Done with MR Mag?

[Bergie]

I think just about every opinion on this topic has been covered so I'm going to lock this thread with the hope that we can move on to more constructive conversations.

[:)] Erik

[Bergie]

I think just about every opinion on this topic has been covered so I'm going to lock this thread with the hope that we can move on to more constructive conversations.

[:)] Erik

[ClinchValleySD40]

Although I'll keep my subscriptions going for both MR and Trains, I'm not pleased with their changes. Too many of the articles are way, way too short. Not enough info. It's almost like reading a quick preview. They used to have half dozen pages of commentary, like how layout was built, how operations work, etc. I miss it.

[ClinchValleySD40]

Although I'll keep my subscriptions going for both MR and Trains, I'm not pleased with their changes. Too many of the articles are way, way too short. Not enough info. It's almost like reading a quick preview. They used to have half dozen pages of commentary, like how layout was built, how operations work, etc. I miss it.

[vsmith]

QUOTE: Originally posted by emeraldisle

Weeeeelllllllll, personally I don't think I've ever seen an artical in my scale and guage,......PDS1.3cm....figure that one out[:D][:D][:D][:D]

Lets see PDS 1.3cm
Heres my guess

Pretty
Dam
Small

1.3 cm track gauge ?

Sounds like Z gauge track? the only thing I cant figure is whether 1.3 cm is US standard guage, narrow gauge, meter gauge or on of them oddball industrial guages. Ya know like 15" gauge or 600mm gauge, could be anything.

[vsmith]

QUOTE: Originally posted by emeraldisle

Weeeeelllllllll, personally I don't think I've ever seen an artical in my scale and guage,......PDS1.3cm....figure that one out[:D][:D][:D][:D]

Lets see PDS 1.3cm
Heres my guess

Pretty
Dam
Small

1.3 cm track gauge ?

Sounds like Z gauge track? the only thing I cant figure is whether 1.3 cm is US standard guage, narrow gauge, meter gauge or on of them oddball industrial guages. Ya know like 15" gauge or 600mm gauge, could be anything.

[Anonymous]

Weeeeelllllllll, personally I don't think I've ever seen an artical in my scale and guage,......PDS1.3cm....figure that one out[:D][:D][:D][:D]

[Anonymous]

Weeeeelllllllll, personally I don't think I've ever seen an artical in my scale and guage,......PDS1.3cm....figure that one out[:D][:D][:D][:D]

[Anonymous]

MR is like any other Mag.
You need to look longterm.
Mr is like Baseball cards or Crakerjack !!!
It's all good and sometimes it get's even better !!!!
I get as much enjoyment out of the new issues as from copies from before I was born. Find a copy of MR November and December 1968 the articiles on converting trackplans N versus HO are great !!!
This cost me onyl 60c when I was eight years old a great investment !
I wish I still had the Baseball cards I bought that same year!
personaly I like HO I'm also a Tribe fan Not a Yankee fan.
But I don't give up on Baseball Look deeeeep into the Crackerjack box! there is something for you too!

[Anonymous]

MR is like any other Mag.
You need to look longterm.
Mr is like Baseball cards or Crakerjack !!!
It's all good and sometimes it get's even better !!!!
I get as much enjoyment out of the new issues as from copies from before I was born. Find a copy of MR November and December 1968 the articiles on converting trackplans N versus HO are great !!!
This cost me onyl 60c when I was eight years old a great investment !
I wish I still had the Baseball cards I bought that same year!
personaly I like HO I'm also a Tribe fan Not a Yankee fan.
But I don't give up on Baseball Look deeeeep into the Crackerjack box! there is something for you too!

[n2mopac]

I have to agree with the idea of submitting articles rather than complaining, but with one reservation. These days you practically have to be a professional photographer to submit an article to MR (or most any other mag). I would love to publish anarticle or two about my present N scale layout and my new layout currently in production, but I don't have the photographic equipment or skill to produce the pictures required. If there was an easy answer to getting the picture problem solved I think you would have more articles submitted--at least by one model rainroader.
Ron

[n2mopac]

I have to agree with the idea of submitting articles rather than complaining, but with one reservation. These days you practically have to be a professional photographer to submit an article to MR (or most any other mag). I would love to publish anarticle or two about my present N scale layout and my new layout currently in production, but I don't have the photographic equipment or skill to produce the pictures required. If there was an easy answer to getting the picture problem solved I think you would have more articles submitted--at least by one model rainroader.
Ron

[cacole]

