Well some times over this forum or others also , a question has been raised about the quality of the reviews we do in here.

Some times myself also beeing a reviewer in figures feel bad seeing some members , that are not satisfied with them.

But also many times i check on some other site reviews and i see......reviews with 100 words and 3-4 pics (more sites do it like that ) , while some of our reviews would take more than 2 days to be finished and more than 30-40 pictures .

So i would dare to ask all felow members.


1) How do u find reviews in Armorama ? Good Poor? Excellent?

2) What more do u expect from them in the future? What would u suggest?

3) Comparing Armorama reviews with other sites that u may visit or be a member, how do u find them ?



Thanks in advance , i wish this would help to improve things , we might have overlooked , or didnt paid enough attention .

Costas I can remember this being discussed at some other time but where and when is another story.

IMHO the reviews here on Armorama are very good. Like any review they are open to interpretation at times but on the whole are pretty honest here on the big A.

Apart from the Perth Military Modeling site I do not visit any of the other modeling sites so cannot comment on what theirs is like in comparison.

cheers
Cliff

Dear Costas,
In my personal opinion ;
1.there are excellent and good reviews in general and poor ones as a rarity. but this absolutely depends on personal expectations; one can find it poor as the other thinks it is excellent..i think the important point here is ; it should be reviewed as told in guidelines of Armorama. because i think a standardisation is necessary to keep them in a good level and extra info is always for our sake.
2. I would suggest to all reviewers and editors to read guidelines once again and maybe once more to add satisfying reviews to Armorama because i believe the standard format is a very good one. Linking the cheapest available price in net ( reviewer needs to make some search for this), lots of photos, good close up photos and a few honest opinions of reviewer can be great help..for example; as i see a figure photographed with casting blocks not removed and it tells good fit , hard to be believe this or is it my obsession?
3.Armorama reviews can not be compared to any others. i think others can not be considered as reviews with a few photos and not much than 50 words. I like to read Armorama reviews and also Perth Modelling website Terry Ashley reviews because they really help me to decide buy it or not and thats what i expect from a review...for who may not know ; Squadron reviews links customers to Armorama for many products as some others sites i dont remember now do the same.

enough to say as a start
bestest regards

Sorry, but I have to disagree here. It is not possible. For samples received from manufacturers the good practice is to show MSRP. For samples received from retailers - the price shown should be the one that retailer lists. And for items purchased by reviewers the price should reflect how much they paid for them (unless they got it at some unusual, discounted price etc.).

Listing "lowest available price in the net" just does not make much sense, as sources listing lowest prices are often most unreliable ones and are charging highest shipping costs...

Pawel

I don't there will ever be a formula for a perfect review, and on the whole the ones here are better than a lot you can find elsewhere. As long as the reviewer is relatively objective and justifies their comments (e.g Vodnik's review of the Academy Sheridan - harsh but fair) then it's alright by me.

I always look at several reviews before making my mind up. And I can find ways of messing up the assembly undreamed of by the reviewers

Pawel..it was aimed for Armorama members financial benefit and i didnt think it in your way but you are absolutely right on that...i step backwards for this.
bestest regards

I am fairly new to the hobby and when I first found armorama, I was impressed. Armor reviews are some of the best here. Jim Rae gives prompt and fast news and Vinnie (Teacher) gives great reviews and builds. There arent many other sites that can even touch armorama. One thing I would like to see is more Canadian online hobby stores here but I know that there are prolly few out there and that Armorama cant track down everyone.

Reviewers and article writers, keep up the great work. You guys help make this site what it is.

I find the reviews extremely helpful. They let me know what some of the shortcomings of the kits are as well as some of the problems to expect. They also help me to decide if I want to purchase that particular kit or another manufacturer's kit.
I also like the reviews because they bring new products to my attention that I may be interested in but would not have known about otherwise.
On the topic of other sites, I only really visit them for the galleries. Armorama seems to be the most comprehensive modelling site on the web.

