Some preliminary thought is being given to the possibility of another Model Boats Special issue for 2015.

In the past we have had the 60th Anniversary issue, A Construction Special, a Plans Feature Special, World of Model Boating Special and this year a Warship Special, all of which have been well received by readers.

The idea of the Specials is to include items which are a little different to the mainstream content of the regular issues of Model Boats but still of great interest to model boaters which is why we have previously featured some classic articles from the past with which current readers may be unfamiliar together with articles on subjects which are presently niche interest but which could well catch people's imagination.

What will actually appear will be subject to various constraints according to what is available and the budget for the Special issue but I am inviting suggestions from Forum members as to the sort of content they would like to see in a future issue.

All suggestions will be carefully considered but I cannot guarantee that they will find their way into the published issue!

I look forward to hearing from you.

Colin

Thanks for the ideas so far, keep them coming. However do bear in mind that the Special can't be too 'special' as it has to appeal to enough readers to make it commercially viable. It is a Special in the sense that it exists outside the usual run of issue of the magazine and it can cover some less common topics provided that there is sufficient variety to attract a wide range of readers. For example while you can sell a Warship Special as was the case this year, a Hovercraft Special would be too much of a niche interest (and probably impossible to get enough material for anyway!)

Some of the subjects mentioned above have already been covered in either recent Specials or in the main magazine such as painting techniques and listing suppliers of boat modelling products.

A 'Plastic Magic' project, converting the conversion of a plastic kit to R/C would certainly be a runner provided it hasn't already been done previously. I have a part built Queen Mary 2 under construction at the moment but not sure if that would be finished in the projected timescale which envisages an on sale date of next April. Any suggestions on this would be welcome.

Hits and Tips are always useful but again this has been extensively covered in Glynn Guest's Mooring Post articles plus of course this sort of material has tended to migrate to the internet forums these days.

Not easy to find a new theme is it? And then of course you have to find somebody to provide the required material in a form suitable for publication and while there are still quite a few model boaters out there, not many of them want or are able to get involved in writing about them. We can only publish what people write!

Colin

Clearly Ashley and Paul are developing a version of the Special that will exist only in cyberspace…… I'm afraid the reality will not achieve such heights but it will be available in W H Smith!

Re the other suggestions, this year's Special focussed on Warships and there was also a separate bookazine on the Normandy Landings. Dave Wooley has also been chronicling the WW1 RN in the regular issues so warship orientated anniversaries have been well covered of late although we are certainly planning to include an interesting warship anniversary feature.

With regard to technology matters, these are more appropriate for the regular magazine and indeed have been covered to some extent over the last year or two.

As I mentioned earlier, these Specials are something of a balancing act in delivering interesting content on a tight budget and they have to appeal to the current mainstream model boating market.

Next year's issue is now well into the planning process and without giving away anything at this stage, (except that it will NOT contain a master class on hardboard construction), I think that readers will find that the mix will be up to previous year's standards and they sold well so we must be doing something right.

Colin

PS – There is an excellent item on model boat steam in the current 2014 Winter Special edition.

Edited By Colin Bishop, Website Editor on 31/10/2014 16:02:09