The ‘other’ mag is stopping publication

[GLMFAA1]

What a shame that it comes to an end. I enjoyed the beginning years with Gary Schmidt and I was always an advocate to have the magazine sold through hobby stores to make the readers support their hobby store. An article was written about me and I also contributed an article to the magazine. I have not bought the magazine in years due to the changes after Gary's time at the helm. Ironically I get numerous email notices to subscribe even to one yesterday. Hope I can post the cover picture that was used for the article. Historical trivia it was the first cover with a face to appear on the cover and was the last black and white cover. If the author would have submitted the color picture it would have been the first color cover. I had to be posed in that position to cover the damaged compartment that was on the real truck. God! The September/October 1980 issue 40 years later and it will be all over.

greg

[SSNJim]

1 hour ago, jchrisf said:

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

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

 

Is this all the articles and pictures, or is it just an index?

[Spex84]

Wow. I mostly picked up the occasional SA just for TIm Boyd's articles and builds, and some contest coverage   Street Rodder, Hot Rod Deluxe, Scale Auto, all toast...there isn't much left out there that I actually want to read. Even National Geographic ain't what it was.

Edited July 15, 2020 by Spex84

[Nazz]

 I am going to miss the magazine. I looked forward to getting something in the mail every two months. I know it wasn't what it once was, but it was something, but as Sting said ",when the world is running down you make the best  of what's still around" .

[Dave Van]

I just sent a note to White River productions about SAE. They publish rail themed magazines right now but they have saved a number of magazines from closure. I sent a note asking if they might be interested in SAE as there is now a market with no viable print magazine. Maybe if we let them know we want a good magazine.....we can try. The magazines they did save are now 100% better than they were in their last incarnation.
e-mail them.......
info@whiteriverproductions.com

[jchrisf]

56 minutes ago, SSNJim said:

Is this all the articles and pictures, or is it just an index?

It should be everything (articles and pics, advertisements).. I think they scanned them all in so I don't know about the quality.

I've always thought it was strange that they had the magazine but their forum doesn't get much use and yet this forum is strong but its magazine failed.

[1972coronet]

The glory days of S.A.E. were in the 80's - late 90's . I'll never forget my first issue ; the one featuring @tim boyd's 'F-100 Comparo' . That issue cemented my enjoyment of the magazine and its fantastic content , having subscribed to it in late 1985 (and having purchased a few back-issues) .

I haven't bought an issue of S.A.E. since 2007 (and even then , I bought it only because of Boyd's build of the MPC 1972 Road Runner) , unless one counts the bought-with-a-gift-card issue which featured the Revell 1970 Hemi 'Cuda ( by @cruz , if I remember ) . 

So-so articles... laden with freakin' ads... minimal content... lame-o "reviews" of new kits... 

No , thanks .

I'm tactile --- most of us were raised in the age of holding reading materials in our hands . It's too bad that both physical magazines and online "can't" coexist . Let's just wait until that last Gen-Xer dies before everything goes the the 'net , thank you . 

I feel like it's almost a conspiracy ; a conspiracy to hasten the end of written word (a reversion to the Preliterate Ages) . The way that corpoRATations operate these days , not just subsidiaries of corporations (e.g. , Ostrich Egg Fancier & Spotter's Guide , a subsidiary of Buzz Cola , a family of NFL potato chips ) , this doesn't surprise me .

[Snake45]

3 hours ago, Painted Black said:

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

Thanks for sharing. 

[Snake45]

59 minutes ago, Spex84 said:

Street Rodder, Hot Rod Deluxe, Scale Auto, all toast...

Don't forget Rod & Custom, Car Craft, and Musclecar Review. 

[Jim N]

I have been a long time subscriber and it's sad. But, the content seemed to be more and more of guys thinning out their collections as opposed to building new kits.  Case in point, the latest and last was a race car centered magazine.  They featured a Mercury Marauder that has been making the rounds for a while.  A Sunoco Corvette.  The Sunoco cars have been built and rebuilt for 10 - 20 years now.  Neither really broke new ground and each required 2 - 3 other kits to build the finished model.  A resin dirt track model.  Finally, their One Great Model feature was a 1990's vintage F1 car.  For Pete's sake, Salvino, Ebbro, NUNU and others have been producing new race car kits for several years.  There should have been articles from these manufactures, and the new kits from these companies would have made a very interesting magazine. 

I also tend to think they relied on the same contributors too much and did not try to cultivate new ones.  I may be out to lunch on this one as they may have tried but there was no one to pick up the baton.  There just seemed to be a certain amount of sameness to the magazines.

It's business.  They need advertisers to pay for the pages, and with advertisers dwindling, the page count dwindled too. Then with dwindling page count came reduced magazine circulation.  It's a vicious cycle that in today's climate is impossible to break.

