Old magazines

[LSP_Mike]

I was just given  an old issue of Scale Aviation Modeller. This brought to mind an old dilemma. What to do with my stash of old model mags?

When I left California, I had to figure out something, as I had about 30" of shelf space tied up. I started going through them. It finally hit me: cut them up, and put the articles and relevant bits in the associated kit boxes... pertinent info, can't get lost, takes up no space. I ran across a couple of mags from the 90s... they reminded me of how little there was in the manly scale back then.

[LSP_K2]

Prior to moving here, I gave a ton of modeling magazines (which I no longer buy any of), to my good friend. The beauty is, that they're now here for me to look through whenever I want (which I never do), but storing them is no longer my problem.

[jenshb]

One alternative is to scan the articles you're interested in and bin the magazines - or give them away at your local model club.

[Oldbaldguy]

I’m always surprised when I pick up an old kit from the place where my kits live until I build them and find the box to be heavy.  I shouldn’t be - almost all are chock full of page after page of hard copy research material.  Like Mike said, no need to keep the entire mag when only a page or two will do.  Pondering further, why do we feel so evilly good about passing our never-used bookish stuff on to someone else who will himself in a couple of years wonder why on earth he agreed to take it?  Present company excepted, of course.

[Rockie Yarwood]

5 hours ago, Oldbaldguy said:

 Pondering further, why do we feel so evilly good about passing our never-used bookish stuff on to someone else who will himself in a couple of years wonder why on earth he agreed to take it? 

Crap, you're talking about me! 

[Oldbaldguy]

I think we all fit that description to some degree.  I’m entering my eighth decade soon and until recently had stacks of old black and white aviation related magazines from my early teenage years.  Mountains of the stuff.  And as soon as I got rid of it, the next day I needed an article from the pile.  Which is always the way it goes.  And, as for digitized stuff, I find I don’t retain information I see on my monitor the way I do when I glance at a photo on a page.  Besides, imaginary ones and zeros and pixels just aren’t the same as a nice cuppa and a book in your lap on rainy day.

[Rockie Yarwood]

16 hours ago, Oldbaldguy said:

 Besides, imaginary ones and zeros and pixels just aren’t the same as a nice cuppa and a book in your lap on rainy day.

Couldn't' agree more. Digitized reading material just doesn't thrill the senses like a good book in your hand. But, it takes up a helluva lot less room in the library!

 

Cheers, Rockie (currently reading Messerschmitt Roulette by WC Geoffrey Morley-Mower, DFC, AFC)

[MikeC]

For many years I had a large collection of Scale Aircraft Modelling going back to issue 1, from the 1970s.  One day I went through a few of the early ones and realised that they just weren't relevant any more apart from some of the reference articles.  Their only real value was nostalgia, so like others I digitised what I wanted to keep and took the rest to recycling.  I tried to sell some at model shows at 10p a go or something, but others were doing the same and no-one seemed interested.  And that's what I do still: read, digitise what I want to keep, then ditch.

 

 

[alaninaustria]

I have kept a couple over the years, but only a few that were of interest. 

All the others were donated to the local library.

Cheers

Alan 

[LSP_K2]

The one batch that I dumped, and still regret, is the entire collection of a short-lived modeling magazine where all the review kits were slammed together, but never painted. A truly unique format, and I wish I'd had the wisdom to keep them.

[dmthamade]

Dumped them all, lot of the references, techniques, kit reviews, paints, etc are all oudated. Dumping a lot of aviation mags as well. Air Combat, Airpower, Wings, AFM, Janes Defence Weekly....realised i hadn't looked at any for years,looked at some of them and found didn't need them. Tried giving them away, no takers so they're being recycled. Brother and sister in law are retired librarians, said there is little call for these mags, and with limited storage, there is little need for donations.

 

Don

[MikeMaben]

Yep, what Don said, I have a boatload of hardbound Finescales from the early years.

Back when the internet was new, some guy emailed me and said he knew a guy in

Italy who wanted the first 2 years. I think he paid $200 plus shipping. That box weighed

a ton (OK half ton) . If your club doesn't want them then nobody else will either.

Just recycle 'em.

[thierry laurent]

Personally I love going back to such old mags. Sometimes I'm even looking after old issues to purchase them for a simple reason: you can find tons of things on the web but far from everything...!