The Parlous State of the UK Modelling Magazine market

[Ptmvarsityfan]

I like the adverts, I would have been unaware of many retailers and products without adverts in the modelling press.I discovered Aeroclub, Contrail, Modeldecal, Hannants etc through their adverts and still find them a useful source. Also if they help finance the magazines then that is a good thing.

Cheers, Paul

Edited September 9, 2017 by ptmvarsityfan
Additional comment

[Des]

1 hour ago, ptmvarsityfan said:

I like the adverts, I would have been unaware of many retailers and products without adverts in the modelling press.I discovered Aeroclub, Contrail, Modeldecal, Hannants etc through their adverts and still find them a useful source. Also if they help finance the magazines then that is a good thing.

Cheers, Paul

I quite agree , merely countering the suggestion made way back in the depths of the thread that contemporary modelling magazines are flooded with adverts unlike those published back at the dawn of time.

[Seahawk]

I have no problem with adverts.  I have no problem with reviews: indeed I buy magazines for the perceptive ones.  However I do get irritated when the two get blurred: pages and pages where, in lieu of other more substantial content, a magazine staffer has done no more than reiterate the Hannants new releases page with no critical input or other added value whatsoever.  Particularly irritating are transfer sheet reviews, where the reviewer says something like "there are 10 options of which 4 are...": either do the job properly or not at all.

 

And there was surely a difference between then and now.  In the old days, as I expect John will attest, the only ways of getting knowledge of your products into your target customers' consciousness was by advertising in the few specialised magazines there were and/or making your presence felt at modelling shows (of which there were far fewer then).  Nowadays all but a vanishingly small percentage of modellers have instant access to the full, up-to-the-moment Hannants catalogue plus others around the world.  It wasn't that long ago that old hard-copy Hannants and Aviation Hobby Shop catalogues were passed down in clubs, to be combed, as ptmvarsityfan hints, for new products we were not aware of.

Edited September 10, 2017 by Seahawk

[LotusArenco]

2 hours ago, Seahawk said:

old hard-copy Hannants and Aviation Hobby Shop catalogues

I still have warm, blissful, memories of thumbing through the massive Hannants and Brian Sheriff catalogues. Marking and highlighting the goodies I wanted, and finally sending off a (usually expensive) cheque.

 

Mart

 

[Des]

3 hours ago, Seahawk said:

.....  Nowadays all but a vanishingly small percentage of modellers have instant access to the full, up-to-the-moment Hannants catalogue plus others around the world .....

Ah , the populist and erroneous conceit that all information is available on-line which implies that everyone having internet access actually mediates their lives by it!

 

Case in point -  why does this like other modelling forums have such frequent requests for information on the existence of everything from full kits of a subject to accessories and decals (usually resolved by someone posting a link to a Hannants item listing) if this information is already such an integral part of the lives of all but a ‘vanishingly small percentage’?   

 

Does it not rather suggest that not all of the reportedly vast majority of modellers who are not of the ‘vanishingly small percentage’ who lack access to the magic of the worldwide web may not have actually surrendered their lives to its wonders or may even have concluded that 'The Emperor's New Clothes' is actually a cautionary tale for our digital age and not a life model?

[Seahawk]

1 hour ago, Des said:

Case in point -  why does this like other modelling forums have such frequent requests for information on the existence of everything from full kits of a subject to accessories and decals (usually resolved by someone posting a link to a Hannants item listing) if this information is already such an integral part of the lives of all but a ‘vanishingly small percentage’?   

Well. just occasionally a post will cause the unworthy thought to cross my mind that it is much easier to ask other people to do an internet search than to bother doing it oneself. 

[Procopius]

1 hour ago, Des said:

Case in point -  why does this like other modelling forums have such frequent requests for information on the existence of everything from full kits of a subject to accessories and decals (usually resolved by someone posting a link to a Hannants item listing) if this information is already such an integral part of the lives of all but a ‘vanishingly small percentage’?   

I'm just desperate for the human contact, man.

