That’s a question I’ve always had – I see the same with LHS. While it appears Europe can sustain a plastic LHS, here in North America our LHS has it all, soup-to-nuts hobbies. Okay, it’s nice to take the kids to one place for all the needs, but if only 50k people subscribe to FSM, is it the kids or the adults? I view this as an adult hobby because of price and the distractions kids have today, let’s face it, if I’d had the internet, iPods, texting, tweeting, etc in the '70s I probably wouldn’t be hooked on modelling.
When FSM came out in '82 (or '83) I loved it – finally a US magazine that catered to my desires for model building quality! It’s grown with me over the years but I too subscribe to a UK rag that has more bang for the buck (IMHO) and scour the webzines as well. Will I give up FSM? I did once for 5 years and came back because it helped keep me “fit” as a modeler. I won’t leave again for that reason. I may not be satisfied with the magazine, but there’s always just enough to justify the “coffee and donuts” sacrificed that month.
I’d like to see a CD or download for the articles from their archives. Some new stuff is, but I’d like to pitch my old magazines but keep the articles I liked for future reference. Rummaging through old mags is boring and I’m terrible with their indexes.
Unfortunately all my G&A issues are at work. But I have no doubt that subscription numbers are easily into the 250,000 range and you can probably double or triple that number for news stand purchases…
Overall I like the FSC and I believe it is worth the subscription price. I usally do not learn alot of new trick every issue but I find that it does keep me up to date on new releases and new products that are avalible. Yes I to find that I burn through the magazine rather quickly. The main articles are sometimes of no interst to me also. The one section that I jump to first is the build reviews. I read all of them over and over even if the subject matter is not what I build. I believe they give a good unbias opinion of every kit. It also gives me a good idea of which manufactors are supplying the best product for the price so I know where to spend my money. The forums are invalueable bonus and to me make the subscription well worth the price IMO. I will be subscribing for a long time as long as they keep things the way they are. Of course I to would like more pages but what else is out there for this price?
Thanks Matt! I came to this thread first thinking I would be handing out a post lashing in defense of the magazine, and was puzzled by the title after reading the first post. Guess some people like to be controversial just for effect.
I’m sorry for the confusion…I was being VERY tongue-in-cheek when I started this thread…I love everything this rag has to offer, it just seems that I get through it too quick, almost like itis fully read before the mailman even puts it into my mailbox…
As for changing the title of the thread…I dont even remember what I originally wrote, I thought I originally posted what you said you changed it to…
Again, this thread was meant to discuss how fast some people read through new magazines…
I think they shoud produce a MAG just on aircraft models. Now that would be worth reading more than 3 times. If you look at the thread, Aircraft is way ahead of everyone else, perhaps thats to much to ask for. The UK based aircraft mags will cost me double. so I’m not compaining. Great mag
Greetings All! I just read all the posts concerning FSM, and I am a little surprised! There seems to be a lot of you who are not so happy with our sole American model Magazine. Over the thirty some years I have been building models, I have read many of the European mags, and in all honesty, I am now disapointed in THEM. Even though two of them are dedicated solely to aircraft, I find them much less useful concerning actual improvement of my modeling skills. Each one of their build articles is a blow by blow of all the things we already know! Each article is a carbon copy of the previous one. They really do get boring after awhile. Secondly, the foreign mags are thicker because they dedicate many pages to reference material instead of actual model building. I am amazed at how the British article writers can carry on for pages on just the upper wing surface roundel details of some English aircraft! it really does get tedious. I dont really read a model mag for reference info. Although some relevant info concerning the history of any given modeliing subject is good I dont think the Mag should be dominated by it. I go to other sources for my reference info, like the internet or books like the Squadron Walk-Around series (which are really excellent). FSM, on the other hand is perfect for my own needs. Even though my passion is aircraft, FSM covers everything. I cannot count how many useful tricks I picked up by reading armor build articles! The same goes for cars and ships. I now read every article very carefully, which is something I did not do earlier in my model building life. The review articles are my favorite section, but I also love to look at the work of other modelers as well. FSM covers the bases well and I don`t plan on letting my subscription lapse as I have in the past. Finally it should be said that if FSM seems too short, that is why it is good! The really enjoyable experiences never seem to last long enough.
I think we’ve lost sight of the meaning in the original post. I feel it was meant to be tongue-in-cheek. Come on, we all feel a little sad when we get to the back cover. It means we have to wait till the next issue.
I also have read through some the foreign mags and I do like them. But for the cost, FSM does a great job. I would like to see more reference stuff, but not at the sacrifice of how tos, kit reviews, readers gallery, etc… I also do’nt mind rereading every issue over to glean all the info I can. Somtimes I’ll even get the mood to dig through my archive and read issues from several years ago. I even use them as good reference and inspiration source. I’ve learned alot from FSM over the years. Still do.
I probably should subscibe, but I like stopping by Barnes&Noble to pick up the latest issue. Gives me a good excuse to browse the bookstore, and grab a Starbucks while I’m at it. Ha,Ha,Ha.
It’s easy to find fault, and there is utility in having people find fault with our treasures, even if it is a magazine. I read the magazine in about twenty minutes, but I read a 500 page book in a couple of days as well. I should send in some photos of my models or attempt an article, I guess, if I want to have a longer magazine. After all it is quite impossible for any staff of any magazine to keep up the creative work month after month, it just takes too much “juice”. I do speak from some experience, as I have had 10 or so articles published in RC magazines. There were plans involved, and it takes a good two or three months of hard work to put together an article with good content.
This forum is a great medium for learning to do an article, so take advantage of that and help make the magazine better. And be thankful FSM is not ads from one cover to the other, that’s what many magazines look like when the bottom line is only net profit and not the best artistic and production qualities.
We need to be careful of the way we say things here for another reason. I would bet that a lot of the staffers get more feed back from this forum than they do other places. Give’em a few thumbs up, and when it’s a down thumb, well, it’s more effective to do it in a kindly way, and directly to them.