TOPIC: Group Builds

Well like all websites that feature modelling we would like to start a group build, but we would like your input as to how to make ours different and all the more appealing that others.
What would you like to see here? We are also thinking of offering real prizes but need to gauge the interest first.
So lets see your views and ideas.
Gary

I went for the site title thingy as it takes the fun out of the build when you're actually competing. It stops those like me with fewer skills bothering against the top modellers.

Nothing stopping us doing both mate, we can have two sides, the fun side and Pro side, to be honest I'd compete in both.

Bugger, just had a huge post not work. Try again.

For group builds ( if in the manner of Campaigns on Armorama ) then I'm in favour of a ribbon or title for those who successfully participated.

For competitions I think you need to be able to cover armour, aircraft, marine, other, and in novice, OOB, advanced, small scale, large scale, diorama etc. I don't think our membership is anywhere near large enough to support that at the moment. Give it time though.

I am in favour of some community type competition and have poached an idea used on another site my wife participated in years ago. Each Friday night ( or whatever night ) at a set time, one person sets out 20 questions on general knowlege on the topic ( in our case modelling ). One hour later all participants have to submit their answers ( works best if the posts with the answers needs to be approved so none are visible till all are received ). Prior to publication off the questions a set of the answer is provided to a non-participating mod who then decides the winner ( person with the most correct or closest to correct answers ). Winner gets a prize ( value $10-$20 ) and then must host the next weeks quiz and provide a prze to the next winner ( or pass on the prize to a substitute host ).

So it's not so much about winning as the winner gets something but the following week has to pass something on ( could be the same thing if it was unwanted ). It's more just having fun as a group.

It's all ideas at the moment, I don't think we'll get anything off the ground this side of Feb to be honest. As you say we need more members to make this work in any fashion. So go tell all your friends we are back up and open for business again.
I can make topics/forums require approval so that's an idea.
Lets have more ideas thrown in to the pot then people.

Site Title would be good,
Maybe in the form of a killmark or missoin mark like the had on fighter /bomber aircraft

Or and Iron Cross

No Competing,No Prizes
unless all you want to do is attract the Pros and their little army of supporters who come in grab off the goodies and never be seen again.

Been there,done that as they say with both modeling and sim racing. You'll lose people,not gain any.

I want to be friends with the community and not a competitor.
Tony Lee:)

In my opinion just some sort killmark or medal would suffice as tony lee has said if we started to offer anything substantial we may run into problems

In hindsight I totally agree with Tony about attracting Pros, sheesh I'd hate to pitch anything against Ian aka Iron Eagle.
We could do something for us Kiwi's though, we could say only members with verified Trademe accounts can enter a competition with a prize (sorry for you Foreign types I'm a kiwi now!!).

Tony Lee wrote: No Competing,No Prizes
unless all you want to do is attract the Pros and their little army of supporters who come in grab off the goodies and never be seen again.

Been there,done that as they say with both modeling and sim racing. You'll lose people,not gain any.

I want to be friends with the community and not a competitor.
Tony Lee:)

Yeah seen that on Armorama with the Dragon MoM, the winners always seem to be some obscure Eastern European who never appears on the boards.

I don't mind prizes so long as there is fun involved and it's about the fun, not about getting something. At the same time I'm all for IRL competitions like annual IPMS type ones, but only if they allow for everyone to get involved and it would need to be a club event, not a forum event.

I am all for group builds... from my experience running a few on ARC, and one of them happened to be the most successful and biggest one run to date I believe (over 170 entries and over 60-70% of them were completed within 6 months)

I agree also, if you can add a ribbon or a medal for completion of the build in your profile that would be great and gives someone something at the end even if there are no prizes. I am fan of the award/ribbon setup on Kitmaker network... I think its great.

As for prizes.. I think it should keep small eg.. lets say Sprue Brothers sponsored the build, 1st gets $50, 2nd $30 and 3rd $20 vouchers, and let him choose the winners and it only costs them $100, plus he could offer a discount on all purchases for the GB, away they can make there money back from sales. And/or have a donation prize raffle... if you completed your build within the time frame you name goes into the draw for the raffle.

