[lanslide]

Well maybe we're making a mountain out of a mole hill. This would be a fun poll to participate in just to see where the interest lies. And we all may learn a little history in the process.

[Rush104]

Originally Posted by lanslide

Well maybe we're making a mountain out of a mole hill. This would be a fun poll to participate in just to see where the interest lies. And we all may learn a little history in the process.

I agree. Now, lets follow Epi's advice and wait for management to chime in. If they don't answer within a week, we'll ping 'em then.

[Epapazian]

I have a strong sense that one way or another we will go ahead with this poll, as it seems to spark a lot of interest. With that in mind, I have done a lot of rethinking, bearing in mind many of comments expressed on this thread. I'd like to share my latest appreciation with all interested parties. So here goes.If the purpose of the poll is to guide manufacturers as to our wishlist, then why are we---myself included--cutting things so fine? All of the major manufacturers put out planes from several eras. Their thinking isn't "which Cold War plane do we do next?". Or "which WWI plane do we do next?Rather, it's simply, "which plane comes next?"------regardless of era. So if we did a poll for 1:72 and 1:48 scale planes, why can't we allow any candidates, from any era ,to qualify?Let the chips fall as they may, so to speak. This approach lends itself to the open ended approach, because the field becomes so broad that pre-listing or memory aids aren't so important. It also allows important marks or variants of existing diecast planes that so far are not available to be cited. Finally, it greatly reduces the research that otherwise might be needed, saving respondents the burden---and redundancy--- of making up a WWI, WWII, Cold War and Modern Era list for two or more scales. Indeed, it's even possible that planes from The Spanish Civil War or the Sino-Japanese conflict would make the cut. If we adopted this approach we could ask respondents to give us their top 15 planes for each scale, period. Of course, we might alert them that planes like the C-47, P-39, BF-110 ,etc. are already in the works so votes aren't "wasted" on these planes. We might also caution them that IXO planes don't count as "done" and can be included. That, plus sensible editing rules should do it. We don't need a pre-screening phase. We just do the poll. Period. What would help, however, would be some help from management to encourage people who have not voted to participate. We should also allow members to change their votes prior to closing the poll for a final tally. What say you?

[Shawn 507]

Originally Posted by Rush104

I agree. Now, lets follow Epi's advice and wait for management to chime in. If they don't answer within a week, we'll ping 'em then.

One ping only!!!

[Cruver Collecter]

Two scale proposition sounds like it may be simplest idea todate. Is there any chance of getting group consensus prior to contacting management? Just feel that progress might be smoother if everyone is in agreement.

[TopHat]

Nine (9) pages just to figure out methodology?


Have fun with the actual poll, guys........!!

[Epapazian]

Originally Posted by TopHat

Nine (9) pages just to figure out methodology?


Have fun with the actual poll, guys........!!

I'm sure that the various members who chimed in on this subject as we batted it back and forth gave the subject some careful thought. Assuming that you are in favor of such a poll, would you care to offer us any advice on ways do do it better? Any inputs would be welcome.

[hworth18]

There are ways to do a poll and I have discussed it with Gavin.. He is up for the idea, but the details need to be sorted before anything can be put together..

[lanslide]

Thanks hworth! We might also consider creating a list of planes to pick from that matches what has been produced as a plastic model. Plastic airplane models have been around for 50 years and serious mainstream diecast airplane models for only 10 years. Maybe we should begin by not being too ambitious and not try to out do what's been done in plastic...for now. Just something more to chew on.

[Epapazian]

Since it might give us some guidance, I've been monitoring the poll that Model Power has been conducting via its website.In this project, people are invited to vote on any plane or planes they would like MP to produce in diecast next year, with the promise that the top three will, indeed, be done by this company. Aproximately 30 planes are listed for people to select from , but beyond this, the vote is totally open ended, there are no instructions, no guidelines about what scales would be involved for large planes like a B-36 relative to a Yak-3, etc. Even allowing for those who vote two or more times in order to stack the deck in their favor, I was surprised by the number cast so far. The latest tally has 35,000 votes, which I take to represent 10,000 voters choosing three planes apiece, plus some who voted twice. In the light of recent discussions on this forum as to the size of the diecast warbird market, this is an impressive showing. The findings, so far, are also noteworthy. Despite the wide range of potential candidates---even after disregarding the numerous planes that MP has already made---only 8 new candidates are getting any play. The top 8 in MP's poll are as follows: TBF 17%, BF-110 and F-105 16%, F-111 11%, AT-6 10%, F6F and Galaxy 9% and F8U Crusader 4%. No other plane does better that 1%.I'm not sure how to interpret this. Does it mean that voters prefer a broader choice of options than the 30 planes pre-selected by MP? Who, knows? A final observation regarding MP's poll. Normally, when a survey is conducted, you get a fairly large initial response as those who really care about the subject chime in. After this return rates slow progressively, until they peter out entirely. Interestingly, this has not happened so far in MP's poll. A few weeks ago it had about 15,000 votes, but rhe latest returns are based on twice this number. The implication is that a poll such as this does not attract all interested parties at once and that constant promotion will garner many new voters over time. Just thought I'd pass this info and my comments along for anyone who might be interested.