BRM November - big price rise

[paulr1949]

As it says really. The price has gone up by 14% to £3.99. Last month I noticed the subscription "package" had gone up from (IIRC) £36.99 to £50 for a year, but included a notional £40 airbrush - fine if that's what you want but I wonder if a £40 airbrush would satisfy many users.

 

As is often the case, you can't look inside and see what's there as it is encased in yet more (presumably non-biodegradeable) plastic!

I look forward to a review from a subscriber.

[westerner]

The airbrush in the offer has been reviewed by several of the mags and has been highly rated. I have one and for most jobs (it has a small paint capacity) it is very good.

 

As yet have not looked properly at the new issue to comment on the new look except to say that the paper sems slightly better and the pictures are no longer dark, indded they are almost over exposed. No review of 28xx or Hawksworth coaches.

 

I have looked the DVD and Kingstorre is stunning but I would like to have seen more trains running and less still photography.

[birdseyecircus]

Only ever bought the odd issue of BRM but looking at the direct debit option on their website, the freebies seem quite good value for a years subscription. I may well take it on.

 

Paul

[RANGERS]

I stopped buying BRM a long while back, the cutting edge it had in it's infancy was lost when ModelRail and Hornby got into gear. I wouldn't generally buy it unless there was something that particularly interested me in it, and as they seem to wrap every issue in polythene these days, I never get the chance to find out!

[David Bigcheeseplant]

I brought a copy today, it didn’t really seem too much of a facelift to my mind, the most disappointing thing was Kingstorre when it featured in MRJ it really has a wow factor that blew me away, in BRM it really disappointed me the photos seemed too bright and it looked like a neatly built train set rather than a railway in the landscape that it looked like in MRJ.

 

David

[Leicester Thumper]

It annoys me that the issue prices are going up and my wages, just like everyone else is staying the same...

 

Note to the publishing companies, I was happy paying around 3.45 for a magazine but four quid... yeah its a fifty pence rise, but if you can't afford a subscription (like me) it soon ads up buying seperately.....

 

Also what do you get with this price rise? every time these blasted things go up in price the content never gets any better....

[APOLLO]

I must admit I only buy the odd mag these days after a quick browse for articles of interest. As I can't browse BRM I dont buy. Was a good mag a few years ago though.

 

Is it me or are most mags getting to be the same every month - little groundbreakingly new, same layouts in several mags, tons of adverts (especially Hattons, though can't blame them - I use em regularly), same old stories repeatedly told. £4 & over is getting expensive though.

 

I suppose all the "interesting old crew" are dying off (David Jenkinson, Frank Dyer, Peter Denny etc.) - Things change, for that is life.

 

Brit15

[Leicester Thumper]

I wouldnt say that APOLLO because thing is with each generation you get a new wave of genius modellers its just that these magazines like to charge for easy cheap articles and getting money from adverts. If I'm honest i normally buy Railway modeller these days....

[The Stationmaster]

I've only skimmmed though it since it popped through the letterbox today but apart from an improvement in paper quality (at long last) I didn't notice much difference, might do when I have fuller read.

 

The annual isn't too bad for variety but, again, I haven't yet read and inwardly digested it apart from noting one silly error in a caption - hope that isn't a foretaste of what's in the text.

[Guest dilbert]

All businesses are seeing costs rise and whilst they (generally) resist putting up prices there comes a point when there is no choice.

 

I believe that newspapers and mags in the UK are not subject to VAT, so there may be a conscientious decision to increase prices now, before the overall hike in VAT to 20% kicks in 2011 and everyone starts feeling the pain - forget hobbies and think of items like fuel and energy costs - apparently, this winter is going to be a cold one...dilbert

[Leicester Thumper]

cold winter? if today was anything to go by it'll be like Siberia by Christmas!!!!!

 

yes the VAT will be a pain in the bottom...... for hobbies and our everyday living costs.... which if we think about it will limit us to what magazines we will buy

[bahram]

I am surprised nobody has mentioned the DVD, Kingstorre. Again I felt that this should have a good record of this superbly modelled layout. But alas NO! All we seem to get is talking face to face. They could easy talk over what looked like superb cameos. What was all that walking up a beach all about? Two minutes of wasted time when we could have again been watching the layout. Everyone goes on about all the early masterpiece layouts being missing on film, we are still missing good layouts because of bad presentation. Give us less faces and more layouts.

