Is this hobby dying?

[wahibaParticipant @wahiba]

After the Russian revolution the communists did not bother to much with the church. Only old women went to church and when the then present generation of old women died off there would be no more church.

The Russian church is still going supported mainly by old women.

 

Model engineering is a hobby for old men. So long as there are old men then there will always be model engineering.

 

Of course there are a few youngsters and women involved, but on the whole, old men. Who else has the money and the time!

Edited By wahiba on 24/11/2010 13:44:27

[James fortinParticipant @jamesfortin46829]

i am only 15 and started model engineering because of lack of lego. i was always building lego models but felt i was restricted by the types of parts that were available, but now i can fabricate almost anything providing ive got the right cutter. i hope to carry on with this hobby for as long as i can ,as i find it very interesting and i can made functional tools and products(no more going to the shop to buy a replacement, just knock one up)

 

[Richard ParsonsParticipant @richardparsons61721]

 

Is our hobby dying out? I am afraid the answer is yes if those who were appointed by our political representatives want it to go. These appointed people decided to abrogate their political control and with the agreement of the last government to ‘Manage the People’! Your local council have NO control over the City/Town Manager(s) so they can do what they wish. 

The local District Manager was very worried about what she regarded as motor bicyclesists who were always visiting a shed beside a house. She tried allsorts of ideas to shut it down.  What was going on well the old lad who owned the shed, sold spares for old motor bikes. He had done this since he was demobbed some 45 years before.  The shed was there before the house was built.

To find out what was going on the Manager used the health laws to search every hut, shed, garage in the area over some weekends (for birds in case of bird flu). The ‘bailiffs’ assisting in the search were off duty plain close coppers from other districts. They were after the ‘proceeds of crime’ and other goings on (without a search warrant). I was not quick enough for the council’s representative who ordered my shed door to be demolished (and part of the shed). My solicitor advised me not to claim for the damage done as the council would probably demolish my garage etc as the old Anderson Shelter should have been removed and return to the Local Authority long long ago. Yes your Managers have their plans as to how people should live and those plans it don’t include us. 

That is why I came to live over here – Nem ertem Nem Beszelek MAGYARUL– (I do not understand, I do not speak Hungarian. Exit man clucking like chicken.) Actually I disclosed on my house plans that I had a ‘Gentleman’s Hobby Workshop’. No problems and some excitement and wonder. The council inspectors spent 5 minutes in the room and about 2 hours looking at back numbers of the Model Engineer in awe and wonder.

[Chris TriceParticipant @christrice43267]

I think it’s more basic than that. Most modellers model things they’re interested in, usually things from their past or their parents past. It’s a sort of fond memory thing, a bit akin to the debate about people enjoying the use of imperial measurements. Unfortunately, the days of steam, which accounts for a large proportion of this hobby, is becoming a forgotten and meaningless period for the next generation of amateur engineers. How many here built Airfix kits in their youth inspired by the aircraft and exploits of their parents generation in WWII and compare it to how many kids are building the same things now. It’s a generational thing. Yes, there are youngsters coming into the hobby but not as fast as the old generation are leaving it.

[NJHParticipant @njh]

Life is about learning stuff, girls (or boys), earning money, finding somewhere to live,settling down, having kids, struggling to support all this lot  – and enjoying the journey. Somewhere after  come ” hobbies”  The interest is probably there from the start but time and available cash limit the engagement. Model engineering must be one of the most demanding of hobbies requiring considerable cash outlay, time commitment and the need to acquire and develop a wide range of skills – all difficult when going through the rest of life’s processes! The great joy of it is that there is so much to learn that it provides endless satisfaction – yes Model Engineers are largely the “more senior” members of society  but we were all young once and I’m quite sure that young folk today will make the same journey.  Whilst there are those like James, (and I suspect there are many) with an interest in making things and a desire to learn, the hobby is safe.

 

Picking up John’s point on Cherry Hill I  went to Ascot and I suspect I too was silent after seeing her work ( what is there to say?) but I certainly wasn’t dejected – it is truly inspirational to see such wonderful work – I will never achieve anything like it but I’ll bet I have just as much fun in my workshop as she does in hers.

Forget all the ” It’s not like it was when I was young” or ” The government/ health & safety/ league against model engineers” are out to get us worries and enjoy the hobby!

 

Regards

Norman 

Edited By NJH on 24/11/2010 17:42:17

[adyParticipant @ady]

Ebay prices are getting better all the time(or worse depending on your perspective).

 

I think that a lot of older youngsters are realising that our heritage is going to disappear if they don’t carry the torch.

