Issues with and or suggestions for this site and the Scale Masters Association

[Mitchell Baker]

I understand John,  and I'm looking into that.  Trying to come up with a survey that would be useful is hard.  If you just leave it open to  "Why don't you compete?" then your will get so many different answers that you can't really do anything about it.  

If you remember, I did do an e-mail survey 2 yrs ago to all qualified pilots who didn't attend the champs.  It was pretty much a bust.. Got about 10-15% return and the answers were across the board.  Nothing to really pin point and work on.

That's why the good professional survey companies make so much money hahaha...  

But we will see.  

As far as the flight difficulty goes, I was just using (very) general examples. I've been watching you fly for years and know your skill.  Great!...  I was looking back over my archives, and the furthest I go back is 2007 for a copy of the guide.  Going to try to see if I can locate some further back. 

See-ya
Mitch

[Lawrence Harville]

Mitch
you are right AMA is easier to fly than SM or Top gun

I have seen a guys 5 options be
twin engine
tank drop
retracts
flaps
taxi

he did very well--  three of those took a flip of a switch=one just took the second engine to keep turning
but hey he did have to taxi out and back--

[j_whitney]

John, as long as I have been assoicated with USSMA the mechanical options have been avaialbe - but not as a stand-alone, always done in a combination with something else, like bomb drop WITH chandelle.  I don't recall (and I ain't gonna look!) mechanicals being deleted.  Maybe some, but certainly not all.

[Skymaster]

I've got a really cool and novel idea for this site and the Scale Masters Association.

Lets start some build threads!! After all are not supose to be promoting scale modeling?

Mitch is there a way for us to post pictures within the tread? Would be cool to show what's being worked on across the country.

John

[Mitchell Baker]

They can and you should be able to just by clicking on "Addition Option" in the full editor.  Not the quick editor, that option is not available.  In the past I have just refereed people to www.rcscalebuilder.com since that site is dedicated to scale building and setup more for build threads. Give it a shot...  I'm not opposed to it.

See-ya
--Mitch

[Skymaster]

Why are we not doing that? After all this is a portal into this organization. Building scale models is a HUGE part of what we do isn't it?

[Mitchell Baker]

I have not discouraged it.  I just feel in letting a site that specializes in things do so. http://www.rcscalebuilder.com IMHO is the premier scale building site on the web.  Most of your major plans designers, kit producers etc have a presence there.  I never expect this site to have that in the fashion RCSB does.  So let that site do what it does best and let this on do what it should do best, provide a place for discussion of USSMA, and both sites benefit more in the long run.

When I first put this site up, I had a section for build threads, but no one wanted to post here, in fact several told me they post on RCSB and didn't see the need to duplicate the effort, and I agree with that...

If you want a catagory created for it, let me know.  I will make you moderator so you can police the threads...  I'm not against any of it.

See-ya
Mitch

[Scale Dail]

This is the US SCALE MASTERS! I do not want to see just anyone with a build project here! That is what RCScaleBuilder is for. Now if a certain model won or qualified at a Scale Masters event I would like to see some info here. Like photos or specs on the model.
As for the champs being on one side of the country or the other, I look forward to an "off year" when it is too far away to rest, get the next model built, and practice for when it is closer.

[Skymaster]

I am saddened to see this post Scale Dale. We sat in the BOD meeting and talked about membership being down, participation being down. Do any of you care? Let me see if I can remember what the "Mission" of the Masters is about........

In fact allow me to past in 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.

How is by being so "exclusive" can we accomplish this. If we are not, through ALL means not encouraging others to build and participate in the Masters, then it will die, and that's unfortunate.

My intent was for us the Scale Masters guys who build and compete to post about our projects. I guess nobody cares about grow ing the organization.

[Mitchell Baker]

John,

Scale Dale is entitled to his opinion on this and entitled to express it just like we are.  That's the beauty of the forums. He does not have to view any that are posted.  If you want to get the ball rolling, like I said, by all means do so, I encourage it.  Like I said, I will create a category for you to start this up and give you moderator rights, and believe me it will need to be moderated hehehe..

I'm middle of the road here mainly because I don't have the time to moderate a set of threads like that. I think it can help out, but also pointing people to RCSB can also help out USSMA as well.  Both fulfill the mission.  You don't have to know all the answers, just know where to find them....   

See-ya
Mitch

[Skymaster]

Mitch,

I'm not denying his opinion. I'm pointing out that the Masters is struggling with both membership and participation. He is right! This is the MASTERS and we should be looked at as the pinnacle of scale modelling, and a source for encouragement to stretch our building skills, and maybe the place of how to do things right. An easy way to begin that is for us the "Best of the Best" to talk about what we are doing and working on. Do we not have the responsibility to take our skills, passion, knowledge, and experiance and pay it forward?
Maybe build threads not the best word to use. I'm talking about talking airplanes and projects, by the the Best of the Best.

[j_whitney]

Perhaps a series of "how to's"?  Mini-dave-platts, if you will 

[Jeffrey Pike]

I wrote about 500 hundred words with excellent ideas and my log-in timed out. Oh well.

[Jeffrey Pike]

I will sum it up.
Scale Masters carries the banner for RC scale. There is only Scale Masters, Frank and the Nats. How well do we carry the banner? Many would argue, "What banner, I don't see it." Five hundred of us compete, we whittle it down to a hundred or so and a third of that number shows up for the Nationals. Six percent is not bad numbers. Most folks just what to sit and "fly-in" without the pressure of competition. That is nature of our evolving culture that seeks instant gratification without consequences. Video games, cell phones and credit cards have done this to us. To grow our numbers we need one on one marketing. We need to seek out those with money that have an interest. We all know this is not a poor mans sport. The regionals are hundreds of miles apart and the Nationals can be thousands of miles away, not to mention that a competitive model is not cheap.

