assist any young lad or lass if they came to us looking for help though.