A CHANGE OF PLAN AND AN APOLOGY:
READERS may have been aware that the publication of Scale Aircraft Modelling has been, on average, about 14 days late for each issue in recent months. This has been caused by production difficulties that were unavoidable and although the publishers apologise for any inconvenience that this may have caused both to readers and their newsagents who have been plagued with queries, the situation is now being rationalised and by the October/November issue it is to be hoped that we will be back on our last Friday of the month publication date. It is very easy to lose time but much harder to make it up.
Consequently there has been a certain amount of reorganisation within the company to try and restore the balance and at the same time allow for expansion of all three titles that we publish. From early August one of the titles, Aviation News, will be moving to new offices in Milton Keynes and introducing new technology in the form of desk top publishing. For those not familiar with this phrase it means that the magazine will be produced entirely by computer against just the typesetting as of now. The marvels of modern scientific methods, when applied to the production of books and magazines, has to be seen to be believed. The standards will be greatly improved and speed, which means productivity, will be greatly enhanced. A complete double-page spread of the magazine can be produced on a large 19 inch screen exactly as it will look when printed and help to eliminate some of the minor mistakes that do inevitably occur from time to time when journalists and production staff are under pressure.
At the same time Scale Aircraft Modelling has moved printers to Woodford Litho and the first impressions we have are that the standards are high and the paper quality better. We hope to reintroduce colour illustrations to this magazine at a later date once circulation trends settle into an upward movement once more.
Although Aviation News will be moving. Scale Aircraft Modelling will remain at the Berkhamsted offices and production will continue there in the same manner as before. It is hoped to introduce desk top publishing for this publication at a later date but to get any difficulties sorted out on Aviation News first. A radical step such as this cannot be done novernight.
The only other change will be in the address of the advertising office. This will change to Milton Keynes from the next issue and our regular advertisers will be advised of any alterations required for the smooth and efficient handling of their copy requirements.
The introduction of new production methods by the publishers has meant considerable investment for a company of this size. For the reader there will, we hope, be no change apart from a return to regular publication dates and an improvement in quality. It is not expected that there will be any increase in cover price in the immediate future but printing, production and postage costs are always rising and these must be reflected in the cost of each magazine. If readers experience difficulty in getting copies of Scale Aircraft Modelling regularly they are asked to get in touch by letter with the editor at Berkhamsted giving the details of the complaint so that an attempt might be made to improve the service. In theory there isn't a single newsagent in this country who cannot order a copy of this magazine for you so there should not be a problem.