[Dave Batt]

17 hours ago, Des said:

Does it not rather suggest that not all of the reportedly vast majority of modellers who are not of the ‘vanishingly small percentage’ who lack access to the magic of the worldwide web may not have actually surrendered their lives to its wonders or may even have concluded that 'The Emperor's New Clothes' is actually a cautionary tale for our digital age and not a life model?

Four "nots" in one sentence?  Is that a quadruple negative?  It's certainly tied me up in knots.

[Des]

2 hours ago, Dave Batt said:

Four "nots" in one sentence?  Is that a quadruple negative?  It's certainly tied me up in knots.

 

How amusing in its own way but while you have obviously heard of the concept of multiple negatives I am afraid you have rather missed the point of how their use can vary when used in the English language.

 

As with so many aspects of English context is everything and where multiple negatives are being used in connection with one specific point they can but do not always serve to contradict each other.     However when used to emphasise individual aspects of an issue such as I was discussing they serve not only to identify the negative aspect of each individual point but also intensify the general tone of negativity across the whole statement.

 

Funny old thing English , but if our rather twisted rules of language are troubling I believe that the suggested advice is to ask a teacher , librarian or adult literacy advisor for a recommended reading list , read quality rather than tabloid newspapers , be selective in your radio listening and television watching habits all of which I am sure could help to prevent you being ‘tied in knots’ by what are apparently the more arcane aspects of the language.

[cmatthewbacon]

25 minutes ago, Des said:

I am sure could help to prevent you being ‘tied in knots’ by what are apparently the more arcane aspects of the language.

 

It's not arcane; it's just badly (and pretentiously) written. A good sub-editor would tidy it up for you in no time...

 

best,

M.

[rayprit]

18 hours ago, Seahawk said:

Well. just occasionally a post will cause the unworthy thought to cross my mind that it is much easier to ask other people to do an internet search than to bother doing it oneself. 

Some people are not on speaking terms with their neighbours, others live too far away from civilisation to make contact with anyone with access to internet............some people do not like technolgy and shy away from computers.  I know people who would never have a mobile phone!!!  Its taken as the norm now that everyone has computers, tablets, phones, etc, etc..................its not the case..................they tend to relie on skill and itools at their finger tips.

 

To be honest, thinking about it ................since the internet came out I do not recollect buying any more magazines..........everything I want is online and the best site for it(apart from this one (cough!!)) is Youtube, learn a lot from that and still learning

[Des]

9 minutes ago, cmatthewbacon said:

 

It's not arcane; it's just badly (and pretentiously) written. A good sub-editor would tidy it up for you in no time...

 

best,

M.

Pretentious, moi !!!!!      And yet a conclusion reached despite never having met however I will bow to your apparent experience of needing sub-editors to tidy up your work and it is good that you can so publicly acknowledge your shortcomings.

[Dave Batt]

51 minutes ago, Des said:

Pretentious, moi !!!!!      And yet a conclusion reached despite never having met however I will bow to your apparent experience of needing sub-editors to tidy up your work and it is good that you can so publicly acknowledge your shortcomings.

You might try using commas at some time.  During the couple of decades I spent in publishing I found it remarkable, if not inexhaustive, to find the ways in which their use, or omission, could completely reverse the meaning of what was being written.

[spaddad]

On 9/7/2017 at 5:37 PM, AWFK10 said:

There was an Avro 504N conversion in Airfix Magazine (it may not have been one of Alan Hall's, I've a feeling it could have been Peter Cookesley) that recommended using an engine from the Airfix Hs 129 to represent the twin-row Lynx radial. Not so bad but the author referred back to an earlier 504N article, which predated the release of the Hs129 kit, and remarked "Fortunately, this means it is no longer necessary to recommend the use of a modified engine from a Superfortress kit, as in the previous article"! I think that would have trumped even the 4 Hudsons.

 

I never saw the original article, and I do wonder whether he got it right. The mind boggles at the thought of a 2,200 hp Wright R-3350, however modified, stuck to the nose of an Avro 504.