Having been a contributor/editor of an Atari 8-bit computer magazine back when they were popular, I can tell you that MR can print only what people submit. If there's a lack of N (or S, TT, O, G, Z) coverage, it's because the people who model in those scales are not submitting items to the MR staff. When you begin planning an issue and allocate, say, 150 pages, but only receive enough material to fill 125 pages, what do you do? Sometimes staff members have to really scrounge around to find "filler" items. Someone complained about the lack of Canadian coverage -- check out RMC magazine or Mainline Modeler, which seem to have more coverage of Canadian railroads. It's impossible to please everyone all the time. What about Mexican railroads? I never see any coverage of them in MR, either. Or Russian, Chinese, Japanese, German, etc. etc. etc. Again, it simply boils down to the fact that readers are not submitting anything about these railroads to MR magazine, and the MR staff can't publish what they don't have. If you check around, there are alternate publications that focus on a particular scale, such as Garden Railways Magazine. I'm sure the N-scalers have their own publications, too. What about the N-track group? I have used information gleaned from the N-track Web site many times for HO modeling. Just because an item in MR may say it's an HO layout doesn't mean it can't be adapted to other scales.

[cacole]

Having been a contributor/editor of an Atari 8-bit computer magazine back when they were popular, I can tell you that MR can print only what people submit. If there's a lack of N (or S, TT, O, G, Z) coverage, it's because the people who model in those scales are not submitting items to the MR staff. When you begin planning an issue and allocate, say, 150 pages, but only receive enough material to fill 125 pages, what do you do? Sometimes staff members have to really scrounge around to find "filler" items. Someone complained about the lack of Canadian coverage -- check out RMC magazine or Mainline Modeler, which seem to have more coverage of Canadian railroads. It's impossible to please everyone all the time. What about Mexican railroads? I never see any coverage of them in MR, either. Or Russian, Chinese, Japanese, German, etc. etc. etc. Again, it simply boils down to the fact that readers are not submitting anything about these railroads to MR magazine, and the MR staff can't publish what they don't have. If you check around, there are alternate publications that focus on a particular scale, such as Garden Railways Magazine. I'm sure the N-scalers have their own publications, too. What about the N-track group? I have used information gleaned from the N-track Web site many times for HO modeling. Just because an item in MR may say it's an HO layout doesn't mean it can't be adapted to other scales.

[vsmith]

[:D]Ha Ha Ha Ha Ha Hardy Har Har ! ! ! ! ![:p]

Geez, this topic makes me laugh!

They dont publish enough HO, or N or Z Boo hoo hoo!
SHUT UP!
Thats virtually ALL they publish... Try working in a real boner scale like 1/2"!
then complain about lack of coverage and you'll have a point.

The Mags all do a good job covering the hobby from many points of view. If you cant reverse engineer an article on scenery or detialing from HO down to N then what do you want? a "paint by numbers and hold your hand" approach?

There has always been a bit of "seat of your pants" trial and error to modeling no matter how good an article is written or what scale its at. It doesnt take a rocket scientist to figure out how to modify articles written in one scale to another.

I can understand something that is scale specific like improving the performance of an N gauge SD40 or adding Electronics, well if you've done it, write it up and submit it. Some of the postings on this forum are defacto articles, all they need are photos to accompany them.

Are you listening Kalmbach? Photos?Posting? 2+2=?

So stop being scale nazies (Minest N scale ist bitter dan yurst HO scale) and quite whinning about coverage, do something like submitting your own articles. The only mags that publish stuff in my scale (1/2") are Garden Railroads, Finescale railroader, and Narrow gauge and Shortline Gazette, of which most all of the articles are written by the modelers themselves...so dont complain, contribute!

[vsmith]

[:D]Ha Ha Ha Ha Ha Hardy Har Har ! ! ! ! ![:p]

Geez, this topic makes me laugh!

They dont publish enough HO, or N or Z Boo hoo hoo!
SHUT UP!
Thats virtually ALL they publish... Try working in a real boner scale like 1/2"!
then complain about lack of coverage and you'll have a point.

The Mags all do a good job covering the hobby from many points of view. If you cant reverse engineer an article on scenery or detialing from HO down to N then what do you want? a "paint by numbers and hold your hand" approach?

There has always been a bit of "seat of your pants" trial and error to modeling no matter how good an article is written or what scale its at. It doesnt take a rocket scientist to figure out how to modify articles written in one scale to another.

I can understand something that is scale specific like improving the performance of an N gauge SD40 or adding Electronics, well if you've done it, write it up and submit it. Some of the postings on this forum are defacto articles, all they need are photos to accompany them.

Are you listening Kalmbach? Photos?Posting? 2+2=?

