The demise of EIM magazine

[V8EngParticipant @v8eng]

Reading the editorial page of the latest Engineering in Miniature magazine I see that it will be closing with the May 2024 issue.

What a pity that we are losing one of the magazines devoted to our hobby.

[bernard towersParticipant @bernardtowers37738]

Seems strange theres nothing on their website!

[V8EngParticipant @v8eng]

Yes they still appear to be showing subscriptions available on the website.
Obviously I cannot copy the page onto here due to copyright but the editorial is signed off by Andrew Charman as Editor.

[Trevor Drabble 1Participant @trevordrabble1]

Maybe I’ve got a different March issue ,  but I can’t see any reference in the editorial to it closing .

[V8EngParticipant @v8eng]

It’s in the April issue which appeared in my Pocketmags subscription today yesterday and prompted my post.

[derek hall 1Participant @derekhall1]

That very sad news if true.

I have to say though that the content is almost completely irrelevant for me as it seems 100% dominated by steam locomotives.

[duncan webster 1Participant @duncanwebster1]

Some consolidation might be beneficial to the hobby. Many moons ago there was just ME. Now we have ME, MEW and EIM all chasing the same (or similar) readers. Editors are having to use repeats and travelogue to fill the pages. I gave up on EIM when it got to part 98 or so of one loco build series

[BazyleParticipant @bazyle]

The Australian equivalent AME went last year. The age of the paper magazine is fading away. Next generation will only have Facebook and Youtube. USA has a couple with the benefit of 5 times the population however there must be some European ones – Germany surely.

[noel shelleyParticipant @noelshelley55608]

Hopefully Mortons will see the writing on the wall and will revert to a single title before we loose both of them Too. Otherwise it will ALL be butterside down ? Noel.

[mgnbukParticipant @mgnbuk]

I have to say though that the content is almost completely irrelevant for me as it seems 100% dominated by steam locomotives.

Likewise.

EiM is on Readly, like ME & MEW under Mortons, so I skim though it each month & very rarely have found anything of interest due to the overwhelmingly (mainly steam) railway content. Railway Engineering in Miniature would seem to have been a more appropriate title for a long time.

The editor’s comments about ” lack of submitted articles” should be the wake up for Mortons – I feel the current model evident in hobby magazines of being solely reliant upon the readership to supply the content they are expected to pay for, rather than having “house” contributors to generate the content, will lead to the demise of the publications that work that way. Morton & Bauer mainstream motorcycle magzines have  a mix of content, both internally generated & from submissions. Admittedly they can (and do) use content from a pool of contributors across several publications, but these magazines have more content (page count) and attract more advertisers than the “contribute yourself” publications but do not cost appreciable more. ME and MEW are “skinny” – not much content for an increasingly heavy cover price. The basic model needs to change if the publications are going to be sustainable going forward – I don’t hold out much hope of that happening.

Nigel B.

[noel shelleyParticipant @noelshelley55608]

Ever increasing costs for both stall holders and the public aided by internet shopping have had a serious effect ! If the forthcoming Midland Exhibition is not supported this year IT may be the end of big shows as well ! Brooklands, Doncaster, Harrowgate, Ally Pally, a sad list ! Noel.

[John HaineParticipant @johnhaine32865]

Well this should be regarded as an opportunity!  Print mags are obviously dying unless they cater for a large and/or wealthy market.  My main engineering interest now is horology, I get HJ and Antiquarian Horology as I belong to their parent organisations. Neither has much “technical” content, and HJ seems now to be dominated by expensive and irrelevant watches, but just occasionally it has a nugget of interest.

On the other hand there are a few interesting horology forums, such as the relatively new HSN one, two or three for electric clocks, and these attract much more interest since there is no associated membership.  HSN for one has a few long-running threads including one started by Joe Noci describing his pendulum, which he originally described here.  That thread has had 321 postings since December!  By contrast the feeble forum that the BHI operates is lucky to get one new post a month.  Interestingly the HSN forum, one for Synchronomes, and one for electric clocks, all use groups.io and can be very cheap or even free to run.  They are also MUCH easier to use that this one!  Also there’s a Quorn group there which is pretty active.  There is also a model engineering group that unfortunately is moribund.

Worth looking at the Synchronome1 and Quorn groups as they have files and photo sections that have huge amounts of useful information, some of it associated with projects described in the threads.  The ME forum has similar sections but little content, but one could imagine that it could easily take over from this forum and host constructional series in a much more interactive way.

So I think the answer to this is in our own hands.  If the mags go the publisher won’t want the expense of maintaining this site.

[Bazyle]

On Bazyle Said:

however there must be some European ones – Germany surely.

They have MiM which I subscribe too and that has a fairly large spread of subjects. Same publisher VTH has quite a few titles along with books, plans service etc.

Repeats of old articles is more to do with available budget than not getting enough copy so commissioning articles would be even more costly as you would have to not only pay the person writing but provide them with that casting kit to build or that DRO to fit.

[noel shelley]

On noel shelley Said:

Hopefully Mortons will see the writing on the wall and will revert to a single title before we loose both of them Too. Otherwise it will ALL be butterside down ? Noel.

They’re both the twentieth century equivalent of self-published blogs and websites, and are already zombies.

