Military Modelling.

[Don]

Got the Mag for many years and enjoyed it, reading from cover to cover. Then I just purchased the specials and finally gave up thanks to the quality of photos in the "Special".
Could do just as well myself.
Now wife checks if there is anything worth reading, if not back on the shelf it goes.

Don

 

[badger]

well it seems my loyalty to mm is misplaced. when i first bought it in 1972 and have been since, it was all there was, and i couldnt wait to get the next one. i still have a subscription for it and ,dont want to stop buying it, but when i read comments from fellow modellers i wish the people who print the magazine would take the comments on board and do something about it./ badger

 

[Don]

Spot on Badger, it didnt change ad now the new ed. doesnt see the writing on the wall, or perhaps he does.

Don

 

[Colin_Fraser]

If you complain I expect they will say its "our" fault for not submitting articles. Many magazines use that old chestnut.

Colin

 

[Peter north]

no usually read it after ken

 

[Richard61]

well it seems my loyalty to mm is misplaced. when i first bought it in 1972 and have been since, it was all there was, and i couldnt wait to get the next one. i still have a subscription for it and ,dont want to stop buying it, but when i read comments from fellow modellers i wish the people who print the magazine would take the comments on board and do something about it./ badger

Back in the 1970's and 80's the magazine had plenty of interesting articles such as the histories of various army units with uniform details etc. There was the Stan Catchpole page and often in depth conversion explanations for the lesser known types of AFV.
Today of course the advertisers pay for the magazine so the publishers will cram it with as many as possible. Most of these will be for WW2 German stuff because that's what sells. Pretty much anything that requires conversion and involves research and input from the modeller will be chopped simply because today's crop want it ready made and can wait a few weeks, pay £60 or £70 and DML, Bronco, Tamiya or one of the others will have released the latest Tiger 1 or Pz1V (this one's different, it has one less bolt on the drive sprocket)
It's a sad fact that if it was produced or published to satisfy us more "Old School" modellers it would go under in a few months. Too few of us are interested in real modelling any more.
Just my thoughts on the matter.

Richard.

 

[badger]

thank you for your replies. i am glad that i am an old school modeller. i put three models into the competition in perth at the weekend/ the scots-nats,and was fortunate enough to win with two of them. i was impressed by the amount and quality of the models displayed and feel that without competitions like this i would be a backroom modeller who relies on model magazines for inspiration and ideas. so when i buy a magazine i want to hear from other modellers and not 4 or 5 pages on the latest kit that has a full interior or the correct amount of wheel nuts. maybe i am just getting old, my wife calls me victor meldrew,ha ha. maybe we could start a moaning page called the victor.

 

[smudger1960]

well it seems my loyalty to mm is misplaced. when i first bought it in 1972 and have been since, it was all there was, and i couldnt wait to get the next one. i still have a subscription for it and ,dont want to stop buying it, but when i read comments from fellow modellers i wish the people who print the magazine would take the comments on board and do something about it./ badger

Unfortunately they don't want to see or hear what's wrong with it,I looked at it again only yesterday in my local hobby craft,still the same content,AFV / AFV / AFV / AFV and a small piece on model buildings,what's new and pages of adverts,my 5 yr old daughter could edit better than this

 

[smudger1960]

thank you for your replies. i am glad that i am an old school modeller. i put three models into the competition in perth at the weekend/ the scots-nats,and was fortunate enough to win with two of them. i was impressed by the amount and quality of the models displayed and feel that without competitions like this i would be a backroom modeller who relies on model magazines for inspiration and ideas. so when i buy a magazine i want to hear from other modellers and not 4 or 5 pages on the latest kit that has a full interior or the correct amount of wheel nuts. maybe i am just getting old, my wife calls me victor meldrew,ha ha. maybe we could start a moaning page called the victor.

