First Impressions of the Magazine...
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ScaleModelMadman
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Ian said:
No worries, I'm merely explaining why/what etc.
We want... no we need our subscribers feedback if we are to know what we can/may do to improve what we have.
8)
Wouter
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well, just received my copy, I would say that's fast postal service!!!
Had a quick look and man, indeed, the quality of the paper is ace, great photos and not too much of advertising. I think I have another mag which I'm going to like to read 8)
I can honestly say - looking at the photos and all - than one has to be very proud to feature in such a great new mag!!!!
Well done fellas
Cheers
Had a quick look and man, indeed, the quality of the paper is ace, great photos and not too much of advertising. I think I have another mag which I'm going to like to read 8)
I can honestly say - looking at the photos and all - than one has to be very proud to feature in such a great new mag!!!!
Well done fellas
Cheers
S
ScaleModelMadman
Guest
Thanks Wouts. ;D
...and yeah, that is fast! Nice to hear that some of the overseas shipments are arriving this soon before Christmas, that was one thing I was a little worried about.
Great news.
...and yeah, that is fast! Nice to hear that some of the overseas shipments are arriving this soon before Christmas, that was one thing I was a little worried about.
Great news.
JohnSimmons
For Spud: I was once Merseajohn
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Yup got my copies today! What a great mag well done lads, I'm very proud to feature in the mag and even have my own column ;D it's been a good day.
JohnSimmons
For Spud: I was once Merseajohn
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Ken and Scott now own half of my house.
adampolo13
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Just half??? You must own a pretty huge house! 
Ravhin
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No problems on international order, I got mine a couple of days ago ;D . Still haven't read it, will have to wait for the weekend, but first impressions are great. Nice paper, nice pictures, the layout is great, it's a winner ! Can't wait to have the time to actually sit down and read it.
dougsmodels
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Hey all. Just received my copy of SMA recently and had a chance to look it over. Clearly this is one of the most well-done and well-rounded magazines that you'll pick up. It has a nice variety of articles and is very visually stimulating. I agree with many of the comments already made concerning the quality of the magazines and of course the excellent quality of the model builds presented. It is truly inspiring to see and learn from what the authors and editors have contributed.
Although it was a tough choice, my favorite article was Burden of Sorrow. The build was intense and well-executed, the amount of explanation was thorough, the photography was of high quality and the skills presented were clearly superior. In addition, the article was well-written especially explaining the build process. If you had this kit, you could definitely see almost everything that the modeler did to complete this.
Ok with that said, I thought I'd take it step by step in sequence order. and guys I am not an expert and these comments can never take away from the great magazine that this is. Please keep in mind that I appreciate the efforts that it takes to publish something like this...but anyway here goes.
The cover is simply great. Colors, visuals, graphics all very intense and eye catching. From the editor is good to go except there is a grammatical error in the last paragraph. "Ever journey requires starting point" Should be a starting point. Did I say that I was going to nit pick a little? sorry guys but it looks more professional when the editing is right.
Inside section is very clear and sends the reader to the article of his/her choice. Do girls read this stuff? Hummm... anyway...
Tales from the Man Cave... a creative angle with the whole Mad Max futuristic car thing, and clearly very talented, creative, skilled building; honestly though I was not very interested in this type of thing and I suspect if polled many readers would not consider this type of article/choice a priority of things to know or learn about. Sorry if I seem harsh here, but when I pick this thing up...the magazine I mean, I'm looking for aircraft, armor, etc and the like... and I'm sure many of your readers will look for that too.
The tankette was great. Love the pictures of the model before paint and the idea of the link to the video content. That's quite original and will be very helpful to continue the experience. The writing of the article was clear in terms of telling the reader what was going on, but not very well written in terms of holding interest. Creative writing helps to keep the reader's attention.
KV-8 was a great model build by the way and makes me jealous. If nothing else was displayed but the pictures this would have been a great addition. With that said, the story loses me a little, especially at the part where the author states "here's where things get a little unorthodox." Despite this, this build was very complicated and I suppose it takes a bit of a complicated approach to explaining it. Did I mention this tank build was awesome? I can't wait by the way to see his work on facebook. Great touch by the way throwing him a bone to have readers check out his other work.
Rust and weathering section was the best how to part of the magazine and using the truck gives the car model folks a little something to cheer about. Although I could care less about rusting out an old pick up truck and rather see a banged up tank or something, this thing is an incredible build and shows off some high talent of work. The final vignette is also very professional in quality. Museum piece for sure if it was something which held more interest and wasn't catered to showing off techniques.
