AutoModeler Group Build Discussion Thread

Jim,
Not sure if the badges can be changed for each build, or just one badge and change the number of GBs as needed. I’d settle for that.

If our small group members seem to have the same few issues, then the larger forums have the same issues but the numbers wouldn’t be as pronounced as they are here.

Personally, if we can’t get even a dozen members signed up and a min of half of them actually building, I honestly think that maybe we should skip one cycle and see what happens.

joel

I have to agree about the separate area for GBs. I lost all track of both Heart and Commercial and had to go looking for them to even see what others were doing. I’ve been busy with both travel and the knife hobby lately, but will be back to building soon (around the end of June/early July).

I visit every day, but haven’t really had time to post.

David,
Glad to see that you’re still with us and will be building/posting soon.

joel

Well team we have just passed the 3 month half-way point for the HOTB Group Build, and I must say it’s a bit disappointing to see how quiet it is in here! We have 2 completed builds, 2 in-progress builds, and 5 interested parties yet to start, I know the move to the new site has thrown a few people off, and then separating the Group Builds from the parent forum has made it a bit harder to navigate, but we have seriously dropped away from the number we were seeing over the last couple of years on the old forums.

We are open to suggestions, what can we do to ramp up the participation again? I don’t want to pull the pin on the Group Build program, I intend to push through and keep it rolling, and maybe post more frequent updates back here in the main AutoModeler forum.

Anyway, Roll Call and Running Build Updates below:
AussieReg (Damian) - Ferrari 250 GT California - Revell kit in 1/24 - COMPLETED
Joel_W (Joel) - 2020 Ford Mustang GT4 - Tamiya kit in 1/24 with IndyCal decals - COMPLETED

Cosimodo (Michael) - Ferrari F1 (Monza 1967 Chris Amon) - MFH kit in 1/12 - Engine painted, assembled and detailed. Basic chassis (cockpit engine and exhausts) assembled. Body primed and painted
Rick1956 (Rick) - Porsche 904 - Monogram kit in 1/25 - Engine modifications, assembly started

Tinbanger (Richard) - Jaguar E-Type - Airfix kit in 1/32
Betheyn (Andy) - Porsche 917K - Fujimi kit in 1/24
Littorio (Luciano) - Alfa Romeo Giulietta Spider 1300 - Italeri kit in 1/24
Forest1000 (David) - Porsche 911 GT3 - Tamiya kit in 1/24
md72 (Mark) - Dodge Challenger (2009) - Revell kit in 1/25

Get on over and check it out, support the builds or get your own build moving! Here’s a link, no more excuses!
Heart of the Beast AutoModeler Group Build - Campaigns / Group Builds / Heart of the Beast - KitMaker Network

Cheers, D

Likewise, believe it or not, we have hit the 6 month half-way point of our inaugural Commercial Trucking Group Build! Where has the time gone?

COMPLETED BUILDS
betheyn (Andy) - German Traffic Tractor D8532 - MiniArt 1/35 kit

BUILDS IN PROGRESS
AussieReg (Damian) - Australian Western Star - Italeri 1/24 kit - Rolling chassis assembled ready for weathering, cabin components in primer
AussieReg (Damian) - 48’ Reefer Trailer - Italeri 1/24 kit - Painted and glossed, ready for decals and weathering then final details
jimb (Jim) - Chevy Bison (Rigid Stakebed Conversion) - AMT 1/25 kit - Chassis, engine and cab assembled, tray body in progress
tinbanger (Richard) - Construction Bulldozer Caterpillar D8H - AMT 1/25 kit (Side Loader Pipe Boom conversion) - Sub assemblies under way, chrome stripped, AM goodies added to the bench
cosimodo (Michael) - Bedford Mk4 - Resin/White Metal/PE kit - Sub assemblies started, primer and paint
Dixon66 (David) - Ford F-350 (Dually conversion) - Meng kit in 1/24 - Sub assemblies under way, body in primer
accessdenied (Roger) - 1923 Soviet Tractor - scratchbuild 1/24 scale - construction of sub assemblies under way

