Concerns With Model Railroader

[Anonymous]

I've purchased MR off the newsstands for a number of months and have noticed a very disturbing trend. MR apparently has some bias against N-Scale Model Railroading because the attention to that scale has diminished over time. This IS a popular scale and becoming even more popular even as MR editors seem to feel it necessary to exclude the scale from many issues.

The fact that there are two mags dedicated to N-Scale modeling is irrelevant for one very BIG reason: NEITHER is available on the newsstands! I have checked with all the major booksellers in town, Barnes and Noble, B. Dalton (owned by B&N) and Borders and neither can even order. No LHS here carries either. MR is the biggest RR pub and really, in all fairness, should focus more on N-Scale. Granted, HO is currently the most popular, but even that is relative to market.

The fact is, MR, even it's name is generic, needs to live up to its name and give equal time to each scale, not just N, but the rest as well. I don't need to tell anyone this but Model Railroading includes all scales, not just HO. So, imho, if they want to call the rag Model Railroading, then give more attention to all scales. Otherwise, change it to HO Model Railroading.

Regards,
Jesse

[rayhippard]

Hi Jesse, At times in the past I've thought just the opposite. Too much N and not HO. It seems to come and go in cycles because MR can even get too deep into a subject and appear to 'DRAG IT OUT". We just need to wait for the next cycle. I see it as too much to cover every month between the pages of a magazine. The up side is to look at each article and try to learn and /or apply techniques to our scale. Also at some future date,we may have a need for the generic information and can refer back to that article if we have read it and our hard drive [ also know as our brain ] kicks in to remind us about the information. Besides, you are internet savy so you can find N information at other sites. Keep on railroadin' . Ray

[Anonymous]

Ray,
The problem is, these cycles, if they are such are too long. Months have gone by without any decent N-Scale articles. And the number of articles, even ads, dwindles. All I ask is a fair balance of each. there are many N-Scalers that share my sentiment. Sure I can find N info elsewhere, but I'm interested in a mag. Not always able to access the Internet.

Regards,
Jesse

[Anonymous]

Hi Jesse
I see this your first post so [#welcome] to the Forum!

You certainly poped your safety valve there Jesse. I'm a modeler in HO scale so I can't say whether or not M.R. excluding N scale. I see things about N scale quite often in M.R. but appearently nothing you're looking for. What would you want to see more of?
As for the other publications specific to N scale probably the only way you will find them is to subscribe to them. Why can't the book stores order them for you? I don't understand why your LHS doesn't carry at least one N scale magazine, unless they are focused on other hobbies like R/C cars. That's a shame because it is a popular scale. The thing I notice most about N scale in M.R. is the many new product anouncements and product reviews. That shows how popular the scale is and that it keeps growing.
If M.R. wasn't filling the bill for HO scale I'd only buy the issues that intrest me. And that would be a bummer.
I think you will find a lot of N scale modelers in Forums, so stick around. And maybe shop around for a new hobby shop.

[rayhippard]

To both of you above, I agree that this hobby is for the long haul [ pun intended ] . The longer you are in it, the more you learn,the nicest people you'll meet and the more fun you'll have. Try to attend some railraod shows [find places and dates in MR] and don't be shy. Introduce yourself and ask questions. Join a club. Join a railroad historical society [also listed in MR ] . They are very inexpensive and mail you publications about your favorite railroad with tons of information and pictures. Most have yearly conventions that are absolutely to die for with the programs,field trips [ some on trains ] and swap tables with great bargains. My son and I have been members of the GREAT NORTHERN RAILWAY HISTORICAL SOCIETY for 10 years and it's the best $25 per year that we each spend on our hobby. ENJOY - ENJOY !!! Ray

[cjcrescent]

Jesse;
Given the type of publication MR is, it has to rely on submissions from its readers for articles. MR doesn't have the "cadre" of reporters/writers to generate a magazine full of articles every month, like Good Housekeeping, so it has to use submissions for material. It (MR), can't publish what it doesn't have (articles on N-scale). If you want more N scale in MR, write something, photograph something and submit it for publication. You could be pleasantly surprised.(Paid for your submission).
Many times I have seen this very comment on the editorial pages in MR and most of the other mags as well.

