01-29-2009, 04:45 PM
Lester Perry Wrote:I feel I am a successful model railroader. I have taken part in open house schedule in my area and have had people return year after year to see what I have done. I have received phone calls from people desiring to see my layout because someone told them about it. I am telling you this not to blow my horn but to say I haven't subscribed to MR mag for several years and haven't purchased one over the counter for a long time. It seems such a waste of good money to me. Very rarely does it present anything new in layout design. The new product reviews are lies as they request a product from a manufacturer for review. Now if I were naive I would think they get one off the shelf from LHS. Pack it up untouched and send it to them. In reality they would do what you & I would. Get one from their selected best. Go over it with a fine tooth comb. repair any potential problems. check anything that is a known problem ( These reviews are never 1 or 2 months after the product is introduced but usually a year or more.) The manufacturer has had time to find problems from cutomers. They can repair known trouble before sending it to MRR. You must remember who advertises in these mags. Now want a real review. Come here and ask about it. someone has bought one and can give you an unbiased opinion. I have run on now and forgot why I even wrote this. Maybe you can figure it out. Les
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No question about it, Les; you make excellent points. I am very selective about buying magazines, choosing only the ones I want as a potential reference on something. (For the life of me, I can't remember what I was thinking when I got this one - maybe I was just bored and the wife bought it...?)
The real reason I read any of them, however, is twofold:
1. To occasionally keep abreast of what is being offered in my scale by way of new products, with the knowledge of what you have pointed out in the forefront of my mind - biased product reviews - and
2. Primarily to see what other modelers are doing. I'm not able to travel a lot, and I'm geographically isolated, so I use magazines to stay aware of what other modelers do and how they do it, by which I mean the vast majority of modelers everywhere else but on this forum. We have some very talented members, but they are not by any means the sum total of the modeling skills of everyone in the nation, and I from time to time come across articles showcasing the fine work and innovations of others. Granted, a lot of it is repetitious at times, but you need to open a thousand oysters to have even a hope of finding a single pearl.
I probably wouldn't have minded the professionally built layout in the recent MR if it had followed the usual format and actually told me something about techniques, tips and tricks involved,following the standard magazine layout presentation. Instead, it was a fluff piece, not even up to the usual standards.