We announced recently that Meteor Productions had joined the ranks of dealers carrying Colourcoat Paint in the U.S., but that they were only stocking our warship colours....

Armorama is approaching a milestone mark in it's evolution. The server has processed over 1,400,000,000 individual requests (hits) for April already. This will exceed the highest traffic level recorded in January (ussually a seasonally busy time), and bust the 1.5 billion mark almost certainly. A request is a unique file or image that is requested by a remote host or user.

Following the terrible events over the weekend in S.E. Asia, the major relief agencies have launched an appeal for donations.

Some websites that can help you contibute are the following:

Red Cross & Red Crescent

OXFAM

Catholic Relief Services

American Red Cross

Doctors Without Borders/Médecins Sans Frontières

American Jewish World Service

Foster Parents Plan

Please Remember - all these sites are offering secure servers to make credit card donations...

We'll try and update with more websites as they become available...

Armorama.com recently passed the thirty-million mark for pages viewed on the site. This comes just short of the sites 3 year anniversary which will be on December 16th of this year. The success of the site is almost certainly due to the contributions of its members and staff who always seem to go out of their way to welcome and support the new members that are signing up daily.

ModelZone (Croydon) have moved to new premises with more than twice the floorspace of their old shop.

Comet Miniatures Marketing will be holding an open day on Saturday September 4th.

The London shop will be open from 9am to 7pm with over a thousand items on sale - many at just 1/3 their normal price. Special stalls will be set up with items priced a £1, £5, £10 and £20.

Stevens International is requesting suggestions for future kit subjects from Trumpeter.

It's always great to hear of a model shop thriving. The Croydon (S.E. London) branch of ModelZone is all set to move and expand. The shop will be moving from St. Georges Walk to new premises occupying two floors in the Centrale Shopping Centre - more than doubling its size in the process.

More than five million aerial photographs of World War II are to be made publicly available on the internet.

The pictures will go online on Monday. Taken by the RAF, they were used by Allied commanders to help devise their strategy during the six-year conflict.

Jim Starkweather, (a.k.a. “Staff Jim”), and Armorama’s A-Guard membership are pleased to announce Armorama’s first ever campaign for young modelers, the Aprentice Guild Exercises (AGE), beginning January 2004.

Mol Plastic Modelbouw, an On-Line store located in The Netherlands, made more items easily available for the European market.

Osprey Publishing needs your help. They have published an online survey to solicite some response in order to improve the quality of their website.

Alpha Miniatures is looking for established distributors for thier expanding line of 54mm fine figurines. The Auckland, New Zealand based company manufactures military figurines that are cast in pewter. At the moment they are concentrating on a group of 54mm scale figures in the period from 100BC to 200AD and would welcome distributor enquiries from the US, UK, Canada and Europe.

After 35 years of service for the United States and countless other countries, the remainder of the F-4 fleet owned by the US Navy will soon be mothballed.

Well, I tried to hold onto this for as long as I was able. But I am becoming pitifully slow at getting new content onto the site. Why? Well there are a number of factors, but suffice to say that with over 2000 members I am getting a lot more email and such asking for help and solving problems with the sites code/software. Having to worry less about adding content will also free me up for improving the functionality of the site and adding new areas, like the Campaigns module. So... I am finally to the point where I think I can let other users act as Editors to input feature articles and news stories.

Every month CheapestHobbies.com is having a virtual model contest. January's contest is Armor, any type, any scale. The winners will recieve one of the following; 1/35 Tamiya Panther Ausf. A, 1/35 Willys MB Jeep, or a 1/35 Tamiya U.S. Infantry Weapons Set. You may enter two different models each contest, and one picture of each model.

Graham Lawler has just opened a company called EXTRA DETAIL. It will offer a complete range of printed model accessories in most scales. EXTRA DETAIL specializes in military modeling 1/87, 1/72, 1/35 and 120mm, and includes items from WWI to present day. They will also be introducing (very shortly) a section that specializes in 1:24 rally car accessories and also Model Railway signage, which will definitely be something to look out for in the coming months.

As one small part of the celebration of Armorama's first birthday, I wanted to offer a simple and fun contest where the winners will get some free Armorama.com wearables from our CafePress product store.

Orangeville ON - Finally, a Canadian-based news service for Scale Modellers! We intend to provide a reliable and prompt means for manufacturers, retailers, clubs and individual modellers to receive and distribute news, coming events and other data. Participation is as easy as sending us the information you wish to have published and, if you have a website, adding a link to: Scale Model News Service

A group of figure modelers will be holding a first of hopefully many chat sessions on November 24 (Sunday) at 10am EST (-5:00 hrs GMT). It will be held in the ChatterBox area of Armorama. Just look for a room designated for this special meeting. All those who build and paint figures, as well as anyone else who might be interested in this, are invited to join in.

If you haven't been visiting the TwoBobs website you probably don't know about the great sale they've got going on. In celebration of their 2-year anniversary, the 'Two Bobs' have decided to conduct a Customer Appreciation Sale.

Orangeville Scale Modellers is looking to Expand Coverage. We are looking to add more sites to our Top Sites List. If you would like to have your site included, please feel free to join us. If you know someone else who has a site you think should be included, let them know about the above link.

Tiger Werke, a company started by Jef Verswyvel, has launched it's new web site at www.tigerwerke.com. A new line of resin and multi media kits is presented for Armor modelers. The site will feature articles and lots of color pictures for the enthousiasts.

