Group Builds - Change in Direction - Discussion Thread

[Thorvic]

All

http://www.whatifmodelers.com/index.php/topic,33491.msg524514.html#new

We have decided on a change of direction in regard to group builds, the announcement is locked but this thread is to discuss the change in policy and answer any questions.

Regards

The Admin Team

[TsrJoe]

Sounds good, personally my build and in particularly completion rate has slowed dramatically past years, i like the 'aussie' theme too, an excuse to build an RAAF. Vigilante and nuke armed F.104   

Cheers, joe

[philp]

Grumble, grumble, grumble.

Have absolutely no Aussie projects even remotely in my future plans so you all have fun with this.

Quick question, is the Secret Santa GB no longer a formal GB?

[The Rat]

Hmmm, Aussierama, eh? Okay, so what airframe can I build upside-down...? 

[Weaver]

I havn't the slightest interest in an Aussierama GB and having just flipped through 12 pages of GB proposals, I can't see where anyone else has proposed it either, so I'd love to know where the idea came from and how it's popularity was assessed, given that number-of-participants seems to be regarded as the measure of a successful GB, rather than quality-of-entries.

The overwhelming majority of models I've built since joining here have been for GBs: on the one hand, I used to groan as they "hooked" me and diverted me from pursuing my own projects, but on the other hand, the deadlines did actually motivate me to at least try to finish things (this year's been a bit of a wash-out for reasons beyond my control), and a hell of a lot of the kits I've bought over the last 3 years have been stashed against possible GB proposals that will presumably now never see the light of day.

How exactly are "Themed Builds" supposed to work? Will anyone actually start and stop them on a dedicated sub-board, because if not, they will simply be discussed until the cows come home and nothing will actually happen. If that's the case, then you might as well transfer the Themed Build threads to the Ideas Bank, because that's all they'll be to all intents and purposes.


Weaver
Not Impressed

[pyro-manic]

I must say I feel similarly.

Deciding the "theme" for an entire year is, to me, very restrictive indeed. What about all the ideas, concepts etc. that don't fall into this? It seems like this will drastically limit the builds to basically two types: repaints of existing aircraft (or tanks or whatever) and projects (ie unbuilt designs). What about the weird and wonderful creations from the likes of Alvis 3.1, BdaB, Sotoolslinger etc? While I might decide to build an Aussie aeroplane at some point, this "theme" is really not an inspiring prospect for me.

[PR19_Kit]

For my part having an entire year for a GB gives me some chance of competing. I don't think I've EVER built a model within the GB time frame, so this change gives me some chance at least.

But I'm with The Rat here, do we have to build the model upside down? 

[Taiidantomcat]

I am a little surprised at this because I thought the 46 GB was not only insanely packed with entries but a lot got finished as well   I would qualify that GB has a huge success, probably the most successful I have seen for such a small board. Have we thought about doing two every 6 months or one every 9 months with maybe a 3 month overlap? This just seems a bit much. I know we often run into trouble and need extensions but if you do a GB for too long it gets really stale.  

"AUSSIERAMA"

what is that exactly? 

[ChernayaAkula]

Kinda odd weighing in when I haven't completed a build for a GB yet (*hangs-head-in-shame*), but here are my thoughts:

One year is way too long. I know it sounds odd, but experience has shown that if you can't get something completed for a GB within, say, six months, you're not likely to complete it within a year either. Six months has transpired as the longest workable timeframe on ARC, for example. And even then, after a lively first few months, the final (two) months are usually rather slow. Extend it to twelve months and that effect will only increase.
Also, if you have a very wide topic and you have builder starting in January and finishing in April and have another builder starting in September and finishing just before the deadline, how much of a Group Build is it?

Since Aussierama is supposed to kick off in 2012, why not take the, say, three highest ranking contenders in the Group Build Poll and start them on October 1st, set to end on December 31st without any possible extensions?

[Thorvic]

Well considering we haven't yet posted up what "Aussierama" encompasses i find it hard to believe people are saying they can think of nothing for it, we won't elaborate just yet on what's involved becuase those that are already inspired will be thinking of ideas now and won't be able to action them for another 3 months. However we can tell you that the scope is very broad.

1946 GB wasn't as great as you may think as there were many cold war/modern builders who had no interest in the end of WW2 era so in that respect it was a restrictive group build. As for timing which 6 mths do you pick ?, we have modellers in both hemispheres, whats good modelling time for some different for others

[Old Wombat]

Call me perverse but I can see the good in both.

I know it probably/definitely wont change anything but I wouldn't mind seeing a system with the following:-

3 Group Builds/year each announced 7 months in advance (giving people time to prepare), which I would see running;
1 February - 30 June (with the following year's 1 Feb - 30 Jun GB being announced on 1 July),
16 April - 15 September (with the following year's 16 Apr - 15 Sep GB being announced on 16 September),
1 July - 31 November (with the following year's 1 Jul - 31 Nov GB being announced on 1 December),

plus;

1 Theme Build announced on the start date, running 1 February - 31 November.

This, I feel allows scope for all (most?) builders to work to their best strengths. Allowing sufficient time to plan for each GB you wish to enter before it starts & to bring the ideas & materials together for the TB before it ends.

I see the GB's as being relatively tightly focussed but with each one focussing on a different field to the others to allow subject diversity.

The TB I see as being a loose, broad subject, like the proposed Aussierama (Australianarama?) build.



My 2c.

[Thorvic]

Technically the scope is like that as the Annual Group Build is to a very general theme, however the idea is to get more of an active participation from the membership. The existing Group Builds have been far from that to the extent that is not a large enough group to warrant classifying them as a Group Build anymore thus the name to Themed builds where like minded whiffers can explore a theme under their own impetuous within their own deadlines should they wish.

7 months Advance notice has its pro's & cons where as some will use the time to work up ideas, source part and decals, others will act there and then driven by their inspiration, but by the time the build is scheduled their motivation and interest has gone elsewhere and they don't bother to join in.

Better to use the full 12 mths rather than 10 as many do use the Holiday season to build. Plus alot of the UK lot will be focused on the Scale Model World show in mid November so would be working on those builds leaving little or no time to finish off their Annual builds.

[Spey_Phantom]

i like the idea, although i do have my thoughts on it.

i do like the idea of a 1 year long GB, but it being the only GB kinda buggs me.
overon a dutch modelling board, they have a similar system that i think most can agree on.

what they have is a system of 4 GB's a year, 1 lasts a year (Jan. 1. to December 31) and the 3 others last 4 months each (following up after each 1 has ended, january 1 to April 30, May 1 to August 31, September 1 to December 31, with no extensions)

to be honnest, i think its much easier to manage and build something in that timeframe 

[tigercat]

Personally I like the current system of GB's it helped me get back into modelling after a break and while I won't want to compete in everyone there's generally something I might have a stab at.

I agree with the others that a year is too long  a shorter deadline tends to focus you whereas if its too long it gives time to prevaricate.

Is the  drop in take up due to the recent topics tending to be less jet themed and there being a lot of people on the boards who tend to specialise in those?

[Nick]

Not really being one to take part in GBs all I can say about them from observation is that:

There seem to be a lot of GBs going on all at once.
They overlap in various ways.
There are always calls for time extensions!
Lots of discussion over what topic to do next followed by a lack of initial take-up.
More variety in the GBs might be helpful.

I do like the idea that Old Wombat and Nils suggest of an overall long theme (say 6 or 9 months) with 2 or 3 shorter builds on top.
Australia theme isn't too bad if you include potential opponents otherwise you get a little limited for choice. Perhaps the admin should have explained a little more about the Aussie-rama idea?