PROPOSED BUILDS AND PERSONS OF INTEREST
Stickframe (Nick) - Peterbilt 378 (6x6 conversion)
ahandykindaguy (Dave)
165thspc (Michael)
Tank_1812 (Ryan) - Volvo VN 780
rv1963 (Robert)
GaryKato (Gary)
harv (Randy) - 1926 Mack Bulldog Tank Truck
The_Snowman (Gavin)
noddy927 (Peter)
Szmann (Gabriel)
GrubbyFingers (Graeme) - Volvo F12
2CAVTrooper (Jeff) - Peterbilt (day cab conversion)
kosprueone - (KSO) - Peterbilt (day cab conversion) with auto transporter - Revell kits in 1/25 plus AM wheel sets
Littorio (Luciano) - IVECO Hi-Way E5 Arbath) - Italeri kit in 1/24 scale

I hope everybody will jump across and check out the work going on.
Commercial Trucking 2021 (Jan-Dec) - Campaigns / Group Builds / Commercial Trucking 2021 - KitMaker Network

Cheers, D

And while I’m at it, don’t forget that the next Group Build lined up starts on October 1. That’s only 3 months away!

Wheels of the Union Jack and Tricolore - Oct '21 to March '22 - Campaigns / Group Builds / Staging Area - KitMaker Network

Cheers, D

D,
I to have been very disappointed in the lack of participation in the last few GBs, as well as the overall lack of activity in the various AutoModeler forums since the move to the new site.

Honestly, the new site is just way to complicated and departmentalized for what a modeling site should be. Like many others here, I’m active on a few other modeling sites, and none are anything like what we now have here.

As you said, just the fact that the GBs are now located not in the AutoModeler site, but lumped together with every other Campaign and GB some place else on the site just makes it all that harder for members not in the GB to check it out periodically, most seem to have not bothered. I’ve even cross posted by GB builds to the Car forum to share my work with others who are interested in seeing our builds.

We put in a lot of effort to build up the AutoModeler forum before the move, now a year later, it has once again become what it once was.

Several members that I’m friends with checked out the new site, didn’t much care for what they saw and the effort needed to learn how to navigate the full site. Some just left, others rarely visit, and those that do, few post their work here as they once did.

What’s really needed is the exact opposite of what we now have here: several slow sites. What we should have is just one Auto/bike/truck forum so that everyone who does post or visit, has the opportunity to easily checkout other builds and posts, rather then what we now have to go through to visit from cars to trucks, to bikes, etc. Many including myself hardly visit all of them on a regular basis.

And as I said, we need to have the GM site moved back to AutoModeler.

The time to divide by build type is when it’s to busy to navigate efficiently, not when it’s so slow it hardly pays to check out the site more then once or twice per week.

joel

2 Likes

Is there any reason why a group build has to be hosted on the Campaigns/Group builds site? It seems to me that this is the biggest contributor to lack of both participation and comment on the two current campaigns. Unlike Joel, I am somewhat lazy about having to post twice - once on AutoModeler and then on Campaigns so I have just updated the group build for my current build. I had planned anyway for the next group build (Union Jack etc) that I would not bother with it and just post the build for it here.

cheers
Michael

1 Like

Michael,
Actually, there isn’t. The thread just has to be set up like this discussion thread.

joel

The Campaign/Group Build Forum was set up separately to the main Forums so that each Campaign or Group Build could be a sub-forum in itself. This allows participants to create their own dedicated build log thread within the relevant Group Build sub forum. It was also to pull all of the Group Builds into one place so that if somebody was interested in joining or proposing a Group Build, they could quickly scan the list to see what was already in motion.
The screenshots below show that the take-up of the “individual build log thread” idea hasn’t been high, with only two that I can identify.


I might raise the idea with Jim that we move the Automodeler Group Builds back to this main forum, they are simply not working as it stands now.

