The ‘other’ mag is stopping publication

[Dave Van]

1 hour ago, mikemodeler said:

In a previous post you mentioned that it was a third party that handled the subscription processing. With that in mind, what is the likelihood, based on your long prestigious career in the business world, that upper management of one company would tip their hand to a subcontractor for whom they have doing work on more than one of their publications?

 

I work for a very large automotive company and sometimes our manufacturing plants don't tell us about production issues, discontinuation of part numbers or product lines until AFTER it was decided, leaving us to scramble to figure out how to supply our customers. If a company doesn't communicate internally, what is the expectation they would externally? 

You assumed that they knowingly took your money for a subscription the day BEFORE it was announced via press release and email. Many people expressed how surprised they were at the announcement and I am sure that third party company learned about it a few minutes before the release went out. Given your background and extensive hobby industry contacts, I am surprised you didn't have "insider information" on this Dave. 

The buck stops at Kalmbach....the end. 3rd party...4th or 5th......I don't care.  Kalmbach is ultimately responsible. 

Why would I have inside info??? The only connection to Kalmbach other than a few magazine subscriptions was a review of my resin Merkur kit by Terry Jessie years ago. Plus if I'm an insider I sure would not hand them money the day before they shut!!! 

[bobthehobbyguy]

Bottom line print magazines are going away. More people are using electronics devices for reading.

Second its not a surprise that Kalmback didn't stop taking subscriptions.  They are hoping you will accept FSM instead of requesting a refund. FYI just went to site there is one banner indicating scale auto is going away but all of the subscription boxes are still there.

[keyser]

Dave I read hillbilly!

Stop the charge on cc and be done. 
Like the auction people that drag out stuff past 45 day PayPal limit. 

Or the resin people that take money and never deliver what you wanted. The subscription people get paid for nothing. 
 

A supplier that pulled that would get an extra line in contract about penalties.  While searching for alternate source. 
 

[hpiguy]

I just received renewal mailings from Scale Auto.

It's very very likely, almost guaranteed that upper management knew they'd be closing long before (usually months) they announced it to the public, that leaves a bad taste in my mouth for Kalmbach. Still ordering renewal paperwork to be sent to customers, knowing full well they are shutting that mag down before it's sent. They could have instructed  their renewal center to not send those out, but instead they let them be mailed last week.

A last breath money grab from loyal SA subscribers knowing they'd just revert those renewals into FSM subscriptions without any approval from the SA subscribers. Lots of SA subscribers do not use the internet (unlike us) and that's why they still get a paper magazine.  So they have no idea it's closing. in October.

Imagine sending in a three year renewal, which is what I usually do, and finding out in December you now are getting FSM and you only like car models....(I get both mags because I love all kits, but you get the gist of how not cool that is)

 

Edited July 20, 2020 by hpiguy

[Dave Van]

23 minutes ago, hpiguy said:

I just received renewal mailings from Scale Auto.

It's very very likely, almost guaranteed that upper management knew they'd be closing long before (usually months) they announced it to the public, that leaves a bad taste in my mouth for Kalmbach. Still ordering renewal paperwork to be sent to customers, knowing full well they are shutting that mag down before it's sent. They could have instructed  their renewal center to not send those out, but instead they let them be mailed last week.

A last breath money grab from loyal SA subscribers knowing they'd just revert those renewals into FSM subscriptions without any approval from the SA subscribers. Lots of SA subscribers do not use the internet (unlike us) and that's why they still get a paper magazine.  So they have no idea it's closing. in October.

Imagine sending in a three year renewal, which is what I usually do, and finding out in December you now are getting FSM and you only like car models....(I get both mags because I love all kits, but you get the gist of how not cool that is)

 

You communicate better than I......I have dealt with Kalmvach since 1972.......and I was mad because it's like a good friend screwing you over for a few bucks......bad taste is right. Thanks

[mikemodeler]

Yep, SA is just like every other evil company out there, screw over their subscribers and take every penny you get from them!   Sarcasm turned off. 

While it's great to think that some evildoers at Kalmbach plotted for months on how to scam the unknowing car modeling community out of their hard earned (or fixed income) money, the reality is that they probably tried to figure out how NOT to cease publication. You see, they are in the printing business and eliminating magazines means less work, less income,  and more employees on the chopping block. Sure, they want to make money, maybe have shareholders to report to, but if they truly wanted to save money they would go all digital and not be subjected to fluctuating paper prices, postage increases and the uncertainty over whether or not the mail delivered the magazines.

We can all speculate on what a terrible company Kalmbach is, but I have yet to hear one person say they couldn't/wouldn't get a refund on their subscription. And they did announce plans to MERGE the magazines into one plastic model hobby magazine, and if we are patient enough to wait until this Fall, we will see what that looks like. 

