How to do an article (a primer for those who don't read the Article Requirements section)

So you want to do a build article. I welcome all inputs, regardless of the subject or the skills of the author/builder. We all want to know what you did to your kit and a build article is the way to do it.

You've read the ones here and you've also read those in the magazines. Well, take all you've read in those magazines and toss that out the window. With the electronic age, there is no need to do short articles with one photo. MM has a lot of room for your build article and we want to know ALL the details.

THE ARTICLE

Basically, you need to provide five main areas, that are what make an article worth reading

HISTORY/BACKGROUND - this can be a history of the type, the pilot of the plane you are modeling, the unit or why you wanted to do this particular model. Some go to great lengths to make this in-depth, others are more brief. A bogus entry is something along the line of 'every knows the history of this so why should I bother', or 'you can find all you want with a google'. These are the lazy way out. Don't do it. I'm sure you can find something interesting to put in this spot.

KIT - this is what you get when you open the box. Describe what you find. Are the parts well molded, did you find flaws, how are they packaged and so on.

CONSTRUCTION - This is the meat of the article in my opinion. This is why people read your article. They want to know how you built it. Again, you can be lazy and say 'It went together with no problems'.

 BORING!!!

 Probably the most difficult kit to describe is one that went together well. Tell us what colors you used on the interior. Did you detail it with additional stuff, and what set did you use? Any particularly cool engineering? Did you use filler and where? What was the sequence of construction? Did you deviate from the instructions? There is a lot you can put in there.

COLORS AND MARKINGS - This section describes the external finish. What colors did you use and how did you apply them? What decals were included? Did you weather it and how did you do it? Lots of stuff for this part

CONCLUSIONS - How did you like the build? Did it meet with your expectations or was it too easy/difficult? Would you build another and would you recommend it to friends. That sort of thing.

Now that you have the article done, spell check it and proof read it. Give it to a friend or family member to read. They will spot mistakes that you may have missed. I can't tell you how many people don't do this simple thing. Then I get something that looks like it was written by a retarded third grader instead of a 25-50 year old modeler. Don't leave out sections. You'd be surprised at the number of people who do just that. These are folks who you'd think would know better.

PHOTOS

This area is probably as important if not more so than the article itself. The web is a visual media and so it is paramount that your images are the best you can do. We are not all blessed with thousand dollar cameras, but most of us do have a digital of some sort and most of them can be used to take model photos.

There are several areas where one needs to take care.

FOCUS- If the images are not clear to you, they won't be clear to me so don't waste both of our time by sending in out of focus images. I CAN'T FIX THEM!! Why I get them is a real mystery as surely the photographer has looked at them prior to sending them in. The great thing about digital is if your image is out of focus, keep taking them until they are. Many cameras with fixed lenses have a minimum close focus of five or six FEET. Read your instruction manual and find out how close you can focus. Go from there.

SIZE - I like images about 700-900 pixels on the longest edge. If you have image software (and many cameras come with some), then resize the images. There are folks that send in images that are HUGE. I had one fellow send in two images that equaled over 20 Megabytes. The average image in MM is about 300K. I also cannot download anything over about 2 meg. I'm stuck with a dial-up and will never get high speed internet where I live. 

DEPTH OF FIELD - If you have an aperture priority camera, set it at the largest f/stop available. This is usually around f/8 or f/11. Use a tripod if needed as you need to have as much of the model in focus as you can. Stay away from getting really close and using wide angles as it just distorts the model and makes it look un-natural. I generally use a medium telephoto setting to prevent distortion.

ANGLE - to me, the most natural image of a model is that taken from what is ground level. Magazines use high angles on their models because they only get one shot per article and that angle shows the most. I try not to go above about 30 degrees from the horizontal as that just makes for an unnatural angle. I've taken literally tens of thousands of photos of real planes and rarely was I able to get 50 feet off the ground to get a picture.

In line with this, I always ask for overall images of the subject from different angles; front and rear; right and left. This adds interest. I've had people send in 12 images, all from the same side. It is like they didn't paint the other side or something. It is apparently quite common to have people fixate on one side as so many people do just that. As I alternate between left and right images as I go through the article, I have to ask for more pictures of the other side.

Straight on fore and aft are almost never used and I find them very uninteresting, so don't send those in. Instead, move about 15 to 20 degrees off the direct line and that makes for a much more interesting image.

NUMBER - The absolute minimum you should send in are 5 overall images, split between left and right side shots. If the article is rather long, send in more images. I've gotten 5 images for a four page article and 25 images for one that is a page long. The first needs to have more and the last was a major waste of download time as I did not use most shots. You also need to have each shot a bit different from the other. Having a front quarter overall and then just zooming for a close-up is basically giving me two of the same shot. For the close-up, move the model a bit or take it from a different angle. I think you get the idea.

