IPMS is a large model making society with many branches all over the country and special interest groups who have their own websites. It was unfortunate that someone went to a local branch to find that all the members there were all aircraft modellers. Some branches are a lot smaller than others, so this could be a problem. Best not just walk away. Try to integrate as this will encourage the group to gain more members with other interests. Remember that primarily we are all model makers, no matter what we are interested in. I build Car models but find that there is a lot to learn from people who build other things. The IPMS Forum can be a bit slow at times, but the information on it is always of value.
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Up date the UK forum have now let me in after18 days, as Noel said some branches are a lot smaller than others and can be a bit slow at times, but the information on it is always of value thats the main reson I joined so we will wait and see.
Pete.Comment
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i can only speak from experience
when i started to look round for a IPMS group to join 18 months a go i had 3 within 20 mile radius .....the one i chose was simply based on the quick response to emails and they had a website
i must have chose wisely cos one of the other branches (the closest one to where i work) has folded due to infighting
but the one i joined has been great...twice monthly meetings and theres always 30ish people there........its a great cameraderie ......the modelling is very varied......usual planes and armour but theres also plenty of bikes and cars and sci fi and a couple of superb figure builders...when i made thta wooden catapult a while ago it went down a treat cos it was different...and worked!... ...active in various SIGs such as tonka and lightning, and star wars and IDF......a couple of whatsapp groups mean the craic goes on all the time.....display at loads of shows every year
my advice is if you have had a bad experience with one branch....go find another.........i wish i had joined one years agoPer Ardua
We'll ride the spiral to the end and may just go where no ones beenComment
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Beowulf, sounds like you might now belong to the 'Black Sheep' branch?
If I am right it got formed by former members of the infighting branch who got fed up with all the animosity taking place and decided to break away.
Regarding another poster's comment about IPMS Forums.... Most IPMS Forums around the world are accessible to members and non members to join or look at on the web.Comment
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I got that well wrong! It sounded like the branch that Mick Lomax from our club set up near Wakefield when his job took him up North.
I belong to the Milton Keynes Branch, a good mix of modelling interests and also a good friendly lot. 'Serious modellers who don't take themselves too seriously!'
I think that MKSMC must have been around for a good number of years now....Must check how long we have been going.Comment
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Sounds like a nice club you belong to Paul.Comment
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Interesting topic and one I want to talk about on the podcast in future. A fellow modeler in Canada posted this to his blog a while back which I found very good news as the IPMS Canada chapters from what I've seen have been very accommodating to all sorts of modelers. In our local chapter, we have a wide variety of builders and people love learning new things.
Like a business, any chapter that ignores changing trends does so at their peril.Comment
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Simon. Sad to hear that you had a bad experience at the IPMS branch you went to. Which one was it? Name and shame them! Not only that but report your experience to the IPMS committee so that they can deal with it. Their email addresses are on the IPMS UK Website. How patronising of the members of that branch to tell you that you would have to make airfield support vehicles for them! Hopefully there are other branches within reasonable distance to look in on with a more liberal attitude. I am a long standing member of the society and a car modeller so hearing about this sort of insular behaviour is not what IPMS is all about.Comment
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I joined the ipms in witham nice mix of modellers but I'm a bit shy with people and only went for about a yr of their monthly meetings at which they encouraged me to take some models to the norex show at which there was no interest at all in what I thought were some of my best bits (the christine dio and the warspite gets a fewscars dio) at the time (this is probably just my feeling as I said I don't do people well) I always felt like a fish out of water, and after it was confirmed my models(by public response at norex) (also pete can confirm they aint the best )were rubbish I sort of stopped going but the members were very supportive and friendly.Comment
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Hi I join the UK forum and the London forum, the UK one have posted stuff and never got any reply on anything and for the London still waiting to join but will not bother now.
As for the magazine and welcome pack they have not turned up at all, so have given up with ipms all together, what a wast of time and £23.
PeteComment
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Pete...Get onto the IPMS Committee Membership Secretary via their website or write to them. Not getting the welcome pack and magazine must have been down to a human error somewhere along the line. If they have cashed your cheque or if you have transferred £23 into their account by credit or debit card it will be traceable. Generally IPMS are very efficient with new membership applications and keeping tabs on 4000 plus members annual renewals. You really need to follow this up with IPMS if your account has been debited for the £23. I am sure that they will put it right for you very quickly, but you do need to get in touch with them. I can understand your frustration otherwise you would not have commented on this forum. As for using the main IPMS forum and their London forum, well any forum is only as good as the people who bother to use them. Any forum including this one has that dependance, and it is just a fact of life that some forums are sleepy, whereas others are always busy. I have a number of posts in forums. Some get replies and quite a few do not. Unfortunately it is the nature of the beast.Comment
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Are any of use members of the Scunthorpe + North Lincs, or Sheffield/Rotherham branches? and if so are they any good.Comment
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