What are we building?

Hi David

Whist reading the current copy of ME it occurred to me that when publishing a construction series it would be helpful if there were a thumbnail picture of the finished model similar to the Authors in each issue to give people an incentive to try it, to refresh ones enthusiasm for the project, or for the casual buyer who purchases a copy in the middle of the series. I know it was done for the Stuart Triple many years ago and it certainly kept me at it . What do you think?

Regards

ME have been following this practise for many years but I suspect it is down to the particular contributor. I am the librarian for the BSMEE and from issue 1 they put in a pic of the finished item.
Have a lovely bank holls mine will be in the workshop away from TV

Bob

Hi There

Down to the layout person.

If it can be fitted in, we will do it.

regards david

Hi David
For clarifying that thank you everything is revealed but and it is a big but cannot your layout person include a pic within the text even in my 70s can insert a pic inside text. I wonder if you have limitations to the amount of pages you are allowed to produce by your beancounters.

Love the ME and have built many projects from them so both of you keep up the good work.

Kindest Bob.

Hi all

There is normally a gotchya in printing magazines you cant just do an extra page...Magazines are printed on large sheets and cut up from them. An extra page will cost an extra sheet of n pages ?

I wonder what n is ?

Cheers

John

N is 8 but 16 is cheaper.

You can use a larger press with multiples of 16 but need a different press for multiples of 8.

That is how I managed to increase the page count of Model Engineer from 60 to 68.

The printing cost was slightly cheaper but the extra £400 contributor cost had to be found.

(£50 per page.)

That is why we try to fill some of the extra pages in house with Roedean, visits and exhibition reports.

This saves £50 for every page and keeps me within the contributor budget.

regards david

regards David

The only thing I disagree with is the term "thumbnail". IMO, the very first picture(s) should be decent size illustrations of the finished project to orient the reader and help explain what it is all about (not all projects are obvious from their title).

Too often, the pics of the finished item are shown last in the write-up (sometimes after an extended series of articles) and the reader is left floundering until he gets there. Or worse, no finished pics are shown at all.

(I'm not addressing this specifically at ME/MEW .... there are worse culprits.).

Only a bit related to this thread, but the inclusion of clock plans over the last few magazines has be intrigued. Can anyone help me find a source on how to actually build this thing?

David

Hi David

Tony Pratt has passed on and Ernest Hill who did the drawings does not have photos of the construction.

Read some of John Wilding's books or perhaps John Parslows.

Try your local library, they might be able to get you a copy of John Wilding's Skeleton Clock book.

I published these drawings as I did not wish to see them lost forever and yes, we did pay the going rate which was generously donated to Remap.

regards David

Hi Sid

We usually put a photo of the finished item in the first article.

I am not sure putting the same photo in every issue of a series is a good use of space.

regards David

David,

Can I please repeat my request for a image (or two) of the model's right hand side of the Darjeeling 'B' Class to be published .... every full side view published so far is of the left hand side .... There are some differences between the sides.

Thanks

Dave

Hi there

I have asked Ray for some images but have had nothing yet.

regards david

Thanks David

I agree and I didn't mean to suggest that. It would be unnecessary and a waste of space.

I am not sure putting the same photo in every issue of a series is a good use of space.

regards David"

Versus running many of the same ads month after month? (I do understand they are paid ads, but space is space.)

JD

Hi Jeff

They pay us for ads, we pay for use of photos but as we pay per page, the photo would get paid for more than once.

No ads, no magazine.

I did increase pages from 60 to 68.

I know other magazines have less adverts but they also have less pages.

regards David

Hi David

"I am not sure putting the same photo in every issue of a series is a good use of space."

I don't think that premise stands up to well when you consider that the current series on 'Rodean' contains a considerable size photo of the locomotive (not the completed model) in every instalment. Also their is a tendency to leave a blank 45mm margin below the authors photo. I don't wish to appear awkward or to usurp the layout persons skills, I merely started this thread as a constructive comment .

Regards Russ

Hi There

The scholars column is a legacy of a redesign before I took over as editor of Model Engineer. I dislike it as it is white space. I don't know if I can get it removed but I do try to put information in it where possible. I will have a think about it, perhaps a small photo of the project in it. This is why we started using Author photos, in an attempt to use some of this white space up.

Unfortunately designers like white space. I would rather have information.

I don't have a photo of a completed Roedean. Many have been built but I doubt recently. If someone has one I would be pleased to use it and would of course pay for the use.

regards David