Finally, send in the article separately from the images. Don't put in anything like tables, images, etc in with the article. Send it in raw. Reason is that Front Page (my .html editor) will not be able to read that stuff well and I'm not about to go through the .html and pick that stuff out. Save both yourself and me the aggravation and do the article with NO embellishments. I'll put in the images as I see best. It is what I do.

Sounds like a lot, but really, once you get one or two under your belt, the rest come easy. If you want examples, just look at my Friday articles and you'll see all this stuff in there. You can also e-mail me with a rough draft as I'm always glad to help out. Same with images. If you are having trouble, send one in, we'll have a look and go from there.

Modeling Madness exists for you and needs your input to keep things going. It is a win-win situation for us both. You share your work with tens of thousands of readers and I have the chance to see new models.

What could be better?

 'value for time spent'

When one looks at the definition of a hobby, it is " an activity or interest pursued for pleasure or relaxation and not as a main occupation "

Yet there are modelers who treat this hobby just like it is some sort of job or contract with a deadline.

There are really very few people who have decided to combine hobby and job (such as it is). That includes many aftermarket owners and those of us who do websites like Modeling Madness. We give ourselves a deadline for things, yet still have time to gain the pleasure or relaxation of the hobby aspect. At least, that's the way I do things.

Now I know this has been brought up before and there are different perceptions on how one should spend this particular time, but if one is in it just because they get pleasure from the tactility and skill involved in the process, then older kits will probably provide a higher value for time spent as one would spend considerable time for x amount of money.

If one just wants a finished product in the shortest amount of time, then one should perhaps reconsider the hobby of choice and gravitate towards die-cast.

As we all realize, there is a continuum from those that scratch-build everything from sticks and mud to those who like prepainted kits.

For some of us, and actually, it is more like most of us, the term 'value for time spent' is pretty close to meaningless. I know that when I go to buy a kit, I don't think "Hmmm. This kit costs $40 and it will probably take me 10 hours to finish it so that equates to $4 an hour plus five colors of paint, two sanding sticks and some glue which will bring it to around $65 total increasing the cost per hour to $6.50. Now if I slow down, it will last 15 hours and that is closer to $4 an hour". In fact, I doubt that any of us do this sort of math.

We buy what we like because we want a certain end product. Now I know I'll tee off some people, but this thought of "My time is too valuable to 'waste' on anything other than a Tamiya kit" is pure bunk. If time is so valuable, then spend it at work or on a second job. A hobby is what one does in one's spare or 'wasted' time.

It matters not if a project takes two weeks or two months as long as one is receiving pleasure from it. With that in mind, then an old, cheap kit would be the one to pick from the shelves. One that takes time to get right. One that needs every part properly cleaned and test fitted multiple times. One that needs some work on the fin profile with plastic card or one that needs new prop blades of the correct size manufactured. It should be one that has almost no interior so that one can use bits from the spares box to bring up to snuff. Then it would be; "Hmm. This kit costs $10 and will probably take me 50 hours to bring up to specs. That's 20 cents an hour. Add some plastic card and rod, paint, glue and a tube of filler and cost will rise to around $35 and that is still less than a buck an hour."

Get an Airfix or Matchbox or KP or old Monogram kit today.

Why you should join and visit the forum

ModelingMadness, like many websites, has a place for readers to share ideas, ask questions or just comment on life/modeling subjects. It is also a place to look for bits and kits and decals. A forum or actually a discussion board, is a superb place to spend some time. I often get ideas from reading the various subjects (threads) that are there, even if the title of the thread is something of which I initially don't think will be very interesting.

Over the many years that I've been on-line, there have been discussion groups that have come and gone. The earliest that many of us will remember and some still visit is the newsgroup rec.models.scale. For me, that was an introduction to the genre and I found out several things about it. One is that it was pretty much a free-for-all. While there were a goodly number of postings and some fine people there, it was also a bit of a mess in terms of arguments (flame wars) between people. There, I learned that people who purposely start flame wars are called trolls. I also learned that some people needed to seek some sort of counseling to take care of what seemed to be some serious psychological issues!

I also found that newsgroups were full of SPAM for everything under the sun, but especially porn sites. While I'm sure that many found that a useful reference, most of us would have rather had this material not show up.

Time went on and when Modeling Madness opened its doors and decided to offer a place for readers to exchange ideas and information, I chose an easy to use discussion board that was also being used by several other web sites. This worked out quite well as I was able to go into the board and remove any objectionable materials. Things went smoothly at first, but then the trolls started invading and flame wars were rampant. Things like this just turn people away so something had to be done. I was unable to block them all as the board providers only allowed one block at a time. Not a good deal and something had to be done.

