Discussion of Modeling Magazines

[larrygre]

Originally Posted by flyonthewall

This makes very interesting reading guys. I can't really comment on SAE at its peak coz its not commonly available here in the UK and I never did get around to buying that subscription I was buying it regularly about 3 years ago when it appeared more often down my local WHSmiths. I enjoyed it very much although there was always room for more content and varied subject matter. Again, I dont have a big enough collection of issues to comment but it seems the content was always domestic US subjects, not much in the way of rally or F1. Around this time Sam publications Scale Auto Modeler was tackling a varied array of subjects including a hell of alot of stuff from the likes of Studio27, Renaissance and SMS. At the start of its publication, reading SAM was a breath of fresh air although the quality of some of the contributing modelers was pretty awful, Trevor Pask in particular

I now buy SA(E) once in a while (if i can find it!) depending on if there is at least one article that is really useful to me. I don't see much in there to interest me anymore, i'm sure in the last 3 issues i've seen, there was a 50 something Vette and an article of detailing a diecast Who wants to keep reading the same things over again as well as the abundance of the same adverts.

SAM is long gone now, the revised Scale Models International is its place which isn't a dedicated model car mag and my money certainly isnt wasted on this either. The car aticles that do appear in it, quite regular i have to say, are usually by the affore mentioned Trevor Pask whose trademark is to hide his diabolical paint jobs with even more gastly weathering I shall be keeping my eyes on Model Cars mag now, with the invent of their Tuner column maybe they are heading in the right direction, keeping up to date at least!

Chris, what happened with SAM? It was a decent magazine to begin with. Did COMSAM feel that they would do better with an "
all in one" after they acquired the SCALE MODELS title? It seems a shame to lose a dedicated model car magazine, especially one that showed signs of future greatness.

BTW, love the C-West R34 body kit...great work!

Best,

[larrygre]

Naww...Tonio, thank YOU for YOUR contributions. Its people like yourself - fellow die-hard scale auto enthusiasts - that inspire me to do what I do. And that's what makes it worthwhile for me. My dear old friend, my best friend in my entire life, the late John Slivoski, aiways used to say to me "It's about us people, not about the little plastic cars.". To this day I miss him deeply, his wit AND his wisdom.

I also want to thank *you* personally for one other thing: helping plant the seed that started me into a love of tuner cars. That happened when you submitted the link to your web site to the links section of my web site, MODELGATE.COM (formerly STRICTLYSTOCK.COM).

This is our hobby - not the models, not the resin, not the photoetch, etc. - it's the people. Its the friends we make along the way and the friendships that we cultivate based on our love for model cars (and real cars). That is our strength as a community of interest.

In life, too many times we have to bite the bullet. We are raked over the coals every day by the oil companies, the cable companies, the electric companies, the telephone companies, etc. and we grit our teeth and pay the piper regardless of whether we feel - or know for certain - that we are getting raped and pillaged. When it comes to *discretionary* things in our lives, such as our beloved model hobby, we do NOT have to grit our teeth and pay any piper. We do NOT have to hand control to greedy corporate entities whose arrogant attitude is that they own everything even remotely related to the very thing we love so dearly. We do not have to settle for cheap crap simply because it has something to do with model cars, and we do not have to accept the spurious word of that corporate entity that the cheap crap is "highly recommended" simply because the importer or manufacturer of the cheap crap has upped their advertising space buy with the magazine.

I vehemently oppose Kalmbach because I believe in my heart of hearts, based on factual experience with the way they do business, that their business ethic is, to put it bluntly, unethical. They employ strongarm tactics to force those they deal with into submission to their will. Their attitude, as mentioned before, is that they own all communications regarding hobbies (not just model cars) and you, the "consumer" (read: "bottom feeder",) have no choice but to buy what they want you to buy and pay what they want you to pay. As so eloquently put by a fellow modeler posting on the HH board, "they want to buy up all the fun and sell it back to you" - at an exorbitant profit, of course. Their interests are totally corporate, and the editors and creative people have no real voice, they must put a spin on dissension and lessen criticism of the parent company's products less they find themselves out of a job. I cannot fault most of these people - Kirk Bell did try to shield the writers from the Kalmbach politics and maintain a level of quality. Pat Mulligan knew just what was going on, and he understood just how bad it all was, but he also understood that he had to keep a roof over his head and his family kept in food and clothing, so he had no voice.

