Free Plans

[Lee BillParticipant @leebill52205]

[Lee BillParticipant @leebill52205]

Are any of the free plans available for download? I live in the "States" and printed copies are hard to find, I currently have a digital subscription, and I would like to get the free plans. Can anyone help?
Thanks,

Lee

[Colin BishopModerator @colinbishop34627]

Hi Lee,

I am afraid that the free plans published in the magazine are not available for download, that is one reason why the digital subscription costs less than the print version!

You can of course order them separately from the MyHobbyStore website though.

**LINK**

Regards,

Colin

[Bob Abell 2Participant @bobabell2]

Colin

I realise the magazine is not geared up for it yet, but the missing drawings in the digital offering could easily be solved by adopting Paul Thomasons method

The drawings need to be issued on A4 sheets somehow…….There must be a way and it will come!

Don`t let the competition do it first!…..lol

Just a suggestion

Bob

[Dave MilbournParticipant @davemilbourn48782]

No need to change the drawing, as long as it's near enough to one of the standard sizes e.g. A0. Most printers have a "poster" setting which allows you to "tile" a large sheet and print it in A4-sized chunks. I've just been doing this very thing with a plan which was scanned from a magazine, traced in CAD and then tile-printed. If not then a copy-shop will print out a PDF for you quite reasonably – I pay about £3.50 for an A0 sheet.

Colin and Paul F will no doubt say that this takes additional time for no extra revenue but as the plans are all now drawn in CAD I don't see a huge investment in re-saving them in PDF format for printing off. Adding register marks to the original CAD drawing to allow the printed sheets to be aligned accurately is the work of a few minutes – once only. If the hard-copy plan is being given away free then there can't be any concerns about "pirate" electronic copies either. I'm sure the recipients of digital issues would pay the extra if they wanted the plans.

Where there's a will there's always a way.

Dave M

[Colin BishopModerator @colinbishop34627]

I'm not sure that the plans are in fact originally drawn in CAD but stand to be corrected, they do of course end up in electronic format for printing.

I agree that there are probably no technical reasons why the plans could not be included in the digital editions but there are commercial ones!

The 'free' plans subsequently find their way into the Plans Service and subsequent sales are made which help recover the original fee paid to the person who draws them.

If you mail out an electronic copy with the digital edition you are effectively giving it away to the whole world as the files will inevitably be swapped around on the internet. It isn't so easy to do this with physical plans as they have to be scanned and digitised first to recreate the file which introduces a significant hassle factor. You need to get hold of one of the original hard copies first. It may be an imperfect business model but the powers that be seem to feel it is reasonably effective in the circumstances.

Years ago complete copies of mainstream 'feature' plans were printed in the magazine because in those days the technology did not exist to easily enlarge them and it was cheaper just to buy a copy if you wanted to build the model. Now of course you can take one of those old plans, scan it in at 300dpi and bingo you have got a file you can print out at full size. But people still buy these old plans because they don't have the original magazines to copy them from and to get hold of one introduces the hassle factor again.

This is why you will only see parts of feature plans reproduced in the magazines these days to encourage people to buy copies of plans.

People complain about kit manufacturers not providing full size plans, or in the old days not providing drawings of frame sections in the old Aerokit drawings. The idea of course was to protect their copyright which is why it is actually difficult to build an Aerokit type boat from the drawings that originally came with the kit.

You don't stay in business by giving away your assets and stock in trade.

Colin

[Dave MilbournParticipant @davemilbourn48782]

Colin
Please let's not side-track or exaggerate the issue. The question is not about whether kit manufacturers should include full-size plans or whether reduced-size facsimilies should appear in the magazine; they are different matters entirely.
The situation here is that a publisher has already made the commercial decision to print and give away free thousands of copies of a full-size plan from which a model boat can be made. The original drawing fee is not exactly hundreds of pounds so you'd need to sell relatively few extra hard-copies (at twelve quid plus P&P) to recoup it. If the plan 'bombs' then you'd have to stand that cost anyway.
It's just as easy for a modeller to post a request on an Internet forum for a hard-copy of a free plan as it is to ask for a PDF file, and the answer is nearly always that someone will oblige – often for nowt or a promise to drop a coin into a lifeboat box. You've seen that happen as often as I have. Club members already share copies of the two main model boat magazines – don't you think they do the same with the free plans? They're a resourceful bunch as well as being fiscally prudent (tight-fisted), these boaties!
Contrary to your last statement the reality is that you apparently can stay in business etc, but once you've given away a plan then you can't rely on making any further profit from it. It's a cost. It's there as an incentive for folk to buy that issue, like any other free gift. Once it's out there you lose control of what happens to it. Better surely to increase the digital subscription a little to cover your costs, include a PDF with it and regard anything more as pure bonus?
I seem to think that Paul T imposed some form of encryption on his PDF files so they can't be used by anyone else except the initial recipient (but that person can always pass on the printed A4 sheets….). Paul can elaborate on that point if he feels so inclined.
Your serve!