Then I decided to use the current discussion board. It offered a lot of features, including the option to block these trolls. It was also free so though you do have to deal with some small advertisements, I don't have to fork out several hundred a year to have it running. It is also hosted by someone else, so no download expenses. It also provides the option to register and this is what I was seeking.

You see, when one registers, it allows me as the board moderator, to be able to remove disruptive influences. Trolls still exist and if they are found, they can easily be blocked. A determined troll will find that I'm a tough nut to crack.

Using this method has kept the discussion board a safe one for everyone and flame wars, trolls and SPAM are virtually non-existent.

If you have not visited the Forum because of bad experiences elsewhere or don't want to sign up as you fear I'll sell your e-mail addy, I encourage you to stop by. Your personal information is never used by me for anything other than contacting you if need be and you'll find the board members to be friendly and willing to help with any question you might have.

Hello, I'm Scott and I'm a short-run-aholic.

That wasn't too hard to say, and it speaks a volume of truths. Here I have a probably better stocked stash of models that most with a goodly quantity of well designed and fairly trouble free kits. Yet when it comes time to pull something from the pile to work on, the hand first heads to Tamiya or Revell AG and then ends up on Anigrand or BattleAxe or some other labor-intensive kit.

There has to be a reason for this behavior, so I've brought in the eminent model-psychologist, Dr. Irwin Glufinger.

"I haff zeen many who arrre afflicttid mit dis zyndrome and zere is not much ve can do about it. Zeze persons inzist zat zey get more zatisfaction from ze additional verk zey do to bring ze model to even medium ztandarz. Vat makes it efen more inzidious iz zat when giffen a kvality model, zey will invariably make a zerious error in its konstruction. Azz a zociety, ve can do little more zan try to help zez pour peeple az zey go on mit zeir livez."

Uh, thank you doctor and my apologies to Inspector Kemp for stealing his outrageous accent.

However, in my case, the doctor has some truth in what he says. For me, the number one reason to build a kit is the subject. Period.

It matters not if it is a Phantom or a Luft '46 project, I build what appeals to me at the moment that I'm selecting the next subject. I really don't get as much pleasure out of building a nice Hasegawa 1/48 P-40E as I do out of doing a Messerschmitt P.1101. I see P-40s all the time at shows and enough readers send them in to sate the appetites of those who want to read about them. I don't often build these easier kits as I know that sooner, rather than later, I'll get in a review of them. What I don't get much of are the resin kits, the vacuformed kits, the short run kits. You know, those that are not easy to build. Those that require more effort than some are willing to put into it and those that some might never finish because they get frustrated with all the work only to get something that doesn't match the standards of the latest from Tamiya. It may very well be that I get more of a feeling of accomplishment when finishing up a Fantastic Plastic kit than I do from an Italeri one.

I also feel an obligation to those who send in review kits (and trust me, I don't usually get Hasegawa-type kits sent in). These folks want you to know that though their products may not be the easiest kits to build, they can be made into very nice models by those with only average skills (and I've always considered myself to be an average modeler). Besides, these models are of subjects that are just way cool. They aren't Mustangs, Zeros or Spitfires. No Eagles, Fulcrums or Tornadoes either. They are XP-60s, Lavis, Arado paper projects from WWII and resin 1/72 armored cars and Chevys. The sorts of things that I love to build.

Looking on my desk at this very moment in time, there are a number of kits in various stages of completion. One is a Hasegawa Apache that has been nearly done for three or more years. Four resin airplane kits, a ship kit, two resin figures and a tank. Add to it a nearly complete Tamiya Mustang and a newly started Matchbox kit (even though both Tamiya and Hasegawa do the same airplane!).

It seems that some of us are just wired a bit differently and I've given myself up as a lost cause. Will those Tamiya kits that fill the shelves be built? Probably, but also probably not by me.

Biases, or why some people don't like certain model companies/aftermarket/paints and so on.

Like all of you, I read much of what goes in the Forum. It is a place where one can share ideas, ask questions, see what others are building and the like. It is also a place where some most interesting discussions take place, often involving people with differing views on a subject.

When I was in the military, some of the more advanced leadership courses we had to take involved communications. During these sometimes dull learning experiences, one thing that was emphasized is that in order for communications to take place, there had to be an open path where all parties involved were focused on the situation at hand. If you had someone who wasn't focused or who thought the whole process a waste of time, then that person was not part of communications.

The biggest block to communications is personal bias. You see this as a major factor in politics and why nothing important is getting done in American politics. The vast majority of our politicians are not focused on the real needs of the nation as a whole and are biased against cooperation with 'the other side'.