Many times my reviews in post-Kalmbach SAE were edited to lessen comments about a model's inaccuracy or whether it had faults. Sometimes it was re-written just to sound like I had no real interest in the model, but most times it was rewritten 180 degrees around and given that "highly recommended" rating. I was told in detail by friends in the know that the rewrites were done in the pursuit of selling the manufacturer or importer of the model bigger and more expensive ad space. When I confronted Patrick with this, he did not spin doctor it. He simply told me "we live and die by advertising revenues." So Kalmbach corporate policy made it appear as if I was lying to my column's audience about the quality of a product - something that I prided myself on since the inception of the column - and apparently dogged me with a reputation to some that I did not deserve at all. I ask you, is this ethical? If so, to whom? And I can't even begin to tell you how many reviews I penned - probably 30 to 50 - that were excised from my column during the "Kalmbach years" and I was never given a good reason why except for the usual "space considerations" and "editorial considerations" etc. I was later told, however, by the same source that knew about the column rewrites, that if a subject could not be associated with one of the magazine's advertisers, it was cut from my column unless Kirk or Patrick was able to do an end-run around the "politicians" and keep it in place as it was timely and of interest to the model car community (Gee, I thought that was the reason for columns like mine to begin with, no? Boy, did I have a big surprise waiting for me.).

I also was very vocal about the royal screw job that was the Kalmbach-eHobbies deal. Everyone got banged on that one - the writers, the readers, and most importantly, the hobby shops all over the country (make that, all over the world) that had supported Kalmbach for years, sold their products, and bought advertising space in their magazines. I wanted no part of it, and I had NOT assigned any contractual rights to my work to Kalmback for use on eHobbies - I refused to. It mattered little - they posted the edited reviews on eHobbies ANYWAY and did not remunerate me unless I agreed to sell them the rights to my work "in perpetuity" which I refused to do on principle. When the eHobbies deal went sour for Kalmbach, and eHobbies themselves went under (the current eHobbies is not the same owners), I castigated them in a very lengthy letter for using my work without permission, and for perpetrating what amounted to a big "the hell with you, we don't need you anymore, we got eHobbies now" to the mom and pop hobby shops that *made* Kalmbach, period. We finally agreed to a payment that was a mere pittance of what they offered, and terms that did not assign contractual rights to them forever ("one time publication rights"), and the issue was settled. Kalmbach will deny this from now until doomsday, but I have it on very good authority - someone who knows - that the eHobbies affair was the death knell for my STRICTLY STOCK column. I dared defy the all-powerful master, so I was punished for it.

After the departure of Kirk Bell, the new editor and I had a pleasant first conversation - nothing special, but pleasant, and I definitely got the impression that he was the "talker" and what I had to say was unimportant. I told myself OK, we can smooth that over later. On our second conversation, I was severely castigated by this man for continuing to maintain a personal and professional relationship with Pat Mulligan, a guy who to this day I like very much and have a lot of respect for, and Mike Soliday, a great guy, Photoshop guru, and an old friend from SAE. I was told in no uncertain terms something of the following: "You will talk to nobody at Kalmbach but me EVER. You will write what I tell you to write, you will NOT express any personal opinions except those that I approve, and you will not under any circumstances digress from these rules or you will no longer be writing for hobby magazines. Do I make myself clear?"

(One day before, the same person called my home, and was VERY nasty with my wife, simply because I was not home to receive HIS phone call.)

I sent a letter demanding a written apology from this man for his unprofessional, arrogant conduct, especially to my wife who was merely being pleasant with him. What I received was a letter from that man enclosing the last check for my column and a "Thank you for your years of service to Kalmbach Publishing." A very corporately polite "screw you."

So now the world knows the entire story, and why I beat the drum to warn fellow modelers anmd would-be contributors of what to expect in dealing with the likes of Kalmbach. I love this hobby, and I love the people in it - my fellow modelers, my fellow scale auto enthusiasts, and my fellow real car enthusiasts. I have no vested interests in Kalmbach as others do, as I do not have projects pending for them or books published by them. I do not mean here to indict those who do as being part of the problem; merely that I have no shackles binding on me in the form of vested interests and I am free to speak my mind loud and clear.

In my personal AND professional opinion, Kalmbach Publishing is a greedy, soulless, uncaring, control-freak corporate entity that is sucking the life, the joy, and the growth from not only our beloved model car hobby, but everything they touch. As I said before, in the non-discretionary world, we support entities that are screwing us to high holy heaven, and in many cases it is because we have little choice if any. Kalmbach seems to think we have no choice here either, in the realm of discretionary interests, and that we should be eternally grateful to them for their up-yours attitude and the substandard products they pass off to the public that are mere shells for advertising shills.