Well there were a few delays (mostly me) but I have finally tallied the results for judged part of the contest as well as drawn the random results for the book prizes. For those interested I went with a very high tech approach on the random drawing. I typed out the entry titles (not user names) in Word, printed it out, cut them up into strips, and had my wife pull them out of a bowl! We thought about having our 2 year old daughter Emily do the honors but figured she would pull out more than one at a time. As it was she got one of the non-winning entry slips and colored on it with crayon.

Trackjam Models, specializing in Canadian Armour detail parts, has a new web address. They can now be found at www.trackjam.com. They carry a selection of products from Grief, Hong Kong Creation Workshop, Maple Leaf Models, Model Point, and more.

We will be unveiling a new look for the site in a week or so. This has been a 4 month project that I am just now finishing up. I would like users that are currently using other themes (aviator, figures) to log-out and re-login. This will restore your selection to the default theme for now. I will be phasing the new site and themes in gradually and for now it would be better if everyone was on the default theme (otherwise you might get errors).

Greg Allan a.k.a. Adam_Baum, the lead core developer and one of the four founding members of the PostNuke CMS Development Project passed away from injuries sustained in a motorcycle accident. The accident occurred June 16, 2002 near his home in Meaford, Ontario in Canada.

Digital Dioramas, a new Webzine dedicated to the art of the diorama, launched today with it's Premier Issue. The site is the brainchild of David Yarnell of Philadelphia, PA. Along the way he has recruited help from an array of modelers across the globe including Michael Sheads, Michael Woodward, Keith Forsyth, Charles Latham, and many more.

The VLS Corporation, home of many well known brands like Warriors, Custom Dioramics, Trakz, and Techstar among others, has unveiled it's new Web site at www.modelmecca.com. The site features a very clean and polished design. Access to their vast array of inventory through their online store. And special pricing through plans like the Master's Group.

I just wanted to alert the 10 or so people who signed up on the site from Monday thru mid-day Wednesday that you will unfortunately have to do so again. And I am very sorry about the loss of any posts you may have made on your first time around. This site has been up for about 4 months and this is the first time we have had to restore and older version of the database. Hopefully it will be the last time. Rest assured we are working on a system were the sites database and core files will be backed up regularly.

The National Cemetery Administration (NCA), a part of the Department of Veterans Affairs, and Save Outdoor Sculpture! (SOS!), are partnering to undertake a project to inventory and document for the first time an estimated 300 major monuments dedicated to fallen soldiers. The monuments are located in more than 100 NCA cemetery properties across the country. NCA will provide volunteers with inventory forms and instructions, cemetery maps, and 35mm film. Volunteers will be required to take photographs and measurements and perform some basic research. Volunteers will be responsible for supplying their own 35mm cameras, the cost of film development, and personal transportation.

Lou Masses will be the guest host of the first Figure Chat. He will be discussing figure painting techniques, tips, and answering your questions. So mark the time and date. Set your alarms for Monday, April 15th at 21:00 Eastern Standard Time (US). The event will be held in the Chatter-box "The Barracks".

I have been keeping an eye on the expired domain list lately for "modelmaker.org". It's available, but I have decided to pass on getting it. Too busy with other things to make use of it. I thought I would share the news of this with the community though in case someone else wants it. There are also some other model related names that I saw today. All these domains were available as of this morning (in other words no one owns them right now). You can register domains through DirectNic (www.directnic.com) for only $15 a year. Read on for the list.

Military Hobbies is hosting a trivia contest on their new site. Two (2) winners with most correct answers will be chosen on Friday, April 5th at midnight EST. The winners will receive a one day '10% off - everything in the store' shopping spree! In the case of ties, the earlier entry will be deemed the winner. If you are a member of the sites "Club" you will also get your 5% discount on top of the 10%! You can enter the contest here.

The Apparel Store at Armorama.com is now open for business. To get there just use the "Apparel Store" link at the bottom of the Main Menu. You can also just click here. I hope everyone who can afford one, and is going to AMPS or IPMS Nats can wear their shirts so we can all meet up easier! And even if your not going to those events you can show your pride in your hobby and support the site in the process! My thanks to the site regulars who covered the cost of the embroidery set-up for this project.

Some of you may have read about the plan to have available some Armorama Apparel items for the coming Nationals (AMPS and IPMS). I have found a company that does embroidery work and will sell shirts via an online store they will actually set up for us. The logo will be available to put on a variety of shirts, hats, jackets, or what not.

You may have seen the banner on the front page for "The Library". Well it's not an advertisement for another site. It's our new bookstore module. The Library will be where you can look for books, magazines, games, and videos that would be of interest to the Armorama community.

The Navy and Marines have a new AAAV (advanced amphibious assault vehicle) in the development phases. The project was started in 1988 and is now in the Development & Demonstration phase (as of 2001). This new vehicle has a distinct advantage over the older AAV7A1, that being about up to 19 knots more speed in the water (max 25 knots). The ground speed is roughly the same at 45mph.

We have added a new option here on the site. We will be sending out occasional (weekly or bi-weekly) emails outlining some of the recent additions to the site. It will come in the form of an eNewsLetter. The important news is that if you want to receive this eNewsLetter you will need to submit your email address (link is on the left side of the site). Registration to the site does not automatically sign you up for the eNewsLetter.

I am working on several new additions to the site and wanted to let everyone know about some of what's been going on here since the site went up in mid-December.