Modeling Spoken Here
Bob Hunt — Aeromodeling Editor
New paradigms have yielded new possibilities and new realities
They say that change is inevitable, and I guess that's so. Nothing around us in the natural world stays constant, and because of its changes, things grow; maybe that's a lesson we need to learn if we are also to grow. It can be extremely dangerous to stay in one spot just because things have worked there for a while.
What's the message here? Simply this: we have taken a long, close look at who and what AMA is and have asked ourselves the following questions: How can we better serve our membership with Model Aviation? Who are our readers, and what do they need and want from these pages each month?
At a recent magazine planning meeting we tried to answer those questions by scrutinizing the available data that tells us who AMA is. The answers became quickly obvious and clear. Our membership records and survey data indicate that the vast majority of AMA members are Radio Control (RC) sport fliers (notice I didn't write "modelers"). In fact, the data shows that 96% of our members are involved in some manner with RC. However, the data also shows that 10% of our membership are Free Flight (FF) enthusiasts and 10% are Control Line (CL) enthusiasts. Yes, this means that some fly FF and/or CL as well as RC, and some fly only FF and/or CL.
It's no secret that many who are joining AMA are doing so because they have become interested in RC flying and have found that they do not necessarily have to construct their own models. The proliferation of Almost Ready-to-Fly (ARF) and Ready-to-Fly (RTF) airplanes has certainly changed the landscape of our hobby and has taken it a long way toward what can be best described as a casual sport.
Yes, certainly there are still a good number of model-airplane builders, or as I prefer to call them, classic "modelers." The distinction is that a modeler actually constructs his or her own model in some fashion. It might be from scratch and it might be from a kit, but he or she does significantly more than assemble prebuilt and prefinished parts.
Among the "modelers" (as defined by my interpretation), there is a monumentally higher percentage (not higher actual number) of FF and CL participants than there is in RC. Makes sense. Those who produce ARF and RTF offerings are looking for the most bang for their buck and have targeted the largest segment of participants. There's more to it than that, however. By and large, those who gravitate toward FF and CL tend to become in some manner competition oriented, and naturally build their own models because of rules and because of personal development programs to make their models better in every respect as required to stay competitive.
There is also a significant contingent of RC modelers who compete and build their own models, and there is still a large number of RC sport fliers who prefer to build their own models from kits or from scratch. Still, in respect to the overall numbers, classic modelers are on the wane, at least statistically speaking.
Audience, expectations, and magazine focus
So hopefully we have bracketed the audience members and have identified their varied degrees and types of involvement. It's clear that we are made up of different types of people who have different types of goals and expectations from the hobby/sport, so they also have different expectations and desires for magazine-oriented information.
This magazine has historically catered to the classic modeler. Construction features have been the cornerstone of this publication and most of the other magazines that cater to the market. Contest and event-coverage articles are also regular features. How-to pieces are very popular, and we have tried to present the best of the offerings we receive. If you are very objective about it, you will concede that most of the magazine space is devoted to what has become the smallest portion of the hobby/sport. The special-interest columns, in particular, are for the most part highly focused and specialized, and they are aimed at the accomplished modeler in each of the many disciplines. There is very little in most of these columns for the RC sport flier, who, as we have determined, makes up the lion's share of our membership.
The bottom line is that we are not being equitable with our coverage. The sport flier is not getting what he or she needs and deserves from the organization's official publication. The statistics also show that there is a fairly large turnover in AMA membership—especially new membership—which is further proof that we are not servicing these new-age members properly.
What should we do for these members?
If you think about it, there really is not too much to write about for the casual ARF or RTF modeler. Subjects that come to mind include:
- proper assembly techniques and repair articles
- engine setup and maintenance
- radio-control equipment installation how-tos
- step-by-step flight-trimming articles
- safety issues
- product reviews of new offerings
That is really not a long list, and those articles should be able to be presented in a short amount of space. So what else can and should we be doing for this group? (I'm sure, and even hopeful, that this piece will prompt them to tell us!)
Those of us who are longtime modelers know the indescribable joy of creating our own models from scratch or from kits. There is a definite pride-of-creation aspect that keeps us interested and productive. I'm in no way suggesting that all ARF or RTF fliers should strive to—or be compelled to—build any or all of their own models, but I am suggesting that they might really enjoy building at least some of their own airplanes. The lessons learned could help them repair and modify their ready-built models. They might find that model building is just another really enjoyable part of their pastime that dovetails nicely with their ARF or RTF activities. In other words, one need not be mutually exclusive of the other.
The problem here is that all of the building lessons us longtime modelers have learned from the days when we had to build our own models are not readily available to the new group of fliers. That information has not been recycled and updated to include new techniques and materials and in a step-by-step fashion in years. It's time we did that.