[Anonymous]

Well, I speak my mind. Usually not in any inflamatory manner, rather more like I did. But I tell it like it is. Society is too worried about being nice, but honesty isn't always nice. So, if I "popped the safety valve," then so beit, it's not directed at anyone, nor am I being "bitchy" as it were. I stated my concern in the proper manner. I could have been like a lot and simply said that MR sucks. Well, for one thing, it doesn't suck. It is a well done mag but I do have serious concerns which I know I share with other N-Scalers.

Now, there is only one local N-Scale club, unfortunately that is an N-TRAK club and they specialize in modules. I have my own full layout which my son and I built. Train shows are hard to come by, too. They just don't frequent Vegas all that often and when they do, they're little more than swap meets. The last one we attended, only half the hall was actually railroading, the rest was a flea market.

Anyway, I will take your suggestion under advisement and possibly submit something to MR. Should I provide a submission, what is the best method?

[cjcrescent]

Jesse;
Good, looking forward to seeing your byline!

MR used to have/has a guide available for submitting articles/photos to the mag. Can't remember if it is in the mag nowadays or not, but I bet that they would provide you with one if you asked.

[IRONROOSTER]

I suspect that N scale specialty magazines dilute the pool of articles so that fewer get submitted to MR. I'm in S scale which has very articles in MR (although it is a favorite drawing scale). A lot of the info can be applied across the scales though and I always enjoy seeing what the other scales are doing.
Enjoy
Paul

[Anonymous]

I hope the next time MR has a makeover they include a substancial section for every popular scale, each section containing product reviews, basic stuff, scratchbuilding and prototype info., and a REASONABLY sized layout that MOST OF US could easily build, maintain, and have room for, instead of these warehouse sized layouts that probably costed as much as a small car to build.

[Anonymous]

QUOTE: Originally posted by cjcrescent

If you want more N scale in MR, write something, photograph something and submit it for publication.

That's a load of peanut butter.

If I want to see an article on a specific subject, I want to learn about it, not write about it myself.

One more time:

MR is a business, not a club, not a non-profit. It needs to provide content without demanding that readers provide that content.

If you go into your hobbyshop and ask for a detail part they don't have, should they suggest you make it yourself (and then they'd pay you for it)? No.

Same principle applies.

[Anonymous]

hey ACL fan - Your point was well made (saw similar from you on another string but you referenced vegetables, not detail parts. . .)

Expanding on your comment, if a modeler wants to submit material to MR for possible inclusion in the magazine -thats great-because he or she may bring a fresh viewpoint or new material not forthcoming from MR's regular contributors. If MR depends on its readership to provide the meat and potatoes amongst the ads and between the covers, they should pay a fair rate for the submission. If that becomes the primary source of 'material of any substance', that publication will certainly be in trouble.

I hope that isn't the case, and trust that they have a fair payment for submissions policy. It would be great if MR occasionally jumped onto the Forum and shared their position or intent; hopefully they wouldn't concern themselves with being politically correct either.

[METRO]

I'm a long-time HO modeler and I'm just about to get into N. I wouldn't think that there is a bias either way in the mag. If there is any bias I think they like to tout the horn of S-scale just a bit even though it's the least-modeled of the major American scales, and I for one think that's just fine. MR really cares about the hobby and they show lots of great layouts in almost every scale you can think of. I have been reading for a long time, but I can remember some great lines in everything from Z to trains big enough to ride on, and that's only in the last couple years.

One more thing about bias, I have seen a few issues that didn't even have any HO-scale product reviews, and HO has by far the greatest amount of products.

N-scale is growing, (I personally am part of that growth) but if you look in the December 2003 issue, it says that 78% of readers model in HO and 28% model in N. Maybe it's just that there are more layouts of great quality in HO to write about than there are in N.

[cjcrescent]

OK ACL, maybe rely was too strong a word, but I stand by what I said. MR does welcome and pay for articles its accepts for publication from its readers, but unlike what you said it doesn't demand them. Just because MR has staff writers on the payroll doesn't mean that these writers know how to or can do everything there is or can be done in Model Railroading. No one can know/do it all. They have accepted several articles from me in the past and I have been paid for them but they haven't been published as yet. This is called paying on acceptance. I have also sent articles to RMC which were not accepted and to MRG which I was paid for on their publication. All it takes is a little work and to provide a subject they are looking for at the time.

