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Britmodeller has saved me a fortune!


Rick Brown

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Chaps

Having just seen the post ref SAM and a slight editorial cockup I've realised that having Britmodeller at hand has saved me a fortune.

I used to buy mags quite regularly, maybe 1-2 a month, but due to the financial constraints I only ever buy a mag if there really is something worth reading in it!

No, I'm not the slightly pongy bloke who always gets in the way whilst reading a mag (he always buys anyway) at WHSmiths.

I'm the bloke who quickly flicks through the mag to see if it's worth it or not.

Most of the time the articles are just glorified adverts with no meaningful content or useful tips.

I then think "I'll check Britmodeller about that first.......".

That's when I come home and login to the "Mighty Brit" and quickly find a more interesting and informative post than any mag produces. It's a two way thing too, you can comment, you can josh, you can....... Well, you get the idea!

So Roll on the Mighty Britmodeller!

Sign up to Britmodeller and SAVE!

You know it makes sense......

Rick.

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I'm with you on that one Rick. Down here at the bottom of Africa, any inmported mag cost at least twice the UK cover price and ends up here two months after publication. Being a helo modeller there aren't too many mag asrticles in any of the mags. I have one sub, to Air Forces Monthly, nice price and I get it ten days after printing. This months issue big fat aticle on the NH90.

Colin

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Interesting thoughts on the online mags, I have an iPad I could use when on the bog!

I'm not really knocking mags, it's just they're expensive and very rarely talk about anything I'm interested in.

Britmodeller covers everything I'm interested in, all for the price of a small donation every year.

I did subscribe to mags in the past (for a different hobby) and I cancelled everyone and didn't miss any of them.

One mag was something like £75 a year, how mad was I?! I can always grab a copy if there's something I'm interested in.

I'd also found after a couple of months that I hadn't actually read the mag anyway!

Rick

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I gave up buying mags years ago, and now, living in Portugal, I never see any anyway! :D

Well if you get the urge El Corte Englaise in Vila Nova De Gaia (South side of the Douro opposite Oporto) has, (had? moved a year ago...), an extensive selection of modelling, boat, military, history, etc magazines.

But only if the mood grabs you... :winkgrin:

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Well if you get the urge El Corte Englaise in Vila Nova De Gaia (South side of the Douro opposite Oporto) has, (had? moved a year ago...), an extensive selection of modelling, boat, military, history, etc magazines.

But only if the mood grabs you... :winkgrin:

That would be some urge! V.N. D. G. is a long way North of Povoa dos Mosqueiros!

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  • 2 weeks later...

Do you know, Rick, I think I sense a kindred spirit!

Once upon a time I used to collect SAM religiously. I simply enjoyed its content, but was especially inspired and fascinated by its 'Aircraft in Detail' sections as well as the articles produced in a similar way eg squadron histories - in other words those which had a written historic overview with lots of accompanying profiles for interest and inspiration. No other publication seemed to provide the same regular format.

All the other publications seemed to concentrate on showcasing how a particular kit was put together (usually to a far higher standard than I can achieve) or converted using horribly expensive resin sets that I choose not to afford. There was / is also a strong emphasis on shiny reviews of new kits. Now, I can put kits together, so why pay good £££ to see someone else do the same thing?

At a certain point SAM's editorial policy seemed to change fundamentally and, in my view, it lost its unique 'feel' and became almost identical to all of its rivals in content and 'feel'. At this point I stopped collecting them. I love browsing, for the umpteenth time, through the back issues that I have, and have found them to be superb references, but I don't have any urge to go out and buy any of the current batch of modelling mags.

Just my view.

Jon

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I think they used to do so, but nowadays they'd be sold before the ink was dry!! Power of this medium . . .

Nick

Very true I suppose. Look at the local rag and see if you can find any classified adds.

Rick.

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  • 1 month later...

About the only aircraft(ish) magazine I buy is Airfix Model World as I think it is ba little like some of the magazines used to be. I tend to buy it on holidays for a fix. I have to agree with Jonners, there seems to be little emphasis on information giving, where are the articles about camouflage and markings for example? I also wonder that sometimes the modellers seemed to be unaware of some basic errors. For example I remember a build article about the Heller/Revell/Airfix Vampire FB5 where someone did a very nice job of construction and re -doing the panel lines etc. but then finished it in the Day Fighter Scheme of Dark Green, Ocean Grey and Medium Sea Grey rather than the post war camouflage scheme more appropriate to the FB5. I think they followed the Revell instructions and box art a bit too literally, but I found it detracted from the whole article. Some of the railway modelling magazines seem to be a bit more bothered about loooking at the real thing to help the modeller. Just my personal view.

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I recently visited Newark Air Museum for the first time in about 18 years (very impressed - recommended, and the the Canberra model display is especially good. Well done Newark modellers! ). In the very-well-stocked shop I found a selection of Alan Hall-era back issues of SAM, most of which I didn't have in my collection, on sale for £1 each. Once upon a time I would have bought all those 'missing' issues on principle, but instead I picked out 5 magazines, those with 'Aircraft in Detail' sections that interested me, and

left the others. I'm very pleased with those that I bought, for the reasons I gave in my previous post, but I'm also quite happy that I left all the others. I would have liked very much to have sat and read through them at home, but I didn't feel that I NEEDED them enough to buy them, even at what I considered to be a bargain price. A sign of the times, or of the priorities in my life right now? Hmmm.

Jon

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I know what you mean Jonners, I have drastically cut back on stuff that I buy (although my stash does not seem to get any smaller!) and I am much more selective. I am also beginning to find that as my wife gets ever more desperate at Christmas and birthdays she is not averse to suggestions about books. For example in just over two weeks for my birthday i know I will get the the Airfile on the RAF in the Middle East and the Warpaint on the Sea King. Slight off topic buany kits that appear are replacements for older ones rather than 'new' subjects.

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Hi guys I am just buying Fly Past and airfix mag for two reasons

1 is that they have a lot of interesting stories and pictures that I can use in my attempt to create a model and

2 is I prefer to hold a paper mag in my hand rather that look at the pc screen...and iam lazy :)

but since I am on this forum I am learn a lot

so thx everyone

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That would be some urge! V.N. D. G. is a long way North of Povoa dos Mosqueiros!

Most newspaper/magazine agent will gladly order any available title for you. Here in Coimbra after the closing of a good magazines store it was the desert. I asked elsewhere, and they started to receive the magazines I usually bought and some more.

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There's me banging on about not buying mags, I've just been laid up with man flu so decided to catch up on reading.

I found the last 3 Fly Past mags sat on my coffee table virtual untouched!

I didn't even remember buying them!

It's me age.

Rick.

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  • 2 weeks later...

I personally lost interest in SAM following the major change in style and content at the beginning of Vol 31 - I hadn't been buying it new anyway for quite some time, preferring to get secondhand copies off of eBay (along with SAMI and MAM). Purchasing a number of issues together - in some instances 10-12 at a time - meant I was often getting the mags at either around or less than half the original cover price, even with P&P. After getting some of the 'new look' SAMs, I haven't bothered since....

I've since discovered that the market in town has one of those stalls that specialises in 'out-of-date' magazines at 75p-£1 each, or three for £2 - my wife checks it out every Friday when she meets up with her friends for coffee, and, armed with a list, she gets copies of SAMI and MAM for me. They're usually just a couple of months behind, but recently she found a 2012 SAMI issue I was missing!

That's interesting. Unfortunately we don't have a market in our "Market" town. It could do with one. I would have to travel at least 10 miles and I'm pretty sure it doesn't have a stall like that. Pity.

Rick.

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  • 3 months later...

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