What happened to the great model magazines?

[Former Member]

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[Matt Carlton]

The internet happened.

[Capt Kremen]

And the 'little format' 'Radio Modeller'.

Plenty of meaty content in the articles with less of the advertiser pleasing puff.

Also, the competition that kept all on their toes - 'RC Model World', ' QFI', 'Quiet & Electric Flight', 'Scale Models', 'Aviation Modeller' and others.

Plus all the American magazines - 'Flying Models', 'RCM', 'Model Aviation'.

Used to spend hours in the backroom of 'Aviation Bookshop' in Holloway Road rummaging through the back copies.

Them were the (golden) days!

[Former Member]

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[Former Member]

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[ken anderson.]

golden days...….agree,the modern generation aren't bothered about making bits of wood fly or float...and paying a canny whack for a mag.most of the info anyone needs is available on the mentioned internet.i get the impression that our hobby(some call it a sport)is now firmly in the hands of the previous generation and the present generation isn't really as enthusiastic as we were/are...….our club(BVRMC) has aprox 100 members and the majority are seniors....very old seniors.....and I cant see it changing anytime soon.

ken anderson...ne..1..senior(inc me) dept.

[Former Member]

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[Guvnor]

Posted by Barrie Lever on 28/10/2020 19:03:54:

I would also suggest poor leadership and editors.

Gone are the days of the great editors like Tony Dowdswell on RCM&E, Ron Moulton as group editor, David Boddington, Martyn Cowley on Aeromodeller.

This may come from the publishers, I don't know but can only guess.

B.

Corrrect, you're guessing...

[Solly]

Firstly, congratulations to RCM&E for allowing this thread. My main gripe is the route that this publication has chosen to go down. The cover page usually shows a lovely I/C powered scale model. However the content of the magazine mainly features foam models with electric power., accompanied with adverts promoting this side of the hobby. I understand that the policy is to encourage new people into the hobby but I would argue that if new enthusiasts are really interested they would start by building a balsa model, either from a kit or a plan. It's called aeromodelling.

[Former Member]

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[Former Member]

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[Former Member]

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[mal brewer]

Posted by Capt Kremen on 28/10/2020 18:01:55:

And the 'little format' 'Radio Modeller'.

Plenty of meaty content in the articles with less of the advertiser pleasing puff.

Also, the competition that kept all on their toes - 'RC Model World', ' QFI', 'Quiet & Electric Flight', 'Scale Models', 'Aviation Modeller' and others.

Plus all the American magazines - 'Flying Models', 'RCM', 'Model Aviation'.

Used to spend hours in the backroom of 'Aviation Bookshop' in Holloway Road rummaging through the back copies.

Them were the (golden) days!

Nobody's mentioned 'Model Aircraft' ...............another great magazine................................Mal

[Dad_flyer]

I am new to model flying, I build (slowly) with balsa. I like the RCM&E content (once I have wrestled my copy from child_flyer).

Edited By Dad_flyer on 28/10/2020 19:26:36

[Former Member]

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[kevin b]

The answer to the thread question is simple.

Advertisers stopped advertising in them.

Publishers produce magazines to make money and a (very) large percentage of that money comes from advertising.

Advertisers are fickle and would often change from one magazine to another (usually when the bills came in).

As the number of manufacturers ( and distributors) has reduced over the years the revenue has reduced and this is the result.

These days most small manufacturers are able to get their products seen for a lot less expense using social technology (and word of mouth).

A combination of lack of advertising and a reducing market (mostly age related) means there is less demand for magazines. It is interesting that many people complain about the current cost of magazines. Many years ago the price of magazines was about the price of a portion of fish & chips, or two pints of beer and there were no complaints. I wish I could get either for the price of a magazine these days (don't mention petrol).

Times change, but people don't want to (unless they are getting more for less).

[leccyflyer]

Posted by Barrie Lever on 28/10/2020 19:18:19:

Posted by Guvnor on 28/10/2020 19:07:32:

Posted by Barrie Lever on 28/10/2020 19:03:54:

I would also suggest poor leadership and editors.

Gone are the days of the great editors like Tony Dowdswell on RCM&E, Ron Moulton as group editor, David Boddington, Martyn Cowley on Aeromodeller.

This may come from the publishers, I don't know but can only guess.

B.

Corrrect, you're guessing...

What else can I do? I miss those magazines.

B.

There's no reason to miss any of those magazines. They might smell a little bit musty, but they tend not to spontaneously combust.

I was only reading a copy of Model Aircraft just a couple of weeks ago. Likewise my favourite magazine RCSA - I've still got RCM&E's back to some of the very early issues somewhere, hundreds of Radio Modellers and those horrible magazines Aviation Modeller International and Model Flyer.

The internet is great, but it's a bit tricky to read in the bath - my Nov RCM&E arrived today and that's where it will be headed :D

[john stones 1 - Moderator]

Posted by kevin b on 28/10/2020 19:44:52:

The answer to the thread question is simple.

Advertisers stopped advertising in them.

Publishers produce magazines to make money and a (very) large percentage of that money comes from advertising.

Advertisers are fickle and would often change from one magazine to another (usually when the bills came in).

As the number of manufacturers ( and distributors) has reduced over the years the revenue has reduced and this is the result.

These days most small manufacturers are able to get their products seen for a lot less expense using social technology (and word of mouth).

