Grumpy Old Modeller

Back to Plan A - or thereabouts

When I drew up my original ideas for GOM.com my thoughts for this section were to comment on whatever aspects of the several magazines, modelling and aviation, that I work my way through in a month appealed to me, and therefore hopefully to the reader; however the reviewer's instinct seems to have taken over and this page has developed in to a more comprehensive analysis of the contents of the three most prominenet of the modelling magazines that I get. What I haven't done, other than infrequently, is feature items in the "real" aviation press that I've noticed and which I think is relevant (the Reno bit above is an exception). So for the next two or three months at least I'll try to revert to Plan A; this will mean less full coverage of SAM, MAM and SAMI, but the regular reader of those will surely know what to expect, and I'll pick out the odd item that appeals to me; this may mean less mention of the "big scale" items, but we all knew the Mosquito and Typhoons were coming, didn't we? I hope also to feel slightly less guilty when the relevant comments aren't posted as soon as the issues come through my letter box, and may indeed free me a little from the (admittedly self-inflicted) deadline which has become an end-of the-month scramble. Note to Editors; please don't take it personally if I leave out something you're particularly pleased with (especially if it's not 1:72nd).

Press uncoverage

Well, not only did I leave a significant gap in my coverage, but it was prolonged rather more than I had intended. Among the things that slipped from my nerveless grasp since the snows has been any of my regular monthly comment on the modelling press; at least all the editors can feel ignored, which in this period when Our Leaders keep banging on about "fairness" is a sort of equality, though to my mind anyone over, say, nine who says "It's not fair" should be returned to the infants' class (did you think Grumpy was a misnomer?. It is, of course, all my fault; though I had meant to have a month or so of reflection on what to do about this section it's been prolonged by an attack of Real Life, which included fringe involvement with that Icelandic eruption. So, now...

You will I'm sure know that I've been a great admirer - and not just because he's been a mate for a loooong time - of what Neil Robinson has done with Model Aircraft Monthly, and its morphing in to Military Aircraft Monthly with the aim of making it a Real Aircraft, rather than a model, magazine. He has, sadly, now left the magazine but the editorship has been taken over by Gary Hatcher, who has worked with Neil for some years. In this era when transparency is all I should declare my interest up front; before Neil left I had arranged to contribute, at least for a period, a column commenting on what seem to me relevent subjects, and the first of these is included in Gary's first issue (Vol.9 Issue 5, tagged in the UK at least May 2010) with the title Sector Scan; I had fancied calling it Orange Putter but realised that the number of readers who would have recognised the amazing subtlety of using the name of the Valiant's tail warning radar would be somewhat limited.

When the change to the magazine's aim was first made known, I relayed a number of comments from fellow modellers to Neil, substantially that they would be happy to continue to take the magazine without any overt "modelling" content providing that the sort of information and presentation that they needed - colour profiles were the most frequently mentioned example - was retained, and Gary Hatcher has continued that idea by scheduling features in MAM to correspond with modelling articles in SAMI. in the latest pair of issues (May 2010 in the UK) the Supermarine Swift FR.5 (Xtrakit) and the Fw 190D (Eduard) are given this treatment, and MAM also carries features on the Vigilante, Bf 110 night fighters (by departing editor Neil Robinson), Israeli F-15s and -16s, and a still-Aifix-sponsored Airfile of the BAe Hawk in RAF training colours. Were I to be listed on the "flannel-panel" as an editorial consultant, I would suggest that the cover be simplified, and an attempt made to distance it slightly from its "model-mag" appearance, which I realise would not be easy to do while still retaining some corporate commonality. Its good to see Peter Doyle's name in the credits - he was an early and long-time SAM contributor - and my old friend Mike Verier has a good couple of pages on the forthcoming airshow season. Strangely, the next "Sector Scan" is on this subject, and shortly after posting this I shall be off to Kemble for the Great Vintage Flying Weekend and then, following Duxford, even further west for what could turn out to be a bit of Son et Lumiere". You may even get to read about some of it in MAM as well as on the Wanderings page.