The ‘other’ mag is stopping publication

[slusher]

9 hours ago, Snake45 said:

That's why this forum is much bigger than SA's, which used to be very active and vibrant. And I recognize a LOT of names here from the old days over there. I don't miss "over there" at all anymore. 

I agree with you Snake, I miss a few people is all.  They have been pushing FSM for a long time on me and other Scale auto subscribers for a while so it’s a matter of time before FSM folds also.

[mikemodeler]

I have no inside knowledge of how Kalmbach publishing works or is doing financially, but I will say this. If both Scale Auto and FSM were struggling to survive, then combining the two would not be the answer to solving the problem. My guess ( and a $1 will get you a large Coke at participating McDonalds) is that FSM has a larger subscriber base & circulation than SA and therefore it was determined to combine the two in the spirit of strengthening the plastic model hobby. We all win if the magazine is expanded to include vehicles and we learn some tips along the way on how to improve our building. I have never been an aircraft/military modeler but my son and one of his friends are and it might be a way for us to share the hobby some more.

[Claude Thibodeau]

Hi!

Reading the comments on this thread, it appears most of us are, shall we say, of the "mature" variety...

I can't recall the number of times I was told that we need to "bring new blood" to this hobby, meaning, get younger peoples interested. Well, it appears that whatever the amount of pre-decorated or snap kits they sell, the "younger types" are just paying a temporary attention to this hobby. A "passing trough" phase, if you will. 

Go to your collection of SAE, and check the circulation data that are required by law to be made public once a year (usually in the latest issue of a going year, or the first of the new year... buried at the end of the mag, in VERY  small print). They show: the net amount of copies printed, distributed to vendors, mailed to subscribers, sold an returned -unsold-totals.  Rare are the publications, the days, who show a growth curve. Quite the opposite... Difficult to maintain a profitable business in these circumstances. 

For a while, I was an advertiser myself in a few 1/1 hot rod magazines. When I challenged their advertising rates in light of ever-diminishing circulation, they countered that "... every issue is read by more peoples". At some point, if you believed them, each and every Street Rodder Magazine issue  would have been circulated amongst 38 persons (!?!).

Are you stlll  an advertiser? I tought so... 

I came to the conclusion that our hobby, mostly, is populated by mature adults like me, who discovered, or most likely, re-entered the hobby at some point in their mature years. That would explain the endless mining of old tools by new owners (Retro-DeLuxe packaging, anyone?), and good sales numbers for kits that are perfectly aimed at the market "demographics". Not a bad thing in itself, but not creating a new audience, I'm afraid. 

I doubt they can come up with enough rehash of Fast & Furious to lure a steady flow of youngsters to the hobby shop for anything but a drone or RC toy. For me, I will still delight in the joys of detailed "static" styrene, thank you. 

Hope I'm dead wrong, however!

CT

[boss 302 mustang]

Claude, you might be SO right!!

[Claude Thibodeau]

1 hour ago, boss 302 mustang said:

Claude, you might be SO right!!

Hi!

Mister Fisher, again, I hope I am mistaken...

CT

[niteowl7710]

Another thing to consider is that for the Gen-X crowd SA(e) had always existed.  I had subscriptions to SAE and Car Modeler back in the day as a teenager, but when I "came back" to the hobby in my mid-30s the forums existed and frankly I didn't see a need for a paper publication.  Since then FB Groups (for all the good and the bad) and YouTube channels have become more and more popular.  

Also having grown up in a hobby that has always in some form or fashion been on the "internet" - in the early 90s I actively participated in a Prodigy Message Board about Model Cars & Trucks - I didn't need to "re-find" that the hobby existed.  I knew it was still there, and it was just a matter of shaking the dust off.

