FSM July issue observations- RANT

Feedback, Help and Testing Suggestions and Feedback
1

Well, I just took my tour of FSM’s July issue preview, and just to make sure, looked at ALL the links, and, sure enough, not one sci-fi oriented article, picture, NOTHING. It looks like the whole dang issue is D-Day. I am so tired of it. Although I would like to see the how-to article on clear parts, it seems like I’m not buying this issue as well. Reminds me of the whole “Rosa Parks” thread I did a few months ago. Almost everyone who posted there was like, “Hey, I like sci-fi, just NIMBY. -or- We don’t get any submissions. -or- The models aren’t real.” Bull-pucky. THEY DO NOT TAKE UNSOLICITED SUBMISSIONS. It says right there on the page. Were they at Wonderfest soliciting submissions? No. Just in case you were wondering, WF is the largest model show for sci-fi and figures in the country. Has been for over 15 years. www.Wonderfest.com Rivals most IPMS regional shows. Did it even get mentioned anywhere on this whole SITE? No. Why? Matthew Usher came last year, took wonderful pictures, said “watch for the issue!” But nothing. Not one pic. Why? I understand we’re a small part of the modelling genre, but a small part is still a part.

Just how MANY P-47 and P-38 articles can you do???

And like it or not, sci-fi and Gundam/mechs is the hobby’s future right now. Look at what the kids are looking at when they come to local shows. They make a B-line right for the Big-N-shiny, and the sci-fi. Why? because that’s what they watch/play with. And when the WWII fanatics start dropping off from the hobby (God forbid) what’s left?

All I can say is, thank the Maker for Modeler’s Resource Magazine.

2

Hi Bollod2. Though I am not a Sci-Fi modeling fan, I understand where you come from. Naturally we would all like to see our main interest focused more upon by FSM. Unfortunately, they have a tough time making everyone happy. Are there any good sci-fi magazines that you could subscribe too? Maybe that would be the way to go. Good luck.

3

Well, it’s not so much I want Sci-fi or anything else “focused” on, but I would like to just maybe see a mention of it existing anywhere. We all know how great Hasegawa, Trumpeter, and Finemolds are, so why not just mention that Finemolds just came out with (in my opinion) the most gorgeous kit of the year- a styrene 1/72 Slave-I from Star Wars. The unabashed highest quality of this kit deserves to be at least mentioned, along with all of the plane/tank/air/car kits as well. I mean, look how many tank/air parts it took the original ILM kitmakers to make the thing! LOL I’m not looking to lead a revolution, I just want a picture.

4

Oh well…

Fade to Black…

5

THAT’S the spirit!

[banghead]

6

D-Day will naturally tend to take over everything right now for obvious reasons, and FSM are quite naturally going to go to town on it. I do however think you have a valid point. After all, there are forums here for just about every kind of model you can think of, and one of those is Sci-Fi/Fantasy, and you are right about both the quality of models, and the high proportion of up and coming modellers who model in these areas. A little better spread of interests published might be a good idea, even though Sci-Fi isnt really my thing

7

personally, I think they are doing the right thing with their issues centered on historical events (Dday, mediterranean, vietnam, etc.) because lots of kids don’t know much, if anything, about those events. on the other hand, they see every star wars movie as soon as its released. but that is only one perspective…

though I can never see myself building much, if any, sci/fi, I still enjoy seeing pics and and reading articles about it. that’s why I like FSM, it concentrates on the hobby as a whole, and not just one or two subjects. The last sci/fi article that caught my attention was the indiana jones “raider of the lost ark” one. I really liked that article!!!

I agree that they haven’t done much lately, but I’m sure they’ll have something in the near future.

8

The niche market occupied by FSM is no doubt planes and tanks. With some other stuff thrown in for spice. While I’m sure you’ve heard it before there are other niche market periodocials that deal more directly with your genre of modeling. I’ve listed a few below. Some are actual print magazines, others are web zines. While I know its not the death star in the pages of FSM, it might help.

