Popularity of modeling in the US and UK

There are several modeling magazines in the US. Fisrt of all, the IPMS does a journal. FSM has a sister publication called Scale Auto. The most popular one dedicated to armor modeling is Military Miniatures in Review (MMiR). Historical Miniatures covers figure modeling.

Squadron.com also sells an English version of the Spanish modeling magazine called Armor Models magazine.

Rob Gronovius wrote:

There are several modeling magazines in the US. Fisrt of all, the IPMS does a journal. FSM has a sister publication called Scale Auto. The most popular one dedicated to armor modeling is Military Miniatures in Review (MMiR). Historical Miniatures covers figure modeling. Squadron.com also sells an English version of the Spanish modeling magazine called Armor Models magazine.

Personally, I would rather have two or three good quality mags than a dozen half-hearted ones. All the mags end up stretching to come up with material that's not been beat one a dozen times already and pretty soon they all have the same articles in one big loop that just continues on every month, every year. The different mags just offset the topics a month or two so that no mag has the same material in any given month as any other.

Ever read a gun rag? They constantly pour over the same thing month after month, most of them saying the same stuff about the same things every month. It gets very old. "Hey, who's got the HK article this month? No, they had it last month. This month they have another AR-15."

I like FSM. A good quality mag that does a fine job of trying to keep things fresh. And it's the only mag I have a subscription to. Between the net and FSM I have all I need. But until I get internet in the bathroom I wish the FSM issues were a little thicker.

jwb wrote:

Since I've gotten back into modeling, I can't get enough of the subject. Whether it be browsing the LHS, reading on the Internet, or reading magazines, I'm hooked.

I think FSM is the best because they cover a broad array of topics, but don't tell that to the Sci-Fi guys.  I'm a longtime subscriber.

MMIR is good, but very hard to find out here and cost $10.

I like Military in Scale since it covers my main modeling interests: armor and planes. However, I only pick up issues that interest me.

Vartan041 wrote:

Agreed Tigerman MIS (Military in Scale) and SMI (Scale Models International) are excellent publications. However at $10.00 each, that's one less kit per month.

Ouch! Military in Scale is $6.25 at my LHS.

hkshooter wrote:

Ever read a gun rag? They constantly pour over the same thing month after month, most of them saying the same stuff about the same things every month. It gets very old. "Hey, who's got the HK article this month? No, they had it last month. This month they have another AR-15."

zokissima wrote:

Wow, I don't know, my LHS and the local Chapters are just full of modelling mags. Granted, lots from the UK, some from Japan. However, I guess I'm lucky enough that my LHS tends to carry all the FSM sister publications. As for subscriptions, I don't see the point. I renewed this year, and I'm wishing I hadn't. I don't really save any money, and I don't get it faster. I allready know how to assemble tracks, and chuck a pin-vice, so most of the articles in FSM don't really help out too much. Also, I don't like the fact that most of their extreme detail buildups are in the AC section. However, having said that, it is one of the better edited mags out there, and anything catering to the beginner modeler is great. I used to read MMIR, but found the black/white print of pictures to greatly take away from the models themselves. I currently buy TMMI and their new sister publication MMI. They used to be quite pricey, but nowadays, again thanks to a good LHS, the owner has a great deal with the Tamiya distributor, and as such, I get each mag for around $6 CAD. Were I to subscribe, I'd easily pay twice that, if not more.