So stop being scale nazies (Minest N scale ist bitter dan yurst HO scale) and quite whinning about coverage, do something like submitting your own articles. The only mags that publish stuff in my scale (1/2") are Garden Railroads, Finescale railroader, and Narrow gauge and Shortline Gazette, of which most all of the articles are written by the modelers themselves...so dont complain, contribute!

[ndbprr]

I'm not an N scaler. Never was and never will be. It has advantages in layout planning but that is about it in my opinion. Too small to see, too light, too delicate but that is my choice and there are some things being done today that boggle my mind in regard to details. That being said detailing an HO,S, O or G engine or car is far different from doing it in N. The idea that what is done in one scale can be corelated to another doesn't always hold true. The degree of accuracy to correctly detail in N is in the three decimal point region. If I could see it I couldn't do it. N scalers need their own publication. One size doen't fit all.

[ndbprr]

I'm not an N scaler. Never was and never will be. It has advantages in layout planning but that is about it in my opinion. Too small to see, too light, too delicate but that is my choice and there are some things being done today that boggle my mind in regard to details. That being said detailing an HO,S, O or G engine or car is far different from doing it in N. The idea that what is done in one scale can be corelated to another doesn't always hold true. The degree of accuracy to correctly detail in N is in the three decimal point region. If I could see it I couldn't do it. N scalers need their own publication. One size doen't fit all.

[n2mopac]

I don't usually like to get in the middle of these controversy threads, but some of y'all are not being objective here. One person on the first page said that MR doesn't show ANY new N scale products. You need to pull out your brand new Octover issue and look at page 38. There in MR News you will find over a page of new N scale product releases. I read these every month. I also take RMC and I compare their new product lists in N scale. They are usually very close to identical. Next you need to look at page 21. There you will find a review of a piece of N scale rolling stock. In Product Reviews nearly every month there is one N scale product reviewed.

MR got me into this hobby, and MR inspired me to change over from HO scale to N scale. The magazine does a great job of providing broad hobby information while including somethins specific to everyone. As stated above, I also that RMC. The articles in it are so focused and specific that I loose interest. If I find one or two articles of any interst in RMC in a month it is a good month, while I read MR every month cover-to-cover. If you want a scale specific magazine that only deals with N scale, there are three N-scale specific magazines on the market (of varying quality) that I am aware of. Take one of those and enjoy it and stop trying to make MR something that it was never intended to be.
Ron

[n2mopac]

I don't usually like to get in the middle of these controversy threads, but some of y'all are not being objective here. One person on the first page said that MR doesn't show ANY new N scale products. You need to pull out your brand new Octover issue and look at page 38. There in MR News you will find over a page of new N scale product releases. I read these every month. I also take RMC and I compare their new product lists in N scale. They are usually very close to identical. Next you need to look at page 21. There you will find a review of a piece of N scale rolling stock. In Product Reviews nearly every month there is one N scale product reviewed.

MR got me into this hobby, and MR inspired me to change over from HO scale to N scale. The magazine does a great job of providing broad hobby information while including somethins specific to everyone. As stated above, I also that RMC. The articles in it are so focused and specific that I loose interest. If I find one or two articles of any interst in RMC in a month it is a good month, while I read MR every month cover-to-cover. If you want a scale specific magazine that only deals with N scale, there are three N-scale specific magazines on the market (of varying quality) that I am aware of. Take one of those and enjoy it and stop trying to make MR something that it was never intended to be.
Ron

[IRONROOSTER]

I have been subscribing to MR for over 30 years through HO scale, O scale, and now S scale. During that time I have always found it helpful, interesting, and inspiring. I save all my issues (and bought back issues). Over the years my interests change, wax and wane, etc., so that I often find myself going back over past issues to reread articles. A case in point, when I started, I had no interest in narrow gauge, but now I am building a layout that will be 50% narrow gauge, so all those old ng articles are now relevant. But I enjoyed them the first time around, because they were well done and interesting. Would I like to see more articles on S?, certainly. I'd also like to see some OO, TT, and other minority scales just to see what's going on in them. By the way, even though I have in the hobby 30+ years and am building my 5th layout, I always read the back to basic columns. It's amazing how often I find little gems in there I can use. Some of today's basics are even better than the basics of yesteryear. I say keep up the good work MR.
And remember, if you aren't in the 'S'uperb, 'S'uper, 'S'upreme scale, you're only 'S'econd class.[:)][:)][:)][:)]
Enjoy
Paul

[IRONROOSTER]

