Fine Scale Modeler

[NYLIBUD]

So A big surprise to me,I found this while I was at Barnes and Noble.Didn’t know they were still releasing after they stopped printed SAE.Great issue so far.Go get your copy.

[peteski]

Yes, it appears to still being issued. But the subject line you chose is really misleading. FSM has been published for decades.  Wouldn't it make sense to use "Contest Cars issue still being published in 2021!" Instead of "Fine Scale Modeler?"

[BlackSheep214]

Hmmm.... I'll have to check it out at my local Barnes & Nobles store soon

[espo]

I got mine at a local hobby shop. Looking thru this I noticed a few that we all got to see being built here on the Forum. 

[Bugatti Fan]

FSM was supposed to 'absorb' some Scale Auto Magazine content when the magazine was axed.

Not much evidence of this having looked through recent copies of FSM.

I expect they will print model car specials like this one from time to time under the FSM banner.

Edited November 30, 2021 by Bugatti Fan

[BlackSheep214]

FSM.... pfffftttt..... a sorry excuse of a model magazine. Subscription reduced to 6 per year, digital copy offered 3 (?) times a year, same subscription price. It won’t be long before that rag (and their forums) folds.

[Bugatti Fan]

Thomas, that would be a pity it FSM folded. But I hear what you say in your criticisms. FSM is still a good general modelling magazine,, but it appears to have got thinner of late. Maybe the reduction to 6 copies per annum may enable the magazine to have more page content. We will have to see!

The absorption of Scale Auto into it was doomed. I have seen niche magazines being absorbed into more general ones before and the content dwindling to next to nothing very quickly. FSM will probably only carry the odd auto related articles just as it always has.

Edited December 2, 2021 by Bugatti Fan

[peteski]

12 hours ago, Bugatti Fan said:

Thomas, that would be a pity it FSM folded. But I hear what you say in your criticisms. FSM is still a good general modelling magazine,, but it appears to have got thinner of late. Maybe the reduction to 6 copies per annum may enable the magazine to have more page content. We will have to see!

I've been FSM subscriber for over 30 years and yes, the printed edition has gotten really slim.  They provide most of the "real" contents online (not I don't go there).  I'm thinking of dropping the paid subscription since my whole reason to subscribe was a nice "fat" paper magazine which I prefer to read on paper instead of a computer screen.  Even with 6 issues, I highly doubt that the printed version will get any more pages. They are really pushing the online articles. This really stinks, but everybody seems to be ditching the printed magazines and going to online version.  Few more years and printed version will go the way of horse and buggy.

[BlackSheep214]

Not to mentioned I was banned in their forums twice already. ROFL! Aside from the moderators being .... dare I say it? Too sensitive and liberal. Of course, let’s not forget they have their own little “forum police” in GMorrison

[89AKurt]

On 11/21/2021 at 8:52 AM, espo said:

I got mine at a local hobby shop. Looking thru this I noticed a few that we all got to see being built here on the Forum. 

Any of mine? ?  The only reason I've bought individual issues is when my models are published, is that way too selfish?

I stopped getting car magazines a decade ago, some last century.  I grew up with Road & Track, but it changed.  Have stacks of magazines that are never looked at, just a few found for reference.

[Bugatti Fan]

I was hoping that FSM might get back to its former thickness now it is down to 6 per year.

Airfix Scalemodelworld and Tamiya International are both good viable alternatives to FSM if looking for a good general subject modelling magazine.

[OldNYJim]

The Kalmbach CEO has a background in digital publishing, and I've read a couple of times about how important a move to more online content is to their company's vision for the future - that and the streamlining of their titles.

I suspect that means that their four different model railroad magazines will be compiled into one at some point; and then maybe that will be rolled into FSM too.

There's no-doubt some amazing things that can be done to make a made-for-digital magazine - incorporating videos, clickable links to further reading (imagine a magazine where you can click a link and it shows you a related article from a back issue), a 'live' comments section on the article so people can add their point of view or useful info...or what about a Netflix-like service for model magazines where you can have access to every Kalmbach title ever and dig through them and find what you need for one low monthly subscription?  I'd pay for that every month!

So much opportunity to do something LIKE a magazine but even better (with a print component running alongside it, for those of us who like an actual paper magazine)!

It's not just the model side that is seeing this effect though - Kalmbach also ran one of the country's largest craft shows and associated magazines, and killed both of them off too:

https://craftindustryalliance.org/beadbutton-show-and-magazine-close-permanently/

 

Edited December 3, 2021 by CabDriver

[OldNYJim]

16 hours ago, 89AKurt said:

Any of mine? ?  The only reason I've bought individual issues is when my models are published, is that way too selfish?

I think that's WHY they do those issues - so people buy a copy or two when their photos are featured!  ? 

[TonyK]

Since my Scale Auto subscription morphed into the FSM magazine I hoped I could adjust but it's not happening. I enjoy looking at any modeling even though I build cars but I can't justify renewing at the price they want for the content they offer.

Add in the problems I kept having trying to access their site with no help from them and I have to say goodbye.

[stavanzer]

I let my FSM Scrip lapse. Just not enough content in the mag, and digital is a dead-end for hobby mags. Despite Jim King's rosy picture, Kalmbach's web content has been hard to access and only fair when you can manage to log in. The whole "E-magazine" thing will only work when access is almost effortless, and FSM is not there yet. In fact, they've never been close, in all the years I've been aware of the site. The forums are poor and the moderators have a very heavy hand.

