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New magazine from Kalmbach


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It doesn't grate me a bit that SA closed up, that's business. Sh@t happens. I was subscribed and I'm saddened for the loss, but that's life. What flames me is that without warning, they pulled the plug on their site, which was many, many years of resource material. That alone tells me how much they gave a ding-dong about car modelers.

Gregg Hutchings had essentially no magazine left and no revenue, but remained committed to the hobby community to at least find a way to keep his digital content available. If he did have to close shop completely, we would not learn about it by 404 Error. I think he'd care enough about the hobby and its members to give fair warning and an expression of gratitude.

I'm sure the new booklet is worth the cover price and I'll pick one up if/when the need arises.

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On 1/1/2021 at 6:33 PM, BlackSheep214 said:

The tribe has spoken, Just wanted to add this before more bashing hits the fan and the thread gets locked.

The only time I'll buy an issue of FSM is if there's a feature segment/article that interests me. I only have 5 issues of FSM on hand from the last 7 or 8 years. 

I hear you for sure.  Got the latest FSM yesterday and threw it away after flipping through the pages.  Glad my leftover subscription ends soon.  If Kalmbach wants to do special issues (with just cars) and they are a rehash of ones already in SA that’s fine - they will probably sell thousands and frankly it might be more useful than what we were seeing the last five years anyway from the magazine.

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  • 4 weeks later...

On finescale.com's auto modeling forum,  Kalmbach Modeling Content Editor Tim Kidwell has posted a couple of updates on their special "Muscle Cars/Resto-Mods/Pro-Touring" special issue due in April.   The updates, in part, do address some of the questions and comments posed earlier in this thread.  I'm not copying the entire message here (you can find it yourself if you are interested), but one sentence in particular bears repeating here....

"... there have been some questions floating around about how much of the material is repurposed from old issues of Scale Auto magazine. The answer: None.  All of the content is completely new". 

Again, there's more info in his posts, but the above is the most relevant to the questions posed here earlier. 

Best....TIM   

 

 

 

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13 hours ago, tim boyd said:

On finescale.com's auto modeling forum,  Kalmbach Modeling Content Editor Tim Kidwell has posted a couple of updates on their special "Muscle Cars/Resto-Mods/Pro-Touring" special issue due in April.   The updates, in part, do address some of the questions and comments posed earlier in this thread.  I'm not copying the entire message here (you can find it yourself if you are interested), but one sentence in particular bears repeating here....

"... there have been some questions floating around about how much of the material is repurposed from old issues of Scale Auto magazine. The answer: None.  All of the content is completely new". 

Again, there's more info in his posts, but the above is the most relevant to the questions posed here earlier. 

Best....TIM   

 

 

 

Thanks Tim for that update and insight.

 

But you know that there is still a faction here that will dispute that with you and claim otherwise, sadly.

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13 hours ago, tim boyd said:

On finescale.com's auto modeling forum,  Kalmbach Modeling Content Editor Tim Kidwell has posted a couple of updates on their special "Muscle Cars/Resto-Mods/Pro-Touring" special issue due in April.   The updates, in part, do address some of the questions and comments posed earlier in this thread.  I'm not copying the entire message here (you can find it yourself if you are interested), but one sentence in particular bears repeating here....

"... there have been some questions floating around about how much of the material is repurposed from old issues of Scale Auto magazine. The answer: None.  All of the content is completely new". 

Again, there's more info in his posts, but the above is the most relevant to the questions posed here earlier. 

Best....TIM   

I’m really looking forward to seeing what everyone accomplished in the special issue. I had fun planning/modifying/building my 2 subjects that were done specifically for the special issue; the bonus being I got two of my “most want to build” models complete and on display with my other 2020 pandemic builds. I’m grateful I was given quite a bit of deadline leeway...I needed it! 

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  • 2 months later...

PIcked up my copy of "Building Muscle Cars, Restomods, and Pro Touring" from Pasteiner's in B'Ham, Michigan, today.  

We can now toss all the prior speculation aside.  Here's the actual story:  

* 98 pages of full color, only ads are on inside front cover and back cover.  Other than three pages (table of contents and introductions), the rest is pure car and truck modeling. 