BTW, I do make some of my own detail parts. Learned how to from an article submitted by a fellow club member. We, the club, didn't know he could do it.

[Anonymous]

QUOTE: Originally posted by bill mathewson


I hope that isn't the case, and trust that they have a fair payment for submissions policy.

In my past experiences, MR pays around $80.00 a page. If they accept an article, they will pay you for it in advance, estimating how much space it will use. If it take up more space, they pay you the remainder upon publication. Cover photos are or were $125.00, so it can be worthwhile!

Bob Boudreau (with 4 MR covers)
Canada

[CNJ831]

Jesse, you need to appreciate the fact that, although MR does publish some material specific to 0, S, N and Z guages, for the past 60 years it has been predominantly an HO oriented magazine and isn't going to change now. HO modelers constitute, by far, the great majority of its circulation base and catering to them has made MR the hobby's leading magazine. To tamper with its content now would almost certainly endanger MR's already gradually declining subscription numbers and is something they can not afford to do.

Lets face it, N guagers do have a choice of N-specific publications available by subscription. As G, 0, and S also have their own magazines it becomes even more unlikely that MR would choose to damatically increase N-guage (or any other guage) coverage at the expense of HO material. Likewise, with the cross-scale production of so many items most of what MR publishes regarding HO items (and even layouts) generally applies to the N-guagers as well.

So, the only logical answer for those unhappy with MR's dominant HO content is to subscribe to publications catering to their alternate guages. MR sure ain't gonna change!

CNJ831

[Anonymous]

Needs more of Different Gages

DOGGY
GO CUBS

[Anonymous]

I subcribe to and read MR mag. I read with an open mind and find a lot of good info in every issue and every article regardless of the writer's choice of scale. Whether an article is on Z scale or O scale I take the info and apply it to my layout. I have read layout articles from an N scaler's perspective and always find something I can apply to my HO layout. Same goes with O,S and Z sale articles. I read all articles, over looking the bias of the writer's scale of choice. If a person doesn't read and learn from an article because the information was directed at a specific scale then they are missing a lot of good info.

About the only articles I find that are truly scale specific are product reviews. Even at that I sometimes find a building that I like but is not offered in HO so kitbashing comes to mind. Take a similar building and add the detail that you liked about the other scale product.

There is an article in the March 2004 issue "Easy House Kitbash" by Vic Roseman. Although the article uses a specific Atlas kit (# 711) and the exploded view diagram's show HO scale measurements, the basis of the article, four ways to make a sturcture unique, can be applied to ANY structure in ANY scale. Using photo's and drawings of what he built as examples, I think Vic Roseman was showing us that with a little thought and kitbashing, the same kit can look like different unique structures. IMO this is not a scale specific article. His theory can be applied to a freight building or any structure. BTW for those that don't know "Kate's Colonial Home" kit comes in N scale, kit # 2844.

There are a lot of "how to", "try this" and "look what I did" articles in MR mag that apply to ALL scales. If you read a modeling publication, even scale specific, you get from that publication whatever you want by keeping an open mind while reading the articles. I have found through the years that everyone has a bucket on their shoulders. Some have their bucket right side up and others have theirs up side down.

Every month someone complains about the information presented in MR mag. IMHO if you don't like what is printed, and this goes for ANY publication, then simply don't buy it!!

[Anonymous]

Jesse et al:

CNJ has given you your answer. I have my own gripes with what MR has become over the years but it is what it is. Take it for that. If it doesn't meet your needs there are other choices available in the market.

Randy

[dknelson]

What pray tell is an "N scale article?" Is it an article 1/160th the size of a real article?

I have seen this complaint before, often from N scalers, and I have to ask, how much spoon feeding do you need? Is N scale modeling something other than model railroading?

Here is an idea -- get yourself a scale rule, maybe a calculator, master a few basic skills, and EVERY article is for N scale.

