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pacificmustang

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Is anyone else starting to get annoyed with Brett Greens editorship of MAI

I quite enjoyed this magazine under Spencer, but whilst he's been furloughed for whatever reason ADH have replaced him with Brett Green.  I used to like BG, but lately his writing has become quite lazy,with a lot of cut and paste being used. My main gripe is the number of his builds I have seen before being rehashed

The latest issue again has a build from him that first appeared on HS in 2012, (the Revell He162)

Last issue was a corsair built in 2013 that also appeared on HS and one of his Osprey books, and an article about a Tiger Moth that also first appeared on HS

Seriously thinking about cancelling my sub. until Spencer comes back. In the meantime, Ive taken out a sub with Airfix Magazine

 

Bruce

 

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MAI was reprinting articles from previous issues well before BG became editor. Admittedly they were usually preview articles, but that and the fact the content had become so thin were still the main reasons I stopped subscribing in 2019. 

 

Jon

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I have not been able to obtain it since lockdown began, even now cannot find it in newsagents, but quite honestly I cannot say I have missed it recently, sad because I have every issue since it was first published.

Anyway the other two mags out there are in my opinion better value for money, which I have on subscription basis.

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I have noticed the recent issues of MAI have become thinner since lockdown. If memory serves me right BG commented on this in an issue several months ago attributing the lower page count to fewer submissions. That said Scale Aircraft Modelling and Airfix Model World don't seem to have suffered in the same way so make of his comment what you will.  I never understood why Spencer was furloughed. 

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2 hours ago, Latinbear said:

I have noticed the recent issues of MAI have become thinner since lockdown. If memory serves me right BG commented on this in an issue several months ago attributing the lower page count to fewer submissions. That said Scale Aircraft Modelling and Airfix Model World don't seem to have suffered in the same way so make of his comment what you will.  I never understood why Spencer was furloughed. 

Same here Latinbear

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With the pandemic, airlines not flying and the general world situation, I'm finding that British magazines are VERY sparse here in the US. My local Barnes and Noble has very few aviation and modelling mags and most of those are from March/April. 

 

It's a tough time to be a print magazine. 

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On 8/27/2020 at 7:58 AM, pacificmustang said:

Is anyone else starting to get annoyed with Brett Greens editorship of MAI

I quite enjoyed this magazine under Spencer, but whilst he's been furloughed for whatever reason ADH have replaced him with Brett Green.  I used to like BG, but lately his writing has become quite lazy,with a lot of cut and paste being used. My main gripe is the number of his builds I have seen before being rehashed

The latest issue again has a build from him that first appeared on HS in 2012, (the Revell He162)

Last issue was a corsair built in 2013 that also appeared on HS and one of his Osprey books, and an article about a Tiger Moth that also first appeared on HS

Seriously thinking about cancelling my sub. until Spencer comes back. In the meantime, Ive taken out a sub with Airfix Magazine

 

Bruce

 

Thought the same when I cancelled my subscription last month, glad i wasn't the only one thinking the same.

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Agree Bruce , i don't know why Spencer was furloughed i hope he is o.k, i really enjoyed the magazine with him at the Helm, and i am also not a fan of the direction the magazine is heading , i was in the past also a fan of Brett Green but i too think he has grown lazy, his latest review on You Tube of the new Meng 1/32 Triplane was not really of an acceptable standard imho his head and unkempt appearance ( no personal offence meant ) dominates the screen and  we see more of it and his messy room than the actual model !, perhaps i'm being harsh and picky , ce la vie, but Spencer was/is always neat and tidy and films in a clean environment on You Tube /Facebook , i really liked that magazine but will not return my patronage until it improves, I am a big fan of Airfix magazine as its a comprehensive package, anyway here's hoping Spencer is OK and comes back soon

 

Cheers Mate

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Seems to be catching. I'm disappointed with the lack of info surrounding the sister magazine MIM - Aircraft. I've got a subscription through an apple app. Last issue was supposed to be published on 16 April. Nothing. Statement pushed out on the app saying its been suspended for 2 issues. Therefore 16 April and 18 Jun (thereabouts) and should have been resumed around the 13th of August. Still nothing, emailed, no reply. No info that I can find on the site. Pretty poor really, its only a few quid for me, but add them all up from the others missing the subscription.......

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I wouldn’t be too hard on Brett Green with regards the content of the mag bearing in mind the current situation. also back in the day I emailed Neil Robinson about articles being repeated in Model Aircraft Monthly, when he was editor, as well as the pointless articles on new diecast aircraft releases and he told me it was out of his hands? 