All in all, at least for me, as a paying FSM customer, the ROI in cyberspace has negative the whole time. I won't be back.

(All opinions are solely my own. Your Mileage May Vary.)

[OldNYJim]

3 hours ago, alexis said:

Despite Jim King's rosy picture, Kalmbach's web content has been hard to access and only fair when you can manage to log in. The whole "E-magazine" thing will only work when access is almost effortless, and FSM is not there yet. In fact, they've never been close, in all the years I've been aware of the site.

No rosy picturing here - your experience of their digital content is exactly the same as mine.  It just doesn’t work; I never managed to get logged in either, can’t access the forums, can’t even read an article I wrote for them, their tech support ignored numerous emails, I tried dozens of times to view their online content and participate and just couldn’t - it’s less than half baked and a poor product.

The ability to post things instantly online for a very low overhead works for hundreds of online media outlets, and can work for them too…now is the time to be making the most of that opportunity and giving people a reason  to pay them to see this stuff because it’s useful and interesting - not dumbing down their selection.  They didn’t even hold onto the Scale Auto domain name, it doesn’t look like…seems like someone else snagged it.  Disappointing, after being a long term reader and supporter of their mag and products.

[Bugatti Fan]

If you think you have problems with the FSM website, try looking at the Scale Motorcars website!

[peteski]

On 12/4/2021 at 4:48 AM, Bugatti Fan said:

If you think you have problems with the FSM website, try looking at the Scale Motorcars website!

That is like apples and oranges.  While they might have problems, they are not a magazine publisher who is shrinking their printed magazine.

[Bugatti Fan]

FSM might be a magazine publisher as well Pete, but a website is a website and judged on their performance as such, regardless of other commercial interests.

I don't see any problems with this website as it has a magazine interest as well and ran efficiently whilst MCM had its publication problems, so I am not sure where you were coming from with the comparison you made between the FSM and Scale Motorcars websites.

Edited December 6, 2021 by Bugatti Fan

[BlackSheep214]

On 12/3/2021 at 4:26 PM, CabDriver said:

The Kalmbach CEO has a background in digital publishing, and I've read a couple of times about how important a move to more online content is to their company's vision for the future - that and the streamlining of their titles.

I suspect that means that their four different model railroad magazines will be compiled into one at some point; and then maybe that will be rolled into FSM too.

There's no-doubt some amazing things that can be done to make a made-for-digital magazine - incorporating videos, clickable links to further reading (imagine a magazine where you can click a link and it shows you a related article from a back issue), a 'live' comments section on the article so people can add their point of view or useful info...or what about a Netflix-like service for model magazines where you can have access to every Kalmbach title ever and dig through them and find what you need for one low monthly subscription?  I'd pay for that every month!

So much opportunity to do something LIKE a magazine but even better (with a print component running alongside it, for those of us who like an actual paper magazine)!

It's not just the model side that is seeing this effect though - Kalmbach also ran one of the country's largest craft shows and associated magazines, and killed both of them off too:

https://craftindustryalliance.org/beadbutton-show-and-magazine-close-permanently/

 

Here’s the thing.... not everyone wants a “digital magazine”. I mean come on... we all want / prefer the print version over a digital glitchy version. I think Kalmbach’s thinking will be the death knoll for FSM in due time. A magazine thinning the pages & reducing to 6 issues per year, throw in 4 digital copies? No thanks.

[OldNYJim]

1 hour ago, BlackSheep214 said:

Here’s the thing.... not everyone wants a “digital magazine”. I mean come on... we all want / prefer the print version over a digital glitchy version. I think Kalmbach’s thinking will be the death knoll for FSM in due time. A magazine thinning the pages & reducing to 6 issues per year, throw in 4 digital copies? No thanks.

Yep - they're a good example of a company telling people what they want rather that GIVING them what they want.  I'm just saying there's a lot they could do to make a digital version of the magazine (alongside a print version) an attractive proposition...but just getting rid of titles and saying "this is what you want instead" probably isn't going to fly.

[StevenGuthmiller]

On 12/2/2021 at 11:16 PM, 89AKurt said:

Any of mine? ?  The only reason I've bought individual issues is when my models are published, is that way too selfish?

I don't have any subscriptions to any magazines either, and I rarely buy them anymore.

I used to buy them for the reference material, ideas, etc. but now all of that can be found easily on line.

I do however pick one up when I get word that one of my models has made an appearance in one.

It's just nice to have a record of that.

 

I suppose I'll have to get a copy of this one.

Apparently, my '64 Grand Prix is in there somewhere.

 

 

 

 

Steve

[Nazz]

On 12/6/2021 at 8:57 AM, StevenGuthmiller said:

 

I suppose I'll have to get a copy of this one.

Apparently, my '64 Grand Prix is in there somewhere.

 

 

 

 

Steve

Cograts Steve, your Pontiac looks great !

 

Jerry

[Bugatti Fan]

Unfortunately these days there is a general assumption that everyone either is wants to go digital or is already.

How often do we get to hear the expressions 'You can see it online.'  Or 'You can download the app.'

Er, what happened to the E books that were supposed to kick paper publications the way of the Dodo?

Cannot see any indication of books and paperbacks going into freefall, at least if my local bookshop is anything to go by!

Edited December 8, 2021 by Bugatti Fan

[bobthehobbyguy]

Books and paperbacks can't be compared to magazines.

The business model for magazines is the larger tge subscriber base the more you can charge for ads. Thats why magazines offer such cheap rates for subscribing. The internet has destroyed that busuness model. Not sure if magazines can find a new business model that works other than going digital.