Well, the much vaunted Finescale Model Railway Review has just dropped on my doorstep. And, on first flick, that's where it may as well stay.
Brash colour throughout, no scratchbuilding at all, all kit bashing, even the 2mm scale pannier.
Oh dear. It seems Mr. Shackleton has had more of an effect on this potentially exciting new periodical than Mr. Barlow, by a country mile. He it was who once told me that "nobody makes anything any more", when he was editor of MRJ, having asked me for articles on roads , rivers and boats and having read and enjoyed those articles. Clearly a confused soul.
Nope! If you haven't shelled out your six and a half quid yet for No.1, I'd say keep your sheckles in your pocket. This new mag. is not worth half that money. There's not much of it. It's not noticeably finescale and there's no real modelmaking evident anywhere, unlike the early MRJs.
A wasted opportunity and a huge disappointment.
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Interesting. So far you're the only person I've heard give a less than glowing review of the magazine. I actually subscribed yesterday but haven't recieved the magazine yet. Hopefully I won't feel quite as let down as you did. On the plus side it's still got to be better than the mainstream magazines, right?
ReplyDeleteOnly better, Mark, in so far as there are many fewer adverts, but the brash colour layout is like an apprentice's have-a-go at BRM or Model Rail's overly brash layout.
ReplyDeleteThere is no actual modelmaking, just semi-scale wheels in RTR and kit bashing, no buildings, no kind of gallery spot for real modelmaking and actually, rather less in it all round, than I was hoping.
But, you know me as a fussy sod. I will not crow about how great it is when I can find no greatness in it. I expect the photography article could be useful. That is all.
I'll be reading it properly next week when I'm away for a break, but I doubt closer inspection will improve my first impressions. MRJ it most certainly ain't! I'd go further to say it's no competition to MRJ, more a slight sideways dig at BRM at best.
Well better than BRM will probably do me fine. Strangely I've never managed to get to grips with MRJ. I've bought a couple of issues and I just can't get into the articles. I'm not sure if it is just the black and white nature of the magazine (I'd hope not) but I just can't seem to enjoy it at all. That doesn't reflect on the modelling of course, more the magazine style isn't for me. In contrast I've just started to get Narrow Gauge & Industrial Railway Modelling and I'm finding that a joy to read with some seriously inspiring articles/modelling. Given that it is from the same publisher as the new magazine I'm hopping it will be my cup of tea.
DeleteMark, I used to subscribe to The Narrow Gauge Review as that's where my railway interests lie, but it started getting a bit pricey and full of 16mm scale, which I have no interest in at all. But this new attempt is nothing whatever like the Review. If it were, I would have reported it much more favourably. I like black and white photos, especially of railway subjects and I demand scratchbuilding features from my model magazines, which MRJ always gave me faithfully in the earlier days. Any mag. that survives on RTR and kitbashing ceases to be on my shelves. I just can't get interested in stuff that someone else has already done in a factory. And lairy computerised colour makes me want to rip the offending pages out!
ReplyDeleteI don't mind a bit of kit bashing, although some actual scratchbuilding would be nice too. I agree on the over done colour thought that drives me mad. Why do they need to push the colour and add fake smoke etc. It might make it look more life like (I don't think so but you could argue that) but it certainly doesn't allow you to see the modelling properly which is what the magazine is supposed to be about. I just cancelled my BRM subscription today (should have done that a while ago) and will be happily surviving on blogs and the non-highstreet journals/magazines I now get.
DeleteSome kitbashing can be enlightening, but as you say should be balanced with actual modelmaking. Kitbashing and dropping sets of EM wheels in RTRs can all be found in the usual comics. I used to be quite impressed with the fledgling BRM years ago, but no more. BTW, I also got fed up with MRJ years ago and have not bought any since as there wasn't enough of interest in any of them. I only bought the latest to see what all the fuss was about over Geoff Kent's garage.....Still trying to find out! And all I got besides that mystery was the worst buildings on Pendon. Poor old Roye England. BUT...the blogosphere now includes a lot of the forumites and they are starting to act in the same way inter-Blog! Watch out for that.
ReplyDeleteMy issue arrived today (I wanted to see a copy before hitting the subscibe button), and personally I found the layout to be quite tastefull (at least in comparison to the red-tops), but that is of course just a matter of opinion! Like yourself Martin I'm always wary of hype...
ReplyDeleteThe Cordon article looks like it contains some interesting techniques and the 2FS pannier is interesting as it uses parts from two RTR bodies mated to a scratch built chassis. And of course there's Buckingham, all built by one man from scratch. Hopefully as the mag evolves some scratchbuilding articles will appear, something along the lines of Simon deSouza's articles in Morill on working with plasticard would be most welcome.
However, I shall reserve final judgement until I sit down and thoroughly read it, which won't for a couple of weeks when I'm on holiday in Yorksher.
Paul, I have yet to really study it in detail, but I did have a good flick through.
DeleteI had assumed Buckingham was a rebuild of the old layout, so may have to bite my tongue there. I too am on holiday next week and will take it with me for an in depth. I did at least spend money on the first issue to have a look, but generally wasn't impressed much. Not like I was by the first good few MRJs. But I doubt I ever will be like that again. I have a copy of Morrill somewhere, and I recall thinking it was a good mag., but not in detail. Alas most of my mags. had to be given away when we moved afloat. I'll be interested in your views on your return from Yorkshire.
I've got the mag in my hands now...I think I will say it's "promising". It may well become something wonderful...it's got brilliant production values, Roy Link is the boss when it comes to production...although the design is old-fashioned with all the drop-shadows...but that's probably a good thing, we don't want to be aping the red tops. I was conflicted when I saw that Mr Shackleton was one of the editors (can I have my articles back please?)...whilst he has a habit of bolting the stable when the door is open, he is a fine and inspirational writer, so much good may come of this. The Buckingham article was a blast, and as Paul says, the Pannier was amazing. I'll give it a year. Verdict: promising, keep up the good work.
ReplyDeleteI think that's fair, Iain. As no lover of colour, I still found it brash. On our break we had some modelling friends join us on Tuesday and his main comment was, "where's the rest for that money?" And that would be mine too if I had to make just one comment, myself. The in depth read took about half an hour and was mainly the Buckingham article. Somebody went on about how someone had made everything on his own. Well that was Peter Denny originally, not the "rebuild", so my point about no scratchbuilding remains intact. The Pannier was an RTR body!
ReplyDeleteSo, I'd say Shackleton 1---Barlow 0 so far.
I've finally got my copy in my hands (it arrived last Monday but I was in Turkey so only just got hold of it) and while I've only had a quick glance it looks reasonable to me. I can understand your reservations Martin but for me I think it will be a good fit. It's certainly more my cup of tea than the main stream magazines and at first glance catches me more than the issues of MRJ I've read.
ReplyDeleteMark, you must have had the very worst issues of Shackleton's tenure at MRJ to prefer this half empty pamphlet . Mind you, I've seen some MRJs that I wouldn't give you a thankyou for in more recent years. It appears my local Smiffs no longer sell it, so I doubt I'll see any more and as I am so underwhelmed by the new mag, so won't be subscribing, I will never see that again. I don't reckon it's worth the postage, much less the cover price!
ReplyDelete