And as for themes its going to be hard to keep everyone happy... So it may pay to have a couple running at one time to keep all the subjects covered.

An idea for the First GB... I think it should themed New Zealand.... and that would cover everything... There are tons of Armour and Aircraft subject to chose from... Cars could be a rally of NZ scheme or something from McLaren... Sci-fi well anything goes I guess!

It could be obvious that people would simply join to win a prize, and surely they could be noted easily? It's a difficult one as a prize is always a good thing to give, but then again I can see the problems it would cause.

If we have prizes, then I could no doubt donate something from my ex-review pile.

Jim

The trouble with a Kiwi build is all you Kiwi's (I only call myself a Kiwi when it suits me, like if England wins the World Cup I'm English and if NZ wins (yeah right) I'll wave the flag with the 4 little stars on it ) is that's all you build is Kiwi stuff, if you want to sell something on Trademe you add as used by the NZ Airforce or Army (which rules out anything modern or with guns on )
It's actually quite a good idea, specific but still with a wide enough option to keep most happy and being a Kiwi orientated site it's a good idea for a first GB.
Gary

Gary wrote: The trouble with a Kiwi build is all you Kiwi's (I only call myself a Kiwi when it suits me, like if England wins the World Cup I'm English and if NZ wins (yeah right) I'll wave the flag with the 4 little stars on it ) is that's all you build is Kiwi stuff, if you want to sell something on Trademe you add as used by the NZ Airforce or Army (which rules out anything modern or with guns on )
It's actually quite a good idea, specific but still with a wide enough option to keep most happy and being a Kiwi orientated site it's a good idea for a first GB.
Gary

Haha, I see a lot of those types of comments on TM auctions, and usually on versions we didn't actually use. I've actually come across very few modellers who just want to build Kiwi stuff ( and plenty who never have ). I keep saying I'm going to one day but never have yet.

I have a nice set of decals for a Mk X Spit with some Kiwi bloke as the pilot apparently he's famous (world famous in New Zealand is the saying as I believe).
I know I rib you guys but it's one of the reasons I moved here, I feel that England has lost her pride but NZ has bucket loads to go round

Gary wrote: I have a nice set of decals for a Mk X Spit with some Kiwi bloke as the pilot apparently he's famous (world famous in New Zealand is the saying as I believe).
I know I rib you guys but it's one of the reasons I moved here, I feel that England has lost her pride but NZ has bucket loads to go round

I dunno, I went into Morrinsville the other day and the Police Station has a flagpole but no flag. I'm sure that's illegal. If not it should be. I still remember raising the flag at assembly every morning at school.

The great thing about a Kiwi build is that it can also be an ANZAC build. Did the Kiwis use German tanks?

How does Kiwi build make it an ANZAC build? bugger off Aussie and get you're own horse, pop group, sweet desert etc

Bishop wrote: The great thing about a Kiwi build is that it can also be an ANZAC build. Did the Kiwis use German tanks?

Does this count ?

http://militarymodels.co.nz/2010/07/02/an-interesting-kiwi-tank/

A kiwi tank that became a german tank that became a kiwi tank.

Hi friends; so far I'm not against the idea of a GB if we're not separated in several categories; to make something that wouldn't be just "one more GB" I was wondering we could maybe compete within teams rather than individually but I don't see for now how it could be organized.

e-junkie wrote: Hi friends; so far I'm not against the idea of a GB if we're not separated in several categories; to make something that wouldn't be just "one more GB" I was wondering we could maybe compete within teams rather than individually but I don't see for now how it could be organized.

Perhaps a Group Build with a theme like 'Dogfight Doubles' could allow scope for collaboration between modellers (somebody builds an aircraft that served in air to air combat, somebody else builds an opponent of said aircraft). Is that similar to what you were thinking?

I'd be up for a NZ Group Build as it is appropriate for a NZ oriented modelling forum, not sure what I could do (I've already built a Skyhawk!)