* Content is all-new; no reprints or updates of prior SA articles  

* Contributors include Claude Thibodeau, Marcos Cruz, Bob Downie, Mark Jones, Jeff Bloomhuff, Tom Valenta, and myself  

* Price is $13.99 and it is to appear on newsstands until July 26 of this year.  

Out of deference to our website hosts I will not list the contents or any further details; if it sounds interesting, recommend you check it out at your favorite hobby store or book seller.  

TIM 

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I was sad to see Scale Auto go. It was really starting to get good again after years of getting stagnant. But if the publication isn't making money what can they do? Kalmbach isn't a charity organization, lol. What does rub me the wrong way is that the also nuked the website and forum. There goes about a decade and a half of useful material for automotive modelers. I'm getting FSM now and while there are a few token automotive articles I don't think I'll keep it going. 

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Hey, if they only crank out one of these a year, and it's as good as reported by those who have seen it, then that's okay.  I'd rather buy one chock-full issue than get six semi-mediocre ones in the mail.

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Anyone know if it’s available through Zinio for an iPad, like FSM? I’ll never find a paper copy over here, but I’m happy to buy it electronically if I can. (I’ve tried searching Zinio for FineScale and Restomods, but all I get is the regular monthly mag, and nothing for Restomod.

best,

M.

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On 4/15/2021 at 6:16 PM, tim boyd said:

PIcked up my copy of "Building Muscle Cars, Restomods, and Pro Touring" from Pasteiner's in B'Ham, Michigan, today.  

We can now toss all the prior speculation aside.  Here's the actual story:  

* 98 pages of full color, only ads are on inside front cover and back cover.  Other than three pages (table of contents and introductions), the rest is pure car and truck modeling. 

* Content is all-new; no reprints or updates of prior SA articles  

* Contributors include Claude Thibodeau, Marcos Cruz, Bob Downie, Mark Jones, Jeff Bloomhuff, Tom Valenta, and myself  

* Price is $13.99 and it is to appear on newsstands until July 26 of this year.  

Out of deference to our website hosts I will not list the contents or any further details; if it sounds interesting, recommend you check it out at your favorite hobby store or book seller.  

TIM 

Good too know Tim, I might pick one up at the book store but by then it might bee a slow seller.

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22 hours ago, Matt Bacon said:

Anyone know if it’s available through Zinio for an iPad, like FSM? I’ll never find a paper copy over here, but I’m happy to buy it electronically if I can. (I’ve tried searching Zinio for FineScale and Restomods, but all I get is the regular monthly mag, and nothing for Restomod.

best,

M.

Yes, I had preordered mine in digital form several months ago, and they sent me a link to the Zinio version today. 

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On 4/19/2021 at 4:41 PM, Mark said:

Hey, if they only crank out one of these a year, and it's as good as reported by those who have seen it, then that's okay.  I'd rather buy one chock-full issue than get six semi-mediocre ones in the mail.

Mark's suggestion is what I hope Kalmbach's future plans are.  Biggest factor in whether that happens or not would likely be how well the current special issue finally sells. 

Or stated another way, once again the model car community has its fate in its own hands.   Same point applies to the modeling magazine put out by our hosts here at the forum.  Will enough model car builders step forward to buy the magazine and make it a going/growing enterprise?   TIM 

Edited by tim boyd
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On 4/15/2021 at 7:16 PM, tim boyd said:

Out of deference to our website hosts I will not list the contents or any further details; if it sounds interesting, recommend you check it out at your favorite hobby store or book seller.  

TIM 

If it shows up at my local bookstore, I'll sure give it a look. But I won't order it without a better idea of the contents. 

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I picked up my copy last Saturday, and thought it was a good read. It's not enough to make me re-evaluate my views on the closure of Scale Auto, or have any desire to want to subscribe to FSM. The money wasted in mailing me renewal notices could have gone into providing some automotive related content in their current publication (soon to be merged into Model Railroader, I'm certain).

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3 hours ago, 64Comet404 said:

The money wasted in mailing me renewal notices could have gone into providing some automotive related content in their current publication (soon to be merged into Model Railroader, I'm certain).

I suspect that you stated this with your tongue in your cheek.  Military modeling is quite popular, probably even more popular than automotive modeling. Then if you add Sci-Fi, figures and civilian aircraft (plus the newly added automotive modeling), FSM is not going anywhere. But the printed version (of all the magazines) is likely on the way to extinction.

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