RMweb Premium t-b-g Posted June 15, 2012 RMweb Premium Share Posted June 15, 2012 Ah well, can't have everything Naughty corner! Five minutes and no cheating. See you at Wigan and I will be checking........ This is the best issue of BRM for a long long time. Not just cos its got me name in it either! I am delighted that Andy's involvement seems to have had such a rapid and positive impact on the magazine and I hope it is a good sign of things to come. It also shows that adding RMWeb to the Warners Group has benefited BRM, without impacting on RMWeb in a negative way. The printed RMWeb word may even encourage a few readers to join up. I am pretty sure that the magazine circulation will increase if this sort of thing continues and that there will also be plenty of RMWebbers willing to have their work portrayed in the new, improved magazine and there are some pretty decent modellers on here! Dreadful management speak but it looks like a "Win, win" situation to me. Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
RMweb Gold 4630 Posted June 15, 2012 RMweb Gold Share Posted June 15, 2012 PS - And, it's not bagged so you can have a sneaky browse in the newsagents! My bold text. A curious use of words to describe the actions of your potential readers I would have thought. You've not asked WHSmiths, et al to put BRM on the top shelf from next month have you? I know the content and layout of BRM to my eye was much improved this month, so much so that I bought a copy, but I'd prefer not to have to wear a dirty mac and furtivally move around the aisles. All the best for the continued development for BRM. It will be good to keep the other magazines on their toes and competing for business. Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
RMweb Gold Captain Kernow Posted June 15, 2012 RMweb Gold Share Posted June 15, 2012 OK dunce's hat is on for Bi monthly comment. CK the comment from Steve1980 #33 mentions a standalone feature for printed MI OK, I see what you mean. Personally, I don't have a problem with that. Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
PLD Posted June 15, 2012 Share Posted June 15, 2012 Well I tried to 'have a sneaky browse' as Steve put it in the local supermarket at lunchtime, however the only BRM on the shelf was a June edition... An enquiry about this at the customer services desk resulted in an interesting conversation with the department manager. Apparently their policy is that if a periodical sells less than five copies at a branch for three consecutive editions the branch manager can drop it from the range that branch stocks freeing up shelf space for something else, and this is apparently what has happened here. Cheekily (not really expecting an answer) I asked how many he sells per month of the other two magazines they do still stock (Railway Modeller and Hornby Magazine) "more than 30 of each" was his answer. OK one edge of town supermarket is in no way representative of the whole market (and not somewhere I would normally buy railway magazines from anyway), but it seems the positive changes being welcomed in comments above have come just too late for that particular outlet... Hopefully I'll be able to pick up a copy over the weekend... Paul Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
RMweb Premium Grafarman Posted June 15, 2012 RMweb Premium Share Posted June 15, 2012 Got mine from the local Sainsburys aircraft hangar who had equal amounts of every magazine offered by everyone; clearly that broad scope doesn't filter down to the smaller high street stores. Mind you, won't matter for me 'cos from next month mine will be delivered!! Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
ess1uk Posted June 16, 2012 Share Posted June 16, 2012 I bought it last night from the very large Tesco next to me. very nice photography. Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
stewartingram Posted June 16, 2012 Share Posted June 16, 2012 From all the postings there have been I should be able to answer this myself, but tbh I can;t fathom it out! If I subscribe to an electronic copy, am I able to download it & keep it, on my desktop pc, or do I just get to read it online? Also if there are offers (plastic bag items) such as cd's enclosed, do I miss out on them? Stewart Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
RMweb Premium Neal Ball Posted June 16, 2012 RMweb Premium Share Posted June 16, 2012 WH Smith in Fleet yesterday had no copies on the shelf Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
grahame Posted June 16, 2012 Share Posted June 16, 2012 IMO - There's a lot of pictures and consequently not a lot of reading in this issue. But then many of the pics are quite exquiste. G. Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
Tase Posted June 16, 2012 Share Posted June 16, 2012 Downloaded a copy this morning. I thought it was goodish issue but I have to agree with post #60 that there were a lot of pics but then a picture speaks a thousand words! Picked up few tips on scenery however - sometimes the simplest idea are the best!! As a bonus my quote was one of the 3 used in the review of JIA wagon!! T. Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