Another great display of talent in rusty dumpsters but honestly guys two articles in a row about rusting it up and no offense to the builder who modeled the best dam looking dumpster that you'll ever see in a layout, but the subject of a dumpster is simply boring. Sorry.
As I've talked on Burden of Sorrow I will just state that this is a Museum quality piece and this is where it should be if it's not already. Not only is this a labor of love and passion but it's also a master piece built clearly by a master modeler.
Undaunting was one of the better articles of the magazine both in terms of illustrating the build especially with photos and in terms of writing. A photo or two of the cockpit at the beginning did not really do justice to the work. I know that they're so hard to get especially of the dark coloring. The model though turned out to be a show stopper and the majority of the rest of the photos were real professional quality. Nit pick time though. The title of the article is a little boring and Undaunting comes up wrong in my spell check. Anyway...not a big deal and the level of detail on the model surely makes up for the less than exciting title.
Guys from the Ground up. Very cool idea on using the foam to start up the base project, but the finished product from a magazine with this much quality stuff was...boring. You guys are kick ass with ground work and aftermarket supplies. This finished base did not look like a real show stopper and I'm sure the modeler is a real expert so that was unfortunate. It missed the mark although this column has some real potential and I"m very excited to see what's coming down the pipe.
Quarter Scale King was another strong offering and it is clear why this builder's stuff was placed here in the inaugural addition. The paint and finish was top notch and it was a sweet choice to throw in a 1/48 scale armor piece.
Show and tell was fine. It's nice to show off the work of other modelers, especially such great work.
I will divert to the expertise of the sci fi guys for the sci fi article although I'm sure they'll be happy with it. I saw this model up close at a show in Connecticut and it is as good or better then it appears in the article. Very cool but I'm not too sure a ton of guys care too much about this kind of stuff. I know there will be plenty of those who will disagree and the techniques learned here were taken to heart so in all it was a success.
Finally, the war room was another column that I felt missed the mark when it came to holding my attention. I think again the quality of modeling is excellent but the idea of going off and focusing a whole column on wargaming stuff...well I'm not convinced. I understand that this is a big up and coming and already landed new area of modeling lately...just not dare I say as popular with everyone who builds...me included.
The preview showing the next addition is a great teaser!
So all in all if you're still reading this out there...? To sum it up this magazine's visuals are off the charts and second to probably none. The models presented for the articles are master quality...beyond what one usually sees anywhere. It is also a very well-rounded and versatile publication and tries to cover all the areas modelers might be interested in. I understand many modelers complain that there is little sci fi in other magazines, etc. I would like to see the focus of the magazine more in the area of armor and aircraft. In fact the aircraft end was very poorly represented and other areas such as futuristic and sci fi were given too much print in my opinion. I know it's terribly hard and important to judge the potential audience for a magazine, but if the goal of the magazine is to keep selling, then what the reader wants to read about has to be the priority. I believe the majority of modelers out there and the majority of models built out there...at contests, etc are from the WWII era and include armor and aircraft from the period.
With that said, I love seeing models from all over the spectrum from the more modern aircraft and armor to commercial airliners and the occasional car, but from the point of view based on what I and probably other readers want to read and learn about I believe mid 20th century is where's it's at.
So congratulations on a great first issue, lots of luck to you all, God bless you with prosperity and success and thanks for all of your hard work and efforts.
Please don't take the critiques too personally as they were given with the idea of being constructive and I feel that everyone's effort was well worth the money spent on the magazine.
I guess the million dollar question is: Is it worth the money to buy a subscription? Well I think in fairness the jury is still out; however, this magazine's future looks really bright.
Take care and goodnight,
Doug
Although it was a tough choice, my favorite article was Burden of Sorrow. The build was intense and well-executed, the amount of explanation was thorough, the photography was of high quality and the skills presented were clearly superior. In addition, the article was well-written especially explaining the build process. If you had this kit, you could definitely see almost everything that the modeler did to complete this.
Ok with that said, I thought I'd take it step by step in sequence order. and guys I am not an expert and these comments can never take away from the great magazine that this is. Please keep in mind that I appreciate the efforts that it takes to publish something like this...but anyway here goes.
The cover is simply great. Colors, visuals, graphics all very intense and eye catching. From the editor is good to go except there is a grammatical error in the last paragraph. "Ever journey requires starting point" Should be a starting point. Did I say that I was going to nit pick a little? sorry guys but it looks more professional when the editing is right.
Inside section is very clear and sends the reader to the article of his/her choice. Do girls read this stuff? Hummm... anyway...
