Model Railroader to have a N Scale Column

[MichaelWinicki]

I also wonder how much feedback MR gets when they run an N-scale article...

I've noticed on all the forums that unless the author or a friend of the author is part of the forum, that most articles get very little or no discussion.

[m301]

Woohoo...N Scale is 60 years old, ad MR just found out they existed.

[wm3798]

I definitely feel like N Scale and NSR are keeping some of the best stuff from being submitted to MR, but if you saw the Jan/Feb edition, they also publish a lot of dreck that wouldn't have made the cut at MR from a standards point of view.

Don't get me wrong, it's a thrill to see your name in print, and more so to see your work, but frankly, submitting to N Scale vs. MR is akin to sending a letter to the editor to your local throw-away vs. the New York Times.  Odds are, you're going to get published in N Scale, no matter what, while MR not so much.

I get aggravated when they pine for submissions, but then I read layout features three months in a row where the author is mourned, having passed away several YEARS before the article made it to print.  Obviously they have a backlog, and my guess is there is probably some N scale in there, but it's either not up to the editorial standards, or it's just not interesting to the editorial staff.  (And their standards are high.  They may as well include "And Don't Even Bother Sending Photos unless your name is Lou or Paul)

One thing I'm trying to focus on with my submissions to N Scale this year, will be to highlight the advantages of N Scale as a modeler's scale, or to focus on very N scale specific products and projects.  I'm currently working on a follow up on the Casselman Crossing piece, because there were a few inquiries about scenery techniques.  Making a river and building trees is not always scale specific, but if you put that work in the context of the scenery:trains ratio that N makes possible, it becomes more relevant to the readers of N Scale magazine.

And THAT's going to be the key to success for the N scale column in MR.  Joe Fugate has an N Scale columnist, but he's all over the place in terms of content, mostly a journal of his layout construction with the occasional foray into products.  Let MR run the articles about benchwork and ballasting.  We all have to do that.  But a piece about running 89' flats around 19" r. curves because you CAN, now that's more N Scaley.

Just my thoughts...

Lee

[Dave V]

I'd said this over on Trainboard...

Maybe I'm the pessimist, but it sounds like funneling N scale content into an every-other monthly column would have the opposite effect we'd be after. It would "contain" N scale versus let it grow naturally to fill the magazine. It also seems to indicate that N scale is somehow different than "regular" (presumed to be HO) model railroading.

Now, I could be wrong, and I hope I'm wrong.

But Lee's points are all very good...  I've also bemoaned in the past both the large number of articles in MR from beyond the grave and the unobtainable (by me) photographic standards.  Model railroading is my hobby; photography not so much.  I respect the guys who do both equally well, but I'm not there yet.  But more dissuasive is sending an article into oblivion with an apparently statistically significant chance of expiring prior to its publication.

In contrast, I submitted an article to N Scale at the beginning of November, and it looks like it'll be coming in the Mar/Apr issue.

[lashedup]

At risk of looking like a suck up (which is pointless since I don't have a pony in this race), I think MR gets a bit more crap than they deserve from the n-scale community. On one hand this is natural on most discussion forums and the banter makes the world-go-'round. On the other hand, n-scale is still such a small subset of the HO market (and model railroad market in general) that I think it is natural that we don't see many submissions, particularly (as Lee pointed out) their standards for submissions and article-worthy layouts are very high.

I think it makes logical sense that if the n-scale modeler is a very small subset of HO, then that also means the number of larger layouts being built (compared to HO) is smaller. Then you factor in the n-scalers that do really good work worthy of MR editorial standards and it is an even smaller group. Less potential authors means less overall content.

Magazine publishers also tend to avoid doing an article on a layout that has already been featured in another magazine. If it is truly outstanding (Mike Danneman, Reid Brothers, Bill Denton's Kingsbury Branch and on and on) then it might get features in more than one magazine, but that is the exception rather than the rule.