[Force]

I also got the email, I have been a subscriber of SA(E) since 1995 but was kind of surprised they would close up shop so soon, I have subscribed to a lot of magazines but most of them has stopped publication, some has gone over to digital but I'm not interested in that, not to pay for it anyway as I can get most of the information I need for free, and some has been replaced with other publications that I'm not that interested in so I have stopped completely.
So if I don't get a paper copy of the magazine I'm interested in I woun't get it at all...but that's me, and magazines to subscribe to is getting fewer and fewer and I don't like that development as I like to hold the magazine in my hands and read it...not on a computer screen or some other device.

[stitchdup]

I think I'm going to stop subscribing to mags, i took out a lowrider and street rodder sub late last year and recieved one of each before they stopped publishing, so i used my refund for a sub to the other mag and now they are gone too.

[slusher]

1 hour ago, stitchdup said:

I think I'm going to stop subscribing to mags, i took out a lowrider and street rodder sub late last year and recieved one of each before they stopped publishing, so i used my refund for a sub to the other mag and now they are gone too.

Lowrider magazine stop publishing also?

[Rob Hall]

17 minutes ago, slusher said:

Lowrider magazine stop publishing also?

It's gone also. Motor Trend Group (formerly TEN) publishes only 4 magazines now--Hot Rod, Motor Trend, Four Wheeler, and Road Kill.    They disconinued 19 titles at the end of last year.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Motor_Trend_Group

[Lunajammer]

7 hours ago, Rob Hall said:

 They discontinued 19 titles at the end of last year.

December 2019 discontinuations[edit]

• Automobile
• Car Craft
• Chevy High Performance
• Classic Trucks
• Diesel Power Magazine
• Hot Rod Deluxe
• Jp
• Lowrider
• Mopar Muscle
• Muscle Car Review
• Mustang Monthly
• Street Rodder
• Super Chevy
• Super Street
• Truck Trend
• Truckin
• Petersen's 4-Wheel & Off-Road
• Vette

[OldNYJim]

At least they found a good place to advertise, I guess:

[Modelbuilder Mark]

On 7/15/2020 at 8:52 AM, StevenGuthmiller said:

Speaking of forums, does anyone know if the SA forum will go away as well?

 

 

 

Steve

If this has been answered already, my apologies. I called them, and they said the website and forum will remain even the store will remain open until they sell out the stock of items they have already produced.

[Dave Van]

I was mad at Kalmbach, SA(E) owners, when they allowed me to renew the day before they shut the doors. I looked at my payment and it was to 'Magazine Agents Inc' so it was not Kalmbach directly....they were evidently using a vendor to handle this info.  HOWEVER in the end Kalmbach should have let this company know a day or two early. You do not shut a magazine overnight....Kalmbach knew it was coming for a while. 

 

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

[mikemodeler]

1 hour ago, Dave Van said:

I was mad at Kalmbach, SA(E) owners, when they allowed me to renew the day before they shut the doors. I looked at my payment and it was to 'Magazine Agents Inc' so it was not Kalmbach directly....they were evidently using a vendor to handle this info.  HOWEVER in the end Kalmbach should have let this company know a day or two early. You do not shut a magazine overnight....Kalmbach knew it was coming for a while. 

 

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

Uh Dave, did you miss my post about how I contacted Kalmbach directly and got my renewal subscription refunded from 4 weeks ago after I got the email stating the magazine was ceasing publication? Try calling them or writing them and I would think you could get a refund too. They were very pleasant to deal with and took care of it within an hour of my writing to them.

 

Edited July 20, 2020 by mikemodeler

[mikemodeler]

On 7/18/2020 at 10:58 AM, BlackSheep214 said:

 

$90!?!? No thank you. A bit too much money considering Kalmbach wants to end publication to SAM. Ever noticed FSM never does a car kit review on their site? I think Kalmbach feels there’s no longer a need for car kits but more for aircraft, ships, and armor.

I do agree with one poster these IPMS shows are geared to those subjects more than auto. Last year’s Syrcon show had more military kits than auto kits on contest display. Yet, they were selling auto kits too. Sad really.

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.

[Rob Hall]

Just now, 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'm interested in the DVD, but according to the Kalmbach site it's not compatible with newer versions of MacOS, unfortunately. 

