I have enjoyed the current round of Group Builds, as I know have many others, and are looking forward to future ones. Only thing is that they seem to have been a 'hey let’s all build a … 'at the last moment.
Has anyone thought of setting out a Group Build Agenda for say the next 6 builds or more? This ‘early warning’ may give others more time to plan their purchases (like guys whose average weekly income is less than the cost of a recent issue Tamiya offering) and give those with limited access to kits and accessories time to actually obtain what they need (so often you see guys complaining in the build threads, that they ordered this or that and it hasn’t come in in time for the build). What do you guys and gals think?
I think the next round where a specific vehicle type (M1 Abrams) and a fairly open category (any towed artillery) is a good mix. Even the sherman build was more of an open Sherman based build to allow creativity and diversity. If future builds were to be limited to one specific vehicle type and one open category at the same time, builders would have a good choice of options to encourage participation in either or both.
So what do you want to see as a group build theme in future? Tiger, Sherman, Panther, M1 Abrams and towed artillery have been done. For me then,
Battle themes:
Battle of the Bulge/Ardennes
Battle for Berlin 1946 (what if scenario)
Desert War WW2
Italian Campaign WW2
Gulf war 1 & 2
General Vehicle themes
Self propelled Artillery (maybe split into 2 builds -ww2 and other)
Armoured car/recon vehicle
Amphibious vehicle (any size from GPA and Schwimmwagon up to AAVP) (Sherman DD Robert?)[:p]
Post WW2 Modern British Army
Vehicle Specific:
M3/M5 Stuart
Panzer IV
Panzer IV variants only (ie mobelwagon, stug, hummel, nashorn, etc)
Those are some pretty good ones, that you listed. Nice to see at least one of all us forum goers is thinking! Sorry, but the newest does fit with the “Hey, lets all” catagorey-the small AFV build…anyways, I posted times-anywhere between April 1st-to the 5th for starters-those who have gotten kits at that point, and you just have to say that you want in before May 20th(I think that’s what I said in the thread), and you are good to go. There is no difinete ending-except for when everyone has finished.
Peter, your on the right track. There’s so many builds going on, I don’t know if I’ll be able to keep up. I like the motivator aspect. You touched on some good ideas. In no particular order I have a few ideas:
Russian armor build
Halftrack build
Pacific theatre build
SPG build
There are so many and I’m open to any ideas, but it would be kind of nice if maybe we could plan ahead a bit. I like the Desert theme and Italian Campaign.
Kind of touched on bits and pieces of this topic in a recent post. But it seemed to die on the vine. The one thing that seemed to be the most important feature was that there be a definite time that the thread would remain a sticky post. After the completion period of the build, then a grace period of say 2 weeks and then it is released to live or die by the members posting to it.
Let’s look at the existing threads.
Not picking on it, but the 1/35 Tiger build has only had a handful of posts in the last month.
Of the original 4 members in the 1/16 Tiger build, there is only one left, should it remian sticky forever ???
The Panther build had a completion date of what … January.
And the Sherman Build, it’s date of completion was the 15th. Now using the grace period of 2 weeks, I will request that admin release it from sticky status at months end.
The Towed Gun Build and Abrams Build are both new so I won’t even mention them.
We really need to clear some of the deadwood here before the entire 1st page is filled with stickies of group builds.
Shermanfreak, you have hit the match with the axe and now both halves are on fire-just a small adage i just made up but, I wholeheartedly agree with you. and at the least Tiger I should be packing her bags and going to non-sticky status, only to be retained by a few with a bookmark on the post so that people can call it back up incase they want info. Gotta make some room for the newbie builds!
Personally, I kind of like the thought of last minute ideas for group builds. The reasoning goes something like this: If I plan on building a model, I would like to see if anyone else out there would like to join me. Group builds are good way to get ideas and compare thoughts. However, I never think two months ahead when it concerns the kits I will build. And usually, when I do plan two months ahead and the date rolls around to start, I have found something more interesting, or just gotten board with the topic. I finish a kit and then decide on whatever seems interesting at the time.
