Rules don't grow sports!

[Pete Cosky]

Dave you came up with some very valid questions and here is how I would answer....I hope others will put their views in as well........ 

If it's used gear then it's used gear but you are not going to get a used Focus for $100. It will have certain market value and if it's still available like a Sequel then you would take the new value in this instance $375 for the kit. Some may argue that this is ridiculous but why not in sportsman which is where you want people to feel comfortable and get their feet wet. I buy YS engines because I love them but I don't buy brand new 1.60 DZs. I buy used 1.20 and 1.40 FZ engines and pay around $300 to $400 for them. My latest plane is an Excelleron 90 $279 street price, my old OS 1.20 Surpass II with pump I think I paid around $330 for it....there's my $600 mark. Not hard to do. 

Once out of sportsman buy as much as you can afford.....

There used to be an R/C Aerobatics article in Model Aviation. Why not make sure you get that exposure. I fully agree with supporting FM but you won't find it at any of the news stands in my area, so you are back to main stream media.

Besides.....nothing is perfect and you will NEVER make everyone happy. I tried for a few years as my club president and put a lot of effort in to grow my local club. I got us in the local paper and got us a website and spent time with prospective members and made sure they bought the gear they needed not the cool stuff they wanted. That's why forum discussion like this is such a good thing. It sparks ideas and gets various perspectives on the subject.

Pete
  ----- Original Message ----- 
  From: DaveL322 at comcast.net 
  To: discussion at nsrca.org 
  Sent: Wednesday, February 09, 2005 11:22
  Subject: Re: Rules don't grow sports!


  Pete,

  I'm familiar with the "claim" concept, and the dollar limit idea.

  Questions I have -
  -How does one deal with used equipment?  Much of the top of the line stuff from the top fliers gets recycled to flyers in the lower classes - I know in the northeast alone that myself, Don Szczur, Eric Henderson, George Asteris, Earl Vincent, and Joe Lachowski (to name a few) have all sold planes were capable of flying at the highest levels to Sportsman and Intermediate pilots - some of the planes were well used and bare bones (relatively cheap) while some were backup planes that were close to new and pretty much RTF (relatively expensive).
  -How do you set the price limit - ie, no matter what price limit you set, somebody will always want the number raised .5%, or 2%, or 10% because "your" arbitrary price limit is "needlessly" shutting out some really good equipment combinations that would otherwise allow more people into the event (gee, sounds a lot like the discussion on weight limit).
  -Do "professional" building fees get included in airplane cost?

  BTW - it might be harder than you think to get "face time" in some of the major publications - like Model Aviation - pattern used to get more coverage - but it has dropped (probably proportionate to the reduction in our numbers) because the magazines view the pattern group as a small demographic and devote what they consider to be an appropriate amount of coverage.  Best way to combat this is too support magazines that support pattern - like FM - aka Mike Ramsey and Dean Pappas on this list.

  Regards,

  Dave Lockhart
  DaveL322 at comcast.net



    -------------- Original message -------------- 

    > From an outsiders point of view Eric hit the nail on the head. If you don't 
    > get some "Face Time" the masses are not going to notice you. The NSRCA has a 
    > website and it would be easy enough to post some WMV files out there for 
    > download and make sure there are ads and articles in Model Aviation at the 
    > least and more mainstream magazines if possible. 
    > 
    > As for the debate about rules changes, the biggest stumbling block you have 
    > is the perceived need for a full blown pattern ship to even compete in 
    > sportsman. I know....I went and bought one before I did any homework on the 
    > issue. If you want people to be more comfortable. put a spending cap on the 
    > gear you can use in sportsman like some auto race organizations do with 
    > "Claimer" classes. You can onl 
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