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IPMS/USA Reviewers' Corps Membership and Product Review Guidelines Updated December 2009 |
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1. Reviewers' Corps: To join and maintain your membership in the Reviewers' Corps, you must be a current IPMS/USA member in good standing. Email me (John Noack) if you are interested in signing up. Unsolicited reviews are also welcome from IPMS/USA members - again, contact me (JN). 2. Deadlines: In order to ensure timely posting of reviews, particularly on new or exclusive products, the following deadlines should be followed. If you decide to bid for a review opportunity, please be sure you can turn the review in the requested timeframe:
4. Content: The review does not have to be an advertising plug for the manufacturer, nor should it be a "slam job". The review should objectively highlight the good points and offer constructive criticism of the problem areas. Please limit any historical introduction to a few sentences; a reader can do research in more detail after acquiring the product. Also, model reviews should not rehash the instruction sheet with a step-by-step assembly of the model unless any specific step caused a significant problem in the assembly and is therefore worthy of mention in the review. Please include pricing and availability/ordering information in your review. It doesn't help much to tell our members about a great new product, but not how to find it. If you don't have company info let me (DM) know and I will assist you in adding it to the review. Remember to include your name and IPMS number! Including a few words thanking the supplier for the opportunity to review the product goes a long way towards getting us future items to review. 5. Submitting Your Review: Completed reviews should be sent to me (JN). When you email me your review, it is most helpful if you include the title of the review in the subject line of your email ("Review of 1/72 Hasegawa F-18 Hornet"). Your review should be in an attached MS Word document or text file, and not be written in the body the email itself. To facilitate the process, please:
6. Images: All model, detail, and product reviews should have a picture of the box/container and as many others as you feel necessary to illustrate your article. Sending extra and allowing editorial choice is acceptable - just don't overdo it. Book reviews need a picture of the cover and may include one or two images from inside the book if you feel that is helpful to the reader. Decal reviews need a picture of the package and may include an image of the sheet(s) if you feel that is helpful to the reader. Any picture that you submit to IPMS/USA is still your property and IPMS/USA is only granted a license to use it. Please don't submit copyrighted pictures to be used with your articles unless you have secured the right to use them. We reserve the option to edit and arrange illustrations to best support the review text and to best use web page space. Your photographs need to be of the best possible quality. That means sharp, crisp focus, nice, even lighting with no harsh shadows, an uncluttered background or studio backdrop, and a good depth of field so all areas are in focus. Late morning or early afternoon sun is often a good substitute for expensive lighting equipment! Digital images are preferred. Pictures should be attached as separate files (jpg preferred, bmp or gif are OK) and not embedded in either the review text or the transmitting email. Inclusion of all attachments in a zip file is fine, but not necessary. If a review and pictures gets over five megabytes, it is best to send it in pieces, clearly labeling the pieces by number. Reviews have migrated to a new server with more space and the maximum image size will be 800x600. The quality of the image and the relevant content will be the determining factor in sizing. If you are a skilled photographer with good equipment and are handy at editing pictures, have at it - but this is not necessary, other than to reduce the size of transmitted images. It is not necessary that you change your image file names from what came out of your camera, but if you do, then please make them all short, simple, and all lower case. Do not, repeat not, embed spaces or other special characters in your picture file names - use the underscore or dash as a separator - but never a space!!! To allow the most flexibility in our process, please:
An example: “While building the HaseTrumpDragell Farley Fruitfly, I noticed that the stock ejection seat was very basic, and decided to replace it with a Noack Models resin seat. See the photo I’ve included of both seats side by side for a comparison of the kit seat with the aftermarket product”… 8. And, most importantly, have fun - it's a hobby! John Noack & John Ratzenberger December 2009 Contact information: (please note the changes below)
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