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[dpbarry]

Hi all..

Just a short poll

Which magazine do folks subscribe and why the preference? If you buy both.. Why?.

Mags: Model Boats or Marine Modelling International

Declan

[Craig Kane]

I buy both magazines every month.? Mainly for the plans and the up to date (?) info from suppliers.

I prefer Model Boats though, for the way in which it is written and the variety of topics featured as opposed to Marine Modelling's approach to mostly glossy pictures.

Unfortunately, I am getting increasingly tired of reading an article in Model Boats only to find a similar article published in Marine Modelling in the following months.? Yes, I understand that there are limits on what is available to report each month, and that each magazine caters for it's own particular readership, but it does seem a waste of time and money for me to read the same article twice.

I have a large collection of Model Boats mags from the 1970's to today.  Model Boats always had interesting and informative articles on "How to" and "Rule & regs" which I still find of use today.  Marine Modelling always manages to provide lots of photos of models from around the world and in every discipline of our hobby.

Has the time come for the two magazines to join forces, in the way that RCBM and Model Boats did a few years ago, and give us one definitive monthly magazine?

Craig

[Colin Bishop]

RCBM and MB (and Sea Classic International) were from the same publishers. MB and MMI are not!

[Craig Kane]

True,

I realise that would be a lot easier to pull off if both magazines are in the same publishing house,  but in todays fun-filled business world is it really that much of a problem?

Look how often MB has changed "owners" of late.

[dpbarry]

This is one of the problems I have.  I have my local newsagent reserve me a copy of MMI, RCM&E & Model World and the odd Helicopter World off the shelf..

They don't stock 'Model Boats' and the nearest place that I know stocks it is 30 miles away.

Can I afford (or do I wish) to add another magazine to the pile.  I now have several boxes of back issuses of all my magazines going back 2-3 years.  Imagine what other folk have stroed away who are in the 'scene' longer than I am.

Declan

[Craig Kane]

My local newsagent is great. He gets me a copy of both MB and MMI every month.?

After being away from the UK for 6 months last year, I came back to a nice pile of mags to read and was suitably unimpressed that I had the same kit review in both mags on 2 seperate occassions.

Coupled with the fact that I had over ?50 to fork out for the dozen or so mags left me feeling a bit miffed.

I don't want to cancel one, or both mags, but I can't afford to keep forking out for them each month.?

If I had to choose one to keep, I think I'd stick with MB.

Craig

[Dave Leishman]

I subscribe to both, but as posted by CK, I'm getting a little tired of the similarity in articles each month. For example, this month they're both carrying articles on card models - limited appeal to most I'd guess (I may be wrong!).

Also, is it just my impression, or were the free plans given by each magazine much more 'serious' in the past than now? For example, I have a copy of MMI from November 2000 that carried a set of plans for a beam trawler 'Sea Lady'. The plans would produce a decent r/c model. Recently they seem to be almost in the 'toy' category though. Maybe just my impression again...

[rats]

I always buy both, but both magazines have their good and bad points. As has been mentioned they seem to review the same kits when what I would like to see is a review of an Elde Modellbrau kit as I mentioned on another thread, the're many many kits avaliable world wide which never seem to get a look in ! Other things which I dont like are reviews of plastic kits and 1950s radio control equipment ; both are nothing more than page fillers !
 ? ? ? ? I hope the magazines dont become one though because you certainly wont end up with a single magazine twice as thick !

[centaur]

I too buy both mags and am usually disappointed by one or other of them each time.   That still doesn't prevent me from splashing out nearly eight pounds each month and I've yet to build a boat!

Of all available mags though, I prefer Model Shipwright - expensive but worth it just for Positive's articles.

Charles H

[Daryl]

I enjoy the reviews of plastic kits as I build then and not just only r/c stuff. I agree about the vintage equipmnet as page fillers. I wonder what changes the new owners will bring. I hope they listen to their readership and not the ad-men. But that may be too much to expect.

Out of the two I prefer MB,mostly for the points allready mentiond, but I agree it is a pain when I get the odd copy of MMi to read the same stuff I have read in MB and vice versa.

I think both of them could be more critical on their reviews, ( See thread on Sir Lancelot). I have read numerious articles praising boat kits only to find someone I know who has run up against a problem teh review article did not mention. Selective editing to please the manufacturers perhaps.

Now to dig slit trench and take cover
Daryl

[Colin Bishop]

I think that the two Editors used to have an unofficial agreement not to cover the same subjects. This seems to have gone by the board.

[Craig Kane]

As Dave Leishman said, Looking back in the old editions of model boats, the plans featured were a lot more detailed. If you go back to the late 70's issues, there were plans for all sorts of boats, complete with "proper" hull lines etc.

Don't get me wrong, I do like the current plans featured, but I agree that they are a little bit basic and whilst they allow for plenty of "modeller's licence", it would be nice to have something detailed to work from, at least once a year.

Didn't you used to get a super-detailed plan as your Christmas issue gift??


Just a thought...........................

Mayhem has already rivalled and bettered the MB forum..........is publishing a new model boating monthly the next step in his world domination?



(P.S.? ?If you need writers, give me a call!!)

