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Originally Posted by Octagon
I agree with you on Model Cars. It's a lot of fun to read and I like the fact that now I get to read reviews on ALL sorts of kits as opposed to just factory stock.
The emphasis was taken away from maintaining the ideal that model cars are as much an adult hobby as they are a children's pasttime. SA went from modification, accurazation, and history to becoming a diecast "piece of the month" newsletter.
And, I'm sorry, but Loren Bussewitcz (I probably misspelled his name, honestly I don't care) absolutely SUCKS as a reviewer. He rambled on for NINE paragraphs about how popular the Tri-Five Chevies are before he even MENTIONED Revell's 1956 Del Rey.
I like Model Cars. All I hope for is that it'll maybe grow into a monthly. Other than that, it's good stuff. I particularly liked the Revell Austin Coupe review. Funny.
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Yeah, I kinda got a kick out of that Austin "Coupe" review too
MCM is a fine example, like the old pre-Kalmbach SAE, of how good a magazine can be when the people who run it not only know their audience, they're part of that audience. Gary Schmidt, SAE's former owner and publisher, is a great guy and an enthusiast in the true sense of the word. Not only a model car enthusiast, but a real car enthusiast as well. He owns a beautiful '63 Galaxie 500XL 427 convertible and a Grabber Blue '70 Boss 429 - 1/1 scale - among others. Gregg is famous for his custom Ranchero, and now he is tooling around Hawaii in a new Audi A4 Quattro.
One thing I learned in 21 years of writing for magazines is that model car enthusiasts are not necessarily real car enthusiasts, and real car enthusiasts are not necessarily model car enthusiasts. I am - and many of us here and out there in the world are - both a real and a model car enthusiast. SAE was about that. SA is not. Kalmbach does not get it. They never will. The hell with them, then.
MCM picked up where the old SAE left off. Yeah, it is a fun read. Its even more fun to write for, since now I don't have journalistic handcuffs on - and Gregg would never do that to me. Gary didn't either. To them the hobby came first, and it shows. And that deserves support.
Just because a publication says it is about "model cars" but doesn't do their homework, doesn't know it's audience and doesn't really care to, shills for its advertisers instead of catering to the reader, and most importantly, comes across with the arrogant attitude that they OWN the hobby outright and if they catch a cold YOU sneeze, does NOT deserve our support in any way, shape, or form.
You know what's funny? Readership of SA is down tremendously. Subscriptions are down tremendously. Advertising is down tremendously. Page count is down tremendously. AND THEY STILL DON'T GET IT AND DON'T SEEM TO WANT TO GET IT! Now THAT's funny.