I was in the 1/35th Tiger build and it was the best group build that I have been involved with. Unfortunately I don’t see much of what I liked about the Tiger build being repeated. I really liked that there were not many of us. I didn’t have to read through 10 pages if I was away from the PC for a couple of days and it was a great way to get to know a few of the people on the forum really well. There was also the fact that the 1/35th Tiger build was limited to a specific kit! This meant that we all ran into the same problems that we could discuss. One of the best parts of that build was to see how different people completed the same kit. Oh yah, I also felt that I HAD to work on my tiger because everyone else was counting on me to get my kit done. With the big crowds we have in our groups now, I find it very easy to “hide”.
Ideally, I would like to see a forum where we can be comfortable building in groups of 3 or more. I don’t discourage big groups; I just don’t think that we have to have every group be planned 3 months ahead with 15 or more people involved.
One last thing… I think we either need to get rid of the sticky group builds all together and let the active posts stay at the top, or get some sort of group build forum, whether it be for all the group builds, or individual topics (AC, Armor, Figure, Sci Fi, ect…).
Yah, I know, I have been thinking too much again, but there is my $0.02
This topic has been covered before, as Sherm has mentioned, and I think it may be time for the admin to address it seriously.
edog, you have some serious points there, and I think that my next build I want to participate in should be a particular kit. But there is a good thing for these larger general ones, the kits that people might have, but not build because of their relatively un-glamorous description can be displayed in them. We should get one of the editors to have a request forum or something like that, that is regularly monitored(is there one?)
But both types of groupbuilds should have a place in forums-specific, and generalized
I just asked David, if he can remove some of the old sticky posts. Also, since I may have gotten some names wrong, I asked him to post on this forum, to ask which should be removed.
I understand where you are going with this, and it sounds reasonable, but how about the FSM boys keep a Group Build Schedule. They can pick a new build/genre every 3 months, and have an extremely large group of modelers modeling a lot of different genres that perhaps many wouldn’t otherwise do. Heck, maybe they can put the results in the mag…there are endless possabilities!!! I would totally be game for something like that!!!
I was thinking that before anymore group builds start, the rest or a portion of them should finish first. There are so many going on, if someone does come up with an idea for a group build most people are already involved in a number of projects, and thus not many people will want to add more to the “to do list”. Just my two cents that dont mean much since im a beginner and havent participated in any broup builds.
I can see the point of planning out the builds ahead of time. It’s not always possible for me to get out the hills right away to find a particular kit and accesories. I enjoyed the Panther build and learned alot of new stuff from it and would kie to participate in another but I usually buy my kits in bunches when they are on sale and such so a heads up in advance would get me looking for a particular kit. A seperate forum for the builds would be nice to, keep them all together and in the future would be easy for someone to find if they were going to be building a similar subject. Ok, I think I have spent my 2 cents worth.
I’m not too keen on having such a schedule, imposed or not by FSM. I think a bit of ‘spontaneity’ is good for the Forum and it also allows for newer member to make a proposal that will be as valued as one from an old dog like me. I’m definitely going along with Robert in the fact that some GB should be de-stickied (like the one in the ship forum, which has been dead for ages).
I’d like to see GB in other ‘categories’ too (in effect the Natural metal’ one could/should be in the techniques forum): dioramas, dealing with a particular aspect or techniques applied to dioramas (water, mud, ruins, blown-up, action,…)… to painting (alclad, SNJ, inks, oils,…).
Another thing that would interest me a lot would be a GB on a very particular subject that several members would tackle and see ‘come together’ during the BIG MEET (if it ever happens!) - things like a 1/72 8th Air Force, 1/32 MiG story, 1/35 Anzio landing, 1/72 Barbarossa, 1/48 Century series, 1/700 Kriegsmarine,…
I am yet to actually participate in a group build, but have put myself down for three, and am really looking forward to it. Because of this, I am not really sure how they work or what is best, so I won’t put my two cents in, but the points you have all raised are very interesting, and I hope a more workable and user friendly (builder friendly?) solution comes out of it.