More Civilised Debate On This Forum

[Bugatti Fan]

Is there not another magazine out there?      Model Car  Builder Magazine  by Roy Sorenson and Neil Van Zile Jr? No one has mentioned it but only referred to Scale Auto as the opposition to MCM. I have been sent a copy of Model Car Builder and it looks like a good magazine to me.

Edited August 23, 2019 by Bugatti Fan

[Exotics_Builder]

29 minutes ago, Bugatti Fan said:

Is there not another magazine out there?      Model Car  Builder Magazine  by Roy Sorenson and Neil Van Zile Jr? No one has mentioned it but only referred to Scale Auto as the opposition to MCM. I have been sent a copy of Model Car Builder and it looks like a good magazine to me.

And Roy was the "Founder" and Editor of Plastic Fanatic until sold to Gregg and becoming Model Car Magazine.  So, the history of catering to the serious/niche builder goes back quite a long way

[bobthehobbyguy]

On 8/23/2019 at 7:10 AM, Tom Geiger said:

I have always supported Model Cars Magazine for a couple of reasons.  First, I thought the hobby needed two magazines, because having only one can send the hobby in a wrong direction since it's unchallenged.  Both magazines have their place. 

Scale Auto is more of a broad audience magazine, trying to appeal to all model builders.  It's distant from the reader, much like reading any other car magazine.

Model Cars is aimed at the "Lunatic Fringe",  of which we all are card carrying members.  It's appeal is that it's more focused on high end building and the more niche vehicles we build.  It has the feel of a very good club newsletter.  It was for us, by us and you couldn't help but feel you belonged and had a stake in it.

I always subscribed and read both, as well as the old Plastic Fanatic and Model Car Journal.  To me, supporting these efforts was supporting the hobby.  

I will agree with Mike that reestablishing Model Cars Magazine is a long uphill battle. About the same as starting a new magazine.  I'd say that it would take about a year or more of on time delivery of a great product to get back in the good graces of subscribers and regain the interest of retailers.  Part of a magazine being in a hobby shop is that it brings people into the shop on it's publishing schedule to buy the magazine, and those people buy more stuff.   And for the longest time Gregg would say that IF he could get a distributor to put the magazine in retail chains, that would pay the freight.  He finally achieved that, and it was the first thing he gave up when things started to go downhill.

That said, I've always been a supporter of Gregg and the magazine.  Back when things were going well and Gregg had his health, he jetted to all the major events across the country.  He was the guy who nudged me to go to GSL the first time.  He was fun to be around.   It seemed that Model Cars was taking over the hobby in those days!   I'd like to see that happen again.

 

 

Tom I agree with your comments. However I think that trying to revive the magazine at this point is even more difficult. The loss of golden bell( not only loss of printer but subscription monies also and compounded by the the loss of Harry). Both serious setbacks. in addition 2 issues in 2017, 1 in 2018, and last printed issue in February 2018 just make things more difficult. I commend Gregg on his stick to it attitude but don't have any good ideas for how to solve the problem.  The problem with going digital only is that the hobby shop sales would be lost so no revenue would be generated from those sales. Digital only would only help fulfilled the promised issues to subscribers but do nothing for the money situation but do nothing to get the print version b back on track.

[russosborne]

My opinion, it is way past time for the printed version to go away. Most magazines have realized this.

Digital is much cheaper and less stressful to do. And NO middle man.

But Gregg seems intent on staying with printed to his last breath.

It is his ball and he can make the rules, but that doesn't mean we have to continue to keep playing.

I've also been one of the one's advocating for a paid OPTION for the forum. NOT pay or go away. But pay and get some perks, which basically cost nothing, and help to support the forum. In my opinion, I would much rather the forum stay and the magazine go away, than to lose both, if one or the other has to go.

Been away from the forum for a few months. Kind of sad to see nothing has changed.

Russ

[iamsuperdan]

Personally, I prefer print over digital. Generally, I dislike being around a screen in my downtime. I'd much rather go sit in the backyard with a beer and flip pages that to swipe across a screen.

So I hope that a solution is found and that Gregg gets everything he's working on completed.

 

Paid vs non-paid forum membership. I've seen this go so wrong at other forums, having been both a paid and non-paid member at various forums. It just seems to create a class system, with the paid members feeling that they should get more for their money, or that they should have a say in the operation of the site. And I fell into that mindset too. I'd rather see some other solution, and keep the forums 100% cost free.