You are not alone…

http://www.dronemagftvmc.com/drone.html
http://www.dynamic3d-daves.net/magazines-2.html
http://www.dynamic3d-daves.net/magazines.html
http://www.scalemodelindex.com/figures.htm
http://www.modelersresource.com/
http://www.amazingmodeler.com/
http://www.chillertheatre.com/
http://www.cinefex.com/
http://www.gremlins.com/kitbuilders/index.html
http://www.gremlins.com/prehistoric_times/index.html
http://www.scifiguys.com/newsletters/v2i21.html
http://www.starshipmodeler.com/

Model Masters
Dark Dimensions Publications / Sam Gifford
53 Anawamscutt Dr.
Bristol, RI 02809
Phone: (401) 253-2467
$24.00 / 6 issues; $4.95 / sample copy

Sci-Fi & Fantasy Models
57 Lynwood Avenue
Clayton-Le-Moors, Near Accrington
Lancashire, BB5 5RR, England
Tel: 01254 236632
Fax: 01706 210569

Mike

9
10

OK close enough !!

11

I’m just glad the drought has ended my July issue arrived today.

I must admit to no real interest in the sci-fi stuff but still appreciate a well made model regardless of genre. TMMI and Scale Model International have regular features on sci-fi and regardless of one’s own interest we cannot ignore the future potential modelers, if that is where it lies.

12

Yeah,
It is interesting that FSM seems to comcentrate on WWII subjects more than any other genre…and if I see ANOTHER bloody Sherman tank article (with apologies to Shermanfreak), I’ll pop a vein…
There are so many other genres - Sci-Fi, real space, automotive, naval (and I’m not just talking fighting ships), …there are so many types of modelling OTHER than just plastic and resin. But FSM does cover lots of multi-media stuff.
I guess it’s hard to be all things to all people - and I suppose the powers that be feel that the Gundam stuff (although very interesting) just isn’t “fine scale” modelling. I don’t agree - and have a look at those incredible Nitto futuristic fighting suits…they’re not mainstream (like a P-51 or a Bf109), but they’re amazing all the same.

13

I love FSM. I also love science fiction.
I know I’m not gonna see a lot of science fiction modeling in the pages of FSM. And I accept that.

Why?

Because there are plenty of other dedicated magazines that more thoroughly cover sci-fi and sci-fi modeling (just check out Mike’s list above). I want SF, I can go there.

FSM does not have to be the Wal-Mart of modeling for me.

Also, I love aircraft, armor, ships, and automobiles, which there are plenty of in FSM. Plus great modeling tips and techniques that are applicable to any genre of modeling.

Of course it’d be nice to see more sci-fi in FSM, but it doesn’t bother me personally at all, for the above-mentioned reasons.

Bollod2, I think the perfect mag for you might be Hobby Japan.
200 pages of Gundam, Macross, Uchusenkan Yamato, Kamen Rider, Ultraman, and Godzilla, and only 15 pages of Bf-109’s and Shermans!
Along with FSM, I buy every single issue of HJ.

Anyway, I think we have a pretty cool, fairly active Sci-Fi forum right here on the FSM website, despite the lack of coverage in the pages of the magazine itself.

Doesn’t that count for something?

And as the SF forum becomes more active, perhaps the editors will realize that more people are interested in science fiction modeling, and more articles will appear in print.

14

Wh not go to 12 issues with juna and aug being dedicated to sci fi/real space and ships/autos?

15

Now, there’s a good idea!

16

I’m not going to venture to speak for the editorial staff, but to be fair FSM does not accept unsolicited submissions only for the Workbench Reviews section of the magazine. Nothing precludes anyone from submitting a how-to manuscript featuring a sci-fi subject matter. Click here for the submission guidelines or follow the “Submission Guidelines” link in the left-hand navigation bar of this page for further details: http://www.finescale.com/fsm/objects/pdf/manuscriptsubmissionguide.pdf

While it may be a “which came first the chicken or the egg” situtation I can also share with you that when we poll our readers, they time and time again indicate WWII is, by a wide margin, the most popular era to model. Similarly, aircraft and armor are twice as popular as the next closest subject matter and have roughly three times the popularity of sci-fi subjects.

