The World of Aeromodeling: Those Marvelous Miniatures - AMA Films 

Spot-on! The lady at 8:34 is holding a booklet with 1977 on it.

At 35:00, where he is talking about the electrostatic autopilot thing replacing a 5-pound gyroscope, it made me laugh, as gyroscopes weigh next to nothing nowadays. Having only been alive for 17 years, I haven't ever experienced the early days of aeromodelling. Nowadays, it's all so easy. Easy to design aircraft and perform analyses on them in free CFD and CAD software, and construct them using CNC hotwire cutters and 3d printers, and such modern building techniques. The modern components are absolutely amazing, as anybody can acquire a 30km long-range RC and full HD digital video link for less than 400$, as well as antenna trackers and the whole shebang. 40 years ago, it would probably have been insane to say that these things are going to exist one day, and that even teens can build ultra long-range UAVs at home.

thats awesome! I just got back into balsa model building after 20 years of not doing it.

It's more hackney really, I guess they thought it would sound more well written at the time, they should have referred to this as "aeromodeling" more consistently though.

That's right, it is a flying-boat the Martin PBM Mariner, and I wish that he had said it completely, so many mistakes in the narration script with no insight to the subjects. Nice seeing a lot of the stuff again, but god I just want to wash the style out of my mind. en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Martin_PBM_Mariner

And yet there are twice as many AMA members today as there were in 1977. We just need to all hold together and get through this dark time with the FAA.

@@altbob Between the DOJ, and deep pocket lobbyst who do anything to make drone delivery a reality model aviation will be done away with eventually

Agreed!

I 2nd that ☺

As technology advances so do the wants and likes of the hobbyist. There are still plenty of modelers that build their own planes in every facet of this great hobby/sport. When I was a youngster, I was mostly interested in building but as the ARF became available and electronics aka radio control become more sophisticated my interests moved from building to competing and general fun flying. Today the hobby is filled with wonderfully talented flyers and demonstration pilots who do not have the time to build from scratch and devote their time to developing flying skills. Every modeler has many options to participate at whatever financial level they feel comfortable with. Generally, there is something for everyone and yes, there is motivation when in competition to want the best of everything…..this does not necessarily apply to the largest segment of the hobby that flies for fun and not competition. You don’t win contests with the “latest and the greatest”….you win with dedication, practice and perseverance not with “deep pockets”. I made that movie in the 1980’s and even back then there were those advances in the hobby that were costly. For example, note the segment with Phil Kraft and the wonderful radio he manufactured…every modeler wanted one of them if they could afford it…..Jay Gerber

modelaircraft Compitition is a very small part of the hobby. Not many RC pilots compete. I'm just saying that in the hobby, the pride taken nowadays is in what you bought/own. Not what you built. It seperates the modelers from the fliers. Not disrespecting either side. Just pointing out the different aspects that came about in RC. Motorsports has gone the same route. From racing to shows. It's more of "what you have" than "what you've done". As far as competition, I had a talk years ago with Mike McConville. I asked him why he doesn't fly his own designs or even the brand he marketed as high performance. He said that to win you need to have the nest designs out there and the ones Horizon Hobbies had couldn't compete. So in competitive RC, you do need to spend money exponentially to the level of competitions you compete in. While the modelers are still there, RC has changed and has grown a second group of hobbyist. The pure fliers.

And today it is easily offered for FPV pilots. This was an eye opener for me. I didn't know of it back then.

The autopilots we can get no are based on gyros. (They used to be mechanical gyros, but are solid state now).

I took these things for granted not know how it all started nor how far back this went. Great RC history ☺

I feel your joy Andy. Same here.

Aero FPV ======= yep ..thanks 😊

Yep can't divorce our first love, better than the first kiss

@@davesweany8650 ==== Hahahaha 😅😅 Thanks 🙏👍👍🍅

Cessna isn't really a beginner plane. Needs lot of rudder

You may recognize him from NFL Films and Football Follies! 🏈

As soon as I get it up she takes over 😂

+triskellian I think 1977, look at 8:44

+shimano SV You have a sharp eye! Thank you!

+triskellian cheers. greetings from serbia, europe.

+shimano SV Greetings from the US. :-)

The narrator is a well known Philadelphia TV personality from many years ago named “John Facenda”…..we used him for many, many videos and films and his voice became known in the football sport circles as “the voice of God”…….I used him to narrate a good number of the modeling videos that I made for the AMA. His voice is so recognizable and powerful for fitting into the mood of just about any story telling venture. Jay

modelaircraft Thanks for the reply. As soon I read that he narrated Football and Sports shows in your reply, I remembered that's where I had heard him before. Also, thank you for the vintage videos. Please keep posting them. I'm sure the AMA has a lot of great historic footage from yesteryear that would be great to see sheared here on RU-vid.

That's because it's a film by AMA Member Jay Gerber, who used to make NFL Films! Very good ear!

I bet those sites were producing a lot of noise with that ancient IC engines technology ;)

Right, leave it to the gov to ruin anything.