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[longshanks]

Hi Folks

Just come back from Plymouth, having gone up to take some reference photos of the three masted topsail schooner ‘Kathleen & May’ built 1900. Length o’all 133’ x beam 23’. http://www.kathleen-and-may.co.uk/

No I wont be posting them here – 57 photos, file size 129Mb.

As we know a good plan is only the starting point of a good scale model.

I also have a file of  approx 150 pics of the type 23 frigates ‘St Albans & Marlborough’  taken at the ‘Festival of the Sea’, Portsmouth 2005. Again for a future project. Eclectic choices eh!

The point of the post! We have 2900+ members if each one had a collection of photos or indeed reference material of one vessel what a library of material we would have.

Is it possible to collate this material i.e. look up Kathleen & May/Schooner/Gaff rig, contact the following.

Ideas, suggestion or has something like this already been done? Is it worth doing?

Regards
longshanks

[tigertiger]

Hi Longshanks

Martin and the moderators will discuss this worthy idea. But an immediate problem springs to mind. That is the issue of copyright. Having dealt with this in a previous job, it is not a simple issue.

Regards
Mark

[Colin Bishop]

It's a nice idea certainly, but as Mark says, beset with practical difficulties.

From my articles in Model Boats I have had quite a bit of contact with organisations who own ships which would be of interest to modellers and there are a lot off different attitudes. Sometimes they are willing to give unconditional access but more often there are very specific terms and conditions under which the material can be used. At Southampton Maritime Museum recently I virtually had to sign a contract stipulating how my images would be used and what for. The basic reason is of course that organisations are aware of the commercial value of photographic material and are not happy about somebody else making free with it at their expense. The usual arrangement with Model Boats is that we can take the photos for the purpose of the article for free as it gives the organisation publicity but the photos must not be used subsequently for commercial purposes. They are right to be wary. Not so long ago a wedding was held on board one of our preserved ships and in addition to the wedding shots, the photographer took the opportunity to take a general set of pictures aboard which he subsequently started selling on his own account.

It is one thing for people on this Forum to respond to requests for information on specific vessels in a private capacity but once you start organising that information and making it publically available I suspect you are straying into commercial territory as you are facilitating the possibility of it being sold on.

Quite apart from the potential copyright problems there would also be costs associated with the storage of the material and its collation, maintenance and distribution which would have to be recovered somehow. Then you are definitely moving into a quasi commercial situation.

Colin

[Bryan Young]

I think I'll go along with Colin here. But in a simplified fashion. It's probably true that many forum members have shed loads of pics and other "stuff" that they would be willing to share with other forum members. Rather than spending an awful lot of time compiling a database that would probably run to many gigabytes surely the easy way is to just ask for info on the forum. Taking this just a little step further, perhaps a new site (" Any Questions?" perhaps)would be a centralised place to look. But some fairly strict parameters would have to be stated and adhered to to avoid being swamped with stuff like "what did you have for dinner" and so on. BY.

[marineruk]

Going along with Bryan's comments, how about setting up another section in the forum possibly titled "Information Required" where members can come and ask for information on or about a specific subject in private.
I asked a question in the "Wants & Swaps" regarding some info on 47ft Watson class lifeboats as I was unsure where else to post the query on the forum.

I did receive plenty of answers to my question and furball was most helpful as are all Mayhemers on here, like Longshanks and Bryan say in their posts we all must have "shed loads" of pics and other info



Glen

[longshanks]

Hi Guys,

Thanks for your replies. How simplistic am I ! There I was looking at some of my reference pics thinking how good it would be to be able to share them.....

Surely copyright is not an issue with RN vessel as they are owned by us the taxpayers!!

Perhaps Glen is right, simply another section where we can request info on a particular craft.

Regards
longshanks

[Colin Bishop]

Possibly not with current RN vessels but anything else - it's a very different story.

The photos can still be shared - but on an ad hoc rather than organised basis.

Colin

[tigertiger]

Surely copyright is not an issue with RN vessel as they are owned by us the taxpayers!!

If you took the pictures yourself, should not be a problem.
But if the pictures are borrowed, or scanned, or taken from a book, then there is a copyright issue.
Mayhem could not filter out the latter types of pictures easily.

[tigertiger]

... surely the easy way is to just ask for info on the forum. Taking this just a little step further, perhaps a new site (" Any Questions?" perhaps)would be a centralised place to look. ...

Hi Bryan
I have used the 'Design Office: Research and build chat section' main board on Mayhem for these types of questions.
I have also received promt replies.
Maybe if we changed the name to Reasearch and Design Office it would catch the eye better. What do you think?

[Seaspray]

Sounds and looks better    

[Bryan Young]

... surely the easy way is to just ask for info on the forum. Taking this just a little step further, perhaps a new site (" Any Questions?" perhaps)would be a centralised place to look. ...

Hi Bryan
I have used the 'Design Office: Research and build chat section' main board on Mayhem for these types of questions.
I have also received promt replies.
Maybe if we changed the name to Reasearch and Design Office it would catch the eye better. What do you think?

Tiger,
Call it whatever you want, as long as it is simple to understand the aims and purpose....and "out of topic" postings would be immediately deleted.
"Research and Design Office" sounds a bit cumbersome, don't you think? Back to you. Cheers. BY.