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Perhaps very foolishly I have openly shared my knowledge with you, my fellow modelers. I have written several dozen how-to articles, conducted insightful clinics, answered all sorts of technical questions openly, and now even provide this information on-line. Much of this knowledge took years to develop the old fashioned way of trial and error. Yet I blab away. On more than one occasion my competitors have told me that I inspired them to become structure kit manufacturers! So, is that a big hole in my foot? Or have I helped the hobby? Well, financially I may not be wealthy but I keep telling myself it's okay, money is not everything- (none of the women I know, or have known, seem to agree). However, I am rich, very rich, in knowing that people are enjoying my models and technical help. Or at least I hope they are. Occasionally, I especially like this on a bad day, I'll go to the mail box and pull out an envelope where someone has take the time to write me a note, just a simple one, telling me how much they enjoyed one of my kits or made us of my castings in building a special model. It's a great feeling. It makes it that much easier to cast the next set or work on some new pattern work. Unfortunately, the hobby is graying fast. Go to any hobby shop, model railroading event or swap meet and just look around. There are not many kids entering the hobby. They are back at home in front of their computer screens, playing video games, surfing the net viewing God knows what (certainly not this site!). They wouldn't know the first thing about building a model. Would they? We no longer even teach them the basics in high school wood shop or drafting. And we old guys wouldn't know the first thing about what they are doing. I wish I was wrong and the kids today were excited about this great hobby. There are a few out there but certainly not as many who are able to tackle the many wonderful craftsman projects of my youth. Compare a typical issue of Model Railroader today with one 30-40 years ago! It's a very different hobby. All this looks bleak for our hobby. Even bleaker for someone like me who is attempting to make a living at it, at least in the traditional sense of craftsman structure kits. I've got a few years head start on anyone considering entering the market today. Perhaps this is counter productive to my earlier statement regarding my desire to help the hobby. If you can contribute, sure, why not climb on board. But understand that you probably are not going to make much money at it.