Tales from the Man Cave... a creative angle with the whole Mad Max futuristic car thing, and clearly very talented, creative, skilled building; honestly though I was not very interested in this type of thing and I suspect if polled many readers would not consider this type of article/choice a priority of things to know or learn about. Sorry if I seem harsh here, but when I pick this thing up...the magazine I mean, I'm looking for aircraft, armor, etc and the like... and I'm sure many of your readers will look for that too.
The tankette was great. Love the pictures of the model before paint and the idea of the link to the video content. That's quite original and will be very helpful to continue the experience. The writing of the article was clear in terms of telling the reader what was going on, but not very well written in terms of holding interest. Creative writing helps to keep the reader's attention.
KV-8 was a great model build by the way and makes me jealous. If nothing else was displayed but the pictures this would have been a great addition. With that said, the story loses me a little, especially at the part where the author states "here's where things get a little unorthodox." Despite this, this build was very complicated and I suppose it takes a bit of a complicated approach to explaining it. Did I mention this tank build was awesome? I can't wait by the way to see his work on facebook. Great touch by the way throwing him a bone to have readers check out his other work.
Rust and weathering section was the best how to part of the magazine and using the truck gives the car model folks a little something to cheer about. Although I could care less about rusting out an old pick up truck and rather see a banged up tank or something, this thing is an incredible build and shows off some high talent of work. The final vignette is also very professional in quality. Museum piece for sure if it was something which held more interest and wasn't catered to showing off techniques.
Another great display of talent in rusty dumpsters but honestly guys two articles in a row about rusting it up and no offense to the builder who modeled the best dam looking dumpster that you'll ever see in a layout, but the subject of a dumpster is simply boring. Sorry.
As I've talked on Burden of Sorrow I will just state that this is a Museum quality piece and this is where it should be if it's not already. Not only is this a labor of love and passion but it's also a master piece built clearly by a master modeler.
Undaunting was one of the better articles of the magazine both in terms of illustrating the build especially with photos and in terms of writing. A photo or two of the cockpit at the beginning did not really do justice to the work. I know that they're so hard to get especially of the dark coloring. The model though turned out to be a show stopper and the majority of the rest of the photos were real professional quality. Nit pick time though. The title of the article is a little boring and Undaunting comes up wrong in my spell check. Anyway...not a big deal and the level of detail on the model surely makes up for the less than exciting title.
Guys from the Ground up. Very cool idea on using the foam to start up the base project, but the finished product from a magazine with this much quality stuff was...boring. You guys are kick ass with ground work and aftermarket supplies. This finished base did not look like a real show stopper and I'm sure the modeler is a real expert so that was unfortunate. It missed the mark although this column has some real potential and I"m very excited to see what's coming down the pipe.
Quarter Scale King was another strong offering and it is clear why this builder's stuff was placed here in the inaugural addition. The paint and finish was top notch and it was a sweet choice to throw in a 1/48 scale armor piece.
Show and tell was fine. It's nice to show off the work of other modelers, especially such great work.
I will divert to the expertise of the sci fi guys for the sci fi article although I'm sure they'll be happy with it. I saw this model up close at a show in Connecticut and it is as good or better then it appears in the article. Very cool but I'm not too sure a ton of guys care too much about this kind of stuff. I know there will be plenty of those who will disagree and the techniques learned here were taken to heart so in all it was a success.
Finally, the war room was another column that I felt missed the mark when it came to holding my attention. I think again the quality of modeling is excellent but the idea of going off and focusing a whole column on wargaming stuff...well I'm not convinced. I understand that this is a big up and coming and already landed new area of modeling lately...just not dare I say as popular with everyone who builds...me included.
The preview showing the next addition is a great teaser!
So all in all if you're still reading this out there...? To sum it up this magazine's visuals are off the charts and second to probably none. The models presented for the articles are master quality...beyond what one usually sees anywhere. It is also a very well-rounded and versatile publication and tries to cover all the areas modelers might be interested in. I understand many modelers complain that there is little sci fi in other magazines, etc. I would like to see the focus of the magazine more in the area of armor and aircraft. In fact the aircraft end was very poorly represented and other areas such as futuristic and sci fi were given too much print in my opinion. I know it's terribly hard and important to judge the potential audience for a magazine, but if the goal of the magazine is to keep selling, then what the reader wants to read about has to be the priority. I believe the majority of modelers out there and the majority of models built out there...at contests, etc are from the WWII era and include armor and aircraft from the period.
With that said, I love seeing models from all over the spectrum from the more modern aircraft and armor to commercial airliners and the occasional car, but from the point of view based on what I and probably other readers want to read and learn about I believe mid 20th century is where's it's at.
