Enzo the Magnificent Posted January 24, 2016 Share Posted January 24, 2016 Stand by for Action! As Commander Shore tells us, anything can happen in the next half hour! But what about the next two years? As you may have noticed, the STGB calender is almost full up to the end of 2017. There is now only one slot left, so those who are hoping to host an STGB should look to attracting nominations to capture that last slot. After that slot is issued, I will not be issuing any further STGB dates until the end of this year in an attempt to cut down on the lead time for STGBs. I have an odd feeling that when I do start issuing dates again, we'll be back up to two years in no time at all. STGBs are very popular. If that happens, we'll have to look at other options. But in the meantime, please carry on discussing and proposing STGBs. Just because there will be no further dates for a while should not put the dampers on a very vibrant community. 7 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
snapper_city Posted January 24, 2016 Share Posted January 24, 2016 Would running two STGB's at a time be viable or have one start each month so possibly 2-3 running at a time? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Enzo the Magnificent Posted January 24, 2016 Author Share Posted January 24, 2016 Would running two STGB's at a time be viable or have one start each month so possibly 2-3 running at a time? That's exactly what happens at the moment and we have to take into account the number of GBs as well. For example, in March this year there will be three GBs and three STGBs running concurrently. Any more than that and we would quickly find that we go into GB overload, as has happened before. Currently we plan for 9 GB slots in a year. This allows six in the poll, a KUTA and some flexibility for unforseen circumstances such as a tribute GB. We also have eight slots per year for STGBs. STGBs run for 91 days. GBs run for 119 days. It's a lot of fun trying to assign slots that don't clash or cause overload. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
snapper_city Posted January 24, 2016 Share Posted January 24, 2016 I see your point. We are probably running at max now. 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
vppelt68 Posted January 24, 2016 Share Posted January 24, 2016 When you're looking for people that are surprised at this announcement, you can be sure I'm not one of them 😉. I regard myself as being one of those too, who deserve to be said "shut up and start building" 😁. Regards, V-P 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
SleeperService Posted January 24, 2016 Share Posted January 24, 2016 Sooner or later a limit will be reached and I'm always amazed at how Mish kept it all together, Good Luck following that Enzo! Since I joined I think the membership has increased by half(?) which is good but there are only twelve months in a year for GBs. The one area that I think could be improved is skewing the Builds to bring more niche interests in, commercial vehicles, real space, sci-fi and ships spring to mind. As a final thought for a really big subject why not a year long GB? 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Black Knight Posted January 26, 2016 Share Posted January 26, 2016 Do any of the builds need to be the length you say they are? Would it make a difference if ST were about 60 days and GB about 90 days? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
CliffB Posted January 26, 2016 Share Posted January 26, 2016 I must admit that I have never understood why GBs and STGBs are of differing durations? Personally, I would be happy with 90 days for both (although I don't do many multiple entries). Good luck with the considerations! Cliff Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
vppelt68 Posted January 26, 2016 Share Posted January 26, 2016 Do any of the builds need to be the length you say they are? I must admit that I have never understood why GBs and STGBs are of differing durations? If it isn´t broken, don´t try to fix it! Just my ! 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Chimpion Posted January 26, 2016 Share Posted January 26, 2016 I like Sleeperservice's point about the range of subjects. This could be a good way of keeping it under control. Issue a one month long call for subjects, say 18 months before the start date. Each call would be restricted to a category, obviously with the most calls for the most popular areas. The sequence could go something like : Military jet Armoured vehicle WW2 plane Ship Civilian plane Civilian vehicle Helicopter Tank Fighter aircraft ....and so on 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
AnonymousDFB1 Posted January 26, 2016 Share Posted January 26, 2016 I must admit that I have never understood why GBs and STGBs are of differing durations? Personally, I would be happy with 90 days for both (although I don't do many multiple entries). Good luck with the considerations! Cliff The answer to this is very simple, the membership asked for four month long GBs as the builds tent to be more complex that STGBs 2 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Enzo the Magnificent Posted January 27, 2016 Author Share Posted January 27, 2016 If the STGBs were reduced to 60 days, I think we would get very few completions. As Mish stated above, the length of groupbuilds were requested some time ago by a general consensus of Britmodellers. I think experience has shown that they are the right length. Their popularity proves this. Every year, we get about three times as many suggestions for full GBs as there are available slots and the STGBs are booked up for the next two years. I would feel very uncomfortable about increasing the number of groupbuilds in any one year. As things stand, in the first week of April we will have seven groupbuilds running concurrently. Throughout 2016 there will never be less than five at any one time. I think that's quite enough. More than that and we risk suffering groupbuild fatigue. 3 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
