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.
Okay, enough platitudes, you say; 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.
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 specialinterest
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
Bob Hunt Aeromodeling Editor
New paradigms have
yielded new possibilities
and new realities.
Photo by Paul Vliet
Modeling Spoken Here
Continued on page 150
January 2003 7
150 M ODEL AVIATION
Continued from page 7
Aeromodeling Editor
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.
Having said that, just what is it that we
should be doing for these members, and
how will that affect the other 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 are proper assembly technique and
repair articles, engine setup and
maintenance pieces, radio-control
equipment installation how-tos, step-by-step
flight-trimming articles, safety issues, and,
of course, 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 time. 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 in a
step-by-step fashion in years.
It’s time we did that.
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 upto-
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 the contact
information they will be able to quickly
find people in their own areas (or
neighborhoods) who can give them one-onone
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 also put 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 howto
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 it 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 forms.
no doubt you’ll have comments on all that
I have written. Please feel free to let me
know your thoughts. My address is Box 68,
Stockertown PA 18083; Tel.: (610) 614-
1747; E-mail: [email protected].
The future is daunting, but certainly
exciting. MA
