Jim Rae reveiws the debut issue of "Scale Military Modeller International" published by SAM Publications.

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Not Impressed by this new magazine. It needs some work to compete with other stuff out there.

Andy

Hi
Have to agree with Andy on this, it's not up to the standard of some of the magazine that are out there now, but it's a descent magazine, The reviews articles arn't bad. Some of the models arn't up to the standard of some of the top names. I still have found some interesting pieces in it. I like the articles with the Sheridan in them .
I'll keep buying it at the moment as long as the articles do not start to slip in quality & quantity & they dont put to many adverts in.
Some of the older well known mag's are getting too full of adverts eg military modelling I think the 1st 12 pages are adverts & the last 5 the same. I want a magazine full of reviews & Build articles not adverts.
Here's keeping my fingers crossed.

I tend to agree with Andy & Shaun, though to my eye it looks like a gaudy 70s magazine.

I'm no expert on the Vietnam period, but the Willys Jeep (a poor one at that) looks wrong next to a Chinook and why are there 155mm shells plonked next to the Sheridan? The ammo for the Sheridan looks quite different to artillery shells.

The biggest problem is that articles have 'larger than life' pictures of the models which show up a lot of flaws, this degree of enlargement can make the best models look poor.

This is the sixth 'military modelling' magazine on UK newstands and I fear in the longer term that is possibly three or four too many.

JH

At the danger of sounding like i'm defending my own Review, let me restate what I said in the final part:




Last year, when I did an overview of four of the U.K's more 'high-profile' magazines, I made no bones about it, my personal favorites are Model Military International & AFV Modeller - two very different publications with a clearly-defined readership. Scale Military Modeller International is, IMO, a highly professional publication. It will, I feel, have more 'application' for the less-experienced or newer modelers - an excellent area in itself.




You don't sell advertising space - you don't exist. Simple as that. Why should modeling be exempt from market forces? Sport exists because of sponsorship. Are we somehow morally superior to every other area? This site exists in its current format thanks to advertisers. Sorry, it's a TOTALLY absurd argument.

I will however, agree to one 'gripe'. A recent issue of MM had a feature (paid advert?) on one of the pre-built/painted AFVs. Not, IMO, anything to do with modeling, but as all magazines are cash-strapped, to a certain extent it CAN be understood on a purely commercial sense...

I don´t think its totally absurd at all. This arguement is even more relevant when buying from another country, when importing/extra transport and weight costs are added.
I pay for a magazine, I want articles and features, not pages of advertisements. I´ll pay more for the magazine to get this, rather than opt for the cheaper version with little or weak content, and then puffed out with fillers.
This site may exist in its current format thanks to advertisers, but its free to the users. Advertising is understood and accepted for this reason. If this was a pay-site and one had to wade through pages of ads, how popular would it be?


Add to that, a 2 page feature on the opening of a new toy shop, plus the pages of advertisements that Shaun already mentioned, its leading me to believe the days of magazines are really numbered. Yes I bought this mag ... because the cost was worth it for me, for the SU76M article by Zaloga, but its not every issue that will have something of this nature, that interests me enough to pay for it.

I haven't seen the Magazine because either Easons the magazine importers here have not got it in or else it sold out immediately.

I've almost stopped buying mags altogether. I used to buy TMMI for the Armour features but it has really lost out to Model Military International. Instead of features its recent issues have been filled with "Kit Previews"
Military Modelling I only buy when Steve Zaloga does a 1/35 scale build. I passed on the recent Armour Special.

I was in my LHS this morning and he had AFV modeller so I picked it up €12 and then I left it on the garden table before I got a chance to read it and it rained

What is most absurd about "Scale Military Modeller International" is that they proudly display on their cover "Scale Models - 38 years of excellence", which (as one who has the first issue of the original 'Scale Models') I think is a bit rich as their is no real lineage from the original.

The rules of commerce will determine if the particular magazine succeeds, but I have rarely seen models of such a low standard on websites, and the model's presentation is not helped by the photos.

JH