How to page

[Ray Brown]

G'day All,

There seems to be a lot of "How To" instructions spread throughout the various topics making it time consuming to find something that is helpful.

For example, how to give tracks a rusty look. There are a couple of these under different vehicle topics.

My humble thought is the inclusion of a permanent topic titled "How To". This could be located directly under "Craftsmans Market" and when someone has a how to do question or lesson pertaining to Armortek tanks whether it be milling a part, weathering, batteries, tx etc it can be found quickly and simply without have to troll vehicle topics.

[Armortek]

Hello Ray

This is an excellent idea and would be a valuable resource to everyone.

We are therefore more than happy to create this additional forum as suggested.

To maximise the benefit for everyone, the forum would need to be well structured with individual posts on subjects of interest. Stephen White has kindly volunteered to look at the best way to set this up and will liaise with us to get this started.

Gill and Mark

[Steve Stuart]

What would be great is to be able to cross link topics into this section if the thread. develops into a 'how to' worthy subject
Steve

[Stephen White]

Ray has perfectly kicked off this idea, which has been floated before but never implemented. Bovington and the International Competition showed the sheer quality of models being produced and there's no better time to capture how they're being achieved.

To get us started, I'll propose some initial subjects to Mark (I've currently identified twenty five) which I'll try to organise logically. It might also help to indicate whether each is a basic skill or knowledge or something for more ambitious customisation of the standard kit.

We can then build the list as topics come up.

Ultimately, each topic should read as a stand alone guide but initially, I'll just do a quick summary of each subject and then reference posts which are already on the Forum. That way, we'll at least not have to flick through a lot of posts to find dimly remembered topics, as I've just had to do with Mick Regan's post on fitting an encoder.

Once we're up and running, each topic can grow as contributions and refinements appear, although maybe there should be a clear distinction between the current, accepted "state of the art" and discussion, in order to avoid confusion for anyone new to the subject.

"The knowledge" prompts one last point. This is more about building a corporate or collective set of best practice than about individual pet methods or products, ie there's usually no right or wrong, just spot on and barking crazy. If discussion promotes experimentation and development, even better.

I'll have the first stab at a topic list out here in the next few days, then it's open house.

All the best.

Stephen

[John Hill]

Hi Stephen, one subject I would like to see on the list is "painting". Having seen the superb standard of paint jobs present at Bovington it would be nice to have a structured approach to achieving something similar. It would appear from build pictures on the forum there are many different ways used by some very experienced builders.
A basic structure for the less experienced builders ( self included ) would save some heartache and frustration.
i.e. Complete assembly, strip paint and re-assemble. Paint as you build, what to paint , with what and when.
Some structured do's and don'ts would aid the less experienced of us.
John Hill

[Stephen White]

Thanks John. I've logged this one. Mark and I have exchanged an initial list of potential subjects over the weekend. Amongst them are a few related subjects:

Priming - how to prepare aluminium for painting
Basecoat - how to apply a basecoat, materials, methods, sealing
Weathering - how to select the appropriate materials
Weathering - how to apply mud, dust, rust and other weathering effects (this one might need a number of sub-topics)

As you say, there are probably as many methods as there are Armortek owners and there's no "right" way but perhaps we could capture some simple starting points for those new to the game.

We'll put up a starter list of subjects for which there is already something on the Forum and then we can work out how to develop some new ones. Thanks for the input, it's just what we need.

All the best.

Stephen

[Kevin Hunter]

Personally I think this is a great idea and I'm surprised so few members have voted infavour so far.

I have learned a great deal while trying to build my Centurion, from the really exceptional modellers who blog on the forum. For this to work I hope that you "experts" will continue to have patience with us novices, and continue to share details of your methods.

While there are current builds in progress, with great photos and information posted, much of the expertise is to be found in historic posts. Therefore I agree that a separate section, even if only a reference index to those posts, will be a big help. It gets / got my vote.

Kevin

[duncanallender]

Its a thumbs up from me.A great idea, as you do spend time trawling throu various topics before stricking lucky.
Regards
Dunc

[Ian Rodney]

Yes I would second that good idea of yours Ray,

on "HOW TO" Instruction pages

Looking forward to see what Steve comes up with…..!

Cheers

Ian from Glasgow

[Holger Beck]

I totally agree it's a great idea and used by many

[Sean Noonan]

hi
im always looking for hints tips and tricks, this would be a great advantage to many
cheers sean

[John Hill]

Kevin , I think you have hit on the best way to manage this. Most of the information we seek is already somewhere on the forum, it may not be listed under the model we are building, but the answer is there. At present it takes an awful lot of searching and luck to get there. Many techniques are the same for many models.
A list of links to the forum structured under umbrella headings, ie , Mechanical, Electrical, Painting etc.
Painting for example could include subsections, Preparation, Priming, Application, Customising, etc.
Electrical,,, Safety, Basic wiring, Batteries, Control, etc. Each subsection could contain links to the relevant part of the forum.
This would make use of ALL the information already on the forum. A Centurion builder may not find the answer to his problem listed under "Centurion", but it may be in the Comet listing.
Not a five minute task, willing to help if I can.
John Hill

[Stephen White]

Thanks for all the input so far. All noted. I've now compiled about thirty subjects to kick us off, with links as suggested to existing posts on the Forum. Once Gill, Mark and I have had a chance to review them over the next couple of days, we'll put up a new Forum section.

The new section will have topics laid out in two sub-sections, with the first being aimed at building a model straight from the box and the second at customising the basic kit. Each topic will have two parts, the first with the current knowledge, the "state of the art" and then a discussion section for input to add new ideas, requests for more subjects, etc. We want to separate these two bits so that the knowledge part is easily accessible, doesn't grow and is distinct from an open ended debate.

To make a quick start, we'll do as you suggest, linking relevant posts which already exist. Ultimately, it would be more helpful to re-write each bit. That's a lot of work, so wouldn't happen overnight and would depend on willingness of contributors to tackle a subject, on behalf of us all.

Inevitably, the first set of links is only as good as my rather poor memory, so the first request would be for input to capture the best of what's on the Forum. There are a couple of topics which will need writing from scratch. Lastly, the initial list of topics probably won't cover everything and suggestions to fill gaps would be helpful.

Stephen, on behalf of Gill and Mark.

[Steve Lewington]

What a fantastic idea.

Steve

[Per Sonnervik]

Hello all,

I think this is a fantastic idea - will make my modelling life a bit easier.

Regards, Per