Model Railroad Hobbyist

[John]

I wasn't really sure where to put this, but the first issue of Joe Fugate and company's new online magazine is online at

http://model-railroad-hobbyist.com/

It is around 76 megabytes, so if you are on dial up, download it over night

It is a good collection of articles, and there is something for everyone. I especially liked the steel mill content, (although I would have liked to seen a track plan or two) and the article by Marty McGuirk on proto research. Marty also presents the best definition of prototype modeler I have ever seen. Too often, if we pay attention to details on our locomotives and cars, we are labeled elitist, rivet counters, and other names. I think Marty puts it into perspective on how you can improve your modeling by doing a little research, and some modifications. I guess I am a prototype modeler then.

Bernard Kempinski, who also posts here on occasion, puts together a nice treatment of Nscale track, with some very good comparisons between the different manufacturers.

This is a great little electronic magazine, that rivals anything the "big guys" have put together, and presents us with an interesting new way to deliver content via Net2.0. I really like their use of the multimedia format for including video within the document to provide additional descriptions or examples. The article on S curves is a great example of this.

I hope they can continue in the long run. It sure looks like a lot of work, and I am not sure what kind of revenue model they are counting on, but that's not really our concern. Please take a look, and lets support them. They are making lots of neat information available in an exciting new format.

[wm3798]

Okay, here's the betting pool....
Either Kalmbach offers to buy out Joe, or Joe ends up taking over Kalmbach...  any takers?

Just glanced through, and this is a great format.  Here's an opportunity to publish a much more interesting article than can be slapped on paper.  This is a winner, without a doubt.

Also, Ken Larsen, who wrote the steel mill article, once crewed on my layout.  We know him here as CSX_road_slug.  Really good stuff.


That's him in the plaid shirt on the right.  He's hard to see behind Carl... ;D

Read the mag, shop the ads...  This is the future, and it is NOW!!

Lee

[MichaelT]

I clicked through a majority of it, will read it more in depth when this head cold clears...but what I did read, was pretty good stuff.

I look forward to future issues of this new venue.

Michael

[Chris333]

I guess for me once my mind blocked out all the DCC stuff there wasn't much left. But it was pretty good.

[Ed Kapuscinski]

I can't get it to open. The PDF kills my machine. I'll try the windows box though.

[pfs]

I can't get it to open. The PDF kills my machine. I'll try the windows box though.

Make sure you're on the latest Adobe Reader, I saw issues until I upgraded a version. (win)

[wcfn100]

Nine pages to say that bigger radii are better than smaller radii.  

Any discussion about [problems with] curvature without talking about transition is not a complete article IMO.

And the article on the 'S curve' is kind of amusing.  It'd be like Michael Jordan writing an article telling me dunking really isn't that hard.  

The next issue has promise though (but don't they all).

Jason

[AlkemScaleModels]

I can't get it to open. The PDF kills my machine. I'll try the windows box though.

Mac users (like myself, am I'm a contributing editor of the darn thing) are having issues. Apparently it stems from the Adobe conversion from Indesign to pdf.  There in not much we can do about it short of doing a "flattened" version with links to the "new media."

[ednadolski]

I like the new mag, but generally I don't care for "active content".   I've actually disabled Flash on my laptop, since I find all those moving images annoying.

(Ah, for the good old days, when computers weren't always beeping & flashing at you....    )