Lack of Respect

[Davidh]

Hello all,

This thread has been simmering for a while and in the back of my mind. Some may see this as a it of a rant. I am sorry if that's the case, I don't so much want this to be seen as an angry thread however I really want to see how many other modellers can relate to what I'm about to say.

I have been a modeller all my life. I absolutely love building, scratch building and the engineering that goes along with RC subs fires my passion. What I am finding is that this passion and interest is few and far between. My family has little regard for what I do, my wife tolerates it and can't see the creative side of it.

I am almost getting tired of hearing that word, 'creative'. Here in Australia, I don't know about the rest of the world but the "creative" people are the musos ,singers,dancers,actors ,chefs ,writers and sports people. If you are not In This area you do not get a mention.you are discredited. Now there are a lot of talented people in all these realms but there are a lot who in my opinion whe are re hashers.

I go to church and even there I find the definition of "creative" means you pretty much have to have a guitar in your hands or can sing or dance or you are not "creative". I have even been dismissed by one of these types once as 'oh you would'nt understand you're not "on the creative team".

What we do does not even get acknowledged. I have seen magnificent models on the water, works of art and most people walk by totally disinterested. I just don't get this. I am an Industrial arts teacher, ( I teach technical subjects) even at school the bias is so towards the "performing arts" and whenever there's a musical it's packed but when we have exhibitions of senior students work, almost no one turns up. Alot of kids these days don't have the attention span required for a lot of what we do. I have in the past informed media outlets about model runs ,they never bothered getting back to me...

Now I realise there are probably musicians out there that do a bit of RC submaring as well, my aim is not to step on toes, I am not against these other forms of creativity, I'm just frustrated with the imbalance/ignorance.
I wonder if others can relate to this? I hope I'm not alone. Is it different in your country, does the media give you some airtime.

David h

[wingtip]

What we do does not even get acknowledged. I have seen magnificent models on the water, works of art and most people walk by totally disinterested. I just don't get this.

Because most people dont have the knowledge or skills to properly relate the beauty of the model to its time and actual work involved in building it. They just cant comprehend the amount of designing, building, failure, redesigning and rebuilding it takes to get an rc submarine to actually perform like its intended..

Not sure about where your at but here in the states the school system sucks anymore and they dont teach kids hands on building skills anymore.... they dont learn to use power tools... they are taught at a computer screen with software.... and at 46 now myself i can say when i was in school they were in between these two chunks of time where we were transitioning from working with hands to working from pc's.... so i got a little of both... .. If they got back to basics more people wouldnt pass up these beautiful models...or at the very least would at least be interested enough to ask hey how did you do that or how do you make it dive , surface, stay dry while under water etcccccc... even the infamous how deep will it go question lol would be welcome sometimes...

[redboat219]

"No one is a prophet in their own land."

[tommydeen]

My family has little regard for what I do, my wife tolerates it and can't see the creative side of it.

You bet I relate to it!! When I went to my first SubRegatta (95) I got an earful from another members wife on how stupid
The whole thing was...... Needles to say I was taken aback by how much she hated being there. As far as being "creative" i see our hobby as more of being a craftsman..I don't see it as something like painting or playing an instrument and you are right this hobby is far and few between and I think it's gonna stay that way.

[QuarterMaster]

Years back a family member asked me "Why do you spend money on this $#*! ?"

My response, "So I don't spend it on crack."

[bigdave]

But I think there are a lot of people out there that are interested in what we do and find it fascinating.
I always get the "You do what"
They really go under water?

Yes, and hopefully come back up I say.
So there are people that respect what we do.
Like I can't see why some people would jump out of a perfectly good airplane with a nylon sack on thier back.
But as my Mom likes to say, "Whatever floats your boat"

I think what draws us to the hobby is we like the fact that you can't get a lot of off the shelf items and need to make or design our own.
The gratification of doing something yourself seems to be lost for the most part in this day and age.
BD

[Ralph --- SSBN 598]

My many years of observation tells me, that hardly anyone is interested in what others do unless they to are doing it as well or something close to it..

With in the hobby community itself, we have those who build and then are criticized by those who build as if their work was going to a museum.

I have competed in what is call cowboy action shooting for more than 25 years.
The sport uses 2 revolvers, a pistol caliber rifle and a shotgun.
The rules are they must be 1899 or older originals or replicas.
But when talking with a modern gun competitor, they seem to look down their noses because they shoot the newest modern plastic guns.
They can't see using old guns and dressing in 1880 clothes.