[Craig Kane]

I always buy both, but both magazines have their good and bad points. As has been mentioned they seem to review the same kits when what I would like to see is a review of an Elde Modellbrau kit as I mentioned on another thread, the're many many kits avaliable world wide which never seem to get a look in ! Other things which I dont like are reviews of plastic kits and 1950s radio control equipment ; both are nothing more than page fillers !
 ? ? ? ? I hope the magazines dont become one though because you certainly wont end up with a single magazine twice as thick !

Mind you, if you took out all the adverts from MMI and then combined the two mags, you would be someway closer to the "ideal" monthly.

[grasshopper]

I buy MMI religiously every month, from WHS on the high street, I browse MB whilst in the store, and if there's an item of particular interest, I buy that too.
There's always going to be lots of repitition on reviews of anything new, and the massive amounts of advertising allows us to buy the magazine at the reasonable prices that we do....and one must remember, if you don't like the content, why not submit an article of your own and share your experiences.

[justboatonic]

To be fair to both mags, the same thing tended to happen with RCM&E and RCI (Traplet). You'd have virtually the same kit review a couple of months apart (if that!). I think this is due to a degree, by the kit manufacturer wanting to get as much publicity to their latest kit as possible.

In any event, different reviews do differ depending on the writers perception of the kit. I used to alternate the mags instead of buying both in the same month ie one month buy RCME and the next month RCI. Mind even that wasn't foolproof.

[MCAT]

Being  still new to Modeling  2 years only  I find both of interest and learn from them.
I understand that not all the contents will be of interest to me, but they cover a good selection
of topics. and would not like to loose either.  only thing that bothers me is I can only get them
both at the end of the month since MB changed hands,  ???

[dougal99]

Hi all,

I subscribe to both, mainly for the free plans - have quite a collection now but only built one or two so far  :(  I have no particular preference and enjoy reading them both. However, I agree with Mcat about the publishing dates. Since MB moved to the 4th Friday of the month it comes out most months the day after MMI. Before when they were two weeks apart I could spread my reading over the month, now, like busses, they both come at once and then a 3 week hiatus.  ??? Are the new publishers of MB trying to go head to head? (All conspiracy theorists look away now).

I think there is room for both mags, warts and all. I just hope the paricipants of our hobby maintain sufficient numbers to support both mags.

Cheers

Doug

[RC John]

You missed one magazine - Radio Control Boat Modeler (their spelling) from Air Age Media in the U.S.
It is the one Rick Eyrich writes the original text which later appears in MMI. The web site is http://www.rcboatmodeler.com/

John

[dpbarry]

Hi RC John..

I've never seen that one in my local newsagents or even for that matter, in some of the other newsagents I've been to. They have stocked some other American model mags for the car guys.

Declan

[anmo]

I buy both magazines, and have to express a slight preference for MMI. Both mags contain a lot that is of no interest at all though, I've never read a word written on 'gas boats' by Rick Eyrich, and if I were John Cundell I'd have pensioned off that old 'word not allowed' (I did that bit of censoring myself) David J Wiggins many years ago. I'll rephrase that, I'd never have taken him on in the first place. Don't get me wrong here, I like articles on boating history, but just not the 'word not allowed' way that DJW writes about it. Another thing that bugs me about MB are the pages devoted in each issue to OMRA, endless pics of scruffy overweight chavs posing with their models. Just what is the point of that? Does anyone other than the people in the pictures even look at it? That last bit ought to attract a bit of hate mail.

[Colin Bishop]

Anmo, you are perfectly entitled to your views but I don't think that the way you are expressing them adds much to the argument - just makes you sound like a chav too! Or was that the intention?

[anmo]

Yes, you're right CB, not a good choice of word there, and certainly no intention of offending anyone on this forum, but I hope you realised that I wasn't being all that serious. I still find it mystifying that MB devote several pages each month to something that can't interest many readers other than the word not alloweds that are shown grinning in the pictures. And who other than the owners could be interested in the model pics? Does anyone here read those those race reports?

[Capt. Ron]

You missed one magazine - Radio Control Boat Modeler (their spelling) from Air Age Media in the U.S.
It is the one Rick Eyrich writes the original text which later appears in MMI. The web site is http://www.rcboatmodeler.com/

John

Actually, you missed two magazines don?t forget Scale & RC Boat Magazine www.srcbm.com? ?We have Rick Eyrich, Glynn Guest, John Fryant, Bryant Thompson, and David Merriman, Pat Tritle and many more writing for us. If you will like to pick up some sample issues we will be at the Sandown Symposiums next month

[Colin Bishop]

Anmo, John Cundell told me a while back that David Wiggins' articles are actually very popular in terms of feedback he gets - just goes to show how old we must all be getting. Obviously we are all going to find sections of both mags of little interest as our own interests are not as wide as the scope the mags must cover. My preference was for the long ago days when you got lots of detailed scale plans, working and waterline, but the balance of the hobby has altered radically since then and the mags must go where the majority of the readers are. That's progress :-\

[dougal99]

Hi all

I suspect that the cover given to some aspects of the hobby relates to the amount of copy/photos provided by the particular interest group and possibly the feedback. I'm not an OMRA fan myself but don't begrudge them their 15 minutes of fame. After all it would be a very thin mag if it just concentrated on one particular aspect of the hobby. By appealing, in part, to all interests the mags broaden their sales base and, hopefully, keep appearing every month.

Keep up the good work Eds.

Cheers

Doug