In general my interests are military armor and air craft. That’s what I would like to see the most of in FSM. I realize other people have other interests, but I have seen civilian cars and trucks in FSM. There is a magazine for Autos, so I think that should be where those models articles should be printed.
I have to disagree. FSM was conceived, and is promoted, as a magazine that covers the whole gamut of scale modeling. My biggest interest is sailing ships, which scarcely ever get covered in FSM (and do NOT have their own magazine elsewhere). If I only read ship model magazines, I wouldn’t read much.
Seems to me that every model that tries to represent a subject to scale accurately should be fair game. (That lets out non-scale flying aircraft and non-scale operating boats - fascinating, but not scale models.) I’ve always wondered a little about science fiction subjects, but they have their enthusiastic, knowledgeable following.
I would point out that plenty of other magazines cover scale aircraft and armor - especially if we count the British ones. Does that mean FSM shouldn’t cover aircraft and armor?
When I was in college I had a part-time job in a hobby shop. I learned that different genres of modeling have a great deal to offer each other. I’ve learned a great deal of useful stuff from model railroaders.
I’ve said it before and I’ll say it again: Modelers who wear blinders are making a mistake.
If FSM was covering a majority of autos, I would tend to agree with you. However, I see as a general modeling magazine. There are magazines out there specifically for aircraft, and there are magazines specifically for armor. Those are fine when I’ve been bitten by the armor or jet bug.
However, the majority of time I enjoy flipping through the pages of FSM and seeing a variety of subjects, aircraft, armor, the occasional ship, and heck, even autos. Since I’ve been modeling (only about 10 years) I’ve only had the urge to build an auto once or twice. I still enjoy looking and reading the few and far between articles about autos because it’s something different, and one day I know I will end up building one and won’t have to subscribe to a whole other magazine if I only want to build one or two cars.
I have to agree with JTilley.
The universal appeal of modeling and FSM in this case is , I believe, to expose us all to other aspects of our modeling fraternity. This way we can enjoy the benefit of other forms, techniques, and processes used by others.
If the economics of business allowed for a separate magazine of each modeling genre. I’m sure Kalmbach Publishing Co. would meet that need. But to date that is not the case.
So while we all have our favorite ideas of how much of something should appear; we don’t control the business. But your support is vital to the modeling community; Buy,Build,Enjoy (and keep the top closed on the CA)
I have to agree with the posts of jtilley, ygmodeler4, and Duster.
I like the diversity of the subjects in FSM, it’s the reason I subscribe. I may only build aircraft, ships, and tanks at the moment. But, I have been inspired to build a possible auto or motorcycle in the future, because of what I have seen and read in FSM.
I really enjoy seeing the readers models every month; some fantastic work being completed on all of those subjects!
Bruce
Fine Scale Modeler means just that, scale models in general otherwise it would be called Military Aviation or Warship in Fine Detail as examples. Although I model mostly military subjects, I still like to see non military themes that are totally different and interesting.
Do you object to civil airliners because they are not military?
I don’t Object to any models. I prefer the military models. My point was Kalmbach has a magazine for Autos and such. I also build civilian models sometimes when I find a kit I like. FSM asks for opinions and feedback, so that’s what I did. You guy are free to offer up your opinions also. It doesn’t bother me for you to disagree with me as long as it’s kept civil. That’s all I ask.
That means we would lose a lot of people and a lot of very cool things. Autos, Sci-fi, many Figures, Space stuff, sailing ships, Civilian ships, structures, etc wouldn’t qualify and those are very enjoyable to see.
The thing for me is I build Auto, Trucks, Armor, and Planes. Many of us build a wide range of subjects. I enjoy FSM because it cater to ALL models. If you want military you would want Military Modeler or Panzer Aces. Plus if FSM didn’t cater to all models many of us who build all sorts of subjects would be buying multiple magazines and have to belong to many different forums. I think FMS is for many of us who enjoy trying new things and all sorts of subjects.
That pretty much sums it up.
Gotta agree with almost all of you - FSM magazine is for all types of scale modelling. In reference to the most-covered modeling (aircraft), you only have to peruse the forums here to see which genres/categories are the most popular. Aircraft, by a wide margin, is the most popular, which is probably why you see more of that covered in FSM than any other modeling category. I’ve seen complaints about aircraft getting more (or too much, in the complainers’ opinions) coverage, but I believe that the editors of the magazine go with what the modelers are asking for. Again, looking at the forums here, you can see what is the most popular, and what isn’t. I think the staff at FSM does an outstanding job on this endeavor, especially considering how few of them are actually writing and producing the magazine. Hats off to them!
AMPS has a fairly decent armor-only magazine called the Boresight. There are six issues for a $30 annual membership. http://www.amps-armor.org/ampssite/default.aspx
This from a guy that has a whole magazine named after him…
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JUST Kidding! 
*illustration provided as a visual aid only for the context as given.
I model all genre of models, so that includes cars. If I want to do an article on a car project I will send it to FSM. I will do that because the FSM staff treats authors better than the staff of some of the other mags. So if the subject fits in FSM’s charter I will send it there rather than any other modeling magazine.
The skills used to build autos can be brought over to other genre’s.
Absolutely. My experience with glossy car finishes makes me much more willing to tackle an airliner or other civil aircraft than some of my military aircraft buddies. I had a few excursions into model railroading many years ago, and that is where I learned to weather (they were the first to do that).
Now I don’t particularly like military and fighter aircraft, so most of my builds are on Scale Auto and Model Cars forums. I have put some civilian planes on here and got good feedback. But in some cases I’ve put auto builds on here and got no comments at all.
I build cars, trucks and bikes because most of the sites/shows here in the UK are only military and don’t allow anything else which is sad because it shuts out other modellers when we share techniques that suit all types of models.
Do you post in the autos forum? I would be surprised that you would get no comments in that forum. It is quite an active forum. I advise everyone participating in any FSM forum to look around at the other forums available. In addition to those on specific genres of models, there is an excellent group of forums called Tools, Techniques and Reference Materials that includes the very active painting and airbrushing forum.
i am getting into civilian trucks, right now working on my second military transferred to civilian use (URAL-4320) so any tips on autos are applicable to military trucks, engine compartments, etc. i don’t do planes but get tips from them. hell i attended a “how to paint dinosaurs” demo, granted taught by a friend, and picked up some ideas for painting mono color armor
Big and small I build them all, I like the small stuff 1/144 planes 1/700 & 1/350 ships do the odd auto
some Si Fi Hell what ever flots my boat I am in all the way. You know things to do with glue