Model Railroading > New MR

The September MR is sure skinny and has zilch in it.  Sure isn't the magazine it used to be.
Review of the Botchman 2-8-0.  I can't believe as many years as they have been selling steam models they STILL get the eccentric crank wrong on the fireman's side.
I guess I'm getting too old and crabby.
I miss Mainline Modeler and like seeing Model Railroad Hobbyist every month on line.  RMC seems to be getting better since the takeover.
I used to look forward to MR back in the late 50s-early 60s.  Lot of good articles on scratchbuilding and following the prototype and encouraging you to be a better modeler.  Paul Larson did an excellent job as did John Page.

Model railroad craftsman is so much better

I also like “Model Railroad News” magazine for in-depth product reviews with info on the matching prototypes.

Posted from iPhone

Mine just came today and yes it is thin. Haven't opened it yet. I am on my second year of trying the "new" RMC.Although it is very slick, I haven't found too much in there that got me excited either.
I guess I'm just grumpy!

TJY

I suppose if we wiped out the internet, all the hobby shops would advertise in MR and they'd have thicker issues (but where would people complain about the projects utilizing carbon tet as a cleaner?) MR does run scratchbuilding articles today but how many people are going to scratchbuild a boxcar from basswood like in the past? Next thing you know, MR will run an article about building an old Ambroid kit or upgrading Helium tank cars.   :)

John

My vote is for Railroad Model Craftsman-really like it since the takeover.
Felt MR has been kinda crappy and thin for awhile!

Mike Bannon
St Catharines, ON

This is my last subscription to both MR and RMC. If I see an article of interest in either, I’ll just pick up the issue off the stand. I’m finding that once I flip through the publications a couple of times they go directly into the “read” pile. I have so many old MR, Trains, RMC, etc that I need to just get a dumpster. 

I used to buy mine at the LHS, but its gone.  That way if it was a clunker, I just wouldn't buy it.  However, I never was like the cheapwads who would stand there and read them.  I just looked in the contents and if it didn't interest me, I'd pass.
I don't know of anyplace around here that sells them "on the stand".

The B&N bookstore in Columbia MO carries RMC, MR, Trains, Classic Tarins, TRP, Railraod  & Railfan and Model Railroad News.  They also have a couple of model raoiroad magazines from Great Britian. That is a lot closer than brick and mortar hobby shops in KC and STL that have those mags plus others.

Bruce



Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 08/07/18 09:33 by BCutter.

This September 2018 issue 74 pages.  Picked up a random issue from a year ago, April 2017, it is 118 pages.

However the bar code on the 2017 issue lists the mag at $9.99 and th most recent issue is $7.99

Perhaps MR determined the newsstand price was too high :  lesser price for lesser content?

Generally, I like model railroader magazine. This month's issue wasn't too great though, I'll agree.

Agreed. I miss the old RMC very much.

icancmp193 Wrote:
-------------------------------------------------------
> Mine just came today and yes it is thin. Haven't
> opened it yet. I am on my second year of trying
> the "new" RMC.Although it is very slick, I haven't
> found too much in there that got me excited
> either.
> I guess I'm just grumpy!
>
> TJY

I like most of the articles Pelle does for MR.  I don't like contemporary railroading but his work is great.  Wish he modeled steam days.

Guys, it isn't only MR...  Take a look at a recent Sports Illustrated (any issue but the swimsuit one that gets bigger every year) and compare a 2018 issue to a 2000s or 1990s issue.  The new issues are smaller in size and far thinner in number of pages.

Judging by my inbox, MR is pushing their electronic side super hard. I do so much with a touch screen these at work and home, that I find myself wanting to separate myself from it more and more as time goes on. Plus they want you to pay more to receive the online goods on top of what your print subscription is. 

Pardon on me while I put this IPad down and go walk the dog.

The only "magazine" I subscribe to is MRH.....it consistently runs "How To" articles of substance, has vendor/mfgr links built into it, and showcases layuouts of friends of mine. 

 The latest MR was woefully thin...the article on installing a Walthers Layout Control System switch machine was informative but why oh why do these folks not publish an equal number of similar articles for people who use 2" foam as their layout deck of choice? Not everyone uses plywood any more....

The other articles were readable and decently done....but not  the kind of attention - getters that have you re-reading the issue several times over. 