I guess Kalmbach could have just raised the subscription cost to us modelers instead of ceasing publishing of the magazine. But as cheap as this group is, with the people complaining about the high cost of kits, I am sure that would have gone over as well as a fart in church on Sunday morning.

I don't profess to know anybody within this hobby other than some passionate builders who like me see the glass as half full, but I gotta tell you some of you need to look at the big picture and realize losing a magazine is not that big of a deal. Whining online won't change what has been done and if you aren't happy with what Kalmbach has decided to do, cancel your subscription and find another model car magazine to glean your information from.

[bobthehobbyguy]

Its not evil machinations it just they dont care. It's great that they appear to be giving refunds and not making it difficult to get them.

But it would be like calling and ordering a pizza and when it gets to your house its not what you ordered. When you ordered your pizza they failed to tell you they were out of key ingredients so they substituted different ingredients. So much for customer service.

[CabDriver]

8 hours ago, Dave Van said:

PS: There is hope for a new magazine.......just wait.....

????

[Xingu]

Enough with the veiled personal attacks.

It is sad to see something like SA go away. I for one will wait to see how they handle the automotive side of things in the first few issues of next years FSM.

[iBorg]

Let's try to think of the positives. Maybe including cars in a larger circulation magazine may expose more modelers to cars. If they included anime it might even get more younger modelers exposed. If there's a strong focus on technique, maybe we'll learn something new. For example, would an article on 3D printers that focused on figures teach us something about 3D printers? Maybe their goal is to create a US based magazine to Tamiya's Model Magazine, which by the way focuses on other manufacturers than Tamiya. 

I feel like I've lost a friend. I know SAe helped keep me in the hobby thirty years ago. Maybe FSM will do the same for a new generation.

[CabDriver]

1 hour ago, Xingu said:

Enough with the veiled personal attacks.

It is sad to see something like SA go away. I for one will wait to see how they handle the automotive side of things in the first few issues of next years FSM.

Me too!  That’s why I’m going to let me subscription roll into a few copies of FSM...I want to give it a chance, but I already know it won’t be 50 pages of car stuff, or even 25 or probably 15...but I’m hopeful!  
 

A couple or three MUST READ articles by their very best contributors might keep my interest in renewing FSM...I actually got a couple of free copies of it when they were giving away trial issues earlier in the year and it was KINDA interesting, but not enough for me to commit to ever actually PAYING for a copy.  Hopefully they can change my mind!  

Hope @tim boyd will be involved still!

[slusher]

8 hours ago, mikemodeler said:

You do realize that for $90 you get 218 magazines, right? That is $.41 per copy, a BLAH_BLAH_BLAH_BLAH sweet deal if you ask me. No stack of magazines taking up space, able to print off articles and images as you want, seems like a much easier way of having this "resource" at your disposal.

I would love to have the Cd-rom but can’t afford that at this time...

[RSchnell]

They'd probably sell a ton more of the back issue disc if they put them on a flash drive instead of archaic CD's. Some newer computers don't have CD drives. In fact when I bought this laptop 3 years ago I had to hunt for one that did have a CD drive. A lot of my older photographs are on CD. 

I may be in the minority but since my subscription to FSM lapsed, I haven't subscribed to any modeling magazines. I do pick them up at the newsstand if they have articles of interest. Airfix Model World is a good example. They cover a spectrum of modeling(yes cars and trucks too), It is printed across the pond, but one of the few magazines that can hold my interest.

[iBorg]

Quote

They'd probably sell a ton more of the back issue disc if they put them on a flash drive instead of archaic CD's. Some newer computers don't have CD drives. In fact when I bought this laptop 3 years ago I had to hunt for one that did have a CD drive. A lot of my older photographs are on CD. 

I agree with you on that although you can have better copy protection on a CD. I think the issue with it not working for newer Macs is an issue. Mac laptops have been the leading laptops in sales for several years in a roll. While Windows is a more popular OS, Apple sells more units than any one of the Windows manufacturers.

[Modelbuilder Mark]

3 hours ago, RSchnell said:

They'd probably sell a ton more of the back issue disc if they put them on a flash drive instead of archaic CD's. Some newer computers don't have CD drives. In fact when I bought this laptop 3 years ago I had to hunt for one that did have a CD drive. A lot of my older photographs are on CD. 

I may be in the minority but since my subscription to FSM lapsed, I haven't subscribed to any modeling magazines. I do pick them up at the newsstand if they have articles of interest. Airfix Model World is a good example. They cover a spectrum of modeling(yes cars and trucks too), It is printed across the pond, but one of the few magazines that can hold my interest.