So congratulations on a great first issue, lots of luck to you all, God bless you with prosperity and success and thanks for all of your hard work and efforts.
Please don't take the critiques too personally as they were given with the idea of being constructive and I feel that everyone's effort was well worth the money spent on the magazine.
I guess the million dollar question is: Is it worth the money to buy a subscription? Well I think in fairness the jury is still out; however, this magazine's future looks really bright.
Take care and goodnight,
Doug
Jeeves
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Wow Ken...got the notice yesterday and it was in my mailbox today....must've been an express train from MA to NY
Been looking through it...had my wife go through it too and she told me I should subscribe. That's a big compliment to you guys work . Well done Scott, Ken, and all the SMA authors!
Been looking through it...had my wife go through it too and she told me I should subscribe
. That's a big compliment to you guys work . Well done Scott, Ken, and all the SMA authors!
JohnSimmons
For Spud: I was once Merseajohn
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dougsmodels said:
Hi Doug, first off welcome to SMA and I'm sure you'll love it here. Second thanks for picking up the mag and I'd like to reply to some of your thoughts on the mag. This won't be a lengthy reply though because a) I'm on an iPad which I find difficult to write fast on lol and b) I don't have the time!
You mention in the quote above that if polled not many readers would be interested in the article. Well I think that's wrong, I find something 'a little out of the ordinary' is a great thing to have in a mag (I can assure you that you won't find an apocalyptic zombie hunting gyro copter in any other mag) and the scratch building torch just shows the talent Scott has.
dougsmodels said:
Mmmmm don't see anything wrong with the creative writing here, I actually laughed at the caption 'not that it would be a safe thing to do; drive around in a flame thrower with spilled fuel merely feet from an exposed flame...'
I couldn't care if this was a dumpster or a wheel barrow that fact is I learnt A LOT from this article, I found the methods Iain used were great and intersecting.dougsmodels said:
I thought the four photos of the cockpit looked fine?dougsmodels said:
This was one the most helpfull articles for me. I've actually used this technique shown here and it it has given me great results. "the finished base did not look like a real show stopper..." well if you read the last paragraph it explains that there will be another installment to the base, so it isn't finished at all.dougsmodels said:
dougsmodels said:
I think you'll find a lot of SMA'ers are Sci Fi nuts lol.
The War Room....well that's my column and thanks for the 'the quality of modelling is excellent...' I appreciate that. You are correct in saying that there is a new area of modelling for this scale and type, just look at AK Interactives Facebook page and see the amount of brail scale models they chuck up there on pretty much a daily basis.
dougsmodels said:
There was a full six page article on a plane? And seventeen pages dedicated to tanks? I believe the majority of modelers out there want to read interesting articles about a broad scale of models. There are sooooooooo many magazines dedicated to armour and aircraft.
With all that said though I can only speak for myself and not Ken, Scott or any of the other great authors. Cheers Doug for taking the time out to post your thoughts.
JS
S
ScaleModelMadman
Guest
dougsmodels said:
Thank you
dougsmodels said:
Yes, I made a mistake, there are a few actually. This was my first time editing an entire magazine with a looming deadline and tremendous pressure.
dougsmodels said:
Interesting, especially considering it was one of the favorite models on the table to everyone at AMPS East, which as you know is an armor contest.
dougsmodels said:
I wrote that article just like any of my published articles, which are often reported to be written fairly well, I even threw in some humor at times. Of course, it is possible that I missed the mark with this one, even Babe Ruth didn't always hit a home run.
dougsmodels said:
I wouldn't call it "throwing him a bone" at all. I know Kyle personally and he's a great modeler, we just wanted others to see that as well. His work will be in the magazine again in the future.
dougsmodels said:
It's a reoccurring column that caters to techniques 'in detail' (and that was part one, hence the foot note about part two) That's the whole point of that column.
dougsmodels said:
Much of the article is about bare steel though... and to be honest, you can apply those techniques to any other genre of modeling, not just dumpsters. I know many modern armor modelers who would love to have those dumpsters sitting next to their Stryker in a modern urban warfare setting.
dougsmodels said:
The plane is a Dauntless, Chris was undaunted by the task at hand, making the whole experience undaunting. It's a play on words.
Maybe your spell check needs to be updated?
undaunting; English; Not daunting.
un- +‎ daunting
Adjective
undaunting (comparative more undaunting, superlative most undaunting)
dougsmodels said:
Again, another reoccurring column. It wasn't 'finished' at all, hence the "in my next installment..." at the end. It is part one of what might be a three or four part column. There will be groundwork covered in depth in the following issues. Make sure you come to the table next year at AMPS east and I'll show you the finished product. I guarantee it wont be 'boring'. 8)
dougsmodels said:
I've underlined two sentences that are a rather good representation of something fairly thematic throughout your review, it is sometimes confusing from the readers point of view. You state you are unsure of the amount of people interested in a subject, but then follow up by saying that you know many will disagree.
