Databases?

[PR19_Kit]

Somewhere in the modelling press recently I've seen an advert for a kit database (not a database of me, a database for model kits........  ) Apparently it's a free download but to print any of the data out you have to pay a registration fee.

Can I find that advert now? No, darn it!

Anyone have any ideas where it can be found please? I've started up a multi-page Excel spreadsheet of my own design, but it's not brilliant and I think a pukka designed job would work better.

[Green Dragon]

Think it was suisoft? I saw it yesterday, I'll have a look around back in a mo.

Paul Harrison

[Green Dragon]

Think this is the one mate, never used it myself. http://www.suisoft.co.uk/

Paul Harrison

[Jeffry Fontaine]

Kit,

There was another free database available for a time that was based on MS Access with your data bases constructed in MS Excel.  I downloaded that about ten years ago and just checked to see if the web page is still available and discovered that it has gone away.  Depending on what wish to accomplish the creation of a data base in MS Excel or similar spread sheet application is simple to do.  I actually created my own spread sheet list before I downloaded the MS Access program. 

If you need help with creating something like this I can certainly help you at least with the database shell.  The only thing that the MS Access program did was set it up so you could input the specific pieces of information to the data base through one screen and blank boxes.  This in turn loaded the information to the database spread sheet which was still just a plain old vanilla MS Excel spreadsheet if you opened it up to look at it in MS Excel. 

[PR19_Kit]

Paul,

Thanks for that link, that's exactly the one I was thinking of. I've downloaded it and I'll give it a try.

Jeffry,

Thanks for the offer of help, I'm trying my own Excel thingie out in 'competition' with the one Paul suggested and I'll see what works for me. My own one seems to offer more choices at the moment so I may take you up on the idea of using Access in conjunction with it.

[Jeffry Fontaine]

Jeffry,

Thanks for the offer of help, I'm trying my own Excel thingie out in 'competition' with the one Paul suggested and I'll see what works for me. My own one seems to offer more choices at the moment so I may take you up on the idea of using Access in conjunction with it.

Kit,

My personal opinion is that the MS Access application is just an excess layer to your data base and is great eyewash but in most cases can be ignored as it can add to the confusion and complication of the "Keep It Simple" approach to data base management.  The only advantage it offers is the single screen from which to input the information to the various columns of the data base which is still just an MS Excel spread sheet. 

[Weaver]

As a more general point about stash record keeping, what do you think are the important pieces of info to record?

These would seem to be basics:

Make
Model
Scale


These would seem to be reasonable options:

Date bought
Date manufactured
Manufacturer's serial no.
Missing/used parts
Decal options
Build options

[Jeffry Fontaine]

The advantage of the spreadsheet is that you can use the list in a variety of ways. 

I set mine up with the following data columns:

Manufacturer / Kit number / Description / Scale / Media / Category / Price / Notes 

These columns can be moved around or left in the order they appear here but you can sort by manufacturer, scale, kit number, scale, media, and price if you chose.  The spreadsheet is limited in what it can do for you but sorting your model inventory after all of the data is input for each kit allows you to recognize your excesses or deficiencies more accurately. 

With the spreadsheet working as a database and used with MS Access or similar programs all you are doing is putting an additional screen between your input and the spreadsheet (database) which will have individual input boxes for each column of your data base.  So you do not see your spreadsheet unless you open it up in MS Excel or whatever the name of the competition is for such things. 

The important thing is to allow sufficient column space for the data you are inputting which is why the column allocated to "notes" should be at the far right of your columns as it will usually contain the most information in the form of free or open text that will be associated with the other data columns.  So instead of doing it all in longhand on a general ledger tablet you are inputting all of the data to a spreadsheet where you can sort as you need to modify, add or remove as needed.  It has been a while since I played with my data base and I was surprised to see it has been on a variety of computer hard drives since 2000 and it still works so that makes me feel good confident that I did it right the first time. 

[Weaver]

The important thing is to allow sufficient column space for the data you are inputting which is why the column allocated to "notes" should be at the far right of your columns as it will usually contain the most information in the form of free or open text that will be associated with the other data columns. 

Excel has an option under FORMAT which lets you automatically set the column widths to match the data. Basically, you highlight the columns, make them far too wide, and then use the auto-width function, which shrinks them to match the longest piece of data in each one. Exactly how you get to it varies from one version of the program to another. If you've got one very long piece of data in a column of otherwise short ones, it's usually worth setting the text format to WRAP and then manually reducing the column width to something sensible. You can then use auto row-height (exactly the same MO) on the whole sheet, and it'll make that row deeper to accomodate the long data on several lines.

[Bungle]

Hope you don't mind me interjecting into the conversation but some years ago I built a Database in Access for getting a list of all 1/72 or near to 1/72 scale model aircraft. I got the data by scanning in the pages from an edition of Plastic Aircraft Kits of the 20th Century that I bought from the Rareplanes.com website. I then stripped out all the non 1/70 - 1/79 scale kits. Unfortunately with scanning such small type there are a lot of 'spelling' mistakes where the software failed to read the data correctly. I have correct quite a few of these and then apathy took over.

I don't think I have added any 'new' kits since 2004 but the screen below gives you a summary of the data there is (and an idea of what groupings can be used). There is several searches that can be done plus I have added a few box artwork pictures (but found this increases the database size a heck of a lot.

Anyway if anyone wants it, then just let me know, yours for the cost of a stamp address envelope (big enough to hold a CD). File size is 112mb and I think the minimum requirement is MS Access 2003. I have also extracted the raw data to an excel spreadsheet and this zips down to around 1Mb. Again if this of use to anyone PM me with your email address and I'll gladly email it to you.

[PR19_Kit]

Bungle,

PM incoming!

At this rate I'll soon have more kit databases than I have kits!  Er, no, maybe not, that'd be just TOO silly.....

[Jeffry Fontaine]

At this rate I'll soon have more kit databases than I have kits!  Er, no, maybe not, that'd be just TOO silly.....

The shocking part is when you sum the kit prices and look at the total in the last cell of the column pertaining to price paid for each kit or multiples thereof, it adds up fast.  The $8K that displayed on the bottom of my list was from the previous twenty-five years of model purchases.  Since then it has grown and the prices have gone up in some cases tripled, quadrupled or worse which makes the value of that list even more inflated.  Makes me ill to think about it in that manner. 



Bungle, 

That is nice work you did with that data base and quite similar to what I had originally encountered with the Model Kit Collectors Data Base that I used to create my own. 

[PR19_Kit]

The shocking part is when you sum the kit prices and look at the total in the last cell of the column pertaining to price paid for each kit or multiples thereof, it adds up fast. 

Jeffry,

There is NO way I'm having the 'price paid' as an entry in my database! I'd probably have a heart attack if I read the 'Total' cell........

[Jeffry Fontaine]

The shocking part is when you sum the kit prices and look at the total in the last cell of the column pertaining to price paid for each kit or multiples thereof, it adds up fast. 

There is NO way I'm having the 'price paid' as an entry in my database! I'd probably have a heart attack if I read the 'Total' cell........

I agree.  This would be an epic fail moment or fatal error in judgment if that information were to be viewed by someone that is critical of our hobby such as your spouse.  Fortunately for me, I have just my cat to answer to and as long as his food and water bowls remain full he gives me no grief.

[PR19_Kit]

Jeffry,

It's not her I'm worried about actually, she's very supportive of my manic ideas, and is sorely sad that the PR19 ISN'T at Cosford for real.  

It's my mental state that I'd fear for, knowing how much I could have spent on other things if I hadn't made my roof insulation from injected styrene..........