[Richard Bartrop]

I remember picking up that first issue of Scale Auto, and I bought it regularly until I had to cut back on my magazine buying habit.  Their series on superdetailing a Monogram RX-7 I remember well for a wealth of building techniques.  However, their almost exclusive focus on hot rods and customs really wasn't where my interest was at the time.

I gave up on FSM when they started to slide into the old mindset of "We cover all modeling, both aircraft and armor".

 

[Snake45]

2 minutes ago, Richard Bartrop said:

I gave up on FSM when they started to slide into the old mindset of "We cover all modeling, both aircraft and armor".

And sci-fi. For a while there it was a rare issue that didn't feature something from Star Trek or Star Wars. 

[vamach1]

7 hours ago, cobraman said:

Really ? I just got a letter asking if I wanted to subscribe again.

I got my last issue of Mustang Monthly in January.  No warning or anything - just heard about it on Facebook.  Such is life at these big publishers I guess.

I guess Cruz has to find another part-time job now. ?

 

Edited July 15, 2020 by vamach1

[Classicgas]

16 minutes ago, 1972coronet said:

  lame-o "reviews" of new kits... 

 

 

 

You should try writing a review.  It's not as easy  as it looks . They have fairly strict criteria for what they want in a review,  you are under time constraints to build and send in the review. I did a few for them over a couple of years. 

[Painted Black]

8 minutes ago, Snake45 said:

Thanks for sharing. 

No problem 

[Jordan White]

20 minutes ago, Richard Bartrop said:

I gave up on FSM when they started to slide into the old mindset of "We cover all modeling, both aircraft and armor".

[1972coronet]

45 minutes ago, Classicgas said:

You should try writing a review.  It's not as easy  as it looks . They have fairly strict criteria for what they want in a review,  you are under time constraints to build and send in the review. I did a few for them over a couple of years.

I'm not stating that the reviews are lame-in-content ; I'm simply comparing them to how they were during the golden era (e.g. , photos accompanying the review... not just the text-only format that S.A.E. went to by c.2002) . Then , intermix a grip of ads within the reviews , and it's A.D.D. madness ! I couldn't concentrate on the reviews because the freakin' ads shared the same format and text . It's not meant to be an ad hom. attack .

Kudos to you and everyone else whom have contributed the reviews . 

[SSNJim]

1 hour ago, jchrisf said:

It should be everything (articles and pics, advertisements).. I think they scanned them all in so I don't know about the quality.

I've always thought it was strange that they had the magazine but their forum doesn't get much use and yet this forum is strong but its magazine failed.

Thanks. I'd be willing to buy the DVD if it's all content. I've seen indices for sale - it doesn't do any good to know that an article was published in Issue 25 if you don't have Issue 25 and it's out of print..

[64Comet404]

Many years back, when Scale Auto Enthusiast became Scale Auto, I remember making a comment online about the natural progression:

Scale Auto Enthusiast>Scale Auto>Fine Scale Auto>Fine Scale Auto Modeller>Fine Scale Modeller.

It no longer seems so funny.

I've seen so many car modelling mags folded into the Shermans and Germans publications, and disappearing shortly thereafter. Is it so hard for publishers to realize that car modellers do like having a magazine that caters to their likes?

[Straightliner59]

8 hours ago, cobraman said:

Really ? I just got a letter asking if I wanted to subscribe again.

I just got the second issue of a new subscription!

[Richard Bartrop]

2 hours ago, Snake45 said:

And sci-fi. For a while there it was a rare issue that didn't feature something from Star Trek or Star Wars. 

Even that was some variety, but it used to be they did cars, figures, and even things that made you go< "Hmmm, I never knew people made models of those..."

 

[Daddyfink]

Well, considering that most Magazines had to stop publishing, and most where on the ropes already, this doesn't really surprise me. 

I bought two magazines last week and barely noticed that one is from March and the other from April! There is nothing really new out there anymore. 

 

[slusher]

Any magazines left to fill your subscription will be fine scale modeler. 

[slusher]

3 hours ago, Classicgas said:

You should try writing a review.  It's not as easy  as it looks . They have fairly strict criteria for what they want in a review,  you are under time constraints to build and send in the review. I did a few for them over a couple of years. 

I enjoyed the kit reviews. Sounds like you did also...

[vincen47]

4 hours ago, Dave Van said:

I just sent a note to White River productions about SAE. They publish rail themed magazines right now but they have saved a number of magazines from closure. I sent a note asking if they might be interested in SAE as there is now a market with no viable print magazine. Maybe if we let them know we want a good magazine.....we can try. The magazines they did save are now 100% better than they were in their last incarnation.
e-mail them.......
info@whiteriverproductions.com

I agree, they’ve done a great job with Passenger Train Journal.