ratshooter

A guy at the flying field told me about an RC mag he had been buying that had real build articles and helpful hints kinda like RCM and M.A.N use to have. I looked at the local HS today but couldn't find what he was talking about. Any suggestions for a mag that is NOT full of ARF reviews and full page ads. The last M.A.N I bought had 79 full page ads. I want a magazine not a catalog. I sure miss RC Report. The best ever in my opinion.

Gray Beard

My Feedback: (-1)

Even Mr. Banks apologized about the lack of building articles before the end of the mag. There were very few new kits being cut to write about and RCR was going the way of the ARF too. The only good magazines these days with anything about building are from Europe. For the most part scale planes. Most hobby shops stock them or any book store, even book stores are hard to find these days!!. Magazines like Scale RC modeler have builds and plans but they cost a bit more.
Isn't MAN a shame these days!! They should be paying modelers to read them or at least be free.

harlanb

My Feedback: (1)

Although Fly RC magazine is very ARF oriented, they do have a build section in the magazine called "Masters Workshop"
Also, here is a new magazine that may be interesting. http://www.balsabuilder.com/

jetmech05

Funny this post comes out now. Just last week I called a well known mag and complained about all the electric aircraft articles. Out of 12 main articles 9 were electric 1 was a radio review, 1 was an electric quad copter and a gyro article to round things out.
I used to get 2 mags started enjoying them less and less now I get none.

TomCrump

I feel that magazines are becoming irrelevant.

Information can be gained through these forums.

There are several current build threads, illustrating various construction techniques, info on radio and power setups,

The best part is that the forums are interactive. If the info you seek isn't there, all you need to do is ask.

BarracudaHockey

My Feedback: (11)

Thanks! We are working on more custom content but the industry and average modeler is ARF centric so it's what we write about.

ratshooter

I did buy a new mag called RC Model World. I was a bit before I realized it was an english magazine. All the ads had european addresses. Those guys are some serious modelers. But like Barracuda stated a lot of model folks are at best ARF builders. To me 3/4 of the fun is building my own plane.

And I do look at the build forum. What really gets me is they drag on forever and the the builder never finishes the plane or at least never finishes the post.

I had gotten out of RC for awhile and was reallty disappointed when I found out RC Report was gone. And Gordon Banks made it fun with his inserted comments and wisa cracks. Plus his undying love for Pizza.

I have a Bridi Krafty 60 I am building now. I am a little over a week into it and the framework is pretty well done. The wood structure weighs just over 2 pounds. So a total weight ready to fly shoud be no more than 5.5 pounds for a 17oz wingloading. I have a NIB OS SF 46 I will put on it I got off ebay.

I thought about doing a build thread but that sounded like a lot of work. I will post some pics of the wood frame and the completed model. Probably in my thread about Bridi Planes in the beginner section.

Tom Crump stated the model mags are becoming irellevant. Maybe so but its nice to lay in bed before sleepy time and read a good article. The internet has its place and I am glad we have it but have you ever tried holding your laptop while sitting on the toilet? A good book is hard to beat.

BarracudaHockey

My Feedback: (11)

I thought years ago when was working for RCU doing reviews and events that this format would put the print media out of business eventually.

That was 10 years ago I think and print is still going strong, and we (Fly RC) use social media to share extra pictures and product video and event coverage, Model Aviation has their own site for bonus content so I think they are complementary but for now, print doesn't seem to be going anywhere.

Jason Gross

These days all the enthusiast mags seem to be nothing but one long commercial. I bought a couple rc mags when I first got into flying but I gave up pretty quickly on them. Most if not all the "reviews" are just thinly veiled advertising. You read a glowing three page review where the harshest criticism is likely to be something about how the pictures in the manual weren't in color and then it's directly followed by a full page ad for the item. It gets hard to take anything seriously. On the other hand I used to love getting Car Craft back when David Freiburger was editor. We got real tech info, junkyard scrounging tips, how to stuff aimed at the average dude that didn't have a 4 bay shop full of machine shop tools and it was pretty funny.

Gray Beard

My Feedback: (-1)

I gave up on MAN, the bought and paid for magazine used as an advertisement many years ago. I was looking for content and not advertisements. When RCM closed there doors I still had RCR but as Gordon Banks stated, there weren't enough new kits being made to fight off the ARF invasion and other then the tech/engine articles it also turned into an ARF mag. Dick Pettit kept on building and Mr. Winch kept working on engines but also spent too much time trying to be funny, Ed Moorman kept stunt flying and telling us how it was done. At least RC Report kept telling us when something was junk and not worth buying.
I agree with Tom, it's easier to find the info you want on the different web sites like this and I feel no need to ever buy a magazine again. When printed books were still the norm I spent a lot of time in the book stores and was able to buy the once a year MAN with the cut out plans catalog. I did think it was pretty cheap of them to quit giving you a copy of the build article with the plans though and gave up stockpiling plans too. Now it's just as easy to go to several of the free plans web sites and just download them to disc and have them printed out at Kinko's.

FlyWheel

I uploaded the free .pdf first issue, and although I have only read through part of it so fat it looks promising. I just hope they 'stay the course'.

PatrickCurry

My Feedback: (20)

They have tablet computers for that now. Flying Models magazine is supposedly making a comeback and it's supposed to be pretty good. I've not seen it myself. http://flying-models.com/

ratshooter

Hey Patrick I know about the tablets. My wife has one. So does everyone else I know. Pretty cool but I have other stuff to spend money on like guns and airplanes. I am NOT a gizmo bug. i fought getting a computer until I had to have one for work. Everybody laughs at me because I still use a flip phone. It does every thing I want a phone to do. It makes calls and receives messages. I do like my computer.

I am pretty sure the LHS has Flying Models Mag. I will have to give them a closer look.

P.S. I have three radios. One analog and two computer. All on 72mhz. Yep, I'm a dinosaur.

PatrickCurry

My Feedback: (20)

I don't blame you Shooter, I'm not a gizmo bug either. I'm not above taking my tablet in the bathroom, though. LOL

FlyWheel

Wait until 50%+ of the magazine becomes dedicated to the latest in drone technology - you'll be missing the good ol days when they mostly featured ARFplanes.

BarracudaHockey

My Feedback: (11)

Thats precisely why we spun up Multi-Rotor Magazine, so we could keep Fly RC to mostly airplane content and RC Heli Pilot to mostly heli content, though there's some cross over we try to keep to the core of each magazines intent.

ratshooter

Good for you Barracuda. It seems like my LHS carries Fly RC and I will give them a look next time I go in there. I know internet is fast and up to the minute especially when using forums for the subject of your interest but the fact is I just like to read. I just last night started rereading "Fighting The Flying Circus" by Eddie Rickenbacher again. I have read it several times but I reread it it every year or two. What a great story.

I just got in my new Model Aviation mag. Its not that great but still worth reading through. They try to be to many things to too many people so its limited in what I am looking for.

BarracudaHockey

My Feedback: (11)

Let me know what you think about my float roundup article