You can dismiss what I have said as the ravings of a madman if you like, but the recent events of what has happened to Terry Jessee and Drew Hierwarter, two of my esteemed colleagues and columnists, bear out that what I have been trying to tell everyone is no exaggeration.

Our hobby will be much better off if we all "just say NO" to Kalmbach.

Thanks for listening.

Best regards,

[flyonthewall]

Originally Posted by larrygre

Chris, what happened with SAM? It was a decent magazine to begin with. Did COMSAM feel that they would do better with an "
all in one" after they acquired the SCALE MODELS title? It seems a shame to lose a dedicated model car magazine, especially one that showed signs of future greatness.

BTW, love the C-West R34 body kit...great work!

Best,

Thanks for the comments Larry

To answer your Q, you're almost right. Basically when CONSAM took over the Scale Models Int. title, the decision was made to integrate SAM with it. This explains why there is a fair amount of model car content going into SMI, its always been mainly dedicated to aircraft as that is the biggest sector. CONSAM have their own standalone aircraft mag so this is no longer the case.

[larrygre]

Originally Posted by flyonthewall

Thanks for the comments Larry

To answer your Q, you're almost right. Basically when CONSAM took over the Scale Models Int. title, the decision was made to integrate SAM with it. This explains why there is a fair amount of model car content going into SMI, its always been mainly dedicated to aircraft as that is the biggest sector. CONSAM have their own standalone aircraft mag so this is no longer the case.

Chris, thanks for that. It seems that SMI has been more relegated to military and armor, with car articles and airctaft somewhat interspersed. Its still not the same as the old SM when Argus published it - that seemed more balanced and, in that uniquely British sort of way That I've always loved, covered their subjects with depth and a keen sense of wit.

Best regards,

[Hiroboy]

Originally Posted by flyonthewall

SAM is long gone now, the revised Scale Models International is its place which isn't a dedicated model car mag and my money certainly isnt wasted on this either. The car aticles that do appear in it, quite regular i have to say, are usually by the affore mentioned Trevor Pask whose trademark is to hide his diabolical paint jobs with even more gastly weathering

How on this I laugh everytime I flip throught it in the Newsagents
I would not part with cash for it.
I do how ever subscribe to SA but that cause it's the only mag I can find (apart from TMI), But hate to see a kit and go WOW then shit is another diecast model I also agree far to much US Domestic for me
As for Model Cars Can't get it so far here.

[flyonthewall]

Originally Posted by Hiroboy

How on this I laugh everytime I flip throught it in the Newsagents
I would not part with cash for it.
I do how ever subscribe to SA but that cause it's the only mag I can find (apart from TMI), But hate to see a kit and go WOW then shit is another diecast model I also agree far to much US Domestic for me
As for Model Cars Can't get it so far here.

Do you know that Trevor Pask has his own stand at the Model Wheels show? Remember to bring some ear plugs to protect you from the shreaks of laughter coming from me when I see all of his creations in one place. Someone has just got to ask him "So Trevor, just how is it possible for the roof of a rally car to be covered in mud?"

[ZoomZoomMX-5]

Originally Posted by flyonthewall

Do you know that Trevor Pask has his own stand at the Model Wheels show? Remember to bring some ear plugs to protect you from the shreaks of laughter coming from me when I see all of his creations in one place. Someone has just got to ask him "So Trevor, just how is it possible for the roof of a rally car to be covered in mud?"

Obviously the two of us at the same stand in the same show would probably be hauled off to the loony bin for creating such a commotion...I've seen those paint jobs (and know how a good photographer can hide a so-so paint job...)

I really enjoyed much of SAM, though the glossy magazine itself wasn't matched by the questionable content at times...the horrible paint jobs, goofy paint schemes on models being built by someone who obviously wasn't familiar w/the subject matter, and "WTF-level" photography really detracted at times. I still managed to buy a good number of the copies before it took the dirt nap.

[bvia]

SAE died the day they began to add "how to detail a diecast" articles.

Funny how the folks I've read and or admired the building skills of, seem to end up on AF!

SAM really was a slick mag. You got to see a lot of the S-27 kits and decals so you knew what you were getting from HLJ. It also had artisans interspersed between T Pask and his abominations. (The blue front engined dragster he did for the cover STILL gives me bouts of glaucoma...as does the From A Nissan GTP and his "I know it's not correct for the car, but I liked the decal there"!!!!).

