Author: Spencer Pollard
Price: £8.00 GBP (Nov 2012)
All colour, 40 pages, high quality paper, advert-free content
My thanks to Spencer for supplying our review sample and for his chat at the recent IPMS (UK) Scale Model World at Telford
Introduction
Many of you will no doubt be sad at the loss of Military in Scale, the title that Spencer used to head up as Editor. It was the only paper scale model magazine that I used to buy every month and when he departed it was a great shame. You can’t keep a good man down though can you because here he is – risen Phoenix-like to launch his own brand new title called Cold War Aircraft Modeller. I don’t think Spencer is fixed yet on the frequency of his new publication – maybe bi-monthly or quarterly looks likely at this stage from our discussions but check out his blog for the latest info.
The magazine… quality
You can see from the attached pics that the quality and standard of production is very high with all pics sharp and well exposed. Layout and presentation is very engaging making you want to read on and get further into the publication as each image draws you in. Writing style and approach is very good – readable and enjoyable from all the contributors.
Content…
I can’t deny it, I was brought up on and in the Cold War and so the subject is close to my heart – my brother Chris was based in RAF Germany in 1980 when I visited him there and ‘Battleflight’ seeing No 92 and 19 Squadrons at close quarters. Have you read F-4 Phantom – a pilot’s Story by Bob Prest? You should, it’s a fantastic book to get you in the mood for the period with all the reality and tension of the times seeping from every pore – quite scary really but hopefully no longer a reality.
This new title definitely has found a great niche in the market in my view – the Cold War and aircraft modelling. The fact is there are so many kits past and present available for the period that you and Spencer will have a huge amount of content to draw from. His plan is to present models drawn from the period 1947-1991, the generally agreed period of the Cold War.
This first issue has an enticing contents page:
- Spitfire Twenty two (Airfix 1:72 kit)
- In detail: BAC Lightning F.6 (Reference pics)
- TSR.2 What Might Have Been (1:48 Airfix kit)
- Midnight Cowboy (Tamiya 1:32 F-4D Phantom II)
- Saab J35F Draken (1:48 kit)
- De Havilland Vampire FB.Mk.5 (Alley Cat 1:48 resin kit)
- Talking point
- News Desk
The price
You can’t ignore this in a review of this kind and so I would simply make a couple of observations. Yes it is £8.00 and that’s expensive, however, there aren’t any adverts so it’s all content – pretty much all 40 odd pages so that’s a significant amount and significantly more than you will get in just about any paper scale model mag available anywhere. So you’ll just have to decide whether the cover price is acceptable.
Recommended…
I did like the content – it’s right up my street although that price may put some off. My advice is buy this one and see what you think. Quality is good across the board but of course coverage won’t be as in-depth as your SMN, it can’t be because it is a paper magazine but we all like a good read and if like me you still like great books and the occasional relevant and timely paper mag you can always treat yourself because you won’t have to dip into your wallet every month!
Good luck Spence! We all wish you well here at SMN.
Geoff C.