Towards the end of Walt Musciano's biography found in
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I find the interesting observation:
In closing, I must say that I?m disappointed in the
> direction taken by the majority of the U.S. model industry.
> The huge size, expense and work area required for
> aeromodeling prohibits the youngsters from participating in
> the hobby. Average city youngsters have no chance of
> entering this fine hobby, nor has any youngster much of an
> opportunity to learn model building skills when so many
> Almost Ready to Fly and Ready to Fly models have entered
> the market. These have become toys for the wealthy,
> up-scale, middle-aged ?sportsman.? We must not let model
> plane building become a lost art!
>
> Of course, television has converted our youth into
> spectators, instead of stimulating their creative ability.
> Where are the simple kitchen table kits that teach the
> younger set how to build as well as fly? Also absent are
> local neighborhood and town or city contests sponsored by
> municipalities or larger contests sponsored by movie
> studios or even U.S. government agencies, such as the Navy
> and Air Force; also model magazines, hobby trade
> associations, aircraft companies, airlines and so forth.
>
> Witness the government of Finland, which sponsors model
> plane clubs with paid instructors to teach model building.
> Very few countries have as high a percentage of its
> population with high technical skills as in Finland, which
> supplies the world, including industrialized countries,
> with splendid diesel generators, ship propulsion diesel
> engines, cruise ships, ultra-high speed ships, trains and
> so forth. These skills can be attributed to a young
> population that had been exposed to model plane building!
>
> When I return to my model planes, they will be kitchen
> table models that will be within the ability and the
> pocketbook of the average model builder. That is how it
> must be.
>
> Keep ?em flying!
During my high school in the late '60's, early '70s, I find it interesting that much of the public views back then of flying of models were that of a childish activity. You wonder why there are problems with mechanics who can't fix cars, engineers who can't design, managers who can't manage technical people. Perhaps it is those modeling skills that helped people to develop their skills in other areas and hone their creativity to make them better adept to technical work.
- HPT