I have been subscribing to MR for over 30 years through HO scale, O scale, and now S scale. During that time I have always found it helpful, interesting, and inspiring. I save all my issues (and bought back issues). Over the years my interests change, wax and wane, etc., so that I often find myself going back over past issues to reread articles. A case in point, when I started, I had no interest in narrow gauge, but now I am building a layout that will be 50% narrow gauge, so all those old ng articles are now relevant. But I enjoyed them the first time around, because they were well done and interesting. Would I like to see more articles on S?, certainly. I'd also like to see some OO, TT, and other minority scales just to see what's going on in them. By the way, even though I have in the hobby 30+ years and am building my 5th layout, I always read the back to basic columns. It's amazing how often I find little gems in there I can use. Some of today's basics are even better than the basics of yesteryear. I say keep up the good work MR.
And remember, if you aren't in the 'S'uperb, 'S'uper, 'S'upreme scale, you're only 'S'econd class.[:)][:)][:)][:)]
Enjoy
Paul

[n2mopac]

Speaking as an avid and long time N-scaler, I love MR and consider it a great benefit to me as a modeler because it keeps me current in what is happening in the hobby as a whole. I model N scale, but I consider myself a model railroader, not an N-scaler. Can I learn from other scales? Yes. Does every MR article ring my bell? No. But that is the nature of the hobby. It has many aspects and MR tries to give some coverage to them all. I have little interest in garden railroading, but I don't resent every articel that MR publishes on the subject. Nor do I hear garden railroaders complaining about the lack of articles on their aspect of the hobby, though they are much less numerous than N scale articles.

Here is another thought. HO scale makes up about 70% of the hobby, N scale makes up about 20%. Anyone who reads MR has to admit that much more than 20% of the articles that are scale specific are N scale.

One last point, anyone who feels "left out" by MR obviously is not reading it very closely or is looking for a very narrow range of articles. The two articles in the September and October issues on interchanges are great and are applicable to any scale. This is only one immediate example. MR, good job and keep up the good work.
Ron

[n2mopac]

Speaking as an avid and long time N-scaler, I love MR and consider it a great benefit to me as a modeler because it keeps me current in what is happening in the hobby as a whole. I model N scale, but I consider myself a model railroader, not an N-scaler. Can I learn from other scales? Yes. Does every MR article ring my bell? No. But that is the nature of the hobby. It has many aspects and MR tries to give some coverage to them all. I have little interest in garden railroading, but I don't resent every articel that MR publishes on the subject. Nor do I hear garden railroaders complaining about the lack of articles on their aspect of the hobby, though they are much less numerous than N scale articles.

Here is another thought. HO scale makes up about 70% of the hobby, N scale makes up about 20%. Anyone who reads MR has to admit that much more than 20% of the articles that are scale specific are N scale.

One last point, anyone who feels "left out" by MR obviously is not reading it very closely or is looking for a very narrow range of articles. The two articles in the September and October issues on interchanges are great and are applicable to any scale. This is only one immediate example. MR, good job and keep up the good work.
Ron

[Puckdropper]

I have a rather large collection of Model Railroaders. The only trend I see is less content for more price. MR used to be about 300 pages, and now's about 150.

Even back in '84 (The Furlow Era as I call it...) the magazines had quite a bit of information.

Btw, any model railroaders going to college may want to bring a stack of back issues to read in the dorms. I miss my trains.

[Puckdropper]

I have a rather large collection of Model Railroaders. The only trend I see is less content for more price. MR used to be about 300 pages, and now's about 150.

Even back in '84 (The Furlow Era as I call it...) the magazines had quite a bit of information.

Btw, any model railroaders going to college may want to bring a stack of back issues to read in the dorms. I miss my trains.

[Anonymous]

Y'all can complain all you want, but I've looked at the competing magazines and they are filled with poorly written, badly edited copy; lesser-quality graphics; photos that aren't as good as those found in MR; and generally not as high-quality as MR's product.

I've read MR since 1975. I've tried RMC and the others. I can't see spending the money on them.

[Anonymous]

Y'all can complain all you want, but I've looked at the competing magazines and they are filled with poorly written, badly edited copy; lesser-quality graphics; photos that aren't as good as those found in MR; and generally not as high-quality as MR's product.

I've read MR since 1975. I've tried RMC and the others. I can't see spending the money on them.

[Anonymous]

I'm a MR MAG fan and I'M also an N-scale modler. While I like all scales I have noticed MR's lack of interest in N-scale, but they are not alone. Walthers does not have any N-scale advertisments anymore along with woodland scenics and in the last issue even Atlas only showed HO scale. A 4' x 8' N-scale layout has a lot more operational room and I would like to see more of these. Also what happened to great N-scale layout projects like the Clinchfield and Wisconsin Central?