To test the value of Scale Masters, insist that competitors that seek qualification become members before the qualifier begins. Offer a discount to check for price elasticity. Offer a discount for those that enlist a new member. Scale Masters needs gorilla marketing to regrow its numbers.

[Scale Dail]

Please let me clarify my thoughts. When I saw the idea of build threads here, I thought of "Joe Blow" posting his build thread of what ever, with no intention of anything compitition or Scale Masters. If there is anyone who needs help with building it is me!
I would actually like to see somthing with pictures that describes scale technics regarding scale compitition here with all the Scale Masters people, the Best of the Best!. There is a lot of talent in the Scale Masters program, I agree that it should be shared.

[Mitchell Baker]

I wrote about 500 hundred words with excellent ideas and my log-in timed out. Oh well.

If writing a long reply, few things might help, write it up in notepad and then cut/paste it int to the window.. Also, if you are using the "Quick Reply" window, you should see "Post" "Preview" "Spell Check" buttons at the bottom of the small window. Click on "Preview" and you will switch to the full editor and you can see a preview of your post.  If you are typing in a lot of text, hit the "Preview" button form time to time it will keep the session going.  One final thing is to from time to time, press CTRL-A to highlight everything within the editor window, then CTRL-C to copy it.   Then if you loose it for some reason you can start over and hit CTRL-V to paste it back into the edit window.  Hope this helps..

--Mitch

[Mitchell Baker]

In regard to the timeout issue. I have bumped up the default to about 7 days. This should keep that from happening again.  If you or anyone has an issue, please let me know.. --Mitch

I wrote about 500 hundred words with excellent ideas and my log-in timed out. Oh well.

If writing a long reply, few things might help, write it up in notepad and then cut/paste it int to the window.. Also, if you are using the "Quick Reply" window, you should see "Post" "Preview" "Spell Check" buttons at the bottom of the small window. Click on "Preview" and you will switch to the full editor and you can see a preview of your post.  If you are typing in a lot of text, hit the "Preview" button form time to time it will keep the session going.  One final thing is to from time to time, press CTRL-A to highlight everything within the editor window, then CTRL-C to copy it.   Then if you loose it for some reason you can start over and hit CTRL-V to paste it back into the edit window.  Hope this helps..

--Mitch

[rcphotog]

To whom it may concern ...( Mitch  )

Would it be possible to create a photo album of all ( as many as possible ) the past Grand Champions and their models. I think it would be interesting to see the variety of planes that have achieved this honor, from Jennys to jets and everything inbetween
  I realize no one person would have photos of all the past winners, but maybe this could be a community effort to locate the pictures.
  I think this would also bennefit newcomers to the Association. They might be surprised to see that you don't have to compete with GIANT scale models or with Warbirds only.

....just a thought
Ken.

[j_whitney]

Ken - Look under the menu heading "Community" - then "Images/Videos"  (should be a short cut here http://usscalemasters.org/forumsmf2/index.php?action=media )
Not all of them, for sure, but all that I think are available to Mitch.  If someone has photos of earlier ones I am sure we can get them scanned, posted and returned to the owner.  Captions would be nice!
And NO, Mitch - I am NOT volunteering 

[rcphotog]

Hey Jeff,
  Yes I am familar with the events albums.
What I'm suggesting is a dedicated album just for the past Champions so people can simply go to one source / album. And yes captions would be great (especially with a little info like span,engine,radio,retracts,covering & paint used etc.)
I think members as well as newbies would like to "learn" about our Champions and their models. It would be great if we could dedicate a whole page to displaying pictures and maybe brief descriptions of those models. Over thirty years now and not really a Place of honor for those Champions. Just a list of names. No faces or pics of the planes.
Ken.

[Mitchell Baker]

Do I hear a volunteer to work on that project?   

Not sure is anyone noticed, but I started putting in pic's of the Harris Lee winners of the ones I had. 
http://usscalemasters.org/forumsmf2/index.php?page=HarrisLeeAward

Any of this can be done, just need people to step up and do it.  I can give people the means to do it and can help show them who within this forum, which for the most part is not that hard. It's designed like most CMS/Portal/Forum software, WYSIWUG editors and image upload... 

Someone willing to step up and start it.  It's the same with all the event pic's, no one seems to have the interest in applying comments to them.  I simply don't have the time to do it all.  Help would be greatly appreciated...

See-ya
Mitch

[rcphotog]

Hey Mitch,

  Yes I have noticed the recent photos of the Harris Lee Award winners. That's exactly what I was hoping for with the list of past Grand Champions
I don't think I have the access to upload pics and comments ( not a paying member yet )
Yes, help IS needed to create an all inclusive archive of the Association's past. This is something everyone can help with. Look around, talk to past winners, and GET those pictures
There's only 33
Once I can scrape together the money to join, I will be happy to upload all the pics I have (with captions) from local qualifiers from the past several years
Ken.
ps; I love photos!

[j_whitney]

Ken.
ps; I love photos!

Would not have guessed that, given your screen name 
I'm sorry Ken, I mis-read your original question, thought I had an easy answer!  We can certainly ask around to see who has what.  There may be some stuff in past newsletters, I will have to look at what I have - have had a couple of computers die on me and I don't know if I have all the past newsletters, since I have been editor.
Jeff