Respect – Manufacturers listen in
…what’s this about respect?
I think that it’s time you realised what you get when one of your kits or accessories is reviewed here in SMN – an extensive, in-depth review. The average review in SMN for any kit is around 25 A4 pages – yes, that’s right 25 A4 pages!
Many of you have said how much you enjoyed the review of the 1:32nd scale Trumpeter MiG-23 ‘Flogger’ – that was built in 10 days and was on the cover of SMN with a full in-depth review 9 weeks before it got a proper mention in any paper scale model mag. Just look at our stats for this major release:
- 141 images
- 51 A4 pages
- 5,754 words
My point is that major kit releases need proper coverage and that’s exactly what SMN is here to provide. Manufacturers like Airfix and Revell have clearly ‘got it, we regularly receive their kits, but what about you? Are you sending us your samples? This is extraordinary coverage and exposure for your kits and at what cost? The price of one single kit.
We provide this level of coverage because I think (and the individual reviewer) thinks that that’s what is needed to properly cover the kit. So what are we trying to achieve in all our kit reviews:
- Show each step of the build and fully illustrate it
- Identify pros and cons of the kit in terms of fit, accuracy and buildability
- Show you how to fix any snags and problems we encounter in the build
- Raise choices that you have at each stage in terms of the need or otherwise of adding additional detail or going with what is provided
- Demonstrate several modelling techniques so that you can see HOW to achieve the results the reviewer has
- Provide a balanced and fair conclusion of the kit’s strengths and weaknesses.
We use this amount of coverage because we can and because it’s needed to fully review a major kit release. This is a particular strength of bringing you your SMN magazine on the Internet – there just aren’t the restrictions of limited page counts necessary in paper magazines. This is what I call respect for the product and manufacturer.
I read a review this week of the massive 1:32 scale Trumpeter F-14 Tomcat in a popular paper model mag. Dumb-struck could describe my reaction to what I saw. 2 pages of A4 – that’s it. Unbelievable! I can only imagine the reviewer’s frustration. Yes I know all the stuff about space limitations and what some editors are calling ‘mini-reviews’ but how does this:
- show respect for the manufacturer’s product?
- do the model justice? And
- in turn bring you, the subscriber full value for money and a proper, objective evaluation of how the kit builds and how to remedy its ‘issues’?
I want to reinforce just what astonishing value for money SMN is when compared to any other scale model mag.
All our reviews will continue to be bigger, fuller, contain more images, more ‘how-to’ techniques than any other scale model magazine – that’s my promise to you.
Right, back to my 1:72nd scale MPM Gloster Meteor F.Mk.8 – what a nice little model that is and that review is heading for at least the average in terms of coverage mentioned above – even for a 1:72 scale model – because that’s what’s needed to give proper coverage to all the time, effort and money that’s gone into creating the kit in the first place.