I subscribe to the digital MAI as it’s the best of a poor bunch IMO and have done for some years now but I still wonder how many times they are going to build Eduard 1/48th 109s and 190s ? 🤷🏼‍♂️😂

 

Mike

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  • 3 months later...

It gets better, this months (January) has an article by Rafal Lebioda about the Hobbyboss 1:72 AH-64D Apache dressed up as an Israeli machine. Tidy build but missing all the indigenous lumps and bumps for the Saraf version (I can’t find any images of vanilla AH-64D in Israeli service so I may be wrong). 
However, the exact same build by the same author, exact same pictures, exact same text is in this months Scale Aircraft Modeller. I know the magazines are supposed to be short of reviewers but you would think that they at least deconflict......

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53 minutes ago, Greg B said:

It gets better, this months (January) has an article by Rafal Lebioda about the Hobbyboss 1:72 AH-64D Apache dressed up as an Israeli machine. Tidy build but missing all the indigenous lumps and bumps for the Saraf version (I can’t find any images of vanilla AH-64D in Israeli service so I may be wrong). 
However, the exact same build by the same author, exact same pictures, exact same text is in this months Scale Aircraft Modeller. I know the magazines are supposed to be short of reviewers but you would think that they at least deconflict......

 

This has happened before and I wrote to one of the editors about it (I can't remember the magazines or author involved). The response I got was that the magazine would not accept contributions from that author again, and IIRC no more articles did appear by that person. I think editors depend on contributors being honest - I'm not sure there's a realistic mechanism to deconflict articles.

 

Jon

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On 9/3/2020 at 6:45 PM, Norman said:

i was in the past also a fan of Brett Green but i too think he has grown lazy, perhaps i'm being harsh and picky ,

I thumbed through the latest edition of Military Illustrated Modeller at the newsagent yesterday ( aircraft edition, October '20 ) and see that there are the same stupid proofreading errors that continually occur under his editorialship. The index at the front of the magazine says an article starts on page 40, but actually begins on page 38 and it has a flow on effect in the rest of the magazine. He does not know how to proofread and these errors have been occurring for years, but still they keep on coming issue after issue. Absolutely hopeless !

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36 minutes ago, Jon Bryon said:

 

This has happened before and I wrote to one of the editors about it (I can't remember the magazines or author involved). The response I got was that the magazine would not accept contributions from that author again, and IIRC no more articles did appear by that person. I think editors depend on contributors being honest - I'm not sure there's a realistic mechanism to deconflict articles.

 

Jon

Fair point although it would surprise me if there wasn't an informal mechanism to stop treading on other toes especially when the latest wunderkit is out e.g. 4 x Tamiya Tomcat builds in the same kit markings at the same time could be achievable.  It would be surprising if it wasn't part of the terms and conditions for submitting an article, that you disclose if it has gone anywhere else. 

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2 hours ago, Greg B said:

 exact same pictures, exact same text is in this months Scale Aircraft Modeller.

 

There is no such magazine......

 

It's either ......

 

Scale Aircraft Modelling (published by Guideline Publications)

 

or...

 

Scale Aviation Modeller (published by SAM Publications) (which, worryingly says 'Address Not Found' when I click on it...(?)

 

Have a Happy and Safe Christmas...

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59 minutes ago, Flankerman said:

 

There is no such magazine......

 

It's either ......

 

Scale Aircraft Modelling (published by Guideline Publications)

 

or...

 

Scale Aviation Modeller (published by SAM Publications) (which, worryingly says 'Address Not Found' when I click on it...(?)

 

Have a Happy and Safe Christmas...

 

It's in Scale Aircraft Modelling. It's not only the repetition that might be disappointing, but as Greg pointed out, the model is inaccurate to the point that really should not be ignored in a magazine.

 

Jon

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1 hour ago, Flankerman said:

 

There is no such magazine......

 

It's either ......

 

Scale Aircraft Modelling (published by Guideline Publications)

 

or...

 

Scale Aviation Modeller (published by SAM Publications) (which, worryingly says 'Address Not Found' when I click on it...(?)

 

Have a Happy and Safe Christmas...

Oh well, thats me told then ;) It would be easier if there were fewer SAMs than a decent air defence network......

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On 12/24/2020 at 8:46 AM, Greg B said:

It gets better, this months (January) has an article by Rafal Lebioda about the Hobbyboss 1:72 AH-64D Apache dressed up as an Israeli machine. Tidy build but missing all the indigenous lumps and bumps for the Saraf version (I can’t find any images of vanilla AH-64D in Israeli service so I may be wrong). 
However, the exact same build by the same author, exact same pictures, exact same text is in this months Scale Aircraft Modeller. I know the magazines are supposed to be short of reviewers but you would think that they at least deconflict......

