OnlineEXTRA

WOW...

It's unusual for a site to do the intelligent thing and actually listen to their audience...in this case, the modelers from their message board.

I'm impressed...Impressed enough that I subscribed today. Not just because of this, but because of the rave reviews that I've heard from other modelers out in the world...

I'll probably actually have two subscriptions..can't have enough magazines right?

LOL

It amazes me..I check this board more frequently than I check my local racing/street racing boards that are from here in Houston. And I haven't even really gotten beyond getting things together to start modeling.

Keep up the good work...I'll be spreading the word, that's for sure...

I'd like to congratulate FSM and author John Guilmartin on their series of Online Extra articles on the Viet Nam war. That's the best historical description of the conflict I've ever read, and it illustrates exactly the sort of stuff I believe Online Extra should bring in (as I said above). Modeling is great, but knowing what you model and the what/why/when make things so much more interesting. And it helps us build more accurate, more realistic models/dioramas. Keep up the excellent work!

I haven't tried the extra section yet , been too busy enjoying myself on the forums section, here are a couple ideas. Maybe you could try a Q & A section directly from your staff builders, I 'm sure there are alot of us that would like to know how they have tackled certain problems they have encountered, or maybe once a month you could post a group problem and everyone could send in their solutions!... just a thought

Madd Dawg

And while I'm at it, here's another one..:

So far the Online extra articles have brought quite little to the existing, printed article. Why not have that part of your site devoted to more 'historical background' text, including reference pics, and yet more pics of the models. Obviously, in the mag, you are constrained by space, much more than you would be online.. Of course, I realise you'd depend on contributions from the authors and I have little tio say about that since I've never writen for FSM (shame on me for not ever trying), but that was just another idea...

I think Mkish suggestion is simply great..! But maybe, instead of having the whole mag online, you should consider bringing in particular articles that, for instance, are related to the forum's questions about particularly popular subjects (flesh painting, uses of Future, washes,...). I realise this might mean loss of income from old issues, but maybe having that kind of resources online might bring in even more (have you seen how many people are alreasy member, and the rate it's going up!) visitors and members to the site, and possibly pushing up the sales of the current issues.. A balancing act...

Another possibility would be extended coverage of the many shows you visit. Seeing completed models in FSM is one of the main reasons I let myself be tempted... and why I have so many unfinished models..!

Mr. Hanson,

The OnlineEXTRA section is a great idea/feature, but I certainly understand your challenges about finding the resources to keep it going.

It's got some real potential to 'draw' people to your website and forum. However, if you don't keep updating it, the effect will soon be lost and a 'first impression' of the feature will spread throughout the modelling community.

Perhaps there are some alternatives:
- keep the 'gallery' going as I expect you have lots of extra photos and can fill this section with relatively little upkeep.
- consider putting an 'old' issue of FSM in the online-extra section. I'm not sure how many older issues you have stored electronically, but making one available in this section would certainly be a treat for me. I expect any 'new' modeller is looking for as much reference and instruction material they can find and back-issues of FSM are a real treasure.
- if your resource constraints are $ related, then you're hooped. If they are people related, then I suggest outsourcing the upkeep of this section.

Thanks for a great website.

Murray Kish

Hi M~

No, you're not missing anything--so far we've been able to post only those two articles. OnlineEXTRA is one of those ideas that seemed great in the planning stages, but once we got the new site online, it's been difficult to steal editorial time away from the magazine to prepare OE items.

I have mixed feelings about that part of the site; on the one hand, it could be a nice little bonus for online visitors to FSM; on the other, I'm concerned that if we try to maintain it on a shoestring, the editorial quality won't be up to FSM's standards. We'll be doing some serious thinking about it. Stay tuned.