Simpler times, balsa wood,talcum powder & dope, jumpers for goal posts, marvellous, oranges at half time, sure as eggs is eggs mmm.

[cmatthewbacon]

1 hour ago, Des said:

Pretentious, moi !!!!!      And yet a conclusion reached despite never having met however I will bow to your apparent experience of needing sub-editors to tidy up your work and it is good that you can so publicly acknowledge your shortcomings.

Clearly my 22 words were too arcane for you to parse successfully. I make no claim about whether you are, or are not, pretentious. I stand by my position that writing with such mangled syntax to attempt to patronise others is writing pretentiously. And in 30-odd years of writing for a living, I've yet to meet any professional writer who doesn't appreciate the value of a good sub-editor. Hauling things back on topic, the lack (or overwork) of such people is all too evident in UK modelling magazines today...

best,

M.

Edited September 11, 2017 by cmatthewbacon

[spaddad]

On 9/9/2017 at 1:37 PM, Max Headroom said:

 It's only now I wonder why not plunge mould using the carved exterior?

 

 

Probably because there was no easily sourced supply of plasticard that modellers were aware of, but I could be wrong (see avatar)

Edited September 11, 2017 by spaddad

[Drift]

On 9/7/2017 at 8:27 PM, Jon Bryon said:

For those of us too young to have been there, do any photos exist online of some of these revered, legendary conversions of the 1970s?

 

Thanks

 

Jon

See here, search for modelling.

 

https://archive.org/

[Ade H]

It's that long ago when someone started this thread by throwing the grenade in and shutting the door on it that I had to check the title to remember what it was really about.

[Paul Bradley]

33 minutes ago, Ade H said:

It's that long ago when someone started this thread by throwing the grenade in and shutting the door on it that I had to check the title to remember what it was really about.

Indeed. Back in those old days when this thread started, there was much more substance to threads, they were more informative and contained useful information. Now, threads simply deteriorate into slanging matches containing bad grammar and spelling - goodness knows, some threads need serious sub-editing.

 

No, I no longer subscribe to threads - they just aren't the same as in the old days.......

[Skymonster]

On 9/9/2017 at 4:19 PM, Des said:

I hope that is not a reference to Airfix Magazine as was in the good old days.

 

I pulled out a few copies covering late 1972/early 1973 and found that including the cover issues back then had either 60 or 64 pages on which between 25 and 28 pages carried advertising.

 

By contrast I checked the latest crop of purely modelling magazines that I take and found :-

Airfix Model World (AMW) had advertising on 26 of 116 pages

Scale Aircraft Modelling (SAM) had advertising on 23 pages of 88 pages

Scale Aviation Modeller International (SAMI) had advertising on 24 of 100 pages

Model Aircraft Monthly (MAM) had advertising on 19 of 84 pages

Fine Scale Modeler (FSM) had advertising on 10 of 66 pages

 

I counted each page on which there was an advert irrespective of the amount of space it used and while in most cases for all magazines full pages were used for advertising purposes part and half page adverts were more common in SAM than in the others including Ye Olde Airfix Magazine.

 

Perhaps goes to show that back when the world was black and white and when modelling magazines really were modelling magazines as some might claim not only was the use of parts from other kits more expensive in relative terms than aftermarket is today but there was also a far higher proportion of those evil adverts.

In a similar manner to that in which many bricks and mortar model shops have been challenged by internet retailers with low overheads, magazines are challenged by internet websites and bloggers that have lower costs, less risk and more immediacy.  Producing each issue of a magazine, which has a fixed budget for photographs and features, can definitely be a challenge.  Bear in mind that typically 50% of the cover price goes to the retailer, and of course in many high street magazines are supplied on a sale-or-return basis leaving the cost of any unsold stock at the end of the month with the publisher.   Then as well as the raw materials (paper) there are distributors and printers in the foodchain too, before you even get to thinking about what remains from your £4.something available to pay the editor(s), designer(s) and freelance contributors.  There's not that much left over, and sales are not helped by the piracy (illegal copying) that now happens quite regularly.  Adverts are a double-edged sword and many readers don't like to see magazines filled with them, but they obviously bring in income which helps keep the cover price under control in a market where breaking the £5/issue barrier is still seen as something of a watershed that could adversely impact sales.  So in order to balance the books, magazines need to carry advertising.

