Please vote as to whether or not you would like Student Fare to return to Model Railroader.
I vote YES.
But I liked the 70s-80s version which included real articles more than the Andy Anderson-type with snippets of letters.
Because the “Worlds Greatest Hobby” needs to attract some fresh blood…
I vote yes. They need to work on bringing more youths into model railroading. I don’t know why they stopped Student Fare anyway.
Yes,
As a long time reader of MR in the 1970’s ( as a kid) I would go right to
student fare. You could change the name to something more “hip”, but the
model train industry needs new people and our youngsters are the ones
who would benefit from this and so would we ! What is the average age of the MR reader ( 40 something or older) ?I wonder what the average age of Classic Toy Train readers are, 50, 55 or older? or OGR Magazine probally the same,time to get the kids back into the magazine. How about a monthly picture of a student, Elementary, Middle or High School aged in the side bar columns instead of another obiturary ( soon the train hobby will be going that way) WGH does an ok job but a more consistent monthly focus is needed.
George
Why bring back Student Fare when the whole magazine is devoted to beginners now?
If MR went back to publishing the best of the best and stopped dumbing down their content in an attempt to gain readership, then there would be more of a need for Student Fare type content. Right now, all the articles are shorter, less detail is given, articles are of a more basic nature, and in an attempt to make all articles as widespread as possible, everything feels washed out.
I think MR needs to rekindle some WOW factor, and show everyone some amazing modeling so that we can dream about being better modelers and then work to become better modelers. Give us something to strive for.
Mike Skibbe
www.cgwrr.com
Now this is funny.
“Devoted to beginners” now?
Not according to people posting on the “Best Magazine” thread; they’re complaining that it’s ALL “wow” factor and no basic how-to.
Amazing how perceptions can differ, ain’t it?
[quote]
Originally posted by seacoast
[ How about a monthly picture of a student, Elementary, Middle or High School aged in the side bar columns instead of another obiturary ( soon the train hobby will be going that way)
OOOOOOOHhhhhhhhh soooooo true!!!
I dont think I would have put it quite that way, because we do owe homage to those that have shaped the hobby so far, but I do agree with the thought! My sons are fledgling hobbiests, and I try to point out stuff in MR that might interest them, but they view MR as an “old man’s” magazine. Nothing really reaches out to them past the layout photos. Then I think back to when I was thier ages (@1973). I remember student fare fondly. It’s one thing for a 14 year old to look at something that an adult did, and say wow, but it’s quite another to look at something one of thier peers did and say WOW!
While were at it, how about bringing Paint Shop back!
i have 2 MR magazines and so far from the 2 i’ve learned 1 thing. well i haven’t read it but i know i will later. its about weathering. other wise the rest i don’t need. its all wow factor to me since i’m beginning. i’d like to see a student section for sure. that would be nice. get to see what people my age are doing instead of people twice my age who are more experienced and have been in the hobby for 20-30+ years.
Hmm… maybe I should explain my perspective.
I’ve read about 98% of the MR’s ever published, so my views arn’t based on the last ten years worth of magazines or anything. Given that, I like to look for articles that push people towards realism in their modeling.
Take a recent article by Tony Thompson about moving the trucks on a CB&Q caboose farther inward in order to run the car on tighter curves. How much inspiration is there when the head editor is taking a nice prototypical Walther’s caboose, and making it unprototypical by moving the trucks inward and cutting corresponding details off the side sill of the caboose?
MR used to be about converting 3-rail toys into 2-rail models, about adding details and bashing readily available models into better representations of real life, about creating real life in miniature. Now they are including articles about moving backwards when the market supplys better models to start with? What’s the deal?
Student fare was read by both students and adults no longer students. It is probably the most requested piece to be returned to MR.
I enjoyed Student Fare, but I hope it doesn’t get resurrected in the magazine again. A moderated forum on the MR web site would be a better venue for that type of thing. The “I’m a 14-year old living in Peoria, IL who models BNSF - how do I keep my track clean?” sort of thing is made for this media. Rather than wait 8-16 weeks to see his letter in the magazine and get one response to his question, the 14-year old from Peoria can connect a dozen other modelers who model BNSF or have ideas on track cleaning within a couple of hours.
