Any / Many Ideas for attracting new membership.

[thor]

Don't use too much of that "Pile". Keep your expenditures less or equal to income. We nearly destroyed ourselves through over spending. We do currently pay for articles. It has not shown an increase in writer participation.

The SC is not an "expense free" organization. We keep that money for emergency funds and year to year expenses. We can talk about reducing dues, that is fair. It took years to build up that war chest of money. Far too hard to generate and far too easy to blow. Spending money is not going to address the basic growth issues of this hobby or hobbies in general. It is a much deeper, cultural problem that is widespread. throughout the Western world. This hobby, much like the balsa airplane hobby is returning to its root of scratch builders and innovators. It is never going to return to what it was 20 years ago. Those days are gone forever. The world is a much different place now. The hobby has come full circle.

[Guest]

So there is some scope for paying modellers to write high quality articles.

Who are we talking about here? Not hugely in favour of paying for writers- what about those who don't charge, are they mugs? Might end up feeling that way.

Regarding commercial bias? The SC has always had paid for advertising, and if you rely solely on scratch builders and scratch building, the SC and in fact the hobby in general will reduce down to a little gaggle of hardcore modellers, and eventually cease to be. It would be a shame to see the SC go down the same path as the AMS.

[crueby]

Don't use too much of that "Pile". Keep your expenditures less or equal to income. We nearly destroyed ourselves through over spending. We do currently pay for articles. It has not shown an increase in writer participation.

We pay for articles? Not that I have seen. Mine were done for free, there was never any offer to be paid or desire to be paid for articles.

[JWLaRue]

Chris,

The offer to pay for articles was made in the SCR a while back....

-Jeff

[crueby]

Chris,

The offer to pay for articles was made in the SCR a while back....

-Jeff

There were several posts in this thread that said we currently do, wanted to set the record straight. Thanks!

[Guest]

Don't use too much of that "Pile". Keep your expenditures less or equal to income.
The SC is not an "expense free" organization. We keep that money for emergency funds and year to year expenses. We can talk about reducing dues, that is fair. It took years to build up that war chest of money. Spending money is not going to address the basic growth issues of this hobby or hobbies in general. It is a much deeper, cultural problem that is widespread. throughout the Western world. This hobby, much like the balsa airplane hobby is returning to its root of scratch builders and innovators. It is never going to return to what it was 20 years ago.

Do we need a $15k float? We are no longer in the days of a printed publication which cost around $5-6k per issue. Costs for website, domain names etc. are small from what I've seen on Jim's figures in the SCR.

I agree that throwing money at things won't necessarily make things better, what I'm driving at is the money needs to be apportioned in a fair way to benefit all, after all it is members cash.

You say things will never return to what they were 20 years ago. Well things weren't all great twenty years ago for this hobby. It was difficult to find supplies, and difficult to communicate effectively. Many things easily available today like levellers had become unavailable because the sensors were out of production etc.

The major change has been the hobby is ageing, and although some younger members are around, it's a trickle rather than a torrent.

[thor]

Thats why its called an emergency fund....its for unknowns....I'm not going to continue to argue this with you. It is pointless. The money is NOT going to be handed out to the membership. That is lunacy! The members got value and product. It has taken years to build that "rainy day" fund up and we're not about to do something irresponsible with it. You have absolutely no concept about what this organization went through 6 years ago....your attention remains focused on the money..... You think you are "entitled" to those funds for some bizarre reason and you want your cut. The money is there to assure what the SC went through 6 yrs ago never happens again. We will be prepared for the next "financial emergency" what ever it may be....one cannot predict the future. If there are some wise suggestions that benefit the membership and the hobby that require expenditure, those will always be considered with an open mind and I certainly expect that to occur in the future as it has in the past.

[Guest]

So anyway, back to religion.....

[salmon]

I think we have some great ideas and input so far (with some added comments by me), I would hate to see it stop.
Summary to date……

Skill sets - we do not know what is out there in our membership (could we do more articles to raise the skill set?)

Who is our target audience? Why are they not already engaged? What can we do to bring them in or make them aware we are around? We need to know more about who our constituents are.

Where are our members? Can we work on getting a database of where someone lives? What is the best way to communicate (SCR, Website, Twitter, Facebook, Instructables)? What about an SC Book?

Getting kids to play with subs - (investing in the long term, little short term return on investment, but we do plan on being around a long time aren't we?LOL)

3D printing, not ready for prime time? (YET!) should we stay on this and be a leader in bringing in those that are interested??

