Editor Puts His Job on Remote-Control : Publications: Dick Kidd propels his hobby into a successful, technical magazine that takes toys to a higher level.
Dick Kidd got a preview of his professional future when he assembled his first 25-cent, rubber-propelled toy aircraft 58 years ago.
These days, his infatuation with toy planes is anything but kid stuff.
Kidd, 65, is technical editor of what is said to be the world’s largest publication catering to fanciers of remote-controlled toy vehicles, the RC Modeler, based in Sierra Madre.
Don’t flip through its glossy pages expecting paper airplanes.
This is a magazine for serious hobbyists.
Consider a few offerings from the July issue:
A cover story on Tom Polapink’s model of a World War I Albatros airplane; a column by Shawn MacDonald titled “More Woes from the R/C Wife,” and a “product review” of a Nissan model race car.
Advertisements include a full-page spread on a remote-controlled “MonsterTruck,” a color picture of a $109 model Searider race boat, and even a notice from the Teleflite Corp.: “Build Your Own Rocket Motors! We’ll show you how! Up to 80 pounds of thrust, for less than $1.00 each!”
“The magazine is for people of all ages interested in radio-controlled crafts,” Kidd said. He said the publication covers models in all three areas of the sport: aircraft, cars and boats. “But aircraft are the largest sector for the magazine.”
Kidd worked part time as an illustrator for the magazine when it was established almost 27 years ago. He has been technical editor for 17 years and is in charge of choosing what goes in each issue.
Single issues of the monthly magazine, owned by RC Modeler Corp., cost $2.95, and yearly subscriptions are $24. According to the 1990 Standard Directory of Periodicals, the magazine reported a circulation of 110,000 last year.
RC Modeler is the leading publication that covers the entire sport rather than focusing on a segment, said Myrtle B. Coad, executive secretary of Western Associated Modelers, an international organization based in Northern California that insures hobbyists for competitions.
Don Donikowski of Huntington Beach, a faithful reader of the magazine for about eight years, said: “It is the most complete magazine around. I have friends who advertise in it.”
He has raced model boats for almost 10 years and often orders equipment through RC Modeler, he said.
Manufacturers send their new products to the magazine’s headquarters for evaluation and review. Kidd usually puts together the airplane models but sends other model craft to free-lance reviewers, who assemble the models, test them and write their impressions.
In his second-floor office in Sierra Madre, the silver-haired, bespectacled Kidd proudly displays several of the model planes he has assembled over the years. Perched in one corner is a yellow, electric-powered American Eagle, with a wingspan of 62 inches. From another corner, Kidd retrieves an orange-colored Curtiss Robin aircraft with a 53-inch wingspan. Kidd keeps his most prized toy, the Ace 4-120, a blue, 12-pound biplane, on a table near a window facing the mountains.
Remote-control models may look like toys, but some of the devices weigh about 30 pounds and zip along at up to 70 m.p.h. To operate them, owners have to go to designated areas. Whittier Narrows Recreation Area in South El Monte has a lake for boat races, and Mile Square Regional Park in Fountain Valley has areas for car and plane races.
Although the magazine targets hobbyists of all ages, Kidd said a survey by the magazine four years ago revealed that the average age of readers is 40. Children apparently are priced out of many of the more elaborate devices.
“With some of the aircraft models, you can spend up to $3,000 or more,” Kidd said. “A good four-channel radio” to operate the models “will cost about $150, and a computer radio costs about $800. The average cost for the car models will range from $25 up to $150.”
However, some people say that model prices are decreasing.
Matt Robinson, co-owner of Your Model and Craft Shop in Pasadena, said “five to 10 years ago” the hobby “was not affordable. Now you can start off with a basic car and plane kit for under $200. Radios used to cost about $400. Now you can get one for a base price as low as $58.”
“It’s easily a multibillion-dollar business,” Coad said. “There’s an increase in radio-controlled cars because you can race them almost anywhere,” but she said airplanes “have decreased because it’s hard to find a place to fly them.” Boat sales, however, “have remained stable because lakes are so polluted, it’s hard to find a place to race them.”
Kidd, meanwhile, said occupational exposure to model airplanes has not diminished his fascination with the toys.
“I have run out of room to store them,” he said. “I’ve given some to friends, and I have more that need to be built.”
