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Technical
Advisory Service (TAS)
The TAS is run by the Society
to provide what few other organizations or commercial
magazines can offer. TAS draws on the specialised knowledge
and expertise available within the membership nationally to
answer members' questions on a wide range of modelling and
prototype matters. This service is free except for
photocopying and postal charges.
Our New TAS Officer, Alfie Bass, has a vision of how he sees
the the future of the service offered to our members, his
thoughts are outlined below ...
I would like to see the IPMS TAS continue and I'm prepared
to run it. The point made in the IPMS magazine that today
everyone has their own reference library, access to online
information and public libraries is perfectly valid. Why
then do so many requests for assistance with specific
information appear on the IPMS website Forum? The
information is available somewhere but in a lot of cases not
easily accessible because the modeller doesn't know where to
look or even begin looking. Research is an art and is one
that I learned through 10 years in the Specialist Technical
Services department of the RAF. Some of the current EC may
even remember me showing them around the Harrier Maintenance
hangar at RAF Cottesmore a couple of years back? I have been
in contact with Edgar Brooks and I'm fully in the picture of
what the current IPMS Library consists of and how it is
currently indexed. I can collect and store the 18 boxes of
books and 4 filing cabinets of magazines with a few days
notice.
I propose that the TAS continue in its present form for the
immediate future. I would like to take it forward by:
- Producing a relational database of
all the articles that have appeared in the 40 years of
the IPMS magazine. The IPMS was founded by modellers who
grew up in the principal area of interest for most
current members i.e. WW2. Those same modellers were part
of the ATC, ROC or just plain spotters during the war
years and their first hand knowledge of what they saw was
transferred from their notebooks to the IPMS magazine. In
my opinion, this information is priceless and has to a
large extent been ignored by the current generation of
modellers because they don't know it exists. I believe
that the information should be available to them.
Eventually, I envisage a web based database where
specific articles can be requested through the TAS.
- Transfer all copies of the IPMS
magazine to CD-ROM, so that members can own their own
library.
- Expand the magazine database to
include all articles from all modelling magazines that
are held by TAS.
- Further expand the database to
include an index of what is contained in the books held
by TAS.
- Make the database available to
members on CD-ROM.
- Add my own collection of magazines
and books to the database.
I know that this will be a massive
undertaking that will take years to complete. However, I
believe that the TAS can benefit IPMS and be used to
increase membership of our society.
E-mail: Alfie Bass
Armour
TAS
The aims of the Armour TAS are as
follows:
- To help and promote the hobby of
military model making, especially armoured vehicles and
softskins (B type vehicles).
- To help fellow enthusiasts
research a particular subject or vehicle.
- The Armour TAS is able to call on a library of over 5,000 books. This scheme is backed up with a time-limited access of over 10,000 original books, pamphlets and mainly British Army publications (mostly original). Ian Sadler is in charge of the Armour TAS and has been modelling for over 40 years. His interest with the hobby began by building Airfix kits in his early teens. The interest continued and eventually his love of the hobby progressed towards a specialised knowledge of military vehicles. His knowledge of armoured vehicles, especially Russian and unusual oddball vehicles, has earned him awards in competitions up to european championship standard. Ian's main area of interest is armoured recovery vehicles based on Russian Tank chassis. A photograph of one of Ian's models, a Polish T34 ARV tug, which was used in the late 1960's, has been included in a new Osprey book on T34's.
If you require information regarding armour subjects, please send a large stamped, addressed envelope (if outside the UK please send 2 IRC's) to the following address below
The following indexes are available from Ian Sadler for use on any web site or club newsletter:
- Wheels & Tracks
- Steel Masters
- Towns at War Series
- Listings of almost all books published on the Paras
E-mail: Ian Sadler
Decal
Bank
This service is provided within the
Society whereby members with unwanted decals (transfers)
from kits or aftermarket sheets (with instructions) for
which they longer have a use for, make them available to
other members who may have inadvertently damaged or lost the
originals or want to use different markings on their model.
To use this service, members must give their membership
number, cover postage and give a donation with their
request. This is an international service.
Decal Bank, c/o Aeroventure, Dakota Way, Airborne Road, Doncaster Leisure Park, Doncaster DN4 7FB
E-mail: decalbank@googlemail.com
Mike respectfully requests that no
attachments are sent to this email address. If an attachment
is sent, Mike will delete the email for virus protection
purposes.
Kit
Instruction Library
This service is provided within the
Society whereby members who have no instruction with a kit
can apply to the kit instruction library for a copy of it.
If any member has kit instructions that they longer need,
they can send a list, so that if any are not held they can
post them to the library. This is only a postal service, but
instruction sheets may be scanned and emailed if you can
receive them, or, send a large SAE with your request.
'Entwood', Station Road, Walpole Cross Keys, King's Lynn, Norfolk PE34 4HB
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