Good Morning All,
(I apologize ahead of time to those of you who are getting multiple
copies of this e-mail)
I am happy to announce the release of the new N.A.S.G. web site!
http://www.nasg.org/
In December I took over the responsibilities of maintaining the NASG web
site from Jim Breshahan. First order of business was a complete
re-design of the web site. If you have visited the site before, you will
not recognize it at all. The core content of the old site is still
there, but it has been re-organized to hopefully be easier to find. In
addition, new content has been added as well.
There were two primary objectives for the new site design:
1) provide useful, current, and up-to-date information to our S community.
2) provide a "this-is-S-today" view for those modeling in scales other
than S.
It is my commitment to keep the site active and current. As soon as I
become aware of a new product, potential product, or any other
information or correction, I will update the site as soon as possible.
For those of you familiar with my personal web site's list of S-scale
links and recently announced "S" projects, you will find those on the
NASG web site now (see the "Manufacturers" and "News" pages, respectively).
The site is fully functional. However, the "Online Membership Database"
section is still a work in progress. It should be functional, but it may
not look "pretty". I should have that completely revised in the next
week or so. I did not want to hold up the release of the rest of the
site just because of that one feature. The ability to apply for NASG
membership and request Membership Database access features should be
functional and complete. If you need to make changes to your membership
information and the site is not functional, please contact Claude Demers
directly for the time being.
There are several other things on my "to-do list". The old site's
"historical products database" is no longer a database, but a nice photo
gallery (see bottom half of the "Manufacturers" page). We're thinking
about making that section a dedicated page in and of itself. Bill W.,
Jim K., and myself are still reviewing the entries to remove duplicates,
provide supplemental information, and add new entries. The old site's
database contained mostly brass items. My vision is to expand this to
show other items as well. A good example is Jim King's (Smoky Mountain
Model Works) excellent products. However, I also would like to add more
S Helper Service, American Models, and Des Plaines Hobbies products. In
addition, there are more brass items that are not shown on the site yet.
I am also thinking about expanding that part of the site to include
"structures".
Here's where I would like to ask for your help. If you have a photo (or
even a better, higher-resolution photo of an existing item) of an item
that is not listed on the site, I would like to ask you to consider
e-mailing it to me at "[email protected]", so that I can add the item
to the site.
I am also asking for photos of the following topics to be shown in the
web site's home page (the photos are in random order, b.t.w.)
- scale/Sn3/Sn2/Sn42/hi-rail photos of rolling stock (preferable
current items).
- American Flyer photos of rolling stock (preferably items currently
in production, e.g. Lionel challenger).
- built structures.
- dioramas.
- your personal layout.
- photos of your club's layout.
- photos of people at NASG conventions or other "S" gatherings.
(if you have an S-related web site, the home page photos can be clicked
to launch your web site)
Both the "Scale Modeling" and "American Flyer" pages feature photos of
layouts. If you have photos of your layout, please consider e-mailing
them to me to be published on either of those pages. If you have a web
site, I will make a link to your site. Proper credit will be shown with
photos.
If you have any comments about, or problems with, the site, please
contact me.
If any of you reading this and you are also a member of the S-Trains
Yahoo group, could you do me a big favor and forward this e-mail to that
group? Spread the word about the new site! Even to non-S modelers!
I would like to thank Bill Winans and Jim Kindraka for their feedback
and tremendous support. This effort would not have been possible without
them. Additionally, I want to thank Gerry Evans, Brooks Stover, and Mike
Marmer for the fantastic photos they provided to get us started. Also a
"thank you" goes out to the rest of the NASG B.O.T. and committee
chairmen for their feedback during this redesign effort. I really
appreciated it all.
I hope you all enjoy the new site! I have enjoyed working on it for the
past month and a half, and I am happy to continue to actively maintain it.
- Peter.
--
Peter Vanvliet ([email protected], or [email protected])
Houston, Texas
"It is easy to give up; anyone can do that..."
http://pmrr.org/ (my model railroad - RSS feed <http://pmrr.org/rss.xml>)
http://fourthray.com/ (my company)
http://houstonsgaugers.org/ (model railroad club)
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