Way back when MR used to publish articles like "Build an S scale gondola" and the measurements were in real fractions of an inch. Even the early scale plans were that way.
Only in the 1950s did they seem to wise up to the fact that if the measurements are in scale feet and inches then every article is for every scale. Let's not return to the bad old days please.
Dave Nelson

[Fergmiester]

I wonder if the number articles regarding a certain guage coincides with the percentage of those who model that guage? Yes MR is predominately HO but if you go into your LHS I would hazard to say HO is predominant. So I would say MR is in step with the trend

Sorry guys

Personally I don't care what scale an article is written about

I look at the pictures and drool!

[Anonymous]

I gotta go with Mr. Snake on this one. When a layout or project article is written in MR, I may end up being totally oblivious to the scale it is done in. However, if your modeling skills are limited, it is more difficult to transend the scale hurdle. That is one of the reasons I think it is more important to build kits, than to simply buy RTR stuff! If you don't build kits, scratch build or kit bash, you will be limited to the products provided by the manufacturers, which means you must have scale specific information printed in the magazines.

[Anonymous]

There are plenty of articles that are done in N scale. Most of the time scale has no bearing. I read the article and just apply it to my scale. I have used articles from O to Z.

RMax

[Anonymous]

two Jesse's!
Anyway I thought that MRR was too N scale oreinted for awhile too so I'd say it fluctuates between HO and N

[FJ and G]

I don't really care what scale is presented. If you think about it, it doesn't really matter; you can learn new things from every scale and can as easily adapt a different scale structure or even track plan for your own layout.

When the camera snaps a photo of an N scale or even Z scale layout, it is difficult to tell it apart from an HO or even an O scale layout unless you read the caption or article.

I'm one of the 10%, btw, of MR readers who models in O scale (hi-rail), and I find MR better than any other model train magazine out there.

dave vergun

[cwclark]

I don't think MR is bias towards the HO vs. N..The fact that there are more HO modelers out there is probably the reasoning behind more HO stuff in their mag...You have to remember that as electric trains go...HO has been around a lot longer than N and to go further than that...O has been around the longest and they don't go out of their way to put a lot of O gauge stuff in the mag either...There is just more HO stuff out there...Personally...I'm getting old, my sight isn't what it used to be and the thought of working with those really small N scale parts gives me shivers down my spine..I have a hard enough time working with the HO parts...smile!...God loves us all...and I don't think there is a plot at MR to keep the N crowd at bay...Chuck

[n2mopac]

Speaking as an N scaler myself, I would love to see great N scale articles in MR every month. The realistic fact is, however, that N scale makes up 15-20% of the model railroading marked in the US, and MR's coverave of N scale is well above 20% of its total material published. I believe MR DOES live up to its name as an all-purpose model railroading source for all scales and aspects of the hobby. Those complaining of its content on this forum are usually wishing it to be less general, not more so, despite what they may claim. I believe that to be the case here.
Ron

[dharmon]

I just wish I could read all them letters next to the purty pictures.

[Anonymous]

I find the skills I developed years ago when I was into O gauge (it was the dominant gauge in the 40's) apply just as well to my HO layout today. I find articles on most any gauge has application to any other gauge. I understand some folks get bent when the article does not specify their gauge regardless of how applicable the content is. You build a tree, the methodology works for all of us. You paint a car, we all learn from your efforts regardless of gauge. Ballasting track? Only the size of the material used will vary. Weathering? Hardly gauge specific. So not enough articles on N gauge? What is specific to your gauge that creates a need for special treatment? You wire your track just like the rest of us. DCC? Hardly gauge specific. If you really feel the need to gripe, why not focus on the availability of building kits, freight car kits, great running steam locomotives, things like that? But, then, I guess I do not understand that the lack of these things is the fault of MR. We are all model railroaders. None of us is more or less special than the next person because of the gauge we model in. If you need the boost of an "us N gaugers vs you HO gaugers" scenario, require the charge that comes from being in a certain group, I would suggest you have missed the point of the hobby entirely. I thought this hobby was to develop skills, learn creativity and have fun. Maybe even share ideas. Gosh, how stupid could I be? How uninformed? Go ahead. start your intergalactic war between the gauges if it brings you closure.

Tom

[Anonymous]

As an N-gauger, I like articles about any scale. There's inspiration in everything. Now, if only there were more early steam period articles....

Cheers,
Mo