 

 

On 12/24/2020 at 10:25 AM, Greg B said:

Fair point although it would surprise me if there wasn't an informal mechanism to stop treading on other toes especially when the latest wunderkit is out e.g. 4 x Tamiya Tomcat builds in the same kit markings at the same time could be achievable.  It would be surprising if it wasn't part of the terms and conditions for submitting an article, that you disclose if it has gone anywhere else. 


Hi everyone, Happy Christmas!

This is an unusual situation, not unique, but rare. There is no informal anti-toe-treading mechanism. Alas, unlike OPEC we are not a cartel and sadly lack their wealth too!! :)  At Scale Aircraft Modelling, we rely on the honesty of the contributor and do remind them that submissions to any magazine or publisher are done on the clear understanding that the same piece has not been submitted to another publisher. 

The AH-64 was published in SAM because our Aircraft in Profile writer was hospitalised with COVID, so we needed to include some extra articles. It is unfortunate that this was also in another magazine, but the responsibility in this instance lies with the contributor I'm afraid.

As for its content, the writer did say he was trying to do minimal changes I think. As many modellers would probably build the kit 'as is', I think it is occasionally good to see a model built just like that. Although I can also see how something that's not totally accurate will annoy the heck out of those 'in the know', so my apologies if you felt it was A Patchy Apache … My solution as ever of course, is to ask you to contribute! :)

Cheers

Jon Tabinor

Assistant Editor
Scale Aircraft Modelling
Guideline Publications








 

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2 hours ago, Jon Kunac-Tabinor said:

As for its content, the writer did say he was trying to do minimal changes I think. As many modellers would probably build the kit 'as is', I think it is occasionally good to see a model built just like that. Although I can also see how something that's not totally accurate will annoy the heck out of those 'in the know', so my apologies if you felt it was A Patchy Apache … My solution as ever of course, is to ask you to contribute! :)
 

 

In relation to the duplication I have no complaints - these things happen. It was the best issue of SAM for a while (not that there was anything wrong with recent previous issues - just more aligned to my interests in the January edition) and I thoroughly enjoyed reading it. But in relation to the accuracy I feel a little less sanguine: it's completely the wrong model! The differences are massive and obvious, not subtle and obscure; one might say as clear as the differences between a Tempest II and V ;) . I have absolutely no problem with the magazine featuring a grossly inaccurate model because, as you say, it does cater to a segment of the market, but I think it does also affect the credibility afforded to the author to not even mention this at all, especially when he made a point of the research he did.

 

As for contributing, I would be delighted. My photography and writing have been around for all to see online since 2004. Feel free to PM me if I can contribute in any way, but I suspect we'll run into problems given I write a blog that I would like to keep going.

 

I hope none of that came across as snarky - it certainly wasn't intended to. SAM is one of the two magazines I continue to buy, and I hope it's around for a long time to come. It's definitely better off for having people like you on board.

 

Cheers

 

Jon

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1 hour ago, Jon Bryon said:

 

In relation to the duplication I have no complaints - these things happen. It was the best issue of SAM for a while (not that there was anything wrong with recent previous issues - just more aligned to my interests in the January edition) and I thoroughly enjoyed reading it. But in relation to the accuracy I feel a little less sanguine: it's completely the wrong model! The differences are massive and obvious, not subtle and obscure; one might say as clear as the differences between a Tempest II and V ;) . I have absolutely no problem with the magazine featuring a grossly inaccurate model because, as you say, it does cater to a segment of the market, but I think it does also affect the credibility afforded to the author to not even mention this at all, especially when he made a point of the research he did.

 

As for contributing, I would be delighted. My photography and writing have been around for all to see online since 2004. Feel free to PM me if I can contribute in any way, but I suspect we'll run into problems given I write a blog that I would like to keep going.

 

I hope none of that came across as snarky - it certainly wasn't intended to. SAM is one of the two magazines I continue to buy, and I hope it's around for a long time to come. It's definitely better off for having people like you on board.

 

Cheers

 

Jon

HI Jon - I'd love to get you to contribute, and I can't see your blog being an issue. Our contributors regularly put pics up on Facebook of what they are doing, so a social media output is fine. It is 'your' blog after all.
I think what the author meant was that he looked for info on building the model, although one could always just conclude that research does not always bring forth the correct results either! ( I'm trying to be light hearted here - we've all sworn blind we researched things, yet they were still wrong).

I'll drop you a PM. :)

Cheers

Jon

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I have given up on modelling magazines. Their content has gone way down over the years, both in quantity and quality.

 

That's why I'm always lurking about here. There's that certain communication that a magazine just doesn't supply.

 

Plus, some of you people are frikkin' weird! I like that.

 

 

 

 

Chris

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