Having just shelled out several hundred dollars in annual costs to keep Scale Model Paint Masks running, I've come to realise that it's not financially tenable for me to continue to do so. Without sponsorship or benefaction, I'm humbly going to have to ask for your collective assistance in defraying the running costs of the site. To that end, I've set up a new PayPal Donate button (below), with which you can donate any amount of your choosing, from a single dollar upwards. Any amount will help!

 

 

 

If the button doesn't work for you, try the link below:

 

https://www.paypal.com/donate/?hosted_button_id=4F8UANDQKKFR4

 

I thank in advance those of you who are able to donate, and hope to find a better solution to covering our operating costs as we move forward.

 

Kev

Given the amount of “traffic” and interest shown in this site Kev, despite efforts to promote it on other forums, I have to question whether it’s worth continuing? I’m happy to throw a few pennies in the hat, but is it really money well spent?

Max 

Edited July 14, 20223 yr by Mozart

It seems you may be right, Max.

 

Kev

9 hours ago, Kevin Futter said:

It seems you may be right, Max.

 

Kev

Kev, I don’t doubt that you have contributed a lot in terms of effort and cash in opening this site, and this purely for altruistic reasons. I’m also sure lots of the masks that have freely been uploaded by those of us who enjoy using our Silhouette and Cricut machines have been used by site visitors, but there is no discussion/interaction element forthcoming. Without that, the site stagnates sadly.

On 7/13/2022 at 7:51 AM, Mozart said:

Given the amount of “traffic” and interest shown in this site Kev, despite efforts to promote it on other forums, I have to question whether it’s worth continuing? I’m happy to throw a few pennies in the hat, but is it really money well spent?

Max 

I have to say that pretty much sums up my thoughts too.  It would be a shame if the site were to go, but we can't expect Kev to carry on paying out of his own pocket, and are there enough members willing and able to donate to be viable?  A hard question, perhaps.  I would like to say thank you, Kev, for your work to date in setting up and running this site.

Thanks for your input, fellas. Truth is, if I could minimise the personal financial cost, I’d be happy to simply let the site exist in perpetuity, busy or not. But when I first launched Scale Model Paint Masks, I had a day job, and could absorb the expense. That’s no longer the case. Apart from the SSL certificate, which I’ll renew shortly, the site is paid up for another year, so it will survive at least that long, and hopefully I can make the site viable in that time. The first thing I need to change is to lead from the front and become more active here myself!

 

Kev

4 hours ago, Kevin Futter said:

The first thing I need to change is to lead from the front and become more active here myself!

I think that given your KLP Publishing activities and work on LSP, you're doing as much as you reasonably can on here, and we thank you for it.

39 minutes ago, MikeC said:

I think that given your KLP Publishing activities and work on LSP, you're doing as much as you reasonably can on here, and we thank you for it.

 

Thanks, Mike. We'll see how the next year goes...

 

Kev

I've just paid the annual license renewal for the forum software that runs Scale Model Paint Masks, and along with the other associated costs of keeping the site online (hosting, domain renewal, security certificates, etc), it's quite a costly exercise. All of this comes out of my own pocket, as we have no sponsorship, or any other way of generating revenue to help cover costs. So if you could see your way to making a small donation to help offset these expenses and keep SMPM online, I'd be very grateful! There's a "please donate" button in the top right section of the homepage:

Thanks in advance for your generosity!

Kev

What are the annual expenses for this forum? 🤔

Harry

46 minutes ago, Timbacat said:

What are the annual expenses for this forum? 🤔

Harry

Probably around $500 or so, off the top of my head.

Kev

I find myself again questioning not only the viability of the site Kev, but also its raison d’etre. Don’t get me wrong, I’m prepared to make a donation to help out because there’s no reason why you should be the one to bear all the cost, but if there’s no tangible gain of any sort in it for you other than altruism, why do it?

Max

It's a fair point, Max, and you may ultimately be right. I started the site because I thought it would be a useful resource, and the aim was to build it to the point where it could attract sponsors to help cover the costs of running it. Clearly that hasn't happened. But if I killed it now, I'd feel bad for all those people who have generously contributed so far, and uploaded lots of terrific files. On the flip side, my latest plea for assistance has mostly fallen on deaf ears, which puts the writing very clearly on the wall.

Kev

Ok Kev, I can see your point. It’s a shame that this undeniably excellent resource isn’t better known about and that sponsorship hasn’t been forthcoming. The site of course hosts the masks that I designed for the Airscale Defiant, linking with a QR code on the kit, and in recent discussions with Peter I’ll shortly be doing the same for his Typhoon so there’s an implicit element of “sponsorship” there, albeit not (yet?) financial!

Max

PS I have donated!

Edited September 14Sep 14 by Mozart

A small donation sent.

P

Thank you both!

Kev

Just sent a donation as well

Thank you Kev for all the work and resources you put into keeping this site available

Being somewhat new to the hobby and the site, I definitely appreciate the information here that I was able to learn how to create my own masks and make use of some of the templates available

But I do echo the same comments about the amount of traffic and long term viability. While it would be unfortunate if it shut down it's also very understandable.

Hoping for the best

Thanks, Steve - much appreciated!

Kev

Although I'm not very active here, I was relieved to find this forum! I'm still just starting to create my own cut masks, but I'm already seeing a lot of valuable input.

Wouldn't it be a good idea to ask for a small contribution per downloaded file, for the benefit of the forum?

Anyway, I'll contribute with my donation 👍

Asking for money is good way to drive people away, I think. Even my plea for donations has largely landed on deaf ears - though I am eternally grateful to those few of you who have indeed contributed! Just that simple act (whether financially useful or not) helps keep me thinking that the site is worth persevering with.

Kev