RMweb Premium Physicsman Posted June 16, 2012 RMweb Premium Share Posted June 16, 2012 I've just bought my first copy of BRM for over a year. I'd given up on the magazine as it was looking tired and, in my view, well behind its competitors. But with a masterstroke of genius, BRM advertised the inclusion of RMweb's MI... so I fancied a copy of the July edition. Have to admit, I'm quite impressed. Magazine has a much better layout (no pun intended), nice selection of layouts and "how to do" articles (including our very own Andy) and is printed on much better paper than previously (MR take note!!!). It also appears to have a lot more content than older issues. So you may have a convert here - I will check for progress in the next few months. Jeff Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
Coombe Barton Posted June 16, 2012 Share Posted June 16, 2012 Smiths Tamworth - No. Sainsbury's. Tamworth - No Smiths, The Fort - No Sainsburys Castle Vale - No Little shop in Atherstone - Yes. So was it worth it? Yes. The MI stuff, of course - translates into print well. But what about the rest? Best of the rest stuff - innovative how it's linked to the website. Makes me want to read more. Scenic articles?- better written than most others recently. Nice to see Keyhaven still featured. Layouts - good - Ashburton in MI4? look forward to it. Samey? No. Different? yes. New RTR stuff? Not really my scene so won't pass comment. But why are all pix photoshopped with a blue sky? Or SUCH a blue sky. I klnow in summer we get blue but could we please tone more down to a sort of grey/blue? The Page 12/13 shot of Ashburton is about right. Otherwise it detracts from the models themselves. Am I going to buy next month's? Yes. Am I going to Model Railways Live? Yes. And can I see Mr York's influence? I believe I can. Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
Administrators SteveCole Posted June 16, 2012 Administrators Share Posted June 16, 2012 Hi all, Thanks for all of your comments on the July issue of BRM. We're really pleased with how BRM is progressing and we have some really exciting plans for the future to keep improving the magazine even further! This is just the start... Steve Brand editor - BRM, MRL, RMweb Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
dave_long Posted June 16, 2012 Share Posted June 16, 2012 Coombe Barton should try smiths Lichfield they always have stock. It is possible that as this is a pretty stand out edition that lots of people have bought copies and sold a lot of places out. Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
Coombe Barton Posted June 16, 2012 Share Posted June 16, 2012 WHS in Tamworth hadn't had it in yet (Friday) Sainsbury - may be seeing a lack of ordering as described above. Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
Andy Y Posted June 16, 2012 Share Posted June 16, 2012 But why are all pix photoshopped with a blue sky? Or SUCH a blue sky. I klnow in summer we get blue but could we please tone more down to a sort of grey/blue? The Page 12/13 shot of Ashburton is about right. Otherwise it detracts from the models themselves. An interesting perspective John as it's generally one of my aversions when working with an image unless it's complementary to the specific layout. P12/13 was one of my shots although Richard did the vast majority of work and there's not much sky to see in that one which is a shame as John Birkett-Smith paints a beautiful backscene (see P44 for a qualification of that!). A glimpse of hazy blueness can be seen at the top left and this is an extract of the image that it would have been cropped down from. If you do a compare and contrast you'll maybe note that the greens in the backscene are a different tone in the mag as I'd adjusted tones as a result of the daylight lamps bringing out different tones in John's trees compared to the backscene which looked a liitle more blue-green. On Pen Y Bont within MI the blue skies are an extension of Frank's cloud backdrop but it's hopefully not too incongruous as we shot the layout outside in clear sunshine. If anything I could be accused of excessive greyness for New Haden, Bradfield and Retford (I went for 'you can't really tell what it is' weather for Over Peover). Thank goodness Aberdeen Kirkhill was a night-time scene. Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
Coombe Barton Posted June 16, 2012 Share Posted June 16, 2012 Pages 24, 26, Westcliff 41, Kingstorre 43 to a lesser extent, are what I mean. Greys seem to be a bit blue. Is it photoshop or is it printing? Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
