NEW LOOK – Model Engineer & Workshop

[parovozParticipant @parovoz]

Here’s an admission…..

I used to take Model Engineer every fortnight without fail and have ALL my back issues. I refer to them for certain things and often spend half an hour upstairs in the library dipping into some old issues for enjoyment…..

But I gave up on the Model Engineer magazine a good number of years ago, over 20 years!

The main initial reason was that the standard of draughtsmanship went off a cliff when people started producing CAD drawings of very low quality. Yes, I admit I’m a bit ‘old skool’ but CAD is no reason for poor quality drawings, one can produce really excellent drawings with CAD. Also there was a severe lack of good quality construction articles, we had Roy Amesbury and Keith Wilson etc producing excellent work and inspiring us to go that bit further. There were too many almost ‘dumbed down’ articles that were a real turn off.

I picked up an issue of ME recently and was very disappointed in the quality. There were NO construction articles in the issue I read through (in the past there would be generally between 2 and 4 per issue) and there was really nothing to inspire. We have a Club issue that arrives, we have every issue back to 1898, and nowadays I normally scan it in about 30 seconds… It does not hold me.

When I was a kid in school ME to me was the best thing since sliced bread and it inspired me to go and ‘cut metal’.

Now I don’t know what the answer is, and I hear a few interesting comments on who may buy the magazine these days and how we inspire the next generation. I certainly see that the next generation coming into the hobby are doing mainly CAD and are also doing a lot of 3d print etc in their models, we have a number of younger members in that domain, and it’s good. Should ME be supporting that? Possibly?

Then there is a balance of preserving the traditional skills of bench work and manual machining and giving the younger generation access to this physically creative side of the hobby.

The other aspect is the nature of what we build…. In the past steam was king and locomotives topped that pecking order. I’m not sure that is so relevant today either. For rail should we be looking at modern traction and the intricacies of producing highly detailed models in this sphere, as opposed to boxes with batteries that we so often see. How does ME develop the hobby and push the boundaries of what Model Engineers can achieve in a modern manufacturing environment.

We maybe need a blend of ‘old skool’ skills with a modern and progressive outlook that will bring in the new blood and develop the ‘art’ into the next 50 years…. What will that environment look like?

So not a ‘rant’ about how good it was and how bad it is now…. But just a thought on what should ME be going forward, for who, and what is it’s ‘mission’…. is ME purely focusing on the old duffer ( I’m one of them ) with time to kill or showcasing a fascinating STEM hobby for younger people to embrace. I think we probably need a balance of both.

As to the cover shown at the head of this…. From my ‘old duffer’ perspective, this is a ‘pipe and slippers’ mag and not one any of the younger people I know would even pick up…. It just doesn’t look relevant.

 

All the best…..

 

[old foolParticipant @old-fool]

I assume from the above comments this thread was started before the mag. dropped on my welcome mat. I have to admit I was a bit sceptical as I’m not a model engineer. truth be told I’m not much of any sort of engineer! More an enthusiastic amature stabbing about in the dark!

However I needn’t have worried. My interest in engineering stems from years of being involved in “Off road motorsport”, Maintaining and developing vehicles for that. I’ve had a lathe for a long time but when the lockdowns came I decided to try and further my skills. I aquired a book by Harold Hall on basic lathework and tried to learn new skills. So it was nice to see a tribute to someone I knew nothing about.

It also seems useful to see how people solve problems in totally different contexts which I can then apply to my own projects.

Finally. I’ve seen in the past critisim of too many photo’s, to me they are very useful since often I don’t know technical terms for actions and processes the pictures make it clear what’s going on and helps me learn the language.

Can’t judge on one issue, but so far a stay of execution!

Bob

[V8EngParticipant @v8eng]

The new mag generally works clearly on my iPad (13”) except for print quality in Club News which unfortunately is very poor with almost pale grey skinny lettering.

The new mag appears in my archive but only if I log in from the ME section not from the MEW section.

Apart from those niggles it is a good effort and hopefully will carry on under new ownership.

[alan ord 2Participant @alanord2]

Still not received my copy!! Rang Mortons and was told I should get it in the next few days!!!!!! I used to subscribe to both ME and MEW but cancelled my subscription a few years ago because I was not happy. When this new mag came out I thought I would buy the first one and if I was happy with it I would subscribe for further copies. Well this is not a good start. Told the lady from Mortons I could have waited and gone to WHS this morning and bought a copy today. Told her I was not happy but her response was a waste of my time. Will I now subscribe not sure.

Alan.

[BazyleParticipant @bazyle]

They can only estimate when the mag will be delivered. It has been a howling gale in the South West for 24 hours so if the postie came up my hill today she would deserve a medal let alone getting out  of the van and battling up my path.

[JasonBModerator @jasonb]

Mortons can’t do much about Royal Mail.They are all sent out as one big batch not individually leaving you till last.

I’m still waiting for mine and it is quite irregular as to when it arrives, sometimes before the digital, sometimes the same day or in this case probebly a week later.

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