I really wish FSM would include reference material. Photos,
blueprints, camo diagrams, unit designation trees, anything. I
know this might come a bit too close to "educational material" for some
but you open up just about any modelling magazine (especially aircraft)
and half the pages are filled with things of this nature (most notably
the paint scheme illustrations) while all i ever see in FSM is the half
page blurb with the one photo of something historically significant at
the very end of the mag. the small bit of history is nice without
getting boring and everything but it's not really helping me with much
of anything. I've got an aircraft modelling magazine with a
fold-out center section of hurricane blueprints so detailed i could
probably build a full-sized replica. (maybe i'll make it 1/2
scale and power the thing with the motorcycle engine sitting in my
basement. crash-landing it in my back yard would beat dealing
with traffic any day.)
All i see in FSM at the moment is basically kit reviews and build
showcases. nothing wrong with that and plenty of useful
tips. quite useful to know the quality of a kit you may wish to
build but it's starting to lose it's appeal for me personally since at
this point i'm more interested in the subject matter rather than the
details of the kit as it comes out of the box. i've got a lagg-3
that's mostly putty held together with curse words. I may or may
not be an acceptional case but consider this: you must do at
least some research before starting on a build. even if you go
with the polka dotted tank the instructions tell you to make, you might
still try to find a reference for it in some literature or check if the
kit is accurate for that variant. why not publish some of these
findings? a nice diagram of the paint scheme you used and maybe
of some you didn't would be great. Run across a picture of Rommel
taking his pet Panther G for a walk? I'd love to see it.
In my mind, this would improve the magazine immensly. Even if you
were to go with all very basic builds, the mag would still be very
useful since even an expert modeller could always use more reference
material. And i know you can do this, i've got an old issue from
the early '90's (which i bought a few months back for the su-76
plans). I will periodically buy a new issue of FSM but usually
end up disappointed after it loses it's appeal once i page through all
the model photo pages. the only issues that i ever get lasting
utility out of are the one with the how-to's, ie the resin casting
article. on the other hand i keep a pile of other mags and
walkaround-type material around my desk for the detail subject photos
("four! four biu-teeful rivets! ah ah ah!"
![Smile [:)]](/FSM/CS/emoticons/icon_smile.gif)
). If
things keep going this way for much longer, i'm afraid i'll have to
abandon FSM completely which i'd rather not do since it's still
probably the best domestic modelling mag and i'll admit i'm attached to
it.
anyway, that's enough of my ranting. anyone else that'd like to see more quasi-educational material?