A long time friend in the newspaper game says the writing is on the wall for virtually all print media. He predicts that 10 years from now, there will be no major newspapers or magazines...save for local small papers and magazines catering to your home town. In my industry,- ALL design-related regulations are electronically issued and that is a great thing for me. If I have to look up a regaulation from the Marshjhall Islands, I can have it in minutes - not the weeks it used to take to order a book and have it shipped to you.  I carry around - the equivalent of about 10,000 pages of maritime regulations now on a thumb drive...instead of the hundreds of pouinds of books I'd have to buy and carry.

MRH is the future of all these magazines. I can take drawings of structures from a magazine article - scan them, use a PDF to DWG converter program to make them into useable CAD files, and then create that structure easily in 3D. In an electronic magazine, the PDF may already be there....saving a step. 

I realize that not everyone is tech-savvy and I certainly enjoy reading magazines.....I hope they never go away - but I do not subscribe to any. My LHS carries them, and increasingly he has lots of past unsold issues on his magazine rack. .I suppose that I actually "do" in a fashion subscribe to thsome because my LHS saves me a copy each of every new MR, RMC, Railpace, MRN, Diesel Era, CN Lines, and at times the NHTR publication.  I belong to the PCRRHS and get the "POST" and also the Steel Mill Modelers group and their magazine...So for MR, MRN, DE, CNL, RPace, and RMC I am really subscribing via my dealer inventory. , 

The day is alsoi coming when there will be model railroad manufacturers who sell you the 3D files of the products that you 3D print at home....and can modify to suit a different motor...or change a truck sideframe - your "parts box" will be a series of thumb drives or other electronic media.  You will likely have to buy underframes from the mfg as few people will purchase 3D printers that can work in metal..... :) . The "manufacturers"  will become repositories of 3D models of everything from the smallest detail in HO to the whole locomotive.. 

Go look on Shapeways sometime....

This year, we became a partner in a company that designs ships only in 3D form - no more 2D drawings....we now essentially build the boat on a computer screen right down to the bolts in the pipe flanges...every piece of structure,  all of the wiring, machinery components...everything. We build the boat in its' entirety before the shipyard ever sees it....in 3D....

Amazing times we are in.....

Bob



Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 08/08/18 05:52 by navarch2.

    I just thumbed through the new/current issue,and it is rather thin. The reason I think it’s shrinking...there are very few ads! The content seems to be the same,measured by volume at least,but there is hardly any advertising. I remember back in the “glory days” ,before internet and electronic media,there were 150 pages plus,packed with ads. I used to look forward to those ads,almost akin to thumbing through a Walters catalog.Notice how thin that has gotten recently too?...but I digress. I think in the not too distant future MR will be electronic only,akin to MRH. If I could get it that way now,without paying the premium,I would. Personally speaking,I enjoyed the ads as much,if not more so at times,than the articles. It was the way the average modeler kept up with news and new products and announcements,other than hobby shot rumors. They’re going away too....again I digress. Now we go to forums like this,or the myriad of podcasts and internet based media to do what we used to do by waiting for the monthly issuance of the magazines,and the advertisers know that,and have shifted their $$$ to those medium. 

    Tom





WrongWayMurphy Wrote:
-------------------------------------------------------
> This September 2018 issue 74 pages.  Picked up a
> random issue from a year ago, April 2017, it is
> 118 pages.
>
> However the bar code on the 2017 issue lists the
> mag at $9.99 and th most recent issue is $7.99
>
> Perhaps MR determined the newsstand price was too
> high :  lesser price for lesser content?

Having had a career in advertising media planning, I can tell you the entire magazine industry is in the toilet. Same reason as newspapers. Why subscribe to some expensive and ever thinning magazine when you can find basically the same thing on line. That's why more and more advertising dollars are going to the Internet than to print media. Back in the day, Ford Motor Company ran in all four news weekly's just about every week. Today, it's hard to find any full page national automotive ads. Just the way of the modern world. 

To put it in perspective, it is my understanding that a full page ad in Model Railroader cost about 5000 dollars.

Victor A. Baird
http://www.erstwhilepublications.com

I have heard from many people, both manufacturers as well as hobby shops that Kalbach has very expensive rates, and hard to meet terms.