Car sports people are the same.
You race or drive what?
Yea, not me!

No matter what you choose to do, it is for you and not for others.
I don't care what others think of what I do.

I do what I do because I like it and it keeps me from being out in public with the no common sense, crazy and stupid people.

And the older I get the more them there seems to be.........

[bigdave]

Not sure there are more Ralph.
I think we just tolerate them less.

BD

[JWLaRue]

Always remember this: you can't fix stupid.



-Jeff

[Ralph --- SSBN 598]

You can certainly ignore it, once you recognize it.

[JWLaRue]

Absolutely!

[Davidh]

thanks guys for the comments.

I have taken my models into the workshop to show the kids most are disinterested some are mildly interested and one or two would start building right now. We are definitely the minority. We must have a certain type of brain, that is not commonly found. Problem solving is at the core of what we do. I think as an education system (New South Wales System) we have struggled with teaching problem solving, kids often want instant results and if it don't come immediately then they've lost interest.

I have always found it curious as to why large numbers of people find certain things interesting and not others. I struggle to watch sport, almost any sport and yet this draws in the masses. The rest of the family love soccer. I go along but am often sitting in the stand thinking about a model making problem.
It's often people who are sports fans that have ridiculed what I do.

david h

[QuarterMaster]

David,

Thank you for actually caring enough for the next generation to show them what is possible with ingenuity and creativity. How engineering can be fun and productive.

Yeah it's unfortunate 80% of the population out there wants it quick without thinking about it. An argument our Fathers, Fathers fathers, Fathers fathers FATHERS had...back to ancient Greeks and beyond.

I guess what I'm trying to say is we do hear ya, that's one of the reasons the SubCommittee was formed, a group of people with like interests.

But if you did get through to one child out there, perhaps one that is inspired enough to join the Sub service and stand by his country instead of waiting on line for Justin Bieber tickets. Or maybe becomes an Engineer finding out what he or she CAN do instead of just watching what someone else does and calling them a hero. Maybe they even end up doing things like exploring Mars or the Ocean depths.

You've done a lot.

I dig it, we have a rather unique interest, the 20% of us that's out there.

If that's it, I'm happy to be part of the special crowd. Hell I've been called "Special Ed" too, by the same people sitting around playing fantasy football...or as I call it "D&D for Jocks".

Nice to have these people on our side..Franklin, Edison, Ford, Curie, Tesla, Einstein, Hawking......

Yeah, I dig it.

Please keep doing what your doing, don't let the 80% get to you, it's the 20%, that's the kids out there who's future depends on it.

BTW, the Crack Story is true.

Christmas 1986 I had received a Krick U25 as a present from the Family, it was my old Norwegian Grandmother. What I didn't tell you was her response to my "crack comment"......
"That I don't care, just don't spend it on that $#*!"

I got a strange family.

Again the point is WE hear you. So keep teaching the future.

(I'm gonna go watch the "Big Bang Theory", it soothes me for some reason....)

[Larry Kuntz]

I have to agree with all the remarks. I heard everything right down to "you play with toy boats or planes or quads?". This comes from people who fill their lawnmower with oil to the top of the filler, not the full mark on the dip stick. (now I know why they call it a dip stick) Here at the University of Rochester I work with a professor who teaches hands on in Chemical Engineering. It's hard to believe how much common sense is missing today. The ability to design, build, trouble shoot is a skill I grew up with. Today's world is all about instant gratification. Just buy it, use it, and throw it away and get a new one. Ah, for the good old days...... My 2 cents.

[chips]

Some parents put too much emphasis on getting a college degree rather than learning a trade and working with your hands. When I was in high school, I took metal shop and mechanical drawing classes. My brother took mechanical drawing and wood shop. Those shop classes formed the basis for my career in the USCG as a Damage Controlman - I did welding, plumbing & pipefitting, building construction, hull repair, firefighting and stood watch in the engine room.

Last February, I took a couple of my models to a U.S. Naval Sea Cadet Drill. This bunch of Sea Cadets are supervised by a couple of former Marines, and drill at an Army ROTC facility at a local University. They had access to a swimming pool for a couple hours, so I anchored some buoys in the pool and let the Cadets run two of my surface boats. This audience was already more interested in ships, so that helped with my presentation. Maybe I sparked some interest in model making in that group.