Sci-Fi will always play an important role in the SMA magazine, it is an all genre magazine. Scott and I feel it is important not only to showcase all genres, but to get you out of your comfort zone of one topic and broaden your ideas a little. Many things can overlap different genres and many things can be learned from modelers in those genres. As a heavy metal guitar player in the eighties, I often listened to Jazz, Blues, and even Country music, it help me sharpen my licks and add things no one else was doing. It made me an all around better guitarist but more importantly, an all around better musician. The same principal applies here.
dougsmodels said:
To be perfectly fair, it's basically a small scale build of a German 251 halftrack, if we took the word 'wargaming' out of the equation, would it change much?
dougsmodels said:
That is awesome then, we hit our mark dead bulls eye. That is exactly what we wanted to accomplish, thank you.
dougsmodels said:
I can't say that will ever be the focus, sorry. There will always be a heavy armor presence in the magazine, and there was in this issue but there will always be other genres represented as well. With seven feature articles, (plus four columns) I think we have plenty of room to do just that, many other magazines don't even have that many features per issue.
dougsmodels said:
I have to wonder if you are attending armor contests only? I just recently attended Baycon and there was a huge population of Cars, Ships, Sci-Fi etc. While armor and aircraft did have their presence well represented, they did not dominate the tables. Not to mention the overwhelming responses on Facebook about wanting cars and ships etc.
dougsmodels said:
It's hard not to take them somewhat personally as you can imagine, but I still welcome them and thank you for taking the time to write them all out. Just as I hope you don't take my explanations/responses as anything more than just that.
While you're here, feel free to post some of your work and share your modeling with us here.
dougsmodels
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Guys,
Thanks to all of you who took the time to read my comments and had the consideration to respond to each one of them even though it isn't also easy to respond to criticism. I did try to keep my reviews as positive as I could because there are many more positives than there are critiques. To tell you a small story, I first came upon this magazine in its planning stages at a contest in Danbury, CT. The first thing I thought when I picked up the preview was this thing looks like a real winner. After reading through it I still feel the same and I'm sure you're very proud of this project as you should be. I wasn't sure if I should have gone down some of the roads which I took in throwing comments out, but I noticed that you've stuck to your guns, you've done your research, and it seems in certain areas perhaps you do have the pulse of modeling down. I hope so for you and for your magazine to be a hit with everyone. I for one did buy a subscription shortly after I first saw the preview and would most likely buy many more, even if I'll have to read about Sci-Fi, wargaming, and why not a few Futurama projects. ;D.
I have to run now as time has run short but I'll be back soon with more to say and hopefully some work to put into your hands for your opinion.
Take care,
Doug
Thanks to all of you who took the time to read my comments and had the consideration to respond to each one of them even though it isn't also easy to respond to criticism. I did try to keep my reviews as positive as I could because there are many more positives than there are critiques. To tell you a small story, I first came upon this magazine in its planning stages at a contest in Danbury, CT. The first thing I thought when I picked up the preview was this thing looks like a real winner. After reading through it I still feel the same and I'm sure you're very proud of this project as you should be. I wasn't sure if I should have gone down some of the roads which I took in throwing comments out, but I noticed that you've stuck to your guns, you've done your research, and it seems in certain areas perhaps you do have the pulse of modeling down. I hope so for you and for your magazine to be a hit with everyone. I for one did buy a subscription shortly after I first saw the preview and would most likely buy many more, even if I'll have to read about Sci-Fi, wargaming, and why not a few Futurama projects. ;D.
I have to run now as time has run short but I'll be back soon with more to say and hopefully some work to put into your hands for your opinion.
Take care,
Doug
JohnSimmons
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Nice one Doug, looking forward to seeing your work!
Chris S
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Hi Doug ,
I havent yet seen the magazine myself ,it hasnt made it to my shores yet So I cannot comment either way on your views . However ,I just wanted to say Thank you for the positive feedback on my Dauntless article ,Im glad you enjoyed it . It always helps to know wether you've got it right ...or wrong , So thanks again
Chris.
I havent yet seen the magazine myself ,it hasnt made it to my shores yet
So I cannot comment either way on your views . However ,I just wanted to say Thank you for the positive feedback on my Dauntless article ,Im glad you enjoyed it . It always helps to know wether you've got it right ...or wrong , So thanks again Chris.