Cheers, D

I probably should not comment as I have never done a build blog; with the few campaigns in which I have participated (here and elsewhere) I have inevitable produced an inferior item at the last moment and reported it in a single post on the parent thread. This is the result of a psychological malaise and is unlikely change. I do however feel that intermittent posting of progress on the parent thread, or the setting up of a build blog alongside the parent thread on the home board if the modeller prefers should be a permissible option without a forced thread relocation.
The Campaign/Group Build area might best be retained for a dedicated gallery which could be initiated when the campaign/build goes live and will still serve to notify passers-by of whats happening. There is also the possibility after the campaign/build is complete the primary gallery be locked and prior or subsequent builds which matched the parameters but were ineligible because of being outside the time frame or because built as a submission to another campaign could be added in an appendix with builds already in another gallery being linked from a single image.
It would also be a good place to host “Theme” builds, essentially open-ended campaigns to which members could contribute if and when they produced something appropriate, again with a single linking image if the thread/gallery is available elsewhere.

Regards,

M

D,
One of the main issues is that a good percentage of members have no idea of how to find the Campaign section. As I keep on saying, this site is just way to complicated for many of the older modeler members compared to any other site or sites they may be a member of.

I was one of the few members that started a separate build blog for the GB as a test, and other then you, one other person visited it, so I started to post in the regular GB and a cross post in the Car section.

Just out of curiosity, I’m interested in knowing how many of you are planning on entering the next GB and actually working on your build, not just signing up for the sake of signing up and never even start. Right now the GB is into month 4, and the majority of signees haven’t started or haven’t posted their progress to date.

joel

Tom,
One should never feel that their work isn’t up to standards, as the only standards that counts are the builders. No one here should or will ever judge your work in a negative way, but offer suggestions and ideas that might be of help. If you’re saying that you usually wait until the last moment to build your entry, and therefore rush it taking all sorts of short cuts, That’s a problem that you need to address. 6 months is long enough for anyone to build a rock solid OOB model up to their best standards.

The original site did indeed have a Gallery and each of us could post our work there in our own little Gallery of sorts. Each GB/Campaign also had a gallery and you were required to post two pictures of your finished build to complete the requirements for your ribbon. We stopped that as most members didn’t post those pictures with one of the reasons being that they couldn’t find the galleries. So with the new site, Jim has dropped the concept of a site Gallery.

Posting your finished build within the GB as your last update is what we all do.

The whole idea of a GB is to get a group of us together and build a car subject that is relevant to the theme of the GB. Not posting throughout the entire GB makes little to no sense, and defeats the entire purpose of hosting GB/Campaigns.

joel

1 Like

I refer you to the second sentence of my previous post, that’s actually the optimistic version - I’ve been on a downhill spiral for a long time now and have yet to find an effective therapy. I hoped re-activating a hobby which once gave me so much pleasure might be that therapy but it has not, somewhat the reverse in fact.
The standards to which I hold myself are those I previously achieved, not that these were particularly high: the few minor trophies I picked up in the early '90s were on occasions when the quality builds didn’t turn up.
Within arm’s reach of where I sit is a microwave meal tub containing the body of a 1:32nd scale kerbside '70 Mustang Mach 1 which I’m thinking of as a possible fall-back for the current HotB GB. It was stripped of it’s pre-printed decoration a couple of years ago and the body received its base coat of rattle can colour last summer. One quick effort could finish it off - one way or another. But at the top of the stash is AMT’s recently re-released '66 Buick Wildcat, that should be eligible. A simple OOB of a model of that age and lack of sophistication should be little more than a weekend build, even as a full-on custom with some cross-kitting from a bits box that goes back to the paleolithic. Yet it just sits there making obscene gestures at me and daring me to give it a go - and, so far, I haven’t been able to. And then there’s the Impalas…

Regards,

M

Tom,
Sorry if I misunderstood your earlier comment about waiting till the last moment… As I said, our goals is for all our members to enjoy their builds, and share them among the GB members. Just do the best you can to your own set of standards. There’s no winner nor losers in a GB, just completed builds.