Again, I don’t want to speak out of turn, but I can assure you that our Editorial staff work quite hard at trying to provide balanced content that has the broadest appeal possible.

17

I feel the same way, except with WWII German kits of [/i]anything[/i]! Whenever there’s some soft of “armor special” in FSM, it has to do with German armor. For that matter, I’m not too keen on WWII German planes either. Oh well.

Having said that, in the ten years or so that I’ve been buying FSM, I’ve seen a huge variety of articles on all sorts of subjects – including sci-fi! I can recall articles on building Klingon Birds of Prey, lighting various star ships, rewviews of Star Wars kits, and one article on making a new kit master out of resin!

I don’t limit myself to building a particular genre, so I’m pretty well interested in most of the articles in FSM. In fact, recent articles on armor kits have inspired me to try my first armor kit soon – a WWII German Panzer IV. [8)] (Yes, I know that it’s a German armor kit, which I say that I’m sick of, but what the heck.)

So, while I’d like to read more about sci-fi subjects, or WWI aviation, or anything not WWII German, I really have few complaints about FSM’s mixture of articles.

Regards,

18

Well, Bottom line is that it’s a business, and as a business they have to aim towards the highest market. That obviously being WWII and such. Again everyone keeps bringing up autos, but Kalmbach has the Scale Auto Mag already totally dedicated to cars, so there isn’t a need for 'em in FSM (that’s my theory guys, not saying it’s right) but they probably don’t want the two competing with each other. I pick up 4 different modeling mags to fulfill all my interests…and by far FSM deals a lot with tips, and tricks, and overall seems to dedicate a whole lot more to the main ideas of modeling such as painting, or working with Future, etc…while the others are just interested in one thing…they do a few articles on that genre, tell ya what’s coming out, but never go over the “basics”, and that’s why I like FSM.

19

FSM runs a business called a modeling magazine and being pretty smart people they cater to the demographics of their main customers. Look at the posts on this Forum and you will see that Sci-Fi generates about 10% of what either Aircraft or Armor does and about 5% of those combined. I have nothing against Sci-Fi or Real Space modeling, but if FSM runs 5-10% of their articles on Sci-Fi over a years time, it would be about right based on their customers interests. If you are correct about the future, which I disagree with, then you can bet FSM would change their focus to what is more popular.

20

Michael is entirely correct: FineScale certainly does accept unsolicited manuscripts (except for Workbench Reviews). In fact, most of the articles you see in the magazine came in that way.

There were no two ways around it: The July issue had to be wall-to-wall D-Day. The 60th anniversary is just too big an event not to devote a whole issue to it. Every magazine with any connection to military history has done the same.

Certainly, nobody here has a bias against science-fiction subjects, but as several other responders have pointed out, the largest interest areas are aircraft and armor. If we (editors) were left to assemble the ideal “umbrella” modeling magazine in a vacuum, we’d probably go for a more eclectic mix of subjects and higher proportions of minority topics. But we don’t work in a vacuum–there are sales numbers and reader survey results that tell us what the most popular subjects are and where our emphasis has to be: aircraft, armor, World War II.

Why no sci-fi on the cover of FSM? Well…we started seeing significantly lower newsstand sales for issues with sci-fi covers (ditto for real space). Newsstand sales rely a lot on impulse buys; more people apparently say, “ooooh, a P-51!” have a browse, and head for the checkout counter, than say “oooooh, a Moonbase Interceptor from UFO.” (No, FSM never had a UFO cover–I’m just fantasizing about my favorite Gerry Anderson TV series…) You can see this in the informal pick-your-favorite-feature polls we run on the home page: Sci-fi, fantasy, and auto articles usually trail the treads-and-props subjects by a considerable margin. Doesn’t mean readers thought they were terrible articles or didn’t enjoy reading them, just means most readers’ main interest areas are elsewhere.

If you’re really, really focused on sci-fi and only sci-fi, FSM is probably not the magazine for you, or not the only one (note that Kalmbach distributes Modeler’s Resource). If you like to build the occasional sci-fi/fantasy model for a break from olive drab and camouflage, we try have at least one feature in every other issue.