This bias could come from personal experiences or from some outside influence (like money).

The same happens in model-land. We have had our experiences with something and it taints how we see future encounters with that something. I'll use myself as an example. I don't like Tamiya acrylic paints. I know there are thousands of you out there that think they are great. I find that they clog my airbrush way too easy, are difficult to thin and are impossible to brush paint and have it look good. These are my experiences with the product and so I've mentally condemned the whole paint line. Same with a model accessory company. C&H makes resin conversion sets for various aircraft and has a lot of two seat conversions for 1/48 Monogram kits. I bought their first one for the F-100F when it came out. It has been an exercise in frustration to get this set to work properly and has languished in a box for over six years because to me, it is a set that I tossed away $40 on. Others have used their sets with little or no difficulty.

I could also have a bias against a company because they treated me in a manner I didn't like. Could be that I requested a replacement part and got no reply and no part. Could be that I tried to return something and the company totally blew me off. Could be that I had a hot conversation with the owner and left mad. There are a variety of reasons that I or anyone else could have a bias, and depending on one's personality, that will come across in forums and articles. I try very hard not to let personal dislikes cloud what I say, though I'm only human and it may well have come across.

One thing, though, is that you've rarely heard me say 'Don't buy XXmodels because it is crap." I might tell you it is a difficult project or tell you of where I ran into trouble, or say that it isn't for the faint of heart, but won't condemn the entire line XXmodels kits based on a bad experience or two. To me, that is just not the way to do things. I may well have gotten a flawed example.

Saying something is crap could be admitting that I didn't have the skills or time necessary to work around the problems. This goes back to the earlier 'unbuildable' editorial. It could also be that the early products of a company were pretty rough. Look at the early MPM releases. Those were horribly crude kits by today's standards and putting a 2006 MPM kit next to a 1994 MPM kit will show a huge difference. Yet I don't recall hearing a storm of protest about how horrible MPM as a company was. In fact, it was the opposite as folks were glad to get the subjects of these kits.

Bottom line of all this is that when you read or hear about something as either being horrid or conversely, as being the greatest there ever was, get a second opinion and don't take one comment as the final word on things. Modeling Madness often provides multiple reviews of kits because we want you to get a number of inputs as to how good or otherwise a kit might be.

Paying Attention.

One of the things that I have noticed over the years is the number of times that people ask the same things over and over again. I also have noticed that the 'laziness factor' has increased considerably. Now before you start to nod your head in agreement, let's take a look at these two seemingly similar aspects.

The first one is on asking questions. Now I'm the sort that really doesn't mind answering questions; to a point. There comes a time when the 'what color are XXX cockpits' becomes a bit old. This is especially so when often the answer is right here on the website. Now I realize that www.google.com doesn't answer all questions, especially when one doesn't put in the right set of words to pick up on the reference that is needed. I also realize that some questions can be quite esoteric and often a modeler doesn't have the paper or electronic resources at home to help answer these sorts of questions.

However, the thing that pops up into my mind is often "I wonder how much initial checking the person did on their own?"

This brings me to the second comment about the 'laziness factor'.

I'd be willing to bet that the answer to my mental question is "None".

I base this on several years of teaching where the huge majority of students wanted to be spoon-fed the answer to questions without having to do any reading or research on their own. These little darlings actually wanted the pre-test reviews to be actual questions from the test and would dutifully try to write down each question and answer so they could memorize the response. Now I don't recall that being the norm when I was attending lower education. We were taught how to read, how to do research and how to keep notes. These skills seem to be slowly disappearing.

Now, as one knocking on the door of senior citizenship, I notice more and more of the population incapable of doing even the most basic things for themselves. It seems that many have grown up expecting to be handed whatever is needed.

I often ask questions on the Forum when I can't find the answer either here or somewhere on the website. (There is an excellent link to the 'Site Map' that will get you information on all sorts of wonders in the 4 gigabytes that is Modeling Madness). Just as often, kind readers will offer advice or information that will help and I thank them all for it. But often I get questions where it is painfully obvious that the inquisitor has not done even the most basic attempt to answer the question himself. This is even more telling when the answer is just a hyperlink click away.

Barring difficulty understanding English, I have almost come to the point of not replying to these people. Indeed, it is shameful in one respect, but perfectly understandable in another.

So I guess what I'm trying to say is that one should really make all attempts at resolving something prior to going for additional assistance. It will help one's ability to do research and perhaps discover some new and interesting things. It will also make the rest of us more willing to help when one runs out of options.

Next time, I'll cover those folks who don't seem to understand instructions.....