I agree that a jump drive might have broader appeal and sold better, and I also agree with what someone earlier said that the disc will not last forever. What I try to do in these situations is back the disc up to my hard-drive, possible on more than one drive/location. Despite having already bought probably 85% of SAE issues between subscriptions and individual issues, I still bought the DVD, primarily because it is a searchable data base, if I recall an old article or topic.

What I do not like about Zinio for my SAE digital copies (I got both, paper and digital), is that despite there being a "download" button, there is really no download. I cannot keep that copy on my PC/table for offline reading. This is what I wish could be rectified. I paid for that issue, so I should be able to download the entire issue to my own personal drive. Especially like others have said, that they could take it down without notice.

Also, there are other model car magazines, albeit with much smaller publication, such as Model Car Builder published by Roy Sorenson. There have bee 40 or so issues, and the digital copy costs around $5, the print a little more, but again, they are only printed on demand.

As for this site, there is no promise of a tomorrow here either. MCM provides this as a free service, for which I am grateful, but I do not feel Greg owes us this forum. While I do miss and wish that there would be more print having paid for a lifetime subscription, I am not going to stress about it. There are too many other/bigger/scarier issues that we are facing in the world today.

RIP SAE

 

 

[Bugatti Fan]

Pity about SA finishing in October. I guess the circulation was dwindling to the point of being unviable, like many other niche magazines. FSM is a general modelling magazine and will probably absorb some of the articles to SA that have already been submitted if they have too many when the last issue goes to press. Model Car Builder is still going (I think).

[Straightliner59]

4 minutes ago, Bugatti Fan said:

Pity about SA finishing in October. I guess the circulation was dwindling to the point of being unviable, like many other niche magazines. FSM is a general modelling magazine and will probably absorb some of the articles to SA that have already been submitted if they have too many when the last issue goes to press. Model Car Builder is still going (I think).

Model Car Builder is, indeed still going. In fact, Roy just asked me if he can do a feature on my junior fuel dragster! I am pretty happy, about that!

[Classicgas]

Is model car builder print?

Edited July 21, 2020 by Classicgas

[mikemodeler]

27 minutes ago, Classicgas said:

Is model car builder print?

Based on other's comments, yes, but it is by request and at a slightly higher cost than the digital version.

 

[Mike999]

10 hours ago, RSchnell said:

Airfix Model World is a good example. They cover a spectrum of modeling(yes cars and trucks too), It is printed across the pond, but one of the few magazines that can hold my interest.

Books-A-Million sells Airfix Model World and I usually pick it up.

I also like the 3 Tamiya modeling magazines.  Tamiya Model Magazine International is general subjects, and they also do an Aircraft and Military modeling magazine.  Back issues of each mag are bundled 3 to a pack and sold at a discount price. At least they are at Books-A-Million. 

For shiny cars we can pick up tips on finishing from the Aircraft magazine.  For beaters/junkers, the Military magazine is a great resource for weathering ideas.

[Ace-Garageguy]

1 hour ago, Classicgas said:

Is model car builder print?

Digital is $4.99 per single issue.

Printed, bound, and mailed is $12.00 per single issue.

A 4-issue, one year digital sub is $16.99.

[Classicgas]

Pretty spendy.

[espo]

Just got back on line and notice that Scale Auto is running a subscription ad for $29.95 a year. Now if you just folded your tent I think running a subscription ad for something that no longer  exists is more than a little bit unethical, just my opinion you understand.    

[Modelbuilder Mark]

7 hours ago, espo said:

Just got back on line and notice that Scale Auto is running a subscription ad for $29.95 a year. Now if you just folded your tent I think running a subscription ad for something that no longer  exists is more than a little bit unethical, just my opinion you understand.    

Fully understand, however I might suggest the following purely as possibilities. Most program changes for our company, especially web changes, are not typically done on the fly. There is the process of deciding then agreeing what the web/document should contain, then there is typically a date chosen for "go live" transition of the edits etc. Not saying that it cannot be done on the fly, just not something that is typically done that way in the business world. They may have a weekly cadence for example.  Or, they could just indeed not give a BLAH_BLAH_BLAH_BLAH, but I would suspect that while they are willing to give refunds they would rather just have people still like them, and convert to FSM. Hard to do that if you continue to upset your customers.

 

[Bugatti Fan]

SA  subscriptions may be outsourced by Kalbach to another company that specialises in that sort of thing. If the decision to stop AS was very recent, it may take a little while to sort out the subscriptions side of things. SA  have announced a closure date for the last edition so any subscribers will now be aware.