I like the idea, I could build my spitfire or buy a Scorpian off Ewan. Or I could make a diorama with the whole NZ navy done in 1/72 scale I should have it done by the weekend and it wouldn't take up much space.
But seriously the more I think about it the more I like the idea of a GB theme of NZ armed forces past and present.

Gary wrote: I like the idea, I could build my spitfire or buy a Scorpian off Ewan. Or I could make a diorama with the whole NZ navy done in 1/72 scale I should have it done by the weekend and it wouldn't take up much space.
But seriously the more I think about it the more I like the idea of a GB theme of NZ armed forces past and present.

What about a 1/24 diorama of the RNZAF Tactical Strike Wing ? All you'd need is some tarmac.

Perhaps a Group Build with a theme like 'Dogfight Doubles' could allow scope for collaboration between modellers (somebody builds an aircraft that served in air to air combat, somebody else builds an opponent of said aircraft). Is that similar to what you were thinking?

I'd be up for a NZ Group Build as it is appropriate for a NZ oriented modelling forum, not sure what I could do (I've already built a Skyhawk!)[/quote]

Not exactly; I was rather thinking of a collaboration between several modlers like for example one who does the aircraft, anotherone the tarmac vignette and maybe a third wo does the ground personal. That would certainly be fun but what I don't clearly see for now is how to assemble the whole stuff at the end of the day, thought that we're all separated by thouthends of miles. Thus good idea but quite difficult to organize.

what about a teleport machine?

e-junkie wrote: Perhaps a Group Build with a theme like 'Dogfight Doubles' could allow scope for collaboration between modellers (somebody builds an aircraft that served in air to air combat, somebody else builds an opponent of said aircraft). Is that similar to what you were thinking?

I'd be up for a NZ Group Build as it is appropriate for a NZ oriented modelling forum, not sure what I could do (I've already built a Skyhawk!)

Not exactly; I was rather thinking of a collaboration between several modlers like for example one who does the aircraft, anotherone the tarmac vignette and maybe a third wo does the ground personal. That would certainly be fun but what I don't clearly see for now is how to assemble the whole stuff at the end of the day, thought that we're all separated by thouthends of miles. Thus good idea but quite difficult to organize.[/quote]

Maarten wrote: what about a teleport machine?

yeap, why not?

BTW I've just checked out your marines Hornet heads on the Zone; you're a lucky guy, that's top class material. Must be a delight to paint on these

Not exactly; I was rather thinking of a collaboration between several modlers like for example one who does the aircraft, anotherone the tarmac vignette and maybe a third wo does the ground personal. That would certainly be fun but what I don't clearly see for now is how to assemble the whole stuff at the end of the day, thought that we're all separated by thouthends of miles. Thus good idea but quite difficult to organize.

Taking the idea a step too far: perhaps one builds the cockpit/interior, one builds the fuselage/hull, one does the wings/turret and the model doesn't get finished!

I like the whole idea of teams but as you say, it would be hard to arrange. Possibly all the elements of a diorama/vignette could be photoshopped together to show the finished collaboration as it would be intended?

Why have it as a competition? How about one person does step one and then sends it on to person two who does step 2 etc etc. It's literally a group build, none of the steps should take too long and when it's all finished I'll take some photos and then put it in my cabinet

Gary wrote: Why have it as a competition? How about one person does step one and then sends it on to person two who does step 2 etc etc. It's literally a group build, none of the steps should take too long and when it's all finished I'll take some photos and then put it in my cabinet

MiG Mongoose wrote: Possibly all the elements of a diorama/vignette could be photoshopped together to show the finished collaboration as it would be intended?

I've wondered about both possibilities in fact; either sending the separated parts by postal service or working with photoshop to put the whole thing on a single pic (I've seen already seen this on several box-arts). Both have their pros and cons; sending the separated parts for a real assembly allows the best result but the risk is very high to wreck something during the fret. Setting up an artificial pic is... artificial, but there's no risk for our precious models. So far I'd like to explore the possibilities of the photoshop solution.