YesterAirlines
Well-known member
Hi All. I am happy to announce that Yesterday's Airlines has partnered with @jaymaddog for the 400 scale section of the Model Aircraft Database (MADb).
Why you ask? I'm keen for there to be a long-term, complete, modern and user friendly database for the scale that everyone can be involved with. As some of you know I have had access to the backend of DiMA for years and I have been helping keep it full of a lot of the more obscure releases and models Waffle doesn't sell, like Aeroclassics. It has been a great site for understanding the models, but ultimately as useful as it is DiMA is aimed primarily at running Waffle's store, is built on old tech that can't be easily updated, doesn't work well on mobile, doesn't have a proper master data management system, has some foibles in terms of model recording (no A320neo, brands being merged etc), isn't likely to ever be updated structurally and Waffle himself has called into question whether it will remain available as a web accessible resource. Obviously, rightly or wrongly a lot of people also have issues with Waffle so that has hindered it being a central platform for engagement or collaboration. More selfishly, I wasn't getting anything out of the arrangement, aside from the db front-end. Merely mentioning the possibility of me working with Jay was enough for Waffle to take away my DiMA access, but we parted on reasonably amicable terms!
Hopefully, this new partnership will resolve a lot of the above issues and so far I am impressed with the quality and modernity of the platform, and the ease in which it can be updated. Jay and I have been messaging since January and I originally had no intention of getting this involved, but ultimately if the db doesn't have accurate data then it isn't very useful, so for 400 scale, at least, I have started working my way through the database model by model. With over 18,000 models in 400 scale that is a massive job.
My approach so far is to go brand by brand checking the records are accurate and adding photos. I have kept records of a lot of model releases for years now, so have a lot of data, plus I have over 3,000 models in my collection which I can provide photos for. I also have a lot of other model release shots stored away. Additionally, I have gained access to a massive database of model images from JC Wings, which not only contains a lot of their releases but loads of other brands too. Interestingly that db has been throwing up models that aren't in DiMA from brands like BlueBox and BigBird.
In the past couple of weeks I've managed to knock off nearly 1,900 model entries, probably over half of which have photos. Here are the cleaned records as of today:
These cover the following brands:
This thread is intended as very much a soft launch. Until the db is cleaned for the majority of records I'm not going to announce it elsewhere, but I wanted somewhere to keep people engaged and informed. Progress is limited by my time but I hope to be able to gradually get it up to spec.
Why you ask? I'm keen for there to be a long-term, complete, modern and user friendly database for the scale that everyone can be involved with. As some of you know I have had access to the backend of DiMA for years and I have been helping keep it full of a lot of the more obscure releases and models Waffle doesn't sell, like Aeroclassics. It has been a great site for understanding the models, but ultimately as useful as it is DiMA is aimed primarily at running Waffle's store, is built on old tech that can't be easily updated, doesn't work well on mobile, doesn't have a proper master data management system, has some foibles in terms of model recording (no A320neo, brands being merged etc), isn't likely to ever be updated structurally and Waffle himself has called into question whether it will remain available as a web accessible resource. Obviously, rightly or wrongly a lot of people also have issues with Waffle so that has hindered it being a central platform for engagement or collaboration. More selfishly, I wasn't getting anything out of the arrangement, aside from the db front-end. Merely mentioning the possibility of me working with Jay was enough for Waffle to take away my DiMA access, but we parted on reasonably amicable terms!
Hopefully, this new partnership will resolve a lot of the above issues and so far I am impressed with the quality and modernity of the platform, and the ease in which it can be updated. Jay and I have been messaging since January and I originally had no intention of getting this involved, but ultimately if the db doesn't have accurate data then it isn't very useful, so for 400 scale, at least, I have started working my way through the database model by model. With over 18,000 models in 400 scale that is a massive job.
My approach so far is to go brand by brand checking the records are accurate and adding photos. I have kept records of a lot of model releases for years now, so have a lot of data, plus I have over 3,000 models in my collection which I can provide photos for. I also have a lot of other model release shots stored away. Additionally, I have gained access to a massive database of model images from JC Wings, which not only contains a lot of their releases but loads of other brands too. Interestingly that db has been throwing up models that aren't in DiMA from brands like BlueBox and BigBird.
In the past couple of weeks I've managed to knock off nearly 1,900 model entries, probably over half of which have photos. Here are the cleaned records as of today:
These cover the following brands:
- 737Club
- Altitude Models
- Aurora Models
- Aviation400 OLD
- Aviation400 NEW
- BigBird
- BigBird Mk2
- BigBird Mk3
- Binary Star
- Black Box
- Blue Box
- C Models
- Dream Air
- El Aviador 400
- HYJLwings
- Inflight400
- Miniature Models
- Panda Models
- Retro Models
- Seattle Model Co
- Sovereign Models
- Undefined Collectibles
- Yu ModeL
This thread is intended as very much a soft launch. Until the db is cleaned for the majority of records I'm not going to announce it elsewhere, but I wanted somewhere to keep people engaged and informed. Progress is limited by my time but I hope to be able to gradually get it up to spec.
but when you pull up the list of aircraft after selecting say scale and manufacturer, the list lags while scrolling through it. Likely due to the volume of items because once you go to the airline list it doesn’t lag.
