How old are you

[Tallbump]

SO I got into the RC hobby just over a year ago, just before I turned 49. I have the big 5-0 coming this Tuesday

A couple of my work buddies give me a hard time for "playing with toys" LOL but they're just messing around.

The guy who got me into RC is only 22 - my buddy's son. His dad does have a few 1/10 himself.

I was watching a Cape Crawlers video the other day (the almost 2 hour live stream one) and one of the people watching commented and asked him why he thought many got into the hobby later in life.

IT got me wondering what the average age is of people into the RC hobby.

Pole is pretty generic, but it will give us a general idea.

People are welcome to comment and put their specific ages if they want.

 

[Tallbump]

I lied a little and said 50 to 60, but technically I am not 50 until Tuesday

 

[Xraycer]

54.
I first got interested in RC when I was about 14, after checking out classmates' RC magazines. However, hobby grade RC was not in the family budget. My first RC was a cheapo Sears after I started working at 16.
Life got busy, and rediscovered RC after marriage, in my early 30's. Started off with a Kyosho sailboat, which I still own and play with on occasions. I've since amassed a rather large collection of RC toys.

 

[Tunedfrog]

63 and another one coming up in a couple months.
I don't look a day over 63 though.

 

[jojobeans]

28 in December. 18 to now was a blur... It could've just been a massive fever dream to be honest and went by shockingly fast. 4 years of high school felt longer

I hear the time just gets faster the older you get... I fear if I blink I'll wake up in a home with kids I don't remember having asking me what the great pandemic was like.

 

[CertifiedMike]

I lied a little and said 50 to 60, but technically I am not 50 until Tuesday

Happy early birthday!!!!!

 

[Xraycer]

I hear the time just gets faster the older you get.....

Truth!

 

[AjDale]

I’m 24, got into RC about 3 years ago

 

[ferrebee88]

I'm 37. I got introduced back in 2011, but got into it heavy after I bought an X-Maxx about 8 years ago.

 

[Chubaka]

 

[RudyF6]

I hear the time just gets faster the older you get

No denyin' that! Wait til you're in the 60+ group!
I turn 65 soon, if I make it (not skeered!) I will have outlived my dad and both grandpas...

 

[Doom!]

61 here, I got into RC later in life. Didn't start until I was around 50ish. I guess it's when I started to slow down, and realized I could afford it. I may have gone a little overboard since then.

 

[WickedFog]

I'm 54. My dad got into building balsa RC planes in 1980, when I was 10 and needless to say I was fascinated. I had the Cox airplanes on a string, and wired RC cars throughout my childhood, but they never really did much for me. But with dad's newfound hobby, the Tower Hobby catalogs had me drooling over all the cool stuff in them. So I saved up my money and I got my first hobby grade RC in 1983 at 13 which was the Marui Big Bear. I bought it with my own money from a paper route and working in my dad's woodshop. In '86 I bought a Kyosho Javelin with more woodshop earnings. I had saved up $600 and went nuts in the Tower Hobbies catalog. Been into it off and on ever since, and more than ever for the last 11 years now.

 

[watertrucker]

Turned 65 last month. Got involved with RC 10 years ago when I was 55. Best 10 years of my life

 

[Cheetah928]

I'm 14 and I've been in the hobby for 3 years. I usually feel like it get criticism for being so young compared to most of the age demographic in the hobby, but I'm just trying to have a good time like everyone else. People feel like I don't know anything about it and think I just assume I show up to the track with a slash thinking I'm the coolest kid, but that's not true. I think the barrier to entry into rc for young guys is people being toxic to kids. I've never had an issue on RCT, but outside of that it isn't great. Especially at the track!!

 

[WickedFog]

I'm 14 and I've been in the hobby for 3 years. I usually feel like it get criticism for being so young compared to most of the age demographic in the hobby, but I'm just trying to have a good time like everyone else. People feel like I don't know anything about it and think I just assume I show up to the track with a slash thinking I'm the coolest kid, but that's not true. I think the barrier to entry into rc for young guys is people being toxic to kids. I've never had an issue on RCT, but outside of that it isn't great. Especially at the track!!

A lot of older folks know how teenagers can be. Just like my son who just turned 13, it was like a switch got flipped and instantly he knows everything. If you go up to the older guys and are generally interested and ask questions, without being a nuisance, you'll eventually find somebody that will likely want to help you.

I have caught myself being that way to younger guys in my career. If they came to me asking for help without saying "yeah I know" every time I tried to teach them a little machining trick, or teach them how to do things faster, and they actually paid attention, they quickly became my new apprentice. I mentored 3 younger wannabe machinists into becoming leaders in the shops they are currently working at. I took all three of them from being simple debur guys to CNC programmers in less than a year.

You just gotta show the older folks you respect their knowledge and wisdom for them to take notice of you sometimes. But if you get that far, they will teach you things they had to learn the hard way. Just LISTEN, and be grateful. That's what mentor's want from the younger guys.

 

[fstnd]

I'm 15 and I hate when the older guys tell me how to do things differently when I didn't ask. Luckily it doesn't happen too much because most of the time I only go with my dad, my favorite camera man. I could tell him I have to air pump my RC foam tires and he'd just take it

 

[WickedFog]

I'm 15 and I hate when the older guys tell me how to do things differently when I didn't ask. Luckily it doesn't happen too much because most of the time I only go with my dad, my favorite camera man. I could tell him I have to air pump my RC foam tires and he'd just take it

That is someone who is wanting to pass on knowledge, whether good or bad. Don't hate on them for it. Just listen and thank them and carry on. That will make their day

 

[jojobeans]

You just gotta show the older folks you respect their knowledge and wisdom for them to take notice of you sometimes. But if you get that far, they will teach you things they had to learn the hard way. Just LISTEN, and be grateful. That's what mentor's want from the younger guys.

Shutting my mouth and listening to the older guys is exactly how I wandered into the job I’m at now with zero experience and was running the board for an entire plant within 7 months. Them older guys know a thing or two… it’s almost like there’s a reason they still have a job after 20 years. Only if teenage me didn’t know everything, I could’ve been here sooner.

Biggest regret growing up was not listening to what my dad had to say. To this day, I find myself learning lessons he already tried to teach me.

 

[CertifiedMike]

I'm 15 and I hate when the older guys tell me how to do things differently when I didn't ask. Luckily it doesn't happen too much because most of the time I only go with my dad, my favorite camera man. I could tell him I have to air pump my RC foam tires and he'd just take it

I learned more from my grandparents, parents... and I learned quite a lot, when I was young, when I was young...

You kids...

Ppl who care to explain things to you are def taking their time, they feel its important, right?
Sometimes better learn than to speak.