 

 

[espo]

Count me as one of the "old fashion" types, I still like to hold a magazine in my hand. I still receive all of my monthly car mags. 

[stitchdup]

I'm a print only sorta guy. I used to have an e reader but a certain site decided not to maintain that feature and i lost almost 150 books I paid for. At least with print if it goes missing its my fault, and i can buy another copy.

[Dave Ambrose]

There is still very much a market for print. I wandered (read was dragged) into a Barnes and Noble yesterday. It had a surprising number of print magazines. Realistically, I suspect that's how they get noticed by potential readers. I don't see the need for print going away soon. Eventually, yes, but not soon. 

This site is primarily supported by advertising. If you have an ad blocker, please whitelist us. That has been covering the bills for a long time, but we're now seeing income from that dropping. We don't know why yet. Overall traffic is still good. We're working on that problem, and will hopefully find some answers. 

I suppose if it came down to it, we'd ask for donations, but we haven't even thought about those discussions yet. This site has a big footprint, and we have limited hosting options. We've been on Liquid Web for a while, and I have to say that I like them a LOT. 

I appreciate all the support we've been getting lately. If this forum is great, it's because we have a wonderful community of builders and affectionados. That by itself makes this forum worth continuing. 

[Von Don Koolkat]

On 8/23/2019 at 9:57 AM, Bugatti Fan said:

Is there not another magazine out there?      Model Car  Builder Magazine  by Roy Sorenson and Neil Van Zile Jr? No one has mentioned it but only referred to Scale Auto as the opposition to MCM. I have been sent a copy of Model Car Builder and it looks like a good magazine to me.

Kustom and Hot Rod Models magazine has been going since 2008, in print and digital formats. I publish it. I had offered subscriptions on an annual basis for quarterly issues, but enough support was just not there. Now I do an annual issue, with no stress attached. If people don't know about the magazine, then vintage automotive is not their interest, or they live under a rock. Doing a magazine is no small job. I still have my core readers, and they really enjoy the magazine.

Edited August 27, 2019 by Von Don Koolkat
Addition.

[Bugatti Fan]

Dpn, not sure if an annual mcm  magazine like your magazine would be the way to go. Dave Ambrose mentioned a drop off in web advertising supporting  this forum. Either advertisers are tightening up generally, or maybe they research the associated mcm  circulation and frequency of publication to decide on where to advertise? W H Smith, a UK equivalent of Barnes and Noble and local newsagent shops over here carry many specialist interest magazines, so print is alive and well in that sector. I think that model making magazines being g a bit more niche than general home, garden and car magazines will continue to struggle due to the general drop in youngsters taking up the hobby and developing into adult modellers. It matters not whether modelling magazines are in print or digital in this respect, the decline of the hobby is based on this factor.

 

 

Edited August 27, 2019 by Bugatti Fan

[Danno]

I’d say the lack of interest in modeling among youth is a HUGE factor in every aspect of the hobby, including the health of print magazines that cater to modelers.

As just one example, I’ve been deeply involved in producing and promoting four ‘major’ model contests/championships in AZ for twenty years. We used to see 10 to 15 youth modelers (under 16) entering builds in every event. Our free Make-N-Take sessions used to draw 15 to 25 kids every event.  The past 5 or 6 years, we’ve only seen one or two kids interested in Make-N-Take participants and maybe one youth modeler entering our youth competitions.  To the extent that we’ve scaled back the youth categories from a high of six to the current one, and we’ve only had one or two M-N-T participants each event!  At that pace, we have stockpiled enough M-N-T kits to last us for two or three DECADES!  

Even most of the children and grandchildren of our local club members have no interest in building models.  You just can’t get their thumbs off their electronics.

[stitchdup]

I wouldn't say kids aren't interested in modelling, more their into other types of models such as gundam and citadel type stuff. Most towns and shopping centres have more than 1 wargaming shop now and you dont want to go near them on a saturday when they have games on. I know my local model club has lots of diecast collectors and war gaming members but only 2 traditional type modellers and I'm one of them. The other is a 15 year old that builds some nice military stuff

[Bugatti Fan]

I think that given its on going problems, maybe Gregg should seriously think about selling the magazine on to an established publisher to get it back where it should be and concentrate on editing alone.