noelsmith

Richard, I guess that the airing of anything controversial and critical of Model Cars Mag on their forum gets deleted. Unfortunately they do not appear to condone the idea of free speech when it ruffles a few of their feathers. If they are unable to accept criticism, provided it is factual and within the bounds of forum etiquette, and gag free speech, then it only indicates how insecure they must be. Writing for love of glory? They well may get some new writers on board, but for now long? It takes a lot of time and effort to put a good magazine article together. My guess is that there will be some dabblers out there who will test he water and as soon as they get their name known for glory will quickly move on to a more remunerative outlet for their efforts. I think they will struggle to replace the regular quality article writers they are losing hand over fist. Bob Turner spelled out the doom of Model Cars Magazine by the logic shown in his mathematical analysis of their business plan, now unfortunately deleted from their forum. Have to agree that Model Cars Magazine looks to be doomed!

Further to my last post two ex writers for Model Cars Magazine have contacted me directly to both to empathise with my situation, and to say how poorly they have also been treated by Model Cars Magazine. One of them mentioned that the truck modelling column by Tim Ahlborn has suddenly disappeared from the magazine with no explanation. Perhaps just another writer getting frustrated with writing for no reward and giving up on MC Mag? The frustrated writers that I know of could well be the tip of the iceberg regarding the number who may have also given up on MC Mag. I believe that they now cheap skate and do not pay writers fees. What with not paying their writers any more and the punters who subscribe being let down by ever late deliveries of the magazine is simply creating a toxic mix. Writers will go elsewhere and subscribers will gradually drop away as they get frustrated with the lame excuses and poor service that they have paid up front for. Cannot understand why do many subscribers have remained as faithful as they have up to now given the wholly inadequate service they are getting from a commercial business! Unfortunately it appears that the writing is on the wall for Model Cars Magazine and it will probably soon go under! Bob Turner did the math in a controversial thread on MCMags own forum and I note the thread has since been deleted!

Richard, I would heartedly agree with all you said in your last post, and it looks as though we both sing from th same hymn sheet. There is something more tactile about print as opposed to digital. Like many others, we have also embraced the digital realm via the web on forums such as this one and for looking up info, so enjoy the best of both worlds. With regard to Model Cars Magazine itself, the way they are going at present does not exactly inspire confidence for those faithful subscribers out there who wait patiently for their magazine to arrive. If they cannot get a handle on their schedule, eventually their subscribers will go elsewhere. There are two other car modelling magazines they can easily go to, Scale Auto and Model Car Builder, both excellent magazines in their own right. Scale Auto now has a new editorial team on board with many new ideas and a fresh approach. In view of this competition unfortunately I can see Model Cars Magazine becoming a casualty. Like you said Richard, specialist model publishing is a cut throat business, and Model Cars Magazine may fall by the wayside if they cannot sort themselves out.

Pactra Namel! I still have some unopened custom colour metallics that I bought way back when. Hopefully still usable. We will see!

Richard, gone you have made very valid points about the internet and specialist websites in your last reply and agree with your observations. Can I clarify something that may have been misinterpreted from my last post. The editor of Model Cars Mag was referring to the magazine being a website and not a magazine if it went digital and was not referring to their forum in any way. The latter part of your last post only goes to confirm the expectation of stuff for free off the web. If Model Cars Mag went digital I fear that the uptake may not be enough to sustain it unfortunately. They are struggling enough now and relying on the faithful just to keep their head above water to get the printed version out. I agree that digital is the way things are going, but call me a luddite if you like as I like a paper magazine or book to read rather than downloading stuff onto a tablet that eventually has to be deleted.

Digital or paper? Model Cars Mag editor is adamant in their forum that digital is a website, not a magazine, so guess they are sticking to print. Yes, digital is far cheaper to put out than print, but there is an expectancy for massively reduced cost to the consumer as well! Last I heard is that they are no longer paying for articles, expecting freebies from wannabe article writers. Well I like to get paid for my efforts whether digital or printed. I would expect that there are a number of other article writers out there who feel the same as me. Good luck to those who write for free it they just want their name to get around. My own view is that commercial magazines exist to make a profit and freebie writers are just being taken advantage of. Going digital would probably mean having to greatly increase the subscriber base to cover the reduction in cost to the consumer just to maintain the current level of subscriber fees. Plus they would have to deal with a substantial number of accounts to process as a result. If they went digital, I do not think that they would gain the level of new subscribers to make it happen. Also I fear that many writers like me have already dropped away due to their non payment policy and will not be replaced easily. Their subscriber deliveries are still way out according to posts on their forum so they are having to survive on perhaps just a years subscriptions for two years. Not sure how this will stack up long term if subscribers start to drop away because of late deliveries. Recently a critical thread was removed from their forum where a number of posters voiced their opinions about the survivability of the magazine. Time will tell however!