Dave M

[Tony HadleyParticipant @tonyhadley]

One American plan seller (of craft patterns) added the additional rule that only three models could be built from each plan (without further permission) – easy to say but difficult to enforce.

Isn't the issue though one of making things more difficult, you can write all the rules in the land and people will think of a way to avoid them. The classic example is car parking – you can write all the rules as to why cars can't be parked in a particular place, write all the rules, put up all the signs and markings and they will come forward with every excuse as to why they needed to park there – you must erect a physical barrier to prevent this and make things difficult.

The first downfall of keeping plans in check, wasn't the pc/internet, but the photocopier. Not too long ago carbon paper, tracing paper etc were the only way to make a copy.

[Paul TParticipant @pault84577]

Dear All

There are very simple ways to copy existing paper drawings onto a digital format, such as PDF and equally simple ways to digitally protect them from abuse.

In my experience of transmitting digital drawings I have found that most of the blow and bluster about not being able to digitally copy paper drawings or protect the digital copyright comes from in house IT experts, see definition of expert, who don't understand and cant be bothered to find out how drawings are digitally copied and protected.

Paul

[Colin BishopModerator @colinbishop34627]

I think that I should point out that I have no influence or say in how MTM manage their business so I'm afraid you need to address your arguments elsewhere! They probably sell far more aeromodelling plans than boat ones and in their wisdom currently have the policy of not sending out free digital copies for reasons that they clearly consider to be valid as they presently perceive the situation. Whether that policy will change in the future we shall just have to see, but they are certainly aware of the issues surrounding the publication of digital magazines – how could they not be?

Paul, I can assure you that the IT people at MTM/MHS are not at all incompetent or technologically ignorant as you appear to suggest. They do however work under the direction of the people who run the company and who set their work priorities. Also I am sure you will recall the difficulties experienced in reconciling the graphic material you have previously submitted with your recent articles with the standard print preparation processes used in producing the hard copies of the magazine!

Colin

[Paul TParticipant @pault84577]

Colin

I should have made it clear that I was referring to the IT dummies that I came across in my professional life, these guys refused to believe that an AutoCAD drawing could be transmitted as an email attachment or that sections of individual drawings could be viewed on screens connected to the internet.

I wasn't having a pop at the IT chaps at MTM, as far as I am aware they do a wonderful job and have probably never been asked about copying paper drawings onto digital format.

Cheers

Paul

[Colin BishopModerator @colinbishop34627]

Paul,

Well of course they copy paper drawings onto digital format, how else do you imagine they get printed?

Not just chaps either, ladies can actually undertake this degree of technological complexity these days. Very competently too.

Colin

[harry smith 1Participant @harrysmith1]

Free plans are very rare for model boats(bucket loads for planes).

But if you are interest in American Unlimited Hydro's there is a good range of models and sizes.

18.5 to 36 inches.

I am building a semi scale Atlas Lines 28.5"

[Andy CParticipant @andyc56856]

Hi lee,

If you are after plans for easy to build models, you could try http://eezebilt.co.vu.

Diede on this forum runs the site I think. Has a good selection of plans available to download and print on A4, also some history of keil Kraft and a couple of build logs too.. Should get you started.

Cheers Andy

[Diede van AbsParticipant @diedevanabs87670]

Hah, I wish I would run that site! It's a great resource and I am a huge fan of the models, but no I don't run the site. It's run by a guy that calls himself Dodgy Geezer or simply DG and he goes to great lengths to find plans of ye olde kits – and nowadays he designs them too!

Do pay a visit to the site though, the plans are nice – and if scaled up a bit, you'll end up with quite a decent size model (the originals being pretty small and intended for set-and-release sailing on a single battery).

I myself built an Otter tug (original size, but with a bit more draft for added stability and room for RC), a Tamar (DG design 50+ range) and I am working on a Sea Princess – being so big that I did not need to scale – and a 150% Beaver with modified stern (I got the plans for the AHT stern from DG after some mails to and fro). You'd almost say I am a fan boy

[edit] My Sea Princess build, unfortunately I didn't progress beyond the last post as I am busy with an extensive rebuild of the house – which left the garage filled with belongings and no room for spray painting.

My Otter can be viewed on the EeZeBilt website (the black hulled one) and the Tamar too (the dutch one). On both pages is a link to my (dutch) build log too…

Good luck, these are real fun boats to build!

Edited By Diede van Abs on 20/03/2015 09:17:03

[Paul FreshneyParticipant @paulfreshney24971]

Sea Princess and the Fire Tender were both in an 8 page feature article by Ron Rees and based on plans from the Eezebilt website in March 2015 Model Boats.

Paul Freshney

[Barry HalfordParticipant @barryhalford54111]

i am a contributer of both mag ans electric. and would like to know can i get access to back dated free plans?

[Colin BishopModerator @colinbishop34627]

Most, but not all. free plans included in the magazine can be subsequently purchased from MyHobbyStore: **LINK**

Colin

[harry smith 1Participant @harrysmith1]

**LINK**

Old Boat plans mainly American.

Some are good but some are bad!!!

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