Being generous to bring people interested in getting into the hobby - We have many members that excel in this area!

Membership and what to do with our money or what can we invest in to build our base of members? improve value to SC?

Benefits to people that submit articles?

These are great thoughts and questions and I think there is still more ideas out there. Keep it coming!

[Jason126]

New member here, I am 30 and very much interested in RC submarine design and construction. I am also a mechanical engineer by trade and have a passion for attracting my generation and the next to serious modeling and the sciences. There is so much you can learn about yourself and basic life skills by model building.

A barrier to entry for me most of my adult life has been cost, I just have to many hobbies. I guess that's a problem most of the general public does not have, in any case just letting yall know there is some new blood here and I definitely have an interest in keeping this community alive now that I know it exists.

I've been a member of RC flying clubs all my life but I feel it's that much more important to grow niche hobby groups such as this one. This subject has so much to offer if only people knew about it. One problem is, I have never been to a hobby shop that carried legitimate RC submarine products, if I walk in off the street looking to get into RC but don't really know exactly what I might enjoy I go in the hobby shop and look around to see what they offer....no subs. And that's a lost opportunity right there.

Beyond that I think making the hobby visible to the target audience in important. For example I know at my university we had a railroad fan club where they sat and watched trains (also something I enjoy). That's a very niche subject, but they had interest meetings every semester. An older seasoned RC Sub Vet could act as the organizer/sponsor/leader. Target engineering and computing students right where they sit playing video games in their dorm rooms, that'll grow the hobby for sure!

Also a note about 3D printing in the RC hobby for those that aren't aware, check this group out: https://3dlabprint.com/shop/supermarine-spitfire-mkix/
You buy the 3D files for $60 and print your own Spitfire at home! When you crash, print another one!

Final note, now that I found the community I need a sub! interested in someones old junker if such a thing exists, I still have an unbuilt Trumpeter Kilo from a few years ago I had intended on converting to RC but I don't have any of the components.

[bob the builder]

The comment about the 3D printing is very valid! We'd need someone to volunteer to create the 3D files of a basic sub, completely set up with the proper internal bulkheads and linkage connections, and if they could sell the digital files for the $60 mentioned, it would go a long way towards getting more people involved. We'd also need a comprehensive materials list and building instructions, but that's all doable.

There are enough of us here that we must surely be able to crowd-source most of what that would look like. I'm willing to contribute some time to this in the effort of growing membership in the hobby. Who else is up for it?


Bob

[SubtechRC]

As am I, Bob. I'd be glad to contribute to the effort. This is a very good idea.

There are a few of members and a couple of vendors (Nautilus Dry Docks & Precision Pattern) that could print the components out for a nominal fee.

[Jason126]

I do a lot of 3d CAD for fun, prior to my current career as a mechanical engineer I spent several years as a 3D drafter. Complex surface modeling of the outer shape of a sub hull could be accomplished by laser scanning to create point clouds and convert those into surfaces in CAD. I was considering having the Revell U-Boat Type 212 laser scanned for my own personal use, looks like those services run $100-300 an hour. My hope was to design all of my own WTC and running components in CAD to save money.

Also I have played around with Delft Ship a little, it's a powerful hull modeling tool but I have not attempted to use it for subs, not sure it's capable of that.

At the moment I have a copy of Solidworks Student, pretty sure that can't be legally used for profit but it's an amazing software, so easy to use. I also have experience with Sketchup, Creo/Pro-E, and Inventor. Inventor's not bad either. I would also be willing to contribute time to the effort of generating some designs in 3D. The nice part is, at least the way I picture it, the part you 3D print would be flooded so it would not need significant strength. I imagine just integrating some WTC shelves into the hull and using a traditional WTC. Although the equipment mount trays inside the WTC could be printed as well as the end caps.


Looks like some of this is already going on based on the December 2017 issue of SCR, page 53 & 54.

[thor]

Solidworks is not very helpful for 3D printing. The surfaces it creates are very rough and are a lot of work to get right for the post processor for conversion to STP.

[RanSan]

I have been a member 3 times in the last 2 decades. I keep coming back because what is being done here is unique and valuable. For me I want to build a sub, not buy one.

Jason 126 and aeroengineer1 have hit it right on the head!

Modernize, advertise and sponsor on social media, instructables and/or YouTube for starters. New technology articles specific to Submarines 3D printing, Arduino, Fusion360 (free CAD/CAM).

For me a few less off topic discussions in a thread would be nice.

Thank you all for the work you are doing in this group.
Randy

PS anyone have Type 212 drawings?