No your not getting old my friend,this was a magazine I once loved,I learnt an awful lot from the articles that used to appear and the great international and homegrown modellers who supported it,you would'nt learn a thing from it now unless you wanted to know how many bolts make up an armoured car or tank, the magazine died for me a long time back and it did'nt help with Mr Ken Jones retiring,

 

[Richard61]

Badger..... Smudger.
My daughter told me many years ago that I'd be just like Victor Meldrew..... She was right!
The point is that when we were modelling in the 70's you could buy a model kit of an AFV or aircraft type but if you wanted a slightly different Mk or variant, or needed to add zimmerit, whatever alteration, you did your research, bought or drew up some plans and got busy with the plastic card and razor saw. That's called modelling in my book.
Filters and washes are another gripe of mine...... Hat's off to Mig for realising that if you put some dirty thinners in a little bottle and called it something like "European Dirt"...... Another shade could be "Oily Grime", etc, etc, then people would pay good money for it...... Why mix your own when you can pay Mig for the stuff he's just cleaned his airbrush with
To get back on topic, there may be a few hundred of us that would buy Military Modelling again if it reverted back to how it was but the few thousand that want a "shake 'n' bake" mid production tiger 1 with zimm and transport track..... Oh and a tin of three colour cammo paint please.... Would always win out. It's the law of economics.

Richard.

 

[badger]

hi smudger, i agree money will always win, i cant bring myself to buy a dragon kit for 40 pounds or dearer, when i can buy a tamiya kit on e bay and add detail myself without going over the top. when i read some articles and the cost of the kit and aftermarket accessories, i feel the overall cost puts me off and prohibits the younger generation of modellers from buying a basic kit, i dont count the wheelnuts or add a complete interior which no one can see, just to say , i know its there. lets get back to basics/badger

 

[Gra30]

I was fortunate and over the moon to have some articles printed in MM and Ken Jones was an absolute gent.
I don't have a problem with the way things have progressed and although modelling for some 30 plus years, man and boy, I think figures and models in general are presented far more realistically nowadays.
It is true that we have never had it so good but even with the vast array of top quality products out there there is still room for traditional modelling
I was an AFV modeller many years ago and still appreciate them for the skill involved, having tried to complete some etch sets I can say that it is a skill on its own and not many can replicate it by scratch building, and after all we are trying for the realistic as possible.
I stick to figures and sculpting now but the truth of the matter is that the quality of both the magazine and dare I say some of the workmanship is just not up to standard.
I agree we dont all have to do it but I think we all like looking at quality models even if the modeller has gone the extra mile.
PF gives it to me now and I am selective of what I buy for inspiration
Best wishes

 

[DEL]

Badger..... Smudger.
My daughter told me many years ago that I'd be just like Victor Meldrew..... She was right!
Filters and washes are another gripe of mine...... Hat's off to Mig for realising that if you put some dirty thinners in a little bottle and called it something like "European Dirt"...... Another shade could be "Oily Grime", etc, etc, then people would pay good money for it...... Why mix your own when you can pay Mig for the stuff he's just cleaned his airbrush with

Richard.

Two of my heroes.....Victor Meldrew and the anonymous guy who figured out you could take potato peelings, deep fry them, call them potato skins and sell them for ££s

 

[Mark S]

There are spotty kids with fishing tackle in their face who buy MM, after loitering a while in the girlie magazine section, who, in the unlikely event that MM is still around in 40 years, will be complaining about how it's changed so much.
We're old, things change, I've still got issues of MM from the 70's, 80's that I occasionally refer to but if MM were to publish the same thing now they'd be laughed out of the business before they went bust.
It's that spotty kid that spends a lot of time looking for the modelling magazines in the nudey girl section that they want to appeal to, not old farts like us who walk straight past the girlie section to pick up a copy of "Knit your own Incontinence Pant" or "Dementia can be Fun".

 

[badger]

dementia is fun

 

[polyphemus]

Dementia was fun, I think, but I might have forgotten. What am I doing here?

Geoff

 

[housecarl]

What's fun?
Carl.

 

[Richard61]

Speaking from my nice padded room in the home for the bewildered.........Sorry, I was still on the post about the "Girlie Mag's", trying to find the link

Richard.

 

[badger]

boy meets girl, boy falls in love, boy asks girl to marry him, girl says no, boy lives happy ever after.

 

[Helm]

I had fun once it was a Wednesday

Steve