I got here via an interest in the internet and assembly language/BASIC programming. plus the net is making our world a lot smaller, it’s miles easier to do this hobby now because of ebay.

 

Machining also gives you a sense of genuine achievement, something the net lacks, everything on the net is incredibly temporary, boxed in by the law and subject to plagiarism.

 

[adyParticipant @ady]

Axel

04/09/2010 17:34:51

97 forum posts

I dont really have the benefit of being able to join a club, since there are no such things in sweden really. I know of one 7.25″ RR club in all of sweden. So my impresion is solely from the internet and ME; Is this hobby on its last breath? I see very few ppl w o grey hair in the pictures? Are there any younger ppl in this hobby. Im 39 myself…   I know young ppl today dont learn much in schools, but some must have caught interest in mechanical things?     comment further on…

Edited By ady on 25/11/2010 00:07:33

[Howard JonesParticipant @howardjones35282]

This “is our hobby dying” concept is an interesting abberation in the minds of model engineers, similar I suppose to blaming the “jews” for all the world’s financial ills.

In the minutes of my own SMEE I first noticed the anguish in the minutes for 1938.

It has been a regular chestnut ever since as aging minds succumb to anxiety about the changing world.

Model Engineering, ie the building of miniature working models and the machining of the components, is as alive and well as it has ever been. In fact if you read through the Hundred years of Model Engineer the magazine, you will find that the game has changed considerably. Modellers used only to have hardenable steel alloys such as silver steel to make cutters from. The cutters they made were quite elaborate and effective at times but the moment they heated up the cutting edge was lost. With High Speed Steels, that were first demonstrated at the Paris Expo in 1900, the inability to hit the white heat necessary for hardening in the home workshop has led to these being supplied fully hardened. It seems that we dont ever attempt the previous levels of sophisticated cutter making of the past but the cutters we do make last infinitely longer. The need to grind the high speed steels  is the current limitation but with the increasing introduction of Spark Eroders this will change.

Our models are so much more sophisticated these days that any suggestion that the activity of model engineering is in decline is just totally absurd. Just get on with it!

[adyParticipant @ady]

Comment further on…

 

I have an old SAAB 9000 I’m desperately hanging onto, It’s the nearest thing to a Spitfire I will ever own and knowing the little I do know about metal fatigue in old bits of kit you would never get me up in a Spitfire now anyway.

My ancient Nissan Bluebird suspension snapped randomly not far from Tesco about a week after the MOT at 25mph…better than on the motorway at 70mph.

 

I also have a moderatecollection of ABU fishing reels which are lovely bits of precision engineering, some from the 1970s and some more recent items which are as good as the originals (not the standard chinese gear)

 

So you do have a history and a people who have taken a genuine interest and pride in what they produce, with a bit of luck you may run into them, don’t be shy, like with girls ask about, let them laff at you and see if you get lucky.

 

I’m too old to care now, no time to lose…no ego and an ambition to learn or absorb the knowledge of those who want to share…it has definite advantages.

EDIT: NO ego is wrong…the ego is an irrelevance, time is too short to dwell on it, it is a hindrance in the quest for knowledge.

Edited By ady on 25/11/2010 00:28:05

[Martin WParticipant @martinw]

Is the hobby dying? Not if James Fortin has anything to with it it, here is a young man who contributes these fora, if that is the plural of forum, and who is prepared to strip down a lathe and lap the gib strips to improve it’s performance. I for one applaud him for doing this and it shows that there are young people prepared to challenge what is now a mainly ‘break it and bin it’ society.

 

Not only that but the cost of machines, yes albeit of eastern origin, has never been cheaper as is the tooling so that now more people can afford to indulge in this hobby  than before. My regret is that prior to retirement I didn’t have the spare cash to invest in this hobby nor the time. I have always had a hankering to make things from scratch or to improve bits and pieces in order to enhance there their effectiveness.

 

Currently I don’t build models but use my little DB7V lathe and WM14 mill to make bits for my other interest which is microscopes. I make a variety of adaptors, holders and specials to enhance their capabilities. I am not particularly experienced but thoroughly enjoy making shiny new additions while producing masses of ‘angel’s hair’. There is a great deal of satisfaction in making something from scratch and having friends say ‘What you made it from that lump of metal’.

 

 All I can say is we should highlight the merits of the hobby and leave the carping to the anglers which, by the way, is another of my interests!!

 

Have fun an enjoy making.

 

Cheers

 

Martin

[Ian S CParticipant @iansc]

Don’t think theres anything to worry about, Percival Marshall was told by those who knew about the market that his new magazine would not last long, because of lack of interest, that was 1898, well its still going, the nay sayers are long dead!  Ian S C

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