So….. You want to put your article here on this web site? Good for you! It’s fun and easy, but there are some things you need to think about before you get started. Come on along with me and I will show you how to do it.

First off, do you have an “article” or do you have some photos? That is two entirely different things! If you have some photos you like, but don’t have much of an article to go along then I might suggest you place them on www.myrrlayout.com. This is a “sister” web site (which is fun and free also) that handles photos only. Go have a look around, as there are loads of great shots to enjoy.

If you think you have an “article”, then you’re in the right place. To have a successful article, it MUST have a “subject” or “theme”. Take the time and read your article a few times like you have never seen it before. Does it tell a story? Does it have something to say that you would actually take the time to read? Does it have a “start”, a “subject”, and an “ending”? Or does it “ramble on”? If you don’t mind other people looking at your stuff, get two or three folks to read it and tell you (truthfully) what they think. (This was the hardest part for me….)

To work best on this site, an article needs to be from 400 to 2500 words long. To figure out how many words you have when using Microsoft Word, go to the “Tools” tab and bring up “Word Count”. Neat little tool! For a reference, this article has a little over 750 words.

Now, you have an article that has a “subject”,a "beginning", a “middle”, and an “ending”….. What comes next? Well, every good article will have PHOTOS! You ALWAYS need photos to make your point. To make an article work, you will need from 5 to 16 photos. Usually, if you don’t add photos to an article it will be automatically dumped from this site. That requires you to have everything ready to download at the same time. Don’t have any photos yet? Then hold off on the entire article until you have at least 5 photos. For help getting your photos ready to download, have a look at my other article in this section. Here are a few basic rules for you to get the most out of your article photos.

First, when taking your photos always think: “What would this scene look like if I was right down there on the ground”? One thing I really don’t care for are what I call “God View” photos. Notice the two sets of photos to the right. One is form the “God View”, and the other is of the same scene but at “ground level”. Which do you like?

Next, take LOTS of photos… but only download a very few. You don’t want to overwhelm forks with too much information. If your article is really long and you have TONS of good photos then think about breaking it into two different articles. You can make it into a “series”. What good fun!

And finally….. And I almost hate to say this… But you need to READ the directions on the website. Yes, all of the directions and follow them carefully. I never have been much of a “direction follower”. I like to just “do it”. Let me tell you that if the directions aren’t followed carefully, your wonderful article will end up in “cyberspace” rather than on this site.

So, come on and get busy putting together some articles for this site. These articles can be on almost any subject you think other modelers might find fun. One word of caution here: Don’t post anything that is “off-color” or of a political nature. The article will be dumped and you WILL be “black-balled” from the site. No exceptions.