Our response and planned changes
Here's what we have decided to do to address each of the many groups of modelers and service them as best we can. We are giving the old cosmic reset button a good push and are preparing to offer more information than ever before, but we are going to attempt to do it in as logical and sequential a manner as possible. This means targeted how-tos and informational articles that will be designed to educate and inform.
The apparent downside to this is that we will need to create some more space to allow us to achieve these goals. We have decided to adjust the frequency of some of the special-interest columns to yield the space and budget required to accomplish this.
I know this will not be too popular with some of the affected disciplines. I'm asking you all to take personal ownership of the idea, to help increase our modeling base. As new, potential modelers join and learn, many will gravitate toward the Special Interest Groups (SIGs), and your ranks will swell. That's the payoff for your investment in this.
If you think about it, you will not be losing much at all to help this cause.
Several years ago the special-interest columns in the various magazines were the only viable way of getting or distributing pertinent information. Now we have the SIG newsletters (some are magazines in their own right) and the Internet, on which you can easily find bulletin boards and SIG Web sites from which you can receive up-to-the-minute information.
Magazine production schedules cause at least a three-month lag time in getting this information out. New paradigms have yielded new possibilities and new realities. If you want more information, it is available; all you have to do is look in the right place.
Part of our proposed program is to make room for a page or two in Model Aviation that will list all of the SIGs each month. The newcomers will be encouraged to go to that section, where they can find the information needed to make quick personal contact with a group that specializes in the type of modeling they think they might enjoy. The hope is that by using contact information they will be able to quickly find people in their own areas (or neighborhoods) who can give them one-on-one help. Think how fast this could swell our ranks with lifelong modelers!
No columns are being cut from the magazine; in fact, we are adding a new "Free Flight Sport" column to address the newcomers in that interest area. The existing columns are excellent, but they have become extremely specialized and focused toward the upper-end modeler, and there is very little there for the newcomer. Ironically, FF is gaining page count in column formats, but much of that new space will be dedicated to helping those who want to give it a try. Let's remember that all of this started with Free Flight ...
The targeted articles that we are proposing will cover all aspects of modeling—not just RC. As much as possible, we are going to try to present pieces that will cross the boundaries of the disciplines and help everyone at the same time. It is our intention to publish these articles on the AMA Web site so each group of new modelers can access this information and quickly catch up with everyone else.
I'm sure that many of you will have ideas about what types of articles and how-to features should be part of this program, and I urge you to contact me with your thoughts; the more input we get, the better this will work. However, please do not start writing any articles until you have spoken with me. We have a definite plan in mind, and we want to keep it simple and to the point. Coordination is key in this plan.
The implementation of our new ideas will take some time, so please give us some latitude. We are hopeful that the result of this will be a net gain of new modelers for each discipline and a whole new era of information-sharing in a logical and understandable manner. If we don't do this now, we are in danger of losing a great deal of our rich modeling heritage.
Help us with this, and another payoff will probably be the ability to increase the size and scope of this publication in the foreseeable future. At that time we will hopefully be able to service all modelers of all types in a regular and efficient manner. In other words, you may be able to have your cake and eat it too!
Extra — Read All About It
In this issue is a construction article for a Giant Scale Aerobatics Extra 300LX by Mike Hurley, who is our RC Scale Aerobatics columnist. He approached us with his new design knowing that such a large project would likely not be accepted. It would be virtually impossible to properly present this type of model in a single issue, and we had never tried publishing anything of this magnitude before.
Models of this size and type are becoming very popular, and we realized that we must eventually confront the problems associated with presenting them. We liked Mike's design and thought about the possibilities for a while, and we came up with an idea that makes this viable.
We are presenting the story about the development of the Extra and the first portion of the building sequence in this issue, and plans are being offered. The magazine feature is somewhat abridged, but a completely detailed construction article along with a complete, step-by-step, sequential photo selection will be presented concurrently on the AMA Web site in a way that can be downloaded for use as an illustrated shop manual for those who want to tackle the project.
The remainder of this model's magazine presentation will essentially run as how-to articles that use the Extra as the subject, but with information that can be adapted to any similar model. These will also be presented in augmented form on the Web site. This is really a test case to integrate the magazine with the Web to bring our members more information in more formats.
No doubt you'll have comments on all that I have written. Please feel free to let me know your thoughts.
Contact: Box 68, Stockertown PA 18083 Tel.: (610) 674-1747 E-mail: robinhunt@earthlink.net
The future is daunting, but certainly exciting. MA
Transcribed from original scans by AI. Minor OCR errors may remain.
