Old Magazines

[hawk gripenParticipant @hawkgripen92641]

I recently purchased an A4 box full of old Model Engineer magazines ranging from 1958 to 1979. Unfortunately they were not complete yearly sets. Paging through, the thought came to me that, as it is today, loco plans have a price to them. These old mags had valuable locomotive plans for the interested members/ newbies like myself and was wondering if there is somebody, or Model Engineer magazine themselves, could not phototstat these old prints in PDF format and place it on their site freely available.

I'm in my late 50's and have developed a serious interest in the hobby. With todays electronic interest the youngsters could have a mind change in a dying age of live steam locos. My other thought was where did all those old locomotives go to when the hobby of live steaming was at its peak. Looking at the photogtaphs of meetings and the qty of loco's in the "good old days" , compared to today, for example makes one wonder. Here in South Africa very few people are still in the hobby.

Edited By JasonB on 30/10/2015 20:39:32

[JasonBModerator @jasonb]

[JasonBModerator @jasonb]

I don't think that will go down too well with the trade suppliers and not to mention Myhobbystore who sell these same drawings. Most designs that are in the mag are available to buy.

[wendy jacksonParticipant @wendyjackson]

hi Jason. I have copied the build notes and the plans from a number of mags. and have always passed them on freely if asked. as to the dealers, well if they wish to sale incomplete and in many cases badly printed plans with know build notes, so be it. As to where did all the loco,s go. I think many ended up under work benches, unused and unloved due to H&S boiler checks, owners passing on, and some just being broken up for parts. If this hobby does not get into the 21st century soon, there will be know hobby. michael

[BazyleParticipant @bazyle]

One problem is the 'freely available' mention above. Who is going to pay for the time of the person photocopying and converting to PDF. There is one of the pool of casual labour, secretaries etc that used to float around publishing houses, or any other business. Everything has to make a profit.
In my business we often think of features we could add to the products that would be an improvement but then we have to think – 'where is the extra revenue that this will generate to pay for itself' if it doesn't save money or generate sales it can't be paid for.

It is likely that the magazines that were missing from your acquisition had a particular build series in them and were in a different pile either preserved as the owner kept them with the model, or junked because the relatives of the modeller didn't realise their significance as they disposed of his assets.
It is a common problem. I have a marine engine and the plans for it in my collection of magazines. Do I take those mags out of sequence and file them somehow with the engine but break the magazine series? By chance at the last club meeting a member had obtained a folder of various plans and unfolded one as I walked by. In perhaps a 3 second window from all our meetings this year I glimpsed enough to recognise my engine and he happily passed it over instead of it languishing back in the random folder collection. I think now I will photocopy the magazine articles and put them all in an envelope with a big picture of the engine on the front making it more obvious where they belong.

[Boiler BriParticipant @boilerbri]

Hawk, the 'good old days' still very much happen here in the UK. In a lot of parks around the the UK on Saturday and Sunday clubs run engines for pleasure and public running. Although at 57 I am a young man compared to some of the members👍.

The enjoyment is immense.

Brian

[David Clark 13Participant @davidclark13]

You can't just photocopy the articles and sell them or give them away due to copyright restrictions which last for 75 years after the authors death. However, plans copyright only lasts 15 years so you could sell plans as long as they don't have build notes on them. Basically you can redraw any plan over 15 years old and resell them.

[Ady1Participant @ady1]

I believe that while plans are 15years pictures/photographs are "creative artist" type things and subject to the same kind of 75 year limit

Magazines/publications are something like 25 years, but what they contain, varies

Like most things in life it's all quite complicated thanks to the lawyers looking to gouge a buck from the system

Edited By Ady1 on 31/10/2015 10:07:38

[CirclipParticipant @circlip]

Oh no, not the all encompassing C word rearing its ugly head again.

Bazyle, don't photocopy them, scan them and save either to disk or stick. Same with any other information of interest to you.

Many years ago (pre scanning) I gave many copies of an extinct mag to a mates son, knowing of his interest. A few years later I asked mate if he could get a copy of a plan and article from one of the mags. All went down the tip when his son divorced.

My original source was in reply to an "Under a fiver" ad in the local rag, (Could get a Mamod Traction engine for £4.99 then) and the lad I bought them from said had he known, another two boxes crammed with mags from his late fathers house wouldn't have gone to the local tip. Fortunately a fellow modeller gifted me a complete set of the mags on disks and on the pass it forward theme, many other modellers have benefitted freely. Too much has disappeared in landfill, so don't do the Ebenezer.

Anyone got a complete set of "The Model Mechanic"? Was published from 1946 to 1951 and then supeceeded by "Model Maker"

 

PM's are good.

 

Regards Ian.

Edited By Neil Wyatt on 31/10/2015 14:36:43

[Ady1Participant @ady1]

Graces guide do a huge collection of stuff, 100s of gigabytes of magazines from our engineering past, which will disappear if their site ever goes down the tubes

Places like the pirate bay are curiously the best permanent repository for big out of copyright pdf libraries

While they do do illegal stuff these places also contain a lot of out of copyright legal stuff as well, and since no-one owns it or controls it… no-one can lose it or destroy it or sell it into private hands.

Once something is up on the pirate bay it can never be lost in the mists of history and everyone on the planet can access it whenever they need it

Edited By Ady1 on 31/10/2015 10:23:35

[BazyleParticipant @bazyle]

Posted by Circlip on 31/10/2015 10:08:15:

Bazyle, don't photocopy them, scan them and save either to disk or stick. Same with any other information of interest to you.

My point was that someone going through my stuff would possibly recognise the picture on the envelope and realise it belonged with the engine. A data file would just be er not sure where and what to read it with in 20 years. Plus discs and sticks have a very limited lifetime, paper doesn't. Your camera removable memory is losing bits as it sits there and with checksums and other 'data integrity checks' can easily become unrecoverable whereas a big coffee mug stain on a photocopy leaves 95% still readable. Have you read any of the digitised copies the ancient Sumarians made of their clay tablets recently?

Edited By Bazyle on 31/10/2015 12:58:40

[Neil WyattModerator @neilwyatt]

For absolute clarity. MTM own the copyright in magazine articles and this last for 25 years, but the author's copyrights last for 75 years after the author's death so reprinting an LBSC article and distributing it needs to wait until 2042.

I know most people realise this, but this form is paid for by MyTimeMedia and made available to all for free, this does mean we can't condone or accept its use for facilitating the breach of our, or our authors, copyright.

While the occasional sharing of an article with a friend is likely to go unremarked, systematic or regular abuse of copyright won't be allowed.

 

It really isn't cricket to use this forum (including the PM system) to undermine our means of doing business, particularly by pirating plans or collections of back issues.

Neil

Edited By Neil Wyatt on 31/10/2015 14:38:27

[CirclipParticipant @circlip]

"Gold" Archive standard disks?

"By chance at the last club meeting a member had obtained a folder of various plans and unfolded one as I walked by."

Hmm, Lucky ehhh?

Thanks Ady 1, at least the covers and the contents first page on Graces, pity they didn't scan the whole mag.

Regards Ian.

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