Andy Y Posted June 16, 2012 Share Posted June 16, 2012 Pages 24, 26, Westcliff 41, Kingstorre 43 to a lesser extent, are what I mean. Is it photoshop or is it printing? Being able to quantify that my print copy is only a slight shed darker than the originals I'd say, as long as your print copy is similar to mine, that it's the photoshop element of the equation. On Kingstorre I think it would be less noticeable if there was some distance fading of the trees on the skyline. I do like the natural lighting on the unit onRhyd-y-Clafdy on P41 though. Greys seem to be a bit blue. This can be something which happens using daylight lamps; I certainly had to de-saturate some greys on Bradfield for MI because of a blue tinge. I thinks it's worse if you happen to have a blend of flurorescent + daylight falling on the subject matter. Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
RMweb Premium 2ManySpams Posted June 16, 2012 RMweb Premium Share Posted June 16, 2012 Coombe Barton should try smiths Lichfield they always have stock. It is possible that as this is a pretty stand out edition that lots of people have bought copies and sold a lot of places out. Lichfield is probably a bit far west for him but the big (and currently getting bigger) Tesco in Ashby had 8 on Thursday. Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
Tim Hale Posted June 17, 2012 Share Posted June 17, 2012 The 'Scenery' issue has landed on a theme close to the hearts of many modellers, rather than the tired old clichés that I have read and discarded, these ideas were fresh and interesting. Rather than a one-off, I would hope that BRM would build upon this theme and support/develop this concept of the model railway as part of the landscape rather than an addendum. The previous impression of a magazine written by and for modellers of a 'north of the Watford Gap' seems to be, thankfully, fading although replacement by those of a Western persuasion is equally disturbing. Hopefully this turn-around is the start of better quality magazine. Tim Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
Coombe Barton Posted June 17, 2012 Share Posted June 17, 2012 Is it photoshop or is it printing? May have a handle on the photoshopping thing. Scenario Layout is photographed using dalylight balanced (5500K) lighting Blue sky is added (using phtotshop) The eye is expecting the layout to have been photographed with higher colour temperature overall lighting (maybe 6000-6500K) because blue sky is a higher colour temperature. This would have made the colours on the ground look different (bluer) The eye is then confused what it shoud be seeing. At least that's my theory. (If anyone needs a guide to colour temperature see http://www.ephotozine.com/article/guide-to-colour-temperature-4804 ) Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
westerner Posted June 17, 2012 Share Posted June 17, 2012 Whilst agreeing with post 60, quantity of text against photos, I have to say that after stopping my subscription a year ago, the vast increase in quality of paper and photo reproduction, does have me thinking about renewing my subscription again. It now looks and feels like a quality mag.The only thing I do not like, and I am preparing to duck, is the what RMweb members think about layouts and articles. I honestly cannot see the point. Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
RMweb Premium Physicsman Posted June 17, 2012 RMweb Premium Share Posted June 17, 2012 Whilst agreeing with post 60, quantity of text against photos, I have to say that after stopping my subscription a year ago, the vast increase in quality of paper and photo reproduction, does have me thinking about renewing my subscription again. It now looks and feels like a quality mag.The only thing I do not like, and I am preparing to duck, is the what RMweb members think about layouts and articles. I honestly cannot see the point. Hee hee Alan. Have you started ducking yet?!! To be honest, that feature is a relevant point to some, an irrelevancy to others. I quite liked the idea that it showed the magazine was (apparently) in touch with its readership. Of course, it made not a scrap of difference to what I thought of the layouts! I've never liked BRM, but I commend them on taking novel approaches, as well as very clearly upgrading the magazine. Some of their ideas will fall by the wayside, but they've got me interested in their product for the first time. It will be interesting to see how the competition respond. Jeff Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
St. Simon Posted June 20, 2012 Share Posted June 20, 2012 Hi, Just as a matter of clarification, the Blandford St. Mary article wasn't written by our very own Graham Muz, but by another member of the Blandford Team, Ken Jones. Other than that I nice issue, Only brought BRM a couple of times before, but the new style is actually quite nice. Simon Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
RMweb Gold Graham_Muz Posted June 20, 2012 RMweb Gold Share Posted June 20, 2012 Yes Simon, that was an oversight, I edited slightly and submitted the article to BRM but as you correctly say did not write it. Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
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