[Pennine MC]

... its just that these magazines like to charge for easy cheap articles and getting money from adverts...

 

Strewth, I thought I was cynical

 

 

 

[Suddaby]

Strewth, I thought I was cynical

 

Don't worry Pennine, you still are, it's just that some people can take cynical to new depths!

[Karhedron]

I must admit I only buy the odd mag these days after a quick browse for articles of interest. As I can't browse BRM I dont buy. Was a good mag a few years ago though.

I tend to agree. I don't use newsagents as libraries but a few minutes to flip through can sell me an issue in a way that an article summary on here may not always manage.

 

Is it me or are most mags getting to be the same every month - little groundbreakingly new, same layouts in several mags, tons of adverts (especially Hattons, though can't blame them - I use em regularly), same old stories repeatedly told.

I have noticed this a bit too lately. Is this a sign that fewer layout are getting built as the recession cuts into people's discretionary spending?

[coachmann]

On the face of it, penning an article on one layout is a simple task, but it might seem daunting to anyone not used to writing. Then of course there is the task of photographing the layout. Having got over the writing, I suppose a few rough photos might encourage an editor to send a staff photographer around to take shots to accompany ones text, if it is an acceptable layout. For starters, it is an idea to look at how others have written about their layout and follow their example.....History, track, ballast, scenery, then stock and locos , or variations on that theme.

 

I suspect there are a lot of layouts that will never appear in print for reasons many and varied, and so editors are restricted to the old faithfulls to a great extent.

[bahram]

Strewth, I thought I was cynical

Cynical! I was being polite, you should hear what I think out of print. I am also thinking of cancelling my subscription.

[Barry Ten]

The Kingstorre text seemed very similar to the one in MRJ, and again no track plan... haven't watched the DVD yet.

 

I get all the major mainstream UK mags and I feel there is a creeping sameness to much of the editorial content. I'm not sure if this is a

failing (obviously I wouldn't have the problem if I didn't buy them all) but it does appear that the mags feels obliged to feature the same

pre-production shots of the same models, leading to a degree of over-exposure. The rise of the mag-sponsored limited editions and

organised exhibitions is also leading to a lot of repetitious content, in my view. Personally I'd rather see modelling, or opinion, than yet

another CAD drawing of a model in development.

[shortliner]

it does appear that the mags feels obliged to feature the same

pre-production shots of the same models, leading to a degree of over-exposure.

 

Unfortunately Al, this is due to the manufacturers publicity departments sending the same press release photos - normally at a maximum 2, to all the magazines, so they don't really have a lot to choose from. That is why the same old photo, and likely the same words from the press release, appear in all the magazines. It isn't like the fashion, or automobile, world where all the magazines send their own "snappers" down to an organised "release" bash.

[Andrew1974]

Most similar magazines in other fields (crafts, non raiway modelling etc) retail at the just under £4 mark, so I don't think the price is different to the 'norm'.

 

 

Paper prices have shot up in recent months, I am just a little suprised that it has taken this long to lead to a price rise.

 

Paper price increases this year have probably added about 10p per copy to the print cost per magazine (based on print quotes my wife was looking at last month). Any 'special interest magazine' will be happy to sell 50% of the copies it prints, so that equates to 20p per copy actually sold, the publisher actually receives circa 50% of the cover price (OK, so probably nearer 55% , but I want to keep the Maths easy), so to cover an increase in costs of 20p per copy sold would give rise to a cover price increase of 40p...assuming everything else stayed the same.

 

Just thought the above might be of interest.

 

Regards

 

Andrew

 

 

 

 

[2ManySpams]

Is anyone going to list what's in the Nov edition this month??? Please!

Edit 1: Ignore me - found a different thread for that...

Edit 2: Ok, don't ignore me - the other thread doesn't mention the contents either!!!!

[Andy Y]

Unfortunately Al, this is due to the manufacturers publicity departments sending the same press release photos - normally at a maximum 2, to all the magazines, so they don't really have a lot to choose from. That is why the same old photo, and likely the same words from the press release, appear in all the magazines. It isn't like the fashion, or automobile, world where all the magazines send their own "snappers" down to an organised "release" bash.

 

Dennis Lovett has expanded upon this issue and given clarifications as follows:

 

Having spent most of my career publicising and promoting railways (albeit mainly real ones) I would like to clarify the position regarding the release of information by Bachmann to the printed media.