trickyrich Posted February 6, 2016 Share Posted February 6, 2016 I don't think we should mess with the group lengths at all, they seem to be the right length and as I think Enzo mentioned if we shorten them we run the real risk of a lot of builds not being completed. It should be seen as a good thing the popularity of the this type of modelling and ever growing list of suggestions for future GB's shows it. With the lead time for STGB's now exceeding that for normal GB's I agree we need to look at how these go through to the build stage, Last year we changed the minimum number for interested members from 15 to 25 in a hope that may help. All it really seemed to do was slow down number gathering process but not the number of suggested builds. So maybe wee need to think about a voting process for them as well. Though not yearly as with the normal GB's but a half yearly one for STGB's to start 12 months later. Say for 2018 (gosh are we talking that far ahead!!!).. for Jan to Jun 2018 - vote held Jan 2017 for Jul to Dec 2018 - vote held Jul 2017 top 3 or 4 go through, the remained go on to be included in the next vote. We still have the requirement for 25 member to go through to the voting. It's an idea to be discussed hopefully along with other suggestions Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
snapper_city Posted February 6, 2016 Share Posted February 6, 2016 I quite like the current system. If enough people show interest they should get their STGB. Even if a cooling off period is needed from time to time. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Knight_Flyer Posted February 7, 2016 Share Posted February 7, 2016 (edited) I agree also the time allowed for the builds is the right length. Of the builds I've joined it had looked I would complete the model early and then "life priorities" delayed the finish. Edited February 7, 2016 by Knight_Flyer 2 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Enzo the Magnificent Posted February 8, 2016 Author Share Posted February 8, 2016 The F-104 STGB has just taken the last slot for 2017. I won't be issuing any more dates now until November at the earliest. But please don't let this stop everyone from discussing new STGBs in the meantime. Personally, I would like to see an STGB for a non-aircraft subject. 3 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Enzo the Magnificent Posted August 7, 2016 Author Share Posted August 7, 2016 Hi all, we are now rapidly approaching the end of the year and that means the usual November Mayhem when we run the poll for GBs for 2017. At the same time I will open up for suggestions for STGBs for the 2018 programme. There are seven slots available during the year - the last of which will run until the end of January 2019. The criteria for acceptance is that STGBs must have at least 25 interested parties. Once you pass the threshold, drop me a PM and let me know. Places on the programme will be allocated on a first past the post basis - unless we get massively oversubscribed, in which case I'll have to consider running a second poll for STGBs. But we're not there yet. As far as I can see, only two proposed STGBs have reached the required threshold, so there is still plenty of scope. So let the pre-mayhem chaos commence! 2 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
trickyrich Posted August 7, 2016 Share Posted August 7, 2016 As being quite proficient in mayhem amongst other equally annoying things, I would like to jump in with the Me-262 STGB. We reached the lofty 25 the other day so a PM is on the way. There has been a request to have this GB placed in the middle of the year......someone reckons there's more modelling time in the height of summer. One does have to question if there is actually any difference between summer and winter up there??? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
snapper_city Posted August 8, 2016 Share Posted August 8, 2016 There has been a request to have this GB placed in the middle of the year......someone reckons there's more modelling time in the height of summer. One does have to question if there is actually any difference between summer and winter up there??? I would say summer is the worst time for productivity. The weather is good, more outside activities,holiday season is in full swing. All reasons to draw the attention away. Surely the winter is the time most of us hibernate into our caves to cracking on with modelling. Maybe this is me though? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
trickyrich Posted August 8, 2016 Share Posted August 8, 2016 Oops yes I got that wrong, it should be autumn or winter......whenever that is?? 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Enzo the Magnificent Posted August 8, 2016 Author Share Posted August 8, 2016 Oops yes I got that wrong, it should be autumn or winter......whenever that is?? Autumn and winter? That's most of 2016... 2 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Arniec Posted August 8, 2016 Share Posted August 8, 2016 A 12 month Me-262 GB!!!! That is interesting. Cheers, Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
trickyrich Posted August 9, 2016 Share Posted August 9, 2016 Autumn and winter? That's most of 2016... A 12 month Me-262 GB!!!! That is interesting. Cheers, finally someone admitting the UK is the place of the endless winter! 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
JohnT Posted August 9, 2016 Share Posted August 9, 2016 A 12 month Me-262 GB!!!! That is interesting. Cheers, In a 262 GB do we all start off building fighters and get half way through only for the host to say there has been a rule change and they have all to be bombers. Just for reasons of historical continuity you understand 10 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Mottlemaster Posted August 9, 2016 Share Posted August 9, 2016 (edited) Oops yes I got that wrong, it should be autumn or winter......whenever that is?? It was me Rich that requested that if we made a bid (iv been listning to too much olympic politics ) for the Me 262 build early enough for 2018 then may be a time between Sept and end of Dec would be good for us who live in Northan hemisphere as we would probably have more time in the longer evenings to do our hobbys . grass stopes growing , festivals stop being staged etc . Going to throw this idea into the pot ..howabout Summer builds where we are over the Spring equinox being one month longer to make up for the time cutting grass etc Alistair Edited August 9, 2016 by Mottlemaster 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Recommended Posts