Forum Usage

[Guy Fawcett]

As a non-member I noticed a couple of references to the lack of participation on the Forum here. As I see it a lot of the problem probably stems from the lack of variety in postings that attract modellers.  The mission statement  "The U.S. Scale Masters Association is committed to the development and growth of Scale Aircraft Modeling by bringing people together to learn about the fascinating aspects of Aviation, Scale Realism, Competition, and Sportsmanship." encompasses more then just the discussion of rules and events.  Where are the build logs, project pictures, aircraft history, construction and detailing discussions?  Make uploading pictures part of the forum.

Locally in the Edmonton area I used to belong to the Royal Canadian Scale Air Force that first got together to discuss documenting, building and flying scale models for competition then the meetings gradually became focused on the the mechanical aspects of hosting the local Scale Masters Qualifier and finally the group became tired of the contest aspect and dissolved completely and a local club stepped in and now hosts an annual scale fun fly.

If the forum continues to concentrate on mainly the mechanical process of competition and member recruiting and fails to excite the interest of modellers by showing what can be done and how to do it, low participation will continue.  Scale modelling is one of the few endeavors left in modelling that still has builders and designers give them what they want and they will at least participate in the forum.


Flying                 1/8 Scale Morane Saulnier type G (own design)

Decommissioned 1/6 Scale SE 5 (Dennis Bryant plans)
                        1/9.6 Scale Halberstad D II (own design)
                        1/9 Scale Bristol M 1 C (own design)

Building Board     1/6 Scale Fokker D VIII (own design)
                        1/8 Scale Fokker Dr I (Aerodrome R/C kit)

[Skymaster]

Guy, I couldn't agree more! If we want to see more excitement about scale and the masters, then WE NEED to be more excited about it!!! More excited about flying and building, not so much about rules and the tiny minute details of how the wording may affect someone's flight scores.

If we want to see a resurgence in the popularity in scale modelling, then WE need to get excited about it, write about it, and bring ALL your friends.

John Boyko