I’d rather see the young author contest be made a regular occurance or have a regular column that features models or techniques of a young model railroader. Maybe there could be modeling contests - build DPM kit #??? using these rules and send us a photo by two months from now . Manufacturers could get involved, perhaps sponsoring the contest, offering prizes for the winners or coupons for every contest entry.
Anyway, I guess my point is that a young modelers column in MR should focus on model building instead of letter writing. That’s my two-cents.
Paul Krueger
Seattle, WA
It seems Paint Shop and Student Fair are the two most often requested former regular columns to be returned to the pages of MR. I stopped buying MR on a monthly basis about a decade ago. Since then, I’ve bought the occasional article here or there when a set of plans or (amazing as this might sound) when an article struck my interest. Otherwise, I feel MR has become a sort of “Reader’s Digest” train oriented magazine. The articles are all pretty much written in the same writing style, are about the same length word/paragraph count-wise and don’t vary much month to month. What happened to the variety you could get in the 80’s? An Art Current kitbashing article, a Malcolm Furlow scenery article, some electronics project, a nice freight car done by Jim Hediger in Paint Shop, an interpolation of a few letters from teen modelers by Andy Anderson in Student Fair, a beefy Bull Session column towards the rear of the magazine, Club News and so much more I may be overlooking? I randomly picked out a recent copy of MR in a stack by my PC here and the layout feature was about a layout the owner had built for him - it’s not his work but rather the work of a professional layout builder, no wonder I skipped that article the first time around. More variety is what MR needs.
that would be cool have a contest for teens to build stuff. i’d gladly do that as i want to start building kits since they are cheaper to get than RTR pieces. it could test our modeling skills and help us learn. send out coupons or something for say $.50 off something from a company sponsoring the contest. that would be cool. or even a photo contest say teens send in photos of their layouts. i’d be interested in stuff like that. especially the build a kit thing. that would be cool.
I voted a BIG YES! I feel a page in the magazine wouldn’t be that big of deal but I’m not a publisher so I could be wrong. I loved student fare, it was awesome. Now, I do feel some what insulted by the idea that student fare would be “basic” or “dumb down”. I know some of us are new and need to learn but some of us have been doing this longer than some adults and have sharpened our skills. I do a proto freelance ACL in modern. Due to necessity I have been forced to learn how to air brush and have gotten pretty good at it. I know that might not be saying a lot but I do feel that airbrushing, decaling, and detailing your locos is more advanced than what some of you think we are capable of. I know I still have a lot to learn and I’m learning from 3 of the best model railroaders (to me) Bob Harpe, Nate Stone, and Jack Armstrong. All are award winning modelers (by the NMRA) and they can vouch that the young guns have some talent that needs to be recognized. I feel too often in Model Railroader it focuses on the adults. I’m sure there are young modelers you can teach the adults a thing or two.
Just my thoughts…
Jason Castine
PS-If the ACL guy sees this, please email me, I’d like to talk to you.
They need to bring it back. Youths would write to Willard Anderson telling them how pleased they were that they just assembled their Athearn boxcar, and he would write back words of encouragement and advice. That’s what it was all about. The kids want someone who will listen to them, react favorably to their enthusiasm, and encourage them to go one. Rick Selby tried hard but couldnt do it. The letters he selected were off-topic and too broad. Basically, there needs to be a forum where kids can interact with the MR staff and get encouragement. I used to read Student Fare all the time. I even got a couple of letters in! The editor at MR at the time told me that students are just like everyone else and need to be integrated into the hobby as peers and equals- that was their reason for getting rid of the column then.
Bring it back. And stop dumbing-down the content of the rest of the magazine.
students are just like everyone else? what the heck. students are like the 30 year veterans of the hobby. we have a lot to learn before you can even call us equal to any of them. peers yes but not equals thas Bull.
That and a few more articles, i swear the thing is 140 pages of ads and 10 pages of content now.
Jay.
This is one way to get and keep youth in the hobby. Another way is for clubs/groups to invite youth to their meetings/shows.
I feel that this subject heading should be reinstated into the magazine. I feel the more information included in the magaine the better it will be. They should start catering more towards the younger generation, they are the future.
Gregg Staley