Blackpool Model boat show - busy weekend

I went to this on Saturday. At first glance the Hall looked pretty full and there were certainly plenty of visitors.

Look more closely though and there were empty tables where some clubs had not pitched up. There were also examples of stands where just one club member had turned up with his models.

Rather sad and it does show the way that shows are going and that  maybe the problems that the AMS has in covering shows are not unique.

It seems to be a general problem of aging membership, petrol prices and perhaps a lack of "competitive spirit" amongst the modelling fraternity.

On a brighter note, on the Sunday, I took the Turkish Nordenfelt I have been building for the last 2 years for its first splash at Barrow. (You might say that it has returned after 127 years.)

It went well as a first trial - the (very large) hand made prop worked well without too much torque - the sub is fast too. The scale size rudder also worked well (Fortunately the Victorians oversized everything). It also trimmed out well with a reasonable amount of foam.

No photographs though - she is still in Halfords yellow primer and I'm shy!

David

david f wrote:I went to this on Saturday. At first glance the Hall looked pretty full and there were certainly plenty of visitors.

Look more closely though and there were empty tables where some clubs had not pitched up. There were also examples of stands where just one club member had turned up with his models.

Rather sad and it does show the way that shows are going and that  maybe the problems that the AMS has in covering shows are not unique.

It seems to be a general problem of aging membership, petrol prices and perhaps a lack of "competitive spirit" amongst the modelling fraternity.

On a brighter note, on the Sunday, I took the Turkish Nordenfelt I have been building for the last 2 years for its first splash at Barrow. (You might say that it has returned after 127 years.)

It went well as a first trial - the (very large) hand made prop worked well without too much torque - the sub is fast too. The scale size rudder also worked well (Fortunately the Victorians oversized everything). It also trimmed out well with a reasonable amount of foam.

No photographs though - she is still in Halfords yellow primer and I'm shy!

David

An American's perspective .... but likely applicable to our home island as well:

We're seeing the same head-long drop in activity in the 'technical' hobbies over here too. Kids are no longer taught the mechanical crafts at home or school. Without a sustained base (kids) this hobby of ours is finished.

Kids no longer build or assemble their toys, they operate cell-phones and X-boxes; the schools have dropped 'shop classes' and replaced them with 'black history month', taught each month of the school year; and our electronic age has bred little brats who demand gratification now -- they don't have the patience to build or assembly anything, that just would take too long.

This hobby is not self-sustaining anymore. To make my point: how many active kids are there in your club?

We, gentlemen, are the last of our breed. The Craft dies with us. What will be left are RTR NEPTUNE's and the like.

David

Absolutely bang on David,off the cuff I think we have two members under the age of twenty,it's a sad situation and I see no way of resolving it.
Nigele

I fear you are right, gentlemen...a case in question:

Many years back when I learnt to fly model helicopters, I had to buy the kit ( a Morley Hughes 300c), assemble it, install my own radio gear and trim it properly before I could even think about starting the engine. I took a course of lessons with the local club expert to learn to fly it (money well spent too, I only ever had one hard landing, and all that did was to burst a float) I can still hear him now after all these years, cursing me for not doing as I'd been shown.

Nowadays, you can go to the nearest toy shop and buy a complete package, all set up and ready to fly, and with a 99% guarantee of a successful flight. Great, you may think...but where's the fun in that? If you do crash it (despite the manufacturer's claim of a successful flight), you won't have the first idea of how to rebuild it because you don't know what goes where.

Little Johnny's dad buys him a heli, he crashes it, it goes into the shed and there it stays for ever, and little Johnny moves on to something else expensive.

It's sad, but it's the way of the modern world, I guess...nothing is built to last. Another example...around ten years ago, when the council invested in our new all singing, all dancing, fully computerised road sweepers, each one cost well over £120,00 each. Their design life was three years...anything over that was considered a bonus. We had to go on a course for three days to learn how to operate the electronics and the computers before we were allowed to start the engines.
(Two of the three failed inside a week, one had to be replaced...)