Eric Aitala

I've set up a subform for Aircraft builds at http://forum.ipmsusa3.org/index.php?/forum/71-builds/ I could add a further sub forum for Richard's posts, but to do so for every build might become cumbersome... Take a look and let me know what you think. Eric

For more info, see http://www.f1m.com/forums/viewtopic.php?f=4&t=27391&start=20#p289776 E

If you like F1 scale models, check out this gallery https://www.flickr.com/photos/fl_hansen/sets/72157676409988055 Eric

http://www.ipmsusa3.org/gallery/v/logos/

I am looking to update the pictures in the slideshow on http://www.ipmsusa.org with some from the 2016 Nationals. Pictures of the various category winners would be the most useful. There are some criteria for the images I need. They must be at least 1200 pixels wide. Wider if they need to be cropped. They need to work in a landscape mode, i.e. wider than taller, or be able to be cropped into that mode. This image is a good example of that >> https://ipmsusa.org/sites/default/files/img_4941_crop.jpg Pictures should be as uncompressed as possible. I would prefer RAW or PNG, but can use sufficiently large JPGs. Larger file sizes are better... 500 to 600 KB at least. Images with as little background clutter as possible would be ideal. Images with out of focus backgrounds are preferred. Top down images generally don't work... So versus I will add a photo credit to any images submitted. If you have any pictures which you think can work, please email them along with any information you have about the model, to webmaster@ipmsusa.org Thanks, Eric

Hopefully next year Shenango Valley and Central PA won't have their shows on the same day. As I am centrally located between the two, I don't like having to choose. Eric

http://www.ipmsusa.org/member_services/achievement_awards/achievement_awards_chapter_oty_list.shtml All the awards lists are linked on http://www.ipmsusa.org/member_services/achievement_awards/ Eric

One reason why I would not use a spreadsheet to track customers and such is that there is no simple, reliable method to track changes to the customer information. i.e. what was their old email address or physical address. Yes, you could use the track changes feature in Excel, but it does not always work and I don't think it can be used to assess changes across the entire dataset - how many customers have moved, where have they moved, etc. Having a system that keeps track of revisions via a simple database setup also provides a history of the organization... which can be useful when the membership wants to know certain information.... E

HI, For #1 something like Mailchimp is good.. for most clubs they won't hit the # of email addresses or # of emails limit. For #2, I'm not sure as you probably want to store more information than just name and email address. I would look at some of the church membership management packages. I've not found many CRM (Customer Relationship Management) packages that work for small, non-profit organizations. I found a list at http://blog.capterra.com/free-and-open-source-crm/ but I've not looked into most of these. I've looked at CiviCRM and SugarCRM for IPMS/USA but these are pretty complicated systems and probably would be too much for a club. Eric

Anything that disables tracking like Blur or Ghostery may also cause the same problem. Maybe even the basic 'do not track' setting in most browsers. E

For F1, there are places like http://motorsportsminiatures.com , http://www.mshobbies.com , http://www.hiroboy.com ... finding the older stuff is not easy. I run F1M.com for Formula 1 models, so that might be a place to ask - there are a number of Indy car modelers there as well. Eric

Contact dfl@ipmsusa.org Eric

An interesting diorama... http://www.gerryanderson.co.uk/forgotten-space-1999-eagle-diorama/ E

There are some interesting techniques on this web site >> https://davidneat.wordpress.com

Not sure. There has not been an update to their FB page since 2013... E

Gizmodo has a nice post about scale modeling. http://sploid.gizmodo.com/watch-the-worlds-most-patient-model-maker-build-flawles-1776241445 Eric

Are you using >> http://members.ipmsusa3.org/form/change-address ? That just has an anti-robot Captcha on it. Eric

Very nice.... E

Don't forget the logistical issues of shipping the kits to a hobby shop then to the club, adding an additional step and requiring the goodwill of multiple hobby shops which we fortunately have had... Eric

All set.. http://forum.ipmsusa3.org/index.php?/forum/68-2016-ipmsusa-national-convention/ Eric

I can set one up tonight Eric

I figured it'll lighten a few wallets. E

Just putting this here.... http://www.modelfactoryhiro.com/new/en/archives/18365 Eric

I've partially fixed the issue on ipmsusa.org .. working on the rest. E

Google deleted an API that was being used by the website code to pull in the feeds from the other websites. I am working on fixing it. Eric