Robin, I forgot all about model railway magazines in the UK. Plenty of those appear regularly on the shelves over here as well. Railway modelling must rate as the largest interest apart from plastic modelling worldwide. Richard, I understand what you are saying about the specialist publishing business being cut throat and brutal. My peeve with MCM is that my article at the time was commissioned and accepted at a page rate at the time and used, so they owe me for the work. Golden Bell publishing closed and the editor took on ownership of the magazine in its entirety including monies owed. Since the change over I think that trying to do all that a publishing company does single handed was asking for trouble without anybody else in place to look after printing, distribution and accounting. Time will tell however. I just hope that their subscribers do not turn out to be like the band on the Titanic hanging in until the ship goes down . I have given up on chasing payment as I am convinced that there will be nothing coming, and have the distinct feeling that they have no intention of paying me. I guess that there are probably other article writers out there who remain unpaid by this magazine from way back.

Still not paid for my November 2015 Duel Rig article in Model Cars Magazine. After all this time I have come to the conclusion that they have no intention of paying me my author's fee having commissioned my article at the time. Trust has to be a two way thing so I can only register my disappointment on their part due to their lack of professional ethics. Latest I have heard is that they are no longer paying author's for magazine articles. This suggests the perilous state that the magazine may well be in. Looking at their forum their subscribers appear to be still suffering deliveries that are running very late. Indeed perhaps to an unacceptable level! I admire the faith of those subscribers who are hanging in there, but how long before they lose faith? MCM as far as I know is still being run as a one man band out of Hawaii, so cannot see how things will improve under the circumstances. I fear that it is only a matter of time when subscribers and authors start to drop away and we see the gradual demise of the magazine as funds gradually dry up. This would be a great pity as the magazine content was always interesting and informative. Hopefully it will survive, but I have seen many model making magazines come and go over the years and it would be a shame if MCM becomes another added to this list.

I don't really think that aircraft nose art is really an issue here. After all of it is historically correct then there is no reason why it should not be on the model. However, I can understand the sensitivity about swastikas appearing on WW2 German aircraft and military vehicles etc in Germany on models although they should be on them for historical accuracy. I personally feel that models should be historically accurate, but fully understand others points of view who may be offended. This aside, we are seeing more offensive and gruesome stuff appearing in other modelling genres. For example, girlie figures that are verging on pornographic making appearances at model shows. Also, gruesome figures depicting graphic violence such as for example a fantasy warrior holding up a severed head with muscle hanging and blood dripping.

Richard, yes I agree with what you say. Motor racing is really big in the USA. We only have one oval track in the UK, Rockingham Speedway and one drag strip, Santa Pod. There are of course a number of racing tracks with many types of racing going on. The main interest appears to be F1, Rally and Hillclimb events here in the UK. With regard to Model Cars Magazine, their problems appear to stem from the editor now running the magazine virtually as a one man band without now having a publishing company on board and the printing, distribution and invoicing support that goes with it. I think he has bitten off more than he can chew unfortunately, and this is reflected by the poor delivery record. Will it get better, or will it fail if subscribers get fed up with waiting? Who knows?

Hi Robin Auto Modeling is much bigger in the USA than in the UK, so oK guess that is the reason for your observation about car modelling magazines stateside. Over here in the UK out main street outlet W H Smith (equivalent to your Barnes and Noble?) Has a monthly plethora of mainly aircraft modelling mags followed closely with military then boats and model engineering mags but no auto modelling mags whatsoever. They carry Airfix, Tamiya and FSM that may have auto related modelling articles within the rest of their content. A couple of auto modelling magazines of UK origin came and went after short publication runs. I guess that this simply reflects the model making habits of each of our two nations in general.

Richard, was the other magazine that Kalmbach bought Model Car Science? Or had that magazine long gone before? Modeler.....alias .Glue Manchu! Nice pseudonym! Er! What happened to your post? Just an emoticon?

Looking on Scale Auto forum recently someone heard that there was a rumour that Scale Auto would be amalgamating with Model Cars Magazine. This was rightly denied by the editor of Scale Auto Magazine. Could not see Kalmbach ever wanting to take on MCM as it simply has no need to!

Still remain unpaid the 400 dollars for my Duel article that went to press in the Nov 2015 copy of MCM despite chasing it up during the latter part of 2017. I get the distinct impression that after all this time there is no intention on their part to to pay me at all so they will be getting nothing more from me. I guess that many past writers like me remain unpaid for work commissioned and have also stopped writing for them. Latest I have heard is that the magazine subscriber deliveries are still way behind. Would imagine their subscriber base must be shrinking big time as people get fed up with waiting indefinitely. What ones do remain have a lot of faith to hang in there. But how long before their faith wears thin. Also heard that they do not pay for contributions any more? No encouragement for writers there wouldn't you say. I think this year will be make or break for MCM.

Thanks for the feedback guys.