A combination of lack of advertising and a reducing market (mostly age related) means there is less demand for magazines. It is interesting that many people complain about the current cost of magazines. Many years ago the price of magazines was about the price of a portion of fish & chips, or two pints of beer and there were no complaints. I wish I could get either for the price of a magazine these days (don't mention petrol).

Times change, but people don't want to (unless they are getting more for less).

[Mowerman]

The majority of active modelers are of an age that was from the days of greatest advances in aviation but now most new aircraft seem to be copies of each other. It takes an enthusiast to recognise one passenger jet from another (now that Concorde is gone). Computer games ,not for me, but for the younger people are what fires the imagination now

[Geoff S]

I don't think this is limited to aeromodellimg magazines. When I was a teenager in the late 50s there were 2 weekly motorcycle magazines - The Motor Cycle and Motorcycling - known as the Blue 'un and the Green 'un repectively for obvious reasons. Despite being very short of cash (my wages equalled my weekly digs rent so my father subsidised me to the tune of £1.50/week which I hated) I managed to find the 7d/copy (about 3p) for Motorcycling each week.

I have about 3 decades worth of Motorcycle Sport stored away. It was a brilliant magazine for anyone interested in vintage bikes and had few adverts. I haven't seen a copy for years so I don't know if it's still published.

The internet is the main reason for the dearth of may magazines but the print quality of those remaining is high. Even 15 years ago I used to buy the occasional US aeromodelling magazine and they were dull compared to RCME and RCMW which were mostly in colour.

I have no complaints about RCME or its editorial staff. They're doing a pretty good job in the current climate IMO and I enjoy reading my copy each month.

Even though I no longer buy Cycling Weekly, Yachts and Yachting nor Wireless World it would be sad if they disappeared. And what about all the Practical ***** mags often edited by the ubiquitous FJ Camm?

Geoff

[Matt Carlton]

A lot of the articles in the older magazines were concerned with how to make things. Whether that be diy electronics, building techniques, covering techniques, repairs, soldering, wire bending etc.

The march of instant gratification, RTF and an increasingly disposable society perhaps made those articles irrelevant to many?

The competition scene has also died. We don't have the number of club or regional competitions that we used to. So there's less to report. Less to strive towards.

Without wishing to be rude, I think the older magazines were, and are, simply better in terms of content, character, diversity and individualism of writers.

We had the back page of dear old RG, we had contributors with a real flair for writing. I look back even to the 1990s and PM's series of "Aeronuttycal History" Pseudo scale models. Every bit as entertaining to read as a piece of prose as they were plan features.

I really don't know. The hobby feels different than it used to. Not worse, not better, just different.

[john stones 1 - Moderator]

I miss the good old days.

No one every griped about mags repeating anything, engine noise was never an issue (Lol) no worries about radio failures, never happened, least not to the one rx and 4 servos I owned, proper modelling.

NME and Melody Maker was my reading matter in those days, £7 for a 3 day festival and top bands a plenty. Where did it all go eh ?

Don't even start me on't Hovis. **LINK**

[leccyflyer]

Posted by Matt Carlton on 28/10/2020 21:01:28:

A lot of the articles in the older magazines were concerned with how to make things. Whether that be diy electronics, building techniques, covering techniques, repairs, soldering, wire bending etc.

The march of instant gratification, RTF and an increasingly disposable society perhaps made those articles irrelevant to many?

The competition scene has also died. We don't have the number of club or regional competitions that we used to. So there's less to report. Less to strive towards.

Without wishing to be rude, I think the older magazines were, and are, simply better in terms of content, character, diversity and individualism of writers.

We had the back page of dear old RG, we had contributors with a real flair for writing. I look back even to the 1990s and PM's series of "Aeronuttycal History" Pseudo scale models. Every bit as entertaining to read as a piece of prose as they were plan features.

I really don't know. The hobby feels different than it used to. Not worse, not better, just different.

That's progress - and something to be thankful for.

If you'd told me as a youngster in the early 70's that I could have a fully radio controllable, fully aerobatic four channel Spitfire that I could easily fly in the garden, or even indoors I simply wouldn;t have believed you, as I struggled to try to get a KK Flying Scale Spitfire to stay in the air for more than a few seconds. It would have been right out of General Jumbo's comic strip.

[Matt Carlton]

That's very true LF, but I was citing possible reasons for the question posed by the OP, rather than commenting on the state of the hobby as it were.

I'm not entirely sure that the picture of progress is as universally positive as you suggest however. Yes, it is perfectly true that things are possible and affordable now which we could have only dreamed of and that's wonderful. However, that progression has also lost us a lot of things and perhaps, subjects to keep a magazine interesting, varied and useful are among them.

[leccyflyer]

The old magazines were for a different time, when some things were not available to the masses and a very high proportion of the equipment side of the hobby was either unaffordable, or unavailable or DIY. So we had very technical DIY articles to make your own, not very good, not very reliable, radio gear or to figure out ingenious ways to make one of the four servos that you owned do something that it wasn;t ideally suited for. That all makes for interesting reading, typically illustrated by a line drawing or two, or a low quality black and white photo.

Fast forward to today and the gear is widely available, relatively inexpensive, mostly reliable and the DIY aspect is very much reduced. So you end up with more product reviews to buy more stuff and illustrated multi-page articles with full colour photographs instructing you how to set the brake on an ESC.