 

Firstly we send out review samples once a month to all the specialist model railway printed media. Each magazine has the opportunity to photograph and write up the subject accordingly and each of them has their own style and way of doing this. If it is a brand new product and we get three different versions being released at the same time, then we ensure that each of the three long standing magazines has a different version to review. Naturally the other publications will recieve duplicates of one of the three. We also went to great lengths to ensure that the magazines all received one of each of the new Graham Farish Mark 1 coach types and one of each of the four different colour schemes initially released. We also send out new versions of existing models so that readers are aware of their availability.

 

Regarding the release of test shot or CAD design images these are not sent out to the media but are released on our website and through the quarterly Bachmann Collectors' Club magazine. We are happy to release them to the printed media if they are requested by magazine editorial departments and most of the mainstream magazines request and use these regularly.

 

We also organise a number of new product launches alongside the subject being modelled where this is practical and with the specialist media in attendance. Even in my days promoting bigger trains, many of the photographs produced in the national, regional or specialist press were all similar, often taken from the same viewpoint. As Shortliner infers it is much easier to get a human model to provide a different image perspective as both model trains and their prototypes are less flexible for the camera.

 

New product announcements are clearly going to contain much of the same material (particularly as the models rarely exist in a suitable form when announced) and we issue prototype pictures. together with a detailed press release containing Class history etc.) which the media can use. Some prefer to their source their own images and research the subject in more detail than a press release can contain.

 

Bachmann endeavour to provide the specialist media (including RMWeb) with the information and images they require for the collective good of the hobby.

 

Dennis Lovett

Public Relations ManagerBachmann Europe Plc

[Barry Ten]

Thanks for that, Andy, and thanks also to Dennis for the clarification. I was intending no particular criticism of any of the mags individually, and certainly not of the manufacturers, who after all are only publicizing their products (and obviously there's an appetite for pics of new models, development drawings and so - witness the level of discussion around here, and on other forums, whenever a new CAD image appears). But I would welcome a slight de-emphasizing of the balance currently being given - especially in RM, MR, Hornby bag and BRM - to the seemingly endless flood of rolling news about forthcoming RTR products, limited editions, and so on. As I said, the fault may be mine for buying more than one mag - perhaps a level of duplicated content is inevitable.

[Jenny Emily]

 

I suspect there are a lot of layouts that will never appear in print for reasons many and varied, and so editors are restricted to the old faithfulls to a great extent.

 

Unfortunately I think many modellers never quite get around to writing the article they planned. Writing can be daunting for a lot of people; you know what you want to say, but it becomes hard to actually type it out in the style of an article that flows and has a start, middle and end.

 

If Railway modelling magazines are anything like other magazines, getting good quality articles to meet each issue's deadline will be tough. The same names turn up across the magazines I guess because there becomes a pool of writers that editors know that they can rely on to deliver to deadlines. It isn't necessarily bad, as long as there's something different on offer each time a layout appears in print. If the same article gets recycled word-for-word (and I saw this happen across two magazines a few years apart) then the reader may well feel short-changed.

 

As for cover prices going up, that's because of the rise in costs for all businesses. Electricity and oil prices are on the up, and a lot of each of those goes into making and distributing most things. Also remember that the pound did a slide against the dollar, which hurts businesses because a lot of commodities on the international market are priced in dollars. Yes magazines are expensive. All of them are, whether it's a wedding magazine or a specialist publication on case law or sausage manufacturing. Personally I tend to buy magazines ever more occasionally and have a flick through in Smiths first to make sure that the articles are something I really want. If a lot of people are the same then magazine editors will always have an eye to getting something special in the magazine to capture that wavering 'I can only afford/justify one magazine a month" brigade.

[Barry Ten]

On the plus side, I'm enjoying the DVD - only seen the first 30 minutes, but Kingstorre looks splendid.

 

Contents: news (B1 etc)

 

New Releases (Modelzone TPO etc)

 

Profile of Kingstorre (in addition to DVD content)

 

Paint shop - Tim Shackleton on weathering

 

Readers' layouts

 

Road overbridges - Paul Bason

 

Operation - stock control on Hinton Parva

 

4-cep detailing - Nigel Burkin

 

Loco profile - Princess Coronations

 

Show preview

 

Layout planning - M&SWJR

 

Graham Farish article

 

Points arising

 

Diary