Everyone knocks Trevor, but he does give anyone who's ever seen his work one important thing. They KNOW I can do better than that ;-)>

Bill

[larrygre]

I was asked in an e-mail "What is this eHobbies thing you mentioned?" In response to that query, I repost here an explanation of the entire sordid affair, originally posted on the HH board:

In March of 2000, Kalmbach entered into an "exclusive arrangement" with eHobbies, an Internet-based hobby mail order company (or, an "e-tailer"). Under the terms of the agreement, eight of Kalmbach's magazines, including SA, Model Railroader, and FSM, would provide "exclusive content" for eHobbies' web site gleaned from those eight magazines, including direct links from articles and product reviews to merchandise on eHobbies' web site. eHobbies was given one-full-page and two-full-page full-color advertisements in each of those magazines for the better part of a year.

Hobby shops and hobby retailers of all kinds across the USA viewed the arrangement as nothing short of being knifed in the back by Kalmbach. These people carried Kalmbach's products for many years and spent good money to advertise their shops and services in Kalmbach's magazines, only to find themselves not merely upstaged, but rendered "unimportant" by the massive eHobbies presence in print. They were justifiably angry - after all, it amounted to, at the very least, a betrayal.

Many of these shops severed any connections to Kalmbach. Many of them cancelled their magazine orders and refused to carry any Kalmbach products from then on. Some of these shops even went as far as to organize against the betrayal.

eHobbies went the way of the dot-coms and folded it's tent in 2001. The name and assets were purchased by another hobby company who continues to run a web site as eHobbies. Kalmbach "terminated" their agreement with eHobbies shortly before they went south. One can only imagine how much the eHobbies blunder cost them, not only in financial terms, but in terms of goodwill and in the severance of long standing business relationships. There's an old saying in business that goes "It takes years to develop a customer. It takes seconds to lose him."

As I see it, the entire affair stands out as undeniable proof of Kalmbach's business arrogance. They run roughshod over anybody and anything and have no loyalty to anyone (even paid advertisers, it seems) and as long as they conduct business with the attitude that they "own" anything even remotely related to hobbies, we're due for a lot more of the same.

Our hobby will be much better off if we all "just say NO" to Kalmbach.

[flyonthewall]

Originally Posted by bvia

SAE died the day they began to add "how to detail a diecast" articles.

Funny how the folks I've read and or admired the building skills of, seem to end up on AF!

SAM really was a slick mag. You got to see a lot of the S-27 kits and decals so you knew what you were getting from HLJ. It also had artisans interspersed between T Pask and his abominations. (The blue front engined dragster he did for the cover STILL gives me bouts of glaucoma...as does the From A Nissan GTP and his "I know it's not correct for the car, but I liked the decal there"!!!!).

Everyone knocks Trevor, but he does give anyone who's ever seen his work one important thing. They KNOW I can do better than that ;-)>

Bill

Poor Trevor! I would say that his writting is not too bad, now he just needs to improve his model technique, buy a decent camera and take better pics.

[tonioseven]

Tonio, thank YOU for YOUR contributions. Its people like yourself - fellow die-hard scale auto enthusiasts - that inspire me to do what I do. And that's what makes it worthwhile for me. My dear old friend, my best friend in my entire life, the late John Slivoski, aiways used to say to me "It's about us people, not about the little plastic cars.". To this day I miss him deeply, his wit AND his wisdom. I also want to thank *you* personally for one other thing: helping plant the seed that started me into a love of tuner cars. That happened when you submitted the link to your web site to the links section of my web site, MODELGATE.COM (formerly STRICTLYSTOCK.COM).

Thank you for the kind words! I was just trying to shed light on a type of model car besides muscle cars; Geez, I feel like I've done someting good for the hobby now! I in turn would like to thank Brian Venable and Bob Downie for basically getting me more interested in Import/Tuner model. Their models on the ACME website remains on my favorites list to this day! Thanks guys!

[larrygre]

Originally Posted by tonioseven

Thank you for the kind words! I was just trying to shed light on a type of model car besides muscle cars; Geez, I feel like I've done someting good for the hobby now! I in turn would like to thank Brian Venable and Bob Downie for basically getting me more interested in Import/Tuner model. Their models on the ACME website remains on my favorites list to this day! Thanks guys!

You HAVE done something good for the hobby! Ain't it a good feeling?

I appreciate Brian and Bob as well. Over time they have inspired me also with their work, their words, and their cameraderie.

And like I said in my long winded post. to me thats what the hobby is REALLY all about.

Keep 'em comin, Tonio!

Best regards,