Magazines also need to strive for quality and try to cover new subjects or go to depth that the armchair warriors / bloggers / videographers can't be bothered with - which takes time and doesn't come cheaply.  But press dates are cast in stone and cannot be missed, while in many cases the "new media" brigade can publish when they wish.  I'm not condoning spelling and grammatical errors, but it can sometimes be a rush to get a magazine to the printer on time, especially when a topical promised feature is received late from an author.  Everything is checked / proof-read - certainly where I work - but with only limited resources available inevitably errors creep through from time to time when the pressure is on.

 

Andy

(No, I do not edit a modelling magazine, but I do work in the magazine industry)

[Patrick Martin]

4 hours ago, Des said:

 

How amusing in its own way but while you have obviously heard of the concept of multiple negatives I am afraid you have rather missed the point of how their use can vary when used in the English language.

 

As with so many aspects of English context is everything and where multiple negatives are being used in connection with one specific point they can but do not always serve to contradict each other.     However when used to emphasise individual aspects of an issue such as I was discussing they serve not only to identify the negative aspect of each individual point but also intensify the general tone of negativity across the whole statement.

 

Funny old thing English , but if our rather twisted rules of language are troubling I believe that the suggested advice is to ask a teacher , librarian or adult literacy advisor for a recommended reading list , read quality rather than tabloid newspapers , be selective in your radio listening and television watching habits all of which I am sure could help to prevent you being ‘tied in knots’ by what are apparently the more arcane aspects of the language.

 77 word sentence!!!!!

[spaddad]

As far as I was concerned the adverts used to be one of the main reasons for buying the mags as there was really no other way of finding out what was about, & the adverts were the first thing I'd read upon receipt of a new mag.

[Nigel Bunker]

19 hours ago, spaddad said:

Probably because there was no easily sourced supply of plasticard that modellers were aware of, but I could be wrong

Well I can recall it being avaiable in the sixties - Slater's Plastikard (and Slaters are still going strong). When I started wotking in my local model railway shop in 1970 (EAMES of Reading) they had Plastikard in all thicknesses fron 5 thou to 80 thou in black and white along with a series of brick and sone embossed plastic sheets. There was also transparent in 20 and 30 thou along with Mekpak to glue it together.Most model railway shops and model shops stocked it.

 

Alan Hall seemed to have an aversion to it as in many conversions he would use balsa or obechi when Plastikard would have done equally well.

[Jeepboy]

....whilst we all shuffle through WH Smiths flicking through magazines and occasionally reading them from cover to cover before putting them back and tutting about there being no content, are we allowing for the huge growth in the internet bringing us wonderful sites like Britmodeller making information far far more accessible and removing that rush to find the latest magazine?  There does seem to be a much wider choice of magazine for all subjects (trains, cars. fishing, canal boats etc) than there has ever been.  It's a strange economy when many sigh at nearly £5 for a magazine and buy a pint to drown our sorrows .... at what £3.50?   

[Seahawk]

2 hours ago, Nigel Bunker said:

Well I can recall it being avaiable in the sixties - Slater's Plastikard (and Slaters are still going strong). When I started wotking in my local model railway shop in 1970 (EAMES of Reading) they had Plastikard in all thicknesses fron 5 thou to 80 thou in black and white along with a series of brick and sone embossed plastic sheets. There was also transparent in 20 and 30 thou along with Mekpak to glue it together.Most model railway shops and model shops stocked it.

 

But London area is not the UK.  I can remember the first place to stock plastic card in Cornwall and that wouldn't have been until the mid-70s.  And then only 10 thou: did you know that an AFV conversion built solely of 10 thou plastic card and painted with Humbrol authentics shatters like glass on coming into sudden unplanned contact with the ground?  Not something you forget.