The ‘other’ mag is stopping publication

[Classicgas]

Sad. SAE is what got me into the hobby back in june of 92. End of a era. I will sorely miss a magazine dedicated to auto modeling.

[iamsuperdan]

Wow, disappointing for sure, but I can't say I'm surprised. I am surprised though that they aren't bothering with a purely digital format.

[HomerS]

I've only purchased two copies of FSM through the years as the automotive kits seemed to be the redheaded step child.  No offense to those who build ships, planes and other type kits, they are just not my thing.  Same reason I haven't been to the local IPMS shows as they are heavily military and very little automotive.

[Phirewriter]

Disappointing for the hobby, however it really has gone downhill from the days Gary Schmidt was the owner/publisher. Kalmbach didn't really seem to know what to do with it after they aquired it, except to try to sell more add space and reduce content. Frankly I quit buying it years ago.

Edited July 15, 2020 by Phirewriter

[oldnslow]

   wow , just got my email about the transition , I subscribe to both anyway , just hope they don't drop the car coverage to the level of Fine Scale and expect us to be happy with it . 

[mchook]

I got the email too and was surprised. I went to the website & can't sign in. Maybe the site will die with the magazine? 

[Bucky]

No offense meant, but I never could get into Fine Scale Modeler. I'll be getting them as a consolation to fulfill my subscription, which I had just renewed. I wonder how long they had been contemplating this move?

[Bucky]

19 minutes ago, mchook said:

I got the email too and was surprised. I went to the website & can't sign in. Maybe the site will die with the magazine? 

I just logged in to their forum with no problem. Didn't see any mention of the mag stopping on there, but I got the email this morning.

 

Correction: I did just read a thread about the magazine shutting down on the SA forum.

Edited July 15, 2020 by Bucky

[RSchnell]

Not surprised given how thin the magazines were getting. I subscribed to Fine Scale for years and it too is nothing like it used to be. I dropped the subscription last year. 

[Ace-Garageguy]

I quit reading SA a long time back, as it got thinner and thinner, with less and less of interest to me...as with most all of the car and other hobby mags. Content is down across the board, writing quality continues to decline everywhere (as does reading comprehension), and most of the "experts" aren't.

There's a lot more useful info published on this site every day than there usually is in a typical monthly issue of most magazines now...though there are some notable exceptions...so why bother?

Damm near anything anyone could want to know is available online anyway (if you're knowledgeable enough to sort through the BS and rebleated gibberish that is 90% of what's out there) so why continue to mess with paying authors, layout artists, printers, and mailing?

I personally MISS quality print mags, but they've been few and far between for a long time now.

[mikemodeler]

1 hour ago, Lownslow said:

Im not the least bit surprised it happened. They kept featuring the same builds show after show, ignored the younger lowriders and big wheel builders. Its also model builders fault for bringing the same builds show after show for years. MCM isnt far behind

Given the regularity of when MCM is printed, I think they were a few years ago. At least Kalmbach has admitted to stopping publication of the magazine.

[Snake45]

I just checked my latest issue--looks like I expire with the October issue, so, that worked out well. 

I'd already started getting the usual "Time to Renew!" emails, and a couple of them in snail mail, but I didn't get a death announcement email today. 

I used to get so much spam junk from FSM and Kalmbach that I put them on my spam list years ago. 

[Ramfins59]

I've been getting it since the early 90's when Gary Schmidt owned it...

It feels like I'll be losing an "old friend"...  I'd already been feeling that way since the MCM troubles started and then kept getting worse...  

No local shows, no NNL East, no magazines...  What's next...???

[iBorg]

My SAE collection is almost complete from issue 5. I've missed only a few issues in that time frame. I liked having it fo no other reason than to have an excuse to go to the hobby shop. What is strange about that is right now the hobby is having a huge increase in sales as we adapt to a new normal. In the past year I've gone from two or three magazines a month to one a quarter, Rodder's Journal. I'm not sure what I'll do now before I go to bed.

[hpiguy]

I always liked it but it was getting thinner and thinner, which makes no sense. They made a choice to cut content, which in turn made subscribers quit in droves.

Recently Kalmbach went with a new printing and subscription service company in Texas and in my opinion their customer service fell apart right after.

I get issues WAY later now. Most times a couple weeks after the hobby shops and book stores, when it used to be a subscriber had their issues first, before the newstand.

Also, my latest renewal to Model Railroader said NOTHING about auto-renewals, I checked.  I sent in my check and get a letter thanking for me signing up for auto-renewals and they'll be deducting my yearly price from the checking account automatically for my 'convenience'.  Talk about a sneaky way of doing business.  No thanks.  I called, cancelled the whole thing, mag and all. I'm not buying into that nonsense.  
It took forever to get anyone on the phone, and when I did, her attitude carried through the line loud and clear. She didn't care about anything at all and made it clear she had other things to do, like read Facebook.

Honestly, print is doing this to itself.  Fewer issues, less content in each one, lower quality articles written by more and more low quality writers, and now really shifty business practices to grab money from customers not paying attention.

Edited July 15, 2020 by hpiguy

[Painted Black]

Last one I read was in 2000, so, can't really miss something that was already gone..

[jchrisf]

We still have this.. especially for those of us who are new to the hobby.

https://kalmbachhobbystore.com/product/dvd/15206

[TimJ]

I got the email today and although it did come as a surprise I have found the mag less interesting of late. My subscription expires in June next year so it looks like I'll be getting a few copies of FSM to fill the gap. 

[Mark]

18 minutes ago, jchrisf said:

We still have this.. especially for those of us who are new to the hobby.

https://kalmbachhobbystore.com/product/dvd/15206

Maybe now they can offer a complete one...

[hedotwo]

I stopped with SA a few years ago and now rely on this forum for literally everything.  FB groups are so, so.... and wouldn't think they would ever replace the resources here.  Definitely a different crowd generally speaking, than you'll find here.  I'm thinking we may see an increase in traffic here on the boards should the SA forum go away too.  I love it here and would be lost without it!

[bobthehobbyguy]

Definitely a shock. However print magazines have been dying for quite awhile. Stores have reduced the space for selling magazines because they can use that space to sell higher profit items.

I have the first 20 years of Fine Scale modeler. Quit when the content stagnated to rehashing the same things ad nauseum.  How many how to paint beginner articles are needed. When scale auto started they had a great mix of articles however when kalmback took it over they started using the same tired format as FSM.

I have every issue of scale auto from issue number 2 up until about 5 years ago. I just found the content lost its luster. 

As long as we have great forums as this one we will have a vast resource of knowlege to draw from.

[stitchdup]

Well thats a pain, I used my street rodder and lowrider refunds to subscribe last month. Guess theres another refund on its way

[plastic trucker]

I wasn't going to renew my subscription anyways after there wasn't any pickup or truck build ups anymore.

[plastic trucker]

Can a guy get a refund instead of receiving FSM?

[#1 model citizen]

I, too, am not surprised. I canceled years ago as it got thinner and I discovered this web site.? (If I recall correctly the number of issues per year was reduced at some point from 8 to 6[?]) The Contest Cars was good, but they needed two views (3/4 front & rear [or detail] ) of at least some of the subjects. It was puzzling that they showed only a front view of a model while the caption would rave about the scratch built taillight treatment, engine bay detail or some other feature not visible in the pic.?