[jchrisf]

18 minutes 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.

Is it really that many?  I thought it was just the ones they have pics on the cover.  Heck of a deal if so.

[Dave Van]

30 minutes ago, mikemodeler said:

Uh Dave, did you miss my post about how I contacted Kalmbach directly and got my renewal subscription refunded from 4 weeks ago after I got the email stating the magazine was ceasing publication? Try calling them or writing them and I would think you could get a refund too. They were very pleasant to deal with and took care of it within an hour of my writing to them.

 

Oh....I got a old of them.  Being a retired bank analyst...in the end I'd get my money not matter what. 

How about this. I could just call my CC company and instant I get the charge removed. But I gave Kalmbach a chance before I go nuclear. They say a CC refund will be processed later this month and then show up a few weeks later on my account. OK....I'll try this way. But in the end I get my way. 

If a bank took 3-4 week to clear your pay check....you might not be happy either. With no magazine....all they have i service and it's just OK.....not great.

[mikemodeler]

2 hours ago, Dave Van said:

I was mad at Kalmbach, SA(E) owners, when they allowed me to renew the day before they shut the doors. I looked at my payment and it was to 'Magazine Agents Inc' so it was not Kalmbach directly....they were evidently using a vendor to handle this info.  HOWEVER in the end Kalmbach should have let this company know a day or two early. You do not shut a magazine overnight....Kalmbach knew it was coming for a while. 

 

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

What's with the feigned outrage over Kalmbach's decision to stop publishing Scale Auto ? You state how mad you were that they "allowed you to renew the day before they shut the doors" but in the end you got a refund, didn't you? What about the people who paid for a lifetime subscription to MCM last year and have received one "Contest Issue" of contests from 2017-2018 and a bunch of hollow reasons why the magazine hasn't printed another issue since?

 

And that "new magazine" that is rumored?   Yeah, I'll believe it when I see it.

[espo]

I got another of their constant E Mails about some magazines they're sure I need or want. I tried to unsubscribe from their E Mail list and I guess somehow they're now cancelling the rest of my subscription if I don't call their 800 number today. I called and all I get is a busy signal. The recording they left on my phone said that if I didn't contact them by the end of the day they would cancel my subscription and refund the used portion. This might be one way to get them to refund some or all of your subscription money.    

[Dave Van]

46 minutes ago, mikemodeler said:

What's with the feigned outrage over Kalmbach's decision to stop publishing Scale Auto ? You state how mad you were that they "allowed you to renew the day before they shut the doors" but in the end you got a refund, didn't you? What about the people who paid for a lifetime subscription to MCM last year and have received one "Contest Issue" of contests from 2017-2018 and a bunch of hollow reasons why the magazine hasn't printed another issue since?

 

And that "new magazine" that is rumored?   Yeah, I'll believe it when I see it.

I've written it 3  times....and I know it's in Hill Billy....BUT....SA(E) was a shadow of the Schimt era. So not a huge loss. 

I WAS MAD THAT HEY TAKE MONEY FROM ME THE DAY BEFORE THEY SHUT.......KNOWING THEY ARE DOING SO....AND 3-4 weeks to get my money??? READ my hill billy typing.....I've said it as clear as I can. thx

[mikemodeler]

11 minutes ago, Dave Van said:

I've written it 3  times....and I know it's in Hill Billy....BUT....SA(E) was a shadow of the Schimt era. So not a huge loss. 

I WAS MAD THAT HEY TAKE MONEY FROM ME THE DAY BEFORE THEY SHUT.......KNOWING THEY ARE DOING SO....AND 3-4 weeks to get my money??? READ my hill billy typing.....I've said it as clear as I can. thx

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. 

[Rob Hall]

Subscriptions are usually always handled by a third party, print or digital.  I get all my digital subscriptions (incl. SA) through Amazon, for instance.  

[iBorg]

Before we condemn the decision to FSM over SAe, look at the number of advertisers. Advertisers pay the bills.