ME, like EIM, has become so niche that its old fashioned approach of multi part articles spread over months or even years can only appeal to the established readers.

MEW still has some potential, but it needs to revert to its original dense format not the pamphlet it has become. I suggest that the articles chosen for reprinting should be the technical ones, like discussions of how chemical fasteners work, not repeats of well trodden small projects. And those should be rare.

 

I’ve mentioned this before, but the adoption of the term model engineer for non-industrial engineering done for personal reasons was the first step down a very slippery slope.

[Nick Wheeler]

On Nick Wheeler Said

I suggest that the articles chosen for reprinting should be the technical ones, like discussions of how chemical fasteners work…

The trouble is that reprinting a technical article like that will be hopelessly outdated.

Any products mentioned are unlikely still to be on the market; many alternative, more economic products will likely have entered the market.

Consider John Stevenson’s electronic hobber. No-one would start where he did if looking for the same thing today.

Slightly closer to your chemical fasteners, consider the hybrid silicones (CT1 and equivalents) now on the market. They are a relatively recent development that has replaced many older solutions to sticking and sealing things.

[DalboyParticipant @dalboy]

I, for one, prefer EIM over ME. So it will be sadly missed. When it goes I will not revert to buying ME as there is nothing of interest in it, especially as some issues seem to show what clubs are doing on their open days which I would have thought are only of interest to that club.

If indeed it is fact then why are they still advertising for subscriptions as any that are done surely would be taking money under false pretence as they do not intent to give what you pay for

[mgnbukParticipant @mgnbuk]

If indeed it is fact then why are they still advertising for subscriptions as any that are done surely would be taking money under false pretence as they do not intent to give what you pay for

The editorial does say that the publishers will be contacting existing subscribers to arrange for refunds. The subscriptions website may not have caught up yet, but trying to take out a new subscription may well not be accepted.

Nigel B.

[Rod RenshawParticipant @rodrenshaw28584]

Sad about EIM though I may have contributed to this in a tiny way by ending my own subscription last year.

We had a thread about ME a few months ago and I was lamenting the lack of workshop articles and my own lack of interest in the massive multi- part series on stationery engines. Since then there have been some workshop articles in ME and the stationery engine series has not been in every issue – I wonder if the editor looks at the forum?

I agree with Noel that a merger of ME and MEW might be a good idea, better than losing either – though I would miss MEW more than ME.

Rod

[noel shelleyParticipant @noelshelley55608]

I for one feel that MEW came from the loins of ME, in an attempt to get 2 bites of the same cherry ! I stuck with it until issue 300 when the best they could find for the front cover was an MG B, I let my subscription lapse ! Now is the time for Mortons to bite the bullet, reabsorb MEW and give us the publication we used to have – before it’s to late ! Noel.

[Dave Shield 1Participant @daveshield1]

EIM started to go down hill when TEE sold it off. No longer formatted. to be bound into a volume with correct page numbering and no longer controled by people with an interest in model engineering. Compare the older isuses with the current ones. All they wanted was another magazine to make a profot from.

Dave

[WearyParticipant @weary]

Well, today, Saturday 16th March, I have received a subscription ‘Renewal Reminder’ letter from ‘Engineering in Miniature’ magazine reminding me that my subscription is running-out shortly and inviting me to renew the subscription!

Phil.

[Nigel Graham 2Participant @nigelgraham2]

I still buy ME but some of my fellow club-members say they don’t because it seems mainly locomotive construction serials and accounts of club events.

I found the engine history series interesting but it would be far better as a book.

Perhaps it is time to consider merging ME and MEW, and as a fresh new version of what ME&E was: covering a broad spread of interests within the hobby.

As for the title model-engineering[ing] I can see Nick Wheeler’s point – making a tool-&-cutter grinder, a clock or fine piece of ornamental-turning is not model-engineering senso strictu, but the skills overlap and name has been with us since, well, the 1890s?, always encompassing those activities. So I think we are stuck with it.

So what could a combined magazine be called? It can’t be called Model Engineer & Electrician, and what there is now of any amateur electronics is catered for elsewhere, if that hobby even still exists as such. That is, beyond the honourable exception of model-engineers making CNC machine-tools.

The Home or Amateur Engineer? How wide is that? Does it include vehicle restoring or customising,  operating heritage railways, servicing boats or building your home’s very own solar-powered heat-pump?

Really, given how the 100+ year-old name has stuck and developed, I see no sensible alternative to it; but I think the publication has to try to encourage all aspects of the hobby.

Finally, whilst I appreciate not everything published interests all of us, at least it exposes us to the works of our fellows; a valuable panorama that could be lost if publishing anything dwindles into the hermetic worlds of single-interest Internet fora.

[Nigel Graham 2]

On Nigel Graham 2 Said:

…

So what could a combined magazine be called?

…

 

.

Some character called ‘Chuck’ had that sussed, decades ago:

The Muddle Engineer !

.

MichaelG.

[noel shelleyParticipant @noelshelley55608]

CHUCK = Terry Aspin ! Noel.

[Michael GilliganParticipant @michaelgilligan61133]

I know that, Noel

… why the exclamation ?

MichaelG.

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