Regardless of scale, I still get a lot out of Model Railroader's articles as many of them aren't scale-specific techniques. Sure, over time most are rehashes or variations on a theme or technique, but every article offers something different than the last. I don't think any of us could say that the guys in the trenches over there aren't truly fans of this hobby. I hope MR continues for another 75 years.

Meanwhile, more n-scale content can't hurt.

-jamie

[ednadolski]

OTOH - I think it's easier to model in HO than N and make it believable .. all those little parts, oversized rails, etc ..

Where does it say you have to have oversized parts?

[chuck geiger]

Jim Kelly is quite the Tehachapi fan:

http://www.pbase.com/atsf_arizona/jim_kelly_tehachapi_n_scale

Tell Jim to quit taking the same picture for the last 20 years with the
plastic toy car parked by ranch house with the loop up and under....

[ednadolski]

Tell Jim to quit taking the same picture for the last 20 years with the
plastic toy car parked by ranch house with the loop up and under....

AFAIAC anyone who writes for MR for 25 years can put whatever he pleases on his layout.

[rochsub]

I've contributed to Kalmbach three times and am working on a fourth.  They have always been very encouraging and eager to receive an N scale article.  N scale articles that are submitted will get published faster than HO articles due to simple supply and demand.  They have a bigger supply of HO articles and more demand for N scale articles.

Bottom line.  They are definitely not anti N scale.

Daryl

[wm3798]

... and your articles are always sublime, Daryl.  The modeling is outstanding, and the photography is as good as any I've seen.  Your writing is also clear, informative, and often entertaining.  I'd be interested to hear how "intact" your compositions are after they go through the MR editorial process...  I'd imagine that as an educator, they don't have to do much.

I would certainly like to see my work in MR, but like Dave V, I'm concerned that my photography might be found lacking.  I'm happy with the results I get with my P&S Canon S3, and they have served me well in N Scale, but after D.Smith visited with his rig, I know that much better results are needed to really make them pop.  If I were to convene another photo session for an entire layout feature, I'd have to block out a week of David's time, and still carefully plan each shot for maximum impact.

I suppose the thing to do would be to "just do it" and send it in and see what kind of feedback I get.

But there's another underlying issue...  The N Scale mags are only as good as what we send them, too.  I like to think that by supporting them with good content, it helps in their efforts to attract a stronger audience, and therefore advertising dollars.  In turn, those advertisers will generate sales and so the circle of life continues.

By assimilating into the main stream, the foundations of the N scale specific press could be weakened.  The only comparison I can think of to illustrate this is the declined of black owned business districts in the post-segregation era...  I'm not suggesting at all that racial segregation was a good thing, but once African Americans had the freedom to shop and do business at large, their once thriving businesses quickly declined.  This led to disinvestment, a loss of ownership (both figuratively and literally) and a general collapse of the basic neighborhood fabric.

If we don't support the N Scale press with quality content, and of course, patronage of their advertisers, could we be relegating ourselves to the proverbial "back of the bus?"

I think this is a conversation to pursue in the long dormant "TTAMT" blog...

Lee

[sirenwerks]

I've contributed to Kalmbach three times and am working on a fourth.  They have always been very encouraging and eager to receive an N scale article.  N scale articles that are submitted will get published faster than HO articles due to simple supply and demand.  They have a bigger supply of HO articles and more demand for N scale articles.

Bottom line.  They are definitely not anti N scale.

Daryl

Hmmm, is that because HO doesn't have two magazines dedicated to it?  : : :

[mcjaco]

^ According to most, MR and RMC are HO dedicated.   

[m301]

I think it makes logical sense that if the n-scale modeler is a very small subset of HO

  If Ho is ranked first among Model RR's, and N scale second, why would you say this is a subset?

Most of us started with Lionel when we were young. Weall had to start somewhere, but all N Scalers weren't into HO.

That's just an assumption.

[mcjaco]

That's just an assumption.

And saying MR is HO biased is too.   

[Spades]

Great modelling and good techniques are not scale dependent.  Over the years MR has supplied both. If the article is in a different scale,era,road or region you can still learn and improve your modelling..