I don't know financially how the reviews or sample affect Armorama or the other websites. However I am actually much more impressed with a site that is willing to take the risk by giving bad reviews when bad reviews are warranted. Any site willing to give a sponser a low grade on a sample is much more truthful to me. I've read several reviews where where an item is given low marks. I don't see that too often on other sites.

In general, the reviews are pretty good. Some are excellent, some a very good, some are marginal. It depends on the reviewer.

I think most all the reviews here are very good, with many excellent. You can't compare a "in the box" review with a "full build" review, but both have value. Before buying many models I check out all the usual places, here, Track Link, Missing Link, Perth, plus some of the online shops that link to reviews, Squadron, Great Models, etc. Each reviewer brings something to the table that I can find useful. I also think it's like movie reviewers, it's important to find one who has tastes like you. One reviewer might be more concerned with how accurate a kit is. That's fine if that is what you're looking for in a kit. You might be more interested in the fit of a kit, and an in box review won't be any good to you.

The main thing though is the review must be honest. I've never seen this here but it is possible for somebody to have an ulterior motive, like they work for a model company or they get free models for good reviews. Such motives should never sway a reviewer towards writing a good review of a bad kit.

As far as price this is an important item that needs to be included in every review. "List price" can sometimes be hard to come by. You can typically find list included on some online shops for newer kits, but if the review is of an older model it might not have listed price. In cases like that as long as some idea of what the item generally goes for should be included.

I have to say, there aren't too many subjects I need a review on, but, when I do find one that interests me, I have yet to find one that didn't tell me what I needed to know. Every now and then I just read a few to brush up on what's out there and Armoramas are as good or better than any other review.

My 2 cents.
Cuhail

I think the nature of the products (a lot of quality issues depending on casting etc) means you can NEVER review the same product everyone else receives.

some may be warped, have air bubbles, or just get that one bad batch that slipped through QC.

I think the Big A has really valuable opinions stored in the review sections and whenever I look for a kit I always check whats been reviewed first!

Very difficult, and in some cases impossible... I tend to put a non-commital 'Variable' . This generally is caused by having purchased the review samples from abroad (for example a series of books I purchased in Poland) the local price is aplicable - where?..Jim

I feel Armorama's reviews and articles, if taken in the whole, are really nice. What I like best is that Armorama's format and style gives the reviewer or article writer more room and tools to express themselves. As with all Human Beings, some are more appealing than others.

Armorama reviews and articles don't come out like "cookie-cutter" products or assembly line features.

I really like Terry Ashley's review style over at PMMS - and have told him so a few times throughout the years. Very useful.

Gunnie

Overall, I think the armorama reviews are well done. Some other sites have things they call reviews that are a paragraph and 2 or 3 pictures. That is not a review.

I absolutely agree with Vodnik on the pricing subject.

I too would have to say that the reviews here on Armorama are as good as or better than some of the other review sites around.
Armorama has an excellent review guideline policy and when followed, the reviews presented are most helpful. The key to the review however is the person writing the review..and their ability to give and honest and fair depiction of what they are seeing and dealing with.

Of course, no matter how good the reviews are, unless people start using the site - i.e. going beyond the Forums....Jim

Jim this does not help answer the question about the Armorama reviews. People will use the site as they want and if it is only the forums they go to then that is there choise.

cheers
Cliff

Overall I think the reviews are excellent. I read most of them and enjoy doing so.

So in general were on the good way, at least as far as the members think of it (and thats what interests me more, that was the initial spirit of the question). We have to try more of course as always ...

I don't find the price such an important part of the review in comparison to reviews of the sculpt quality, fit, etc. I obviously find the build reviews more valuable than most of the inbox ones. The latter are sometimes too brief and vague to be of real use, unless it's just to satisfy my curiosity over an as-yet unavailable kit. Then I look forward to seeing what it looks like.