Each car would work in the GB if you’d like to enter. Just post in the thread what your build will be.

joel

1 Like

Of course you should comment! The reasons why we DON"T do things are just as important and valid as the reasons why we DO, and every bit of feedback contributes to shaping the forums to make them better for everybody.
As Joel stated, the Group Builds here are not any sort of competition, they are a place for like-minded modelers to get together and build to a theme, to show their work and discuss the progress, successes and failures, hopefully improve or expand their skills a little with each build, but above all to enjoy the hobby.
The only real pressure to finish is self-imposed. I failed to finish in more than half of the Campaigns and Group Builds that I joined on the old site, usually due to real-life complications and over committing myself, but the kits got finished eventually and I still enjoyed the progress and camaraderie during the time of the Group Build.
It would be great to see you pick up any of those kits you listed and make a little progress, and you will get no end of support and encouragement from the folks here.

Cheers, D

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Well said D

joel

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Thanks to everyone for the encouraging remarks. I would still like to advocate some form of cross-posting area which I believe would be beneficial to interactions between the specialist boards. For example I’ve had a quick scan through Automotive threads on the current incarnation of the forums and haven’t noticed much on 1:35th scale vehicles despite the increasing numbers available as non-military variants. Takom, Meng Model, DioPark and others have civilian vehicles in warpaint, while Bronco and ICM have dedicated civilian variants, as does MiniArt which also provides much support in the way of civilian figures and accessories for the '30s - 50s period. I believe this trend will continue, Roden has just joined the game by releasing a 1941 Packard Clipper albeit in staff car format.

Regards,

M

Tom,
I don’t follow your logic about cross posting Automodeler and Armorama. Each site is for a specific modeling interest. Armorama is for any form of military equipment motorized or not. Automodeler is for any type of vehicle powered or not. Neither site has any restrictions as to scale, era, or origin. Car guys like cars, and armor guys like armor.

With that being said on AutoModeler you can post, and or blog a build of civilian, military, or converted either way, in any scale. It just has to be vehicle. Charles did a fantastic Sc Fi version of Tamiya’s 1/24 scale Mercedes AMG GT3 car that just literally could and did blow your socks off.

Your point as being beneficial to interactions between various boards really makes little sense, as for the most part those interested in one discipline aren’t usually interested in the other. But we do get members from Armorama, & ships, building and posting cars/trucks/bikes every so often.

So feel free to post any type of car, truck, or bike build here on the AutoModeler board.

joel

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O.K., My Bad… I wasn’t being specific about Automodeller and Armorama, I was just thinking of a gallery space where after the completion of any GB/Campaign on any of the Groups its gallery would archived and which could then grow an appendix where related models not part of the GB/Campaign (e.g. ineligible because of the time frame - built before or after - or built for another GB/Campaign) could post a single image as a link to their gallery. Basically so someone can visually follow around an idea or theme which could belong to more than one-interest specific group.
I realise many modellers not only stick to their groups but have specific interests within them and don’t wish to stray, but there are also those who might be amused/surprised/intrigued by such a link and wish to follow it to the build log to learn more. The Sci-Fi Mercedes AMG GT3 (which I seem to recall but can’t seem to find now) could be one such.
I also erred in in thinking the Automodeller group hadn’t considered the potential of some non-military 1:35th scale kits; Cosimodo’s lovely Miniart 1914 London Omnibus proves me wrong. But if I may illustrate what I was trying to say, maybe this:
Imgur
or this:

combined with a couple of these fellows:

who were passing by in this:
https://www.kingkit.co.uk/uploads/shop/large/85064DSCF2376.JPG,
could be the basis for a “Lady motorist in distress” vignette (both vehicles have engine detail an the hoods and doors can be posed (fixed) open.

Similarly, this:
https://miniart-models.com/products/35569-cafe-furniture-crockery/
plus some of these:
https://miniart-models.com/products/38006/
and maybe some of these:
https://miniart-models.com/products/38037-french-civilians-30-40s-resin-heads/